Your Tuesday Morning Digital Dump.

 Hi there, hope you had a restful, restorative long holiday weekend.

Let's take a quick peek at our world:

1.  The 11th Circuit (w/ Judge Jordan on board) affirms a district court approval of an ADA settlement involving Segways at Disney World:

Because the district court found that class representatives were unlikely to prevail at trial, the district court found that Disney’s agreement to produce and make available the ESVs is a beneficial remedy for the class. This finding does not constitute an abuse of discretion. If Disney prevails at trial, the class will be left with no remedy at all. This settlement precludes such a Draconian result and ensures that a stand-up mobility device is available at Disney Resorts that conforms to its unique safety requirements. Therefore, we conclude that the district court’s finding that the settlement results in a “fair, adequate, and reasonable” remedy within the range of possible recoveries is also not an abuse of discretion.

Wow -- people still use Segways?

2.  Speaking of class actions, the apocryphal story of a bank deducting a penny a month is often cited as the perfect case for class treatment, yet this one involving a local "fashionista" lawyer and Forever 21 comes pretty close:

A fashionista lawyer who returned black denim shorts to Forever 21 but received a penny less than what she paid is suing the retailer on behalf of fellow customers who "number in the thousands, spread over several states."

Carolyn Kellman, whose fashion sense was profiled in the Miami Herald in 2007, paid $14.46 for the shorts at the Forever 21 store in the Dolphin Mall on May 12, the complaint filed by Kevin Love of Criden & Love in South Miami said.

Kellman, an attorney with the Strickland Law Firm in Coral Gables, returned the shorts to the Forever 21 in the Shops@Sunset Place on May 30 but was credited $14.45, "or exactly $0.01 less," the complaint said.

On June 27, Kellman was charged $11.57 for a skirt, also black, at the Sunset Place store. She returned it July 13 and was credited $11.56, according to the complaint, which attaches copies of her receipts and alleges breach of contract, unfair and deceptive practices, and unjust enrichment.

Query -- if you shop at Forever 21 does that make you "fashionista"?

3.  Steven Lippman disbarred.

And here's a flashback from 2009 after Arthur Rice acted like a mensch, hired Lippman, and publicly rose to his defense:

Arthur Rice, a name partner in the firm, said in an e-mail Tuesday night that he had not yet read the complaint.

``Having said that I know Steve Lippman and he is a man of integrity and until we are shown competent evidence to the contrary he will remain a valued member of our firm. I and other members of our firm have considerable experience in fraud recovery work and it is our collective experience that in cases such as this things are not always what they appear to be.'' 

Is it too early for some Xanax?

Dreaming of Soofganiyot.

Well kids, I'm warming up the dreidel and pulling out the soofganiyot recipes, and yet here we are still dealing with the slings and arrows of this thing we call "practicing law."

I just bumped into Aaron Podhurst by the Starbucks near the courthouse, looking trim and thin btw.

Congrats to him and the leadership team he has put together for the Miami Art Museum, including lawyers Juan P. Loumiet and Arthur Halsey Rice.

Now it's time to raise some gelt, fellas.

Speaking of conflicts, former Justice Sandra Day O'Connor and other state court justices will be rolling out a campaign to end judicial elections:

Many judges and the American Bar Association argue the legal system is tainted by judges seeking campaign donations.

"It doesn't support the fundamental principle of judges acting fairly and impartially," Ohio Chief Justice Tom Moyer told The Associated Press.

A judicial think tank at the University of Denver has assembled a group of prominent judges, including O'Connor, to push for the abolition of directly elected judges in the 33 states that have them.

They want state commissions made up mostly of non-lawyers to pick judges. Governors would appoint judges the commissions select, and voters would decide in future elections whether the judges keep their jobs.

Exactly -- I mean, that worked out pretty good in Broward recently. Maybe anybody wearing a mustard suit need not apply?

Meanwhile, the federal judiciary gets a $357 million boost in its budget for 2010, less than what is needed but better than a budget cut.

Sorry Judge Fay, still no judicial pay raise yet.

Ok, back to my recipes.

RRA Update -- Still Waiting For Ruling On Emergency Enlargement

Remember that post from Friday which detailed efforts by RRA lawyers Steve Lippman and Riley Cirulnick to get an emergency enlargement of upcoming deadlines in a matter pending before Judge Cooke?

If you'll recall, Matthew S. Nelles at Ruden McClosky opposed the requested enlargement, basically arguing that the discovery deadlines date back to April and the RRA lawyers were dilatory in a number of respects and should have completed the discovery well before the whole Scott Rothstein stuff broke.

(Matt, if I missed something please feel free to chime in).

Well here comes the reply, filed Monday, which provides further insight into the difficulties faced by the RRA lawyers still at that firm trying to service clients:

GFM is accurate that ACE/Mr. Bennett/Ebway's counsel was "incommunicado" for the period their firm was undergoing this upheaval. Response at p.1. This is precisely why the extensions sought are appropriate. A receiver was appointed and questions about what counsel could and could not do had to be addressed. The computers were down; no email, no word processing, no research capability. Counsel are looking for new homes and making arrangements to move there. The short extensions sought under these circumstances are more than justified.

In a footnote these lawyers also note that Monday, the day of this filing, RRA's "entire computer system (including emails and phone) were disabled for approximately 2-3 hours."

Incidentally, it looks from the certificate of service that Steve and Riley landed or are landing over at Arthur Rice's firm.

Good luck fellas.

Oh, I almost forgot -- I managed to unearth a rare photograph of me taken with Scott and Kim Rothstein at an event we all attended last year.

Enjoy!

UPDATE -- Judge Cooke granted and denied the motion in part. She granted the enlargement as to the summary judgment deadline, but agreed with Matt as to the discovery deadlines, finding no causal relationship between the Scott Rothstein fiasco and failing to complete discovery within the court-ordered deadlines.