Judge Seitz Opines on The Hangover and Get Him to the Greek!

It's not often the above combination of words appear together, but in this order Judge Seitz discusses The Hangover, Get Him to the Greek, and even throws in a little Sex and the City for good measure (seriously, what plaintiff would come forward and admit to buying that last title?).

Hilarie Bass gets the scalp for this one.

What "Format" is Your Lawsuit?

The gender discrimination suit filed by a GT shareholder in the Philly office contains some blockbuster allegations.

ATL found this nugget -- that the only way for women attorneys to get ahead at GT is to sleep with their male superiors (see paragraphs 69-72).

Wow, wow, and wow.

But Hilarie Bass says au contraire:

“The format of the lawsuit reflects an effort to extort money from us,” Bass said. “Our shareholder agreement has an arbitration clause that she is well aware of and instead she chose to file a class action in federal court.” Bass said even if the case ends up in court, she believes it will be an individual lawsuit rather than a class action.

The "format" of the lawsuit -- what an unusual word choice.

I suppose she means the procedural posture -- a class action filed in federal court.  But that doesn't automatically equate to extortion, or does it?

This is another gem:

The suit alleges that Lehr, regional operating shareholder in charge of Philadelphia, told Griesing at one point that only “tall, male and Jewish GT lawyers generate business” and that there is “no formula” for compensation and that it is entirely subjective, commenting that female shareholders are “lucky” to get paid as much as they do.

"Tall, male and Jewish" -- just like Cesar Alvarez!

GT insiders -- speak up, is there any truth to these allegations?

 more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/12/03/3125399/greenberg-traurig-faces-gender.html#storylink=cpy

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/12/03/3125399/greenberg-traurig-faces-gender.html#storylink=cpy

GT to Be Honored for Overturning Gay Adoption Ban.

It's an old legal truism that every person and issue deserves an attorney, but not everyone deserves you.

With that in mind I see that Save Dade is honoring GT for their pro bono and historic work overturning Florida's ban on gay adoption:

For the past 33 years, the state of Florida banned gays and lesbians from adopting.  In September of 2010, the ACLU of Florida victoriously struck down this ban. The ACLU of Florida has fought for the rights of children to have a "forever home," and this victory continues to prove their commitment to the fight for LGBT equality and rightfully earns them the 2011 Champions of Equality Award., stated CJ Ortuno, Executive Director of SAVE Dade.

The ACLU of Florida’s victory, however, was not its alone.  Greenberg Traurig LLP, a for-profit law firm, stepped up to defend , pro bono, the rights of the two children who have now been legally adopted by Martin Gill.

Greenberg Traurig has publicly stated that this case was the “most meaningful” for its team. Its willingness to go above and beyond to­ protect the interests of these children earns it the 2011 Champions of Equality Award.

As Glenn Garvin noted in his review of last night's excellent American Experience, dealing with the heroic efforts by visionary, forward-thinking activists to strike down Jim Crow in the South:

The immediate and profound reaction to each — even among viewers who lived through the 1960s: “That was America? It’s a testament to how stunningly and totally the civil-rights movement eventually triumphed that these images seem so utterly alien, as if they were drawn from a world long ago and far away. Could we really have lived in a country in which water fountains were marked white and colored? Where a public park could have a sign out front reading, whites only? Where a young white woman could smile sunnily into a TV camera and explain that three kids shot to death for registering black voters were asking for it? Where federal troops could be seen lining the streets of a state capital, grimly mounting bayonets onto their rifles in preparation for the day’s work?

It's always good to be on the right side of history, at least once in your life, on at least one issue of consequence.

The reception will be on 5/20 at the Ice Palace in downtown Miami.

Mykonos Owner Scores Big Defamation Verdict Against Maryland Paper!

We previously covered this case of alleged mistaken identity involving a Baltimore newspaper, a federal fugitive, and a different person with the same name who also happens to be the owner of Mykonos restaurant.

Well apparently after having the case transferred from Judge Gold to Judge Motz(!) in Maryland, the newspaper was unable to make this case go away quietly and they actually tried this thing before a jury.

