"Jasper Nelson's deposition disembowels the tribe's wild accusations and lawsuits," Calli said.A most unpleasant image!
"Two things are missing from the tribe's fantastical conspiracy story: one is Martians from outer space delivering the secret conspiracy plans on a flying saucer. The second, as Jasper Nelson affirms, is truth," Calli said.But I see the Tribe has just filed a second amended complaint -- someone tell me where all the Martian allegations are.
If we do not find a solution to both the vacancy crisis and the threat to judicial resources, it will be harder for Americans to obtain justice in our Federal courts. Our courts are already overburdened, and the sequester will result in cuts that will force courts to hear fewer cases, which means that court proceedings will be delayed even longer. This will be especially damaging in civil cases, where there are already over 40,000 cases that have been pending for more than three years. Sequestration cuts could even result in the suspension of civil jury trials. Even more alarming, is what is at stake in the criminal context. If probation and pretrial services offices are downsized or closed, Federal courts and their staff will be unable to properly supervise thousands of persons under pretrial release and convicted felons released from Federal prisons. It is critical, then, that we work together.Gee, who in general benefits from delay?
With this backdrop, we address the use of extraordinary writs to review non-final orders not designated as appealable under rule 9.130(a)(3). We first decide the certified conflict issue involving the propriety of utilizing a petition for writ of prohibition to seek interlocutory review of a non-final order denying Citizens’ motion to dismiss. We next address whether a writ of certiorari is appropriately used under these circumstances. Finally, consistent with how this Court has proceeded when this type of issue is presented, we consider whether we should amend rule 9.130(a) to create a new exception to allow for review of a non-final order denying a motion to dismiss based on a claim of immunity asserted by a state-created entity.Don't you love the textbook way Judge Pariente framed the issues?
Coral Gables attorney Joe Klock described his friend as a quiet man who doesn't challenge others. "I don't think he was ready for prime time," he said.Ok, so that made it in.
In a landmark decision, a Miami federal judge ruled Friday that a class action brought by investors can proceed against the Securities and Exchange Commission in one-time billionaire R. Allen Stanford's investment scheme."Historic"?
Plaintiffs attorneys called the ruling by U.S. District Judge Robert N. Scola Jr. rejecting the SEC's motion to dismiss "historic."
He said large, multinational law firms like Greenberg are driven by an "eat-what-you-kill compensation system that incentivizes risk-taking in transactions and litigation."On the other hand, no associate at this firm has ever failed the Bar exam!
Greenberg started in 1967 as a Miami transactional boutique. After 10 high growth years, it now has 1,750 lawyers in 35 offices around the world.
Referring to the sanctions in the TD Bank case, Alfieri said, "This kind of institutional failure raises hard questions of culture, compliance and institutional regulation for Greenberg and hundreds of other Big Law firms and likewise for regulatory bodies like The Florida Bar and the American Bar Association."
Q. From your vantage point, who is responsible for the foreclosure crisis?
I deal with the cases that are in front of me. Moral judgment gets you nowhere. There is plenty of blame to go around. The banks shouldn’t have made the loans. The borrowers shouldn’t have taken them. It was a huge shell game with loans getting sold and repackaged into securities, with no responsibility. Everyone thought that somebody else should be the one to say ‘no.’’’Smart judge.
In 2009, author Mark DeMoss launched a Civility Project asking every sitting governor and member of Congress to sign a pledge of civility agreeing to three statements: “1. I will be civil in my public discourse and behavior; 2. I will be respectful of others, whether or not I agree with them; and 3. I will stand against incivility when I see it.” Amazingly, only three elected officials signed it—Sen. Joe Lieberman, Rep. Frank Wolf, and Rep. Sue Myrick.Funny thing is, I think Joe "The Weeper" Lieberman is mostly a jerk!
Atlanta-based Wargo French launched its Miami office last August, headed by former long-time Greenberg Traurig shareholder Lori Sochin. Ten associates have been hired including Simon Ferro Jr., a former Lewis Tein lawyer.Ok, sounds like a good firm and I wish them well, but what a great name -- "Wargo French" -- that's got to be a character from an old Coen Brothers movie?
The 50-lawyer firm, which also has a Los Angeles office, targeted Miami for growth based on client demand, said managing partner Joe Wargo. Wargo French is a full-service law firm focusing on complex commercial litigation, financial services litigation, labor and employment, class action litigation, creditor's rights and bankruptcy, commercial real estate, construction, general corporate and securities law, among other specialties.
The 43-year-old former Steel, Hector & Davis lawyer and son of former Miami City Manager Joe Arriola changed his party affiliation when Obama ran for president. Ricky Arriola met Obama when he was an Illinois state senator and Arriola had business in Chicago. They stayed in touch.How did that happen -- the kid got rich and wildly successful and THEN turned Democrat?
The dismissal of Greenberg from nearly all things Rothstein is the talk of the cocktail circuit in South Florida's legal community.Hey, at least they're finally discussing something law-related.
A new survey found that Fortune 1,000 corporations are significantly less likely to arbitrate contract disputes today than they were in 1997. In the 1997 study, 85% of companies reported using arbitration in commercial contract disputes at least once during the prior three years. In 2011, however, only 60 percent of companies so reported. In contrast, the companies’ usage of mediation remained steady at around 80%.
The most common reasons given by survey respondents (general counsel and senior corporate lawyers) for not using arbitration included: the difficulty of appeal, the perception that arbitrators tend to compromise, the concern that arbitrators may not follow the law, a lack of confidence in neutrals, and high costs of arbitration.Can someone let the Supremes know?
