Dirty Laundry

http://www.justicebuilding.blogspot.com/

"I make my living off the Evening News
Just give me something-something I can use
People love it when you lose,
They love dirty laundry

Well, I coulda been [a real lawyer, but] I wound up here
I just have to look good, I don't have to be clear
Come and whisper in my ear
Give us [traffic tickets to defend]

Kick 'em when they're up
Kick 'em when they're down
Kick 'em when they're up
Kick 'em when they're down
Kick 'em when they're up
Kick 'em when they're down
Kick 'em when they're up
Kick 'em all around

We got the bubble-headed-bleach-blonde who
Comes on at five
She can tell you 'bout the plane crash with a gleam
In her eye
It's interesting when people die-
Give us dirty laundry

Can we film the operation?
Is the head dead yet?
You know, the boys in the newsroom got a
Running bet
Get the widow on the set!
We need dirty laundry

You don't really need to find out what's going on
You don't really want to know just how far it's gone
Just leave well enough love
Eat your dirty laundry

Kick 'em when they're up
Kick 'em when they're down
Kick 'em when they're up
Kick 'em when they're down

Kick 'em when they're up
Kick 'em when they're down
Kick 'em when they're stiff
Kick 'em all around

We can do "The Innuendo"
We can dance and sing
When it's said and done we haven't told you a thing
We all know that Crap is King
Give us dirty laundry!"

-Don Henley, Dirty Laundry

________________________

It is important to be courageous, to be moral, and to be honest. Always.

I recommend to Rumpole that he read the second most important book ever written. Because it is clear to me, that he has not.

Who is Bernardo Roman III (I confess here and now: if you have a "III" or a "IV" after your name, I think automatically you have had every door opened for you, you have underachieved, you have been dipping into your trust fund, and you have a big inferiority complex that is not undeserved. But that's all on me because I got nothing and for all I know, a "III" or a "IV" means res ipsa loquitor that you are a rocket scientist who stands 6 feet tall with wavy locks and a big unit.)

Anyhoo - Bernie has to be a big hitter. Right? So I looked. And nothing. No website. No published opinions. Nothing came up under his name when I googled him, and yet he holds himself out as an appellate attorney and criminal law guy. Nada. I mean, for a guy admittted to practice since 1994 and with his offices at 1250 SW 27th Ave Ste 506, according to the Florida Bar website which is a public record and available to all, like me you'd think he would not be beholden to one huge client and willing to say or do anything against anyone in a civil lawsuit regardless of the lack of supportable evidence, in order to reap huge fees and pay his bills. Right?

Check out this opinion from the Third District Court of appeal, regarding Bernie.

"Miccosukee officer and Tribal counsel, Bernardo Roman III, for reasons
mystifying to us — plaintiffs’ counsel made clear in these post-judgment
proceedings he is pursuing theories he believes would make the Tribe liable to
satisfy the judgment as well — supplied plaintiffs’ counsel with copies of checks drawn on the Miccosukee Tribe General Account payable to Lewis Tein, PL, ...in defense of Tammy Gwen Billie and Jimmie Bert in the Bermudez wrongful death and personal injury litigation, from May 2005 through April 2010. At oral argument on this petition, Mr. Roman represented that the Miccosukee Tribe had duly authorized him, as their counsel, to deliver the checks to plaintiffs’ counsel and that indeed, the Tribe itself paid Lewis Tein, PL’s, fees and costs for the defense of Tammy Gwen Billie and Jimmie Bert. In sharp contrast to Mr. Roman’s representations, Lewis Tein, PL, has placed in the record the affidavits of Interim Miccosukee Tribe Chairman (1989-2009), Billy Cypress, 5 and former Miccosukee Tribe Accounting Supervisor/Finance Officer (1990- 2009), Julio Martinez, averring that Tammy Billie and Jimmie Bert, together with his wife, Louise Bert, “were solely responsible for Lewis Tein’s legal fees,” and “[i]n all cases, those payments were either (a) charged against their distributions on a current basis, or (b) loans from the Tribe to them against future distributions.”

Mr. Roman has made plain that his duly authorized act of providing the checks to plaintiffs’ counsel was intended to influence ongoing litigation in our state courts. With the Tribe’s blessing, he has elected to insert himself into the post-judgment discovery contretemps between the parties and their counsel. An election to participate in litigation is not a one-way street. Mr. Roman cannot seek to participate in or influence litigation in another sovereign entity, the State of Florida, then retreat into his own sovereign when it suits him."
_____

Now I see. Sole practitioner, practicing less than 20 years. Huge client. Big pay day in the balance. And, according to the Third DCA, a penchant for "influencing litigation" and "participating" then "retreating." Where I grew up, we called that a sucker punch.

I guess Yale Galanter was right.

N.B. Be honest, be fair, be strong, be wise. Happy July IV!