Question -- how much money was spent having GT brief the venue motion?  To what end?  The newspaper was afraid of Judge Gold?  Did the newspaper mistakenly believe they would be held in higher regard by a jury of their readers (big mistake)?  Was it just to make Joel travel to Maryland all the time?

In any event, kudos to Joel and his client for scoring a decisive victory -- though it is a newspaper we're talking about, I hope they're collectable!

In other news, we received word from our friend and former DBR reporter Billy Shields -- famously immortalized by the Beatles in the opening line to "With a Little Help From My Friends" --- that he is doing well and currently on assignment in the Great White North.

That means of course Billy is now writing about things of intense interest to our Canuckian neighbors, such as walrus tusks, William Shatner, exactly how much gravy to place on french fries, and oh yeah -- Chris Leak?

PACER Surfing With SFL!

You guys ever PACER surf?

You know, go onto PACER and plug in some attorney's name or law firm or some defendant to see what they're up to here in the Southern District?

No, me neither.

But just for kicks I plugged in two of my favorite South Florida attorneys, Chris Carver and Hilarie Bass.

Chris is involved in a mess of a maritime case before Judge Moreno and the fastest Mag in the West, Judge Torres, In Re: MS "Madeleine" Schiffahrtsgesellschaft mbH & Co. KG, Reederei Alnwick Harmstorf & Co. GmbH & Co. KG and Bangor Castle Shipping Company Limited.

It's pretty exciting stuff, with Fowler White, Shutts & Bowen, and a bunch of local maritime lawyer-types involved.

I would summarize the litigation, but the last few times I tried I fell asleep at the keyboard and had to be revived by a double-cafecito and repeat viewings of "10."

You guys are on your own on that one.

Hilarie has an interesting piece of litigation involving the owner of Mykonos Restaurant who is suing the Baltimore City Paper for defamation. My friend Miguel de la O's partner Joel Magolnick is representing the plaintiff.

Ok Joel, you're my friend too.

Reading the complaint and also the pending motion to dismiss for lack of venue that Hilarie filed, it seems that the paper allegedly got the owner of the restaurant confused with a Baltimore federal fugitive that also happens to have the same name as Joel's client. After getting a letter, the City Paper allegedly ran an apology and retraction:

On September 24, 2008, City Paper posted an online retraction, stating that it “regrets the confusion and apologizes to [Plaintiff] for any troubles they've had as a result of the stories.” (Compl., Exh. C.) On October 8, 2008, City Paper re-ran the August 27, 2008 article, prominently prefaced with a “Correction,” clarifying that there is no connection between Plaintiff and “Crazy John” Kafouros.

Joel's complaint, of course, lists a number of other problems and alleged errors with the story.

Plaintiff filed in state court, defendants removed, and they are moving to dismiss or transfer based on improper venue.

The interesting issue is whether online dissemination of a story can subject you to long-arm jurisdiction somewhere else where the article is read. Hilarie's analysis focuses on Young v. New Haven Advocate, 315 F. 3d 256 (4th Cir. 2002), where the court established an "effects" test to determine where the "primary effects of the defamatory statements" were felt.

It looks like GT associate D. Porpoise Evans wrote the brief and did a fine job.

Joel just got an enlargement from Judge Gold so his response brief has not yet been filed.

Meanwhile, all I can say is the plaintiff runs a great restaurant and I hope there is some in-kind edible payment involved for Joel's legal efforts.

Charlie Crist: Pig Roasts Yes, Gay Adoption No.

Big Charlie has "no second thoughts" about denying gay folks an opportunity to adopt children who have been through a TPR proceeding. The issue is coming to a head in Judge Cindy Lederman's courtroom this morning as Charlie Auslander goes to trial on behalf of a gay man seeking to adopt two children:

On Wednesday, Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Cindy Lederman will begin a trial over Gill's petition to adopt the two half-siblings. Their mother and respective fathers lost their rights to raise them in 2006.

