3d DCA Watch -- Special All Hallow's Eve Edition!

It's a special day inside the bunker, as the denizens get in the All Hallow's Eve spirit by swilling dark red "blood" coffee, munching on bowls of "eyeball" candy, and dressing up as their favorite Supreme Court Justice (guess who wore the Scalia mask this year, again!).

Me, I'm in my usual costume -- a full body suit composed of whole wheat pasta bolognaise -- sure it takes a lot of work and gets a little sticky by the end of the day but you never know, this might be the year it all comes together!

Let's dig into these truly spooktackular opinions:

Pietton v. Evertz:

One thing I love about state court is you can literally title your motion any way you want -- the more elaborate and specific and pejorative the better -- like this epic ex parte “Motion for Order Approving Settlement and to Enjoin One of the Potential Beneficiaries from Interfering with the Administration of [the] Probate [Estate] and from Taking Action Contrary to the Personal Representative’s Authority.”

With a title like that, what's left to put in the motion?

Roberts v. Roberts:

Note to trial judges:  if you impose attorney's fees as a sanction, best have an evidentiary hearing and put your findings in an order.

Come on, that's just downright apodictic!

Be safe tonight.

Happy Halloween, Plebes!

Stay safe (and dry!).

What an Awesome Idea for a Halloween Party!

So I'm sure your firm is throwing a big Halloween party, just like this foreclosure mill in upstate New York:

The party is the firm’s big annual bash. Employees wear Halloween costumes to the office, where they party until around noon, and then return to work, still in costume. I can’t tell you how people dressed for this year’s party, but I can tell you about last year’s.

That’s because a former employee of Steven J. Baum recently sent me snapshots of last year’s party. In an e-mail, she said that she wanted me to see them because they showed an appalling lack of compassion toward the homeowners — invariably poor and down on their luck — that the Baum firm had brought foreclosure proceedings against.

When we spoke later, she added that the snapshots are an accurate representation of the firm’s mind-set. “There is this really cavalier attitude,” she said. “It doesn’t matter that people are going to lose their homes.” Nor does the firm try to help people get mortgage modifications; the pressure, always, is to foreclose. I told her I wanted to post the photos on The Times’s Web site so that readers could see them. She agreed, but asked to remain anonymous because she said she fears retaliation.

Let me describe a few of the photos. In one, two Baum employees are dressed like homeless people. One is holding a bottle of liquor. The other has a sign around her neck that reads: “3rd party squatter. I lost my home and I was never served.” My source said that “I was never served” is meant to mock “the typical excuse” of the homeowner trying to evade a foreclosure proceeding.

A second picture shows a coffin with a picture of a woman whose eyes have been cut out. A sign on the coffin reads: “Rest in Peace. Crazy Susie.” The reference is to Susan Chana Lask, a lawyer who had filed a class-action suit against Steven J. Baum — and had posted a YouTube video denouncing the firm’s foreclosure practices. “She was a thorn in their side,” said my source.

A third photograph shows a corner of Baum’s office decorated to look like a row of foreclosed homes. Another shows a sign that reads, “Baum Estates” — needless to say, it’s also full of foreclosed houses. Most of the other pictures show either mock homeless camps or mock foreclosure signs — or both. My source told me that not every Baum department used the party to make fun of the troubled homeowners they made their living suing. But some clearly did. The adjective she’d used when she sent them to me — “appalling” — struck me as exactly right. 

Oh lawyers are so funny!

Yet consider the mindset of the lawyers and staff who would think decorating the senior partner's office with foreclosed homes is tasteful let alone humorous.

We often talk about a "war" mentality and the need for group cohesiveness, particularly when engaged in a process that is otherwise difficult either mentally or physically.

And in this case we have a perfect example of that, a culture where the foreclosed homeowners or their counsel are the "enemy," where they are viewed as irresponsible debtors who broke contracts, freeloaders who don't deserve to live in their homes, bottom-feeders who are victimizing the banks and thus deserve little pity and even less justice.

But then how else to justify the soul-numbing nature of the work they are asked to perform day after day?

Happy Halloween!

The Keytar presence is entirely fortuitous.....