Opposing Gill are the Florida Department of Children & Families and the state attorney general's office. Neil Skene, a DCF special counsel, said he couldn't discuss the Gill adoption, citing the confidentiality of adoption cases. He said that, in general, DCF ''is obliged by statute to oppose the adoption'' when any potential adoptive parent discloses that he or she is gay. The attorney general defends state laws that are challenged, Skene said.

Gov. Charlie Crist said Tuesday that he is not reconsidering the adoption ban. ''No second thoughts,'' he said.

Currently, 3,270 Florida foster children are available for adoption statewide, including 415 in Miami-Dade, 229 in Broward and 13 in Monroe counties, said DCF spokeswoman Erin Geraghty. Many of the children have special needs, like mental illness or developmental disabilities.

The challenge to Florida's law -- which was approved in 1977 amid a heated battle over the civil rights of gay men and women -- will play out in Lederman's small courtroom in Miami's Juvenile Justice Center.

Gill's trial will feature dueling scholars; lawyers for both sides say they intend to present academic research to prove their cases.

State leaders say the stakes are high.

''This case involves issues of great public importance in that [Gill] is challenging a state statute's validity on constitutional grounds,'' Assistant Attorney General Valerie J. Martin wrote in court pleadings.

In court records, state leaders maintain they are upholding public morality and working to ''encourage optimal family structure by seeking to place adoptive children in homes that have both a mother and a father; and in promoting the moral, emotional, mental and physical well-being of minor children,'' Martin wrote.

Gill's attorneys, and lawyers who will represent the two children, insist there is no ''reliable scientific research'' concluding that children fare better in families with heterosexual parents. And without such proof, they say, the state is discriminating against them.

''Florida's statutory gay adoption ban is a constitution-breaching whipsaw of the innocent,'' wrote Charles Auslander, a Children's Trust chief and one of the boys' lawyers. ``It prevents children innocently placed with these foster caregivers from achieving permanency for a reason entirely beyond the power of the child to remedy.''

The two boys, whose names are being withheld to protect their privacy, were raised by the same mother, whose parental rights were severed in 2006. Court records say the mother used cocaine and refused to testify against one of the boys' fathers when he physically abused them.

Gill, 47, and his 34-year-old partner took custody of the half-brothers in December 2004. The boys live with Gill, his partner, and his partner's teenage son in North Miami. Gill's partner is not being named to protect the privacy of his birth son, who shares his name.

`BOYS THRIVING'

In his adoption petition, Gill said ``the boys are thriving physically, emotionally and intellectually.''

When the boys entered foster care, ''they both had peeling scalps because of ringworm, and [the older boy] barely spoke for the first month and was significantly behind his peers developmentally,'' records say.

Recently, Gill said, he had the two boys write down the new surnames they will be given after adoption. The 8-year-old had a look of panic, at first, because he had barely mastered writing the name he was given at birth.

''But then I looked down,'' Gill added, 'and he had a big look of contentment. He spent the next hour writing his new name. `We're going to have the same last name,' '' Gill says the boy said. ' `That's going to make us a family.' That just broke my heart,'' Gill added.

Hilarie Bass, managing partner for the law firm Greenberg Traurig, who was appointed by Lederman to represent the boys, recommended in a report that Lederman grant the adoption petition.

IN GILL'S CORNER

''Upon my visit to the home, I observed the minor children to be happy, healthy, well-adjusted, well-groomed, polite and energetic kids,'' Bass wrote. 'Both . . . referred to [Gill] and [his partner] as `Dad.' ''

A court-appointed guardian also has recommended that Gill be allowed to adopt the boys, records say.

So let's see, the parents lost rights to the children in a TPR proceeding. Hilarie Bass, the children's court-appointed attorney, supports the adoption. So does the guardian ad litem. And the most that DCF Special Counsel Neil Skene can muster in defense is that the DCF is "obligated by statute" to oppose the adoption. But Big Charlie has "no second thoughts." I wonder why?

In light of legendary Judge Joe Eaton's passing, I hope Judge Lederman shows the courage and strength of conviction that Judge Eaton did for so many years. We need more Joe Eatons on the bench.

Judge Lederman, this is your warrior moment.