Ballman said some of the fired employees were upset with policies such as no talking over cubicle walls even for business purposes. Workers suddenly had to explain why they were using the breakroom or if they worked one minute overtime or left one minute early.And at least there is some sense of regret over how things could have been handled differently:
"It was a lot of picayune stuff," Ballman said. "All of sudden, the firm went from a very pleasant and enjoyable place to one of very strict working conditions."
"I wish former employees had not engaged in harassing, bullying and intimidating behavior. Then we would not have had to let them go."Good thing the work itself is so enriching and life-affirming!
Every picture has its shadowsPacenti writes up an ugly lawyer divorce drama that has been percolating for years but which now sweeps up our endless judicial fundraiser system and potential conflicts of interest :
And it has some source of light
Blindness, blindness and sight
The perils of benefactors
The blessings of parasites
Blindness, blindness and sight
Threatened by all things
Devil of cruelty
Drawn to all things
Devil of delight
Mythical devil of the ever-present laws
Governing blindness, blindness and sight
A Miami-Dade circuit judge won’t step out of a custody battle between two well-known South Florida lawyers even though the ex-wife’s attorney’s firm co-sponsored a political fundraiser for the judge’s re-election.This will be very interesting when the 3d DCA rules.
Carlton Fields partner Paul Calli is appealing Miami-Dade Judge Maria Espinosa Dennis’ decision to stay in the case. She is up for re-election this year.
Calli claims the fundraiser was within 48 hours of a scheduled hearing in the dispute with his ex-wife, Sarah Mourer, a University of Miami professor of clinical legal education and director of UM’s Death Penalty Clinic and co-director of the Innocence Clinic.
This is certainly a concern for Richard Milstein, a Miami attorney. He and his partner of 10 years, Eric Hankin, a public school teacher, have made sure their estate planning is in order. But if Milstein, who has two adult children with his ex-wife, were to die first, Hankin won’t be eligible for Social Security spousal benefits — though the couple married in Iowa two years ago.Here's another real-life consequence of our antiquated prohibition on same-sex marriages -- let's treat them like every other married couple.
“My siblings have children and there’s a certain expectation that these children will take care of them,” Hankin says. “I don’t have any children, but I’m fortunate to have stepchildren and we have a good relationship.”
But even that kind of relationship can be tenuous, whether or not the survivor is gay or straight.
Milstein says that’s one of his concerns if he outlives Hankin.
“I’m older so my thought is I will go first,” he says. “In that case, I worry if he will be able to continue that relationship” with Milstein’s children and a new grandchild.
Critics of all expression
Judges in black and white
Saying it's wrong, saying it's right
Compelled by prescribed standards
Or some ideals we fight
For wrong, wrong and right
Threatened by all things
Man of cruelty-mark of Cain
Drawn to all things
Man of delight-born again, born again
Man of the laws, the ever-broken laws
Governing wrong, wrong and right
Governing wrong, wrong and right
Wrong and right
It may be true, as the song lyrics say, that “When the moon is in the Seventh House / And Jupiter aligns with Mars / Then peace will guide the planets / And love will steer the stars,” but there was no peace and love between these parties after their contractual dispute arose.Oh man, that's a mighty long reach-around.
Nothing plus nothing is nothing, just as “nothing from nothing leaves nothing.”Billy Preston?
Robert C. Josefsberg, a partner with Podhurst Orseck in Miami, has been named to the steering committee in the Chinese Drywall multidistrict litigation in New Orleans, replacing outgoing partner Victor Diaz.Double hmmm.
Politics aside, Ferrer has a rare skill that is much needed in a U.S. attorney: He knows h ow to bridge the gap between two opposing sides, Hogan said.BTW, I didn't know Ricky Arriola raised over $200k for Obama -- nice!
“Willy has an amazing ability to walk into the room where everyone is diametrically opposed and, more times than not, get everyone on the same page,” Hogan said. “He understands people and their motivation, and he is very good at finding common ground.”
Memos obtained by The Miami Herald from the state department of education and South Florida school districts showed that Pearson had problems throughout the testing season, including:
- A subcontractor failed to deliver testing materials to some schools.
- Some of the company's student databases weren't compatible with state databases, delaying the bulk of student scores.
- Tenth-graders had to be given the exams again on paper after a computerized version had systemwide glitches.
- Technical problems plagued testing of the state's new computerized end-of-course exams.
Pearson officials did not respond to requests for comment from the Herald on Friday or The Associated Press on Sunday.
Additionally, to save money, the state opted to have the writing tests this year graded by one person instead of two. The state delayed releasing those results to make sure they were valid.
The state's chancellor for kindergarten through 12th grade, Frances Haithcock, sent a memo late Friday to superintendents apologizing for the scoring delays. She said the test results will be reliable.
"I fully intend to take action that will ensure the contractor-related problems experienced this year are not repeated in the future," she wrote.
School administrators say the delays make it difficult to make staffing decisions for the next academic year. For students, the scores determine which classes they can take, what extra help they need and whether they can change schools.
Pearson has had problems with exams in other states, too.
The company and the College Board settled a class action lawsuit for nearly $3 million after 4,400 students were underscored on the SAT in 2006.
Pearson was blamed for delays related to test-scoring problems in Arkansas last year and South Carolina in 2008. This year, Wyoming claimed $9.5 million in damages after an online test administered statewide by Pearson was plagued with glitches.
Mr. Campbell and his colleagues, each working from a home office, are frantically trying to set up a program that will let them share images with executives at their prospective partner.I love how this guy could not resist some stupid headline about a corpse when he needed to focus on his upcoming business meeting.But at the moment when Mr. Campbell most needs to focus on that urgent task, something else competes for his attention: “Man Found Dead Inside His Business.”
That is the tweet that appears on the left-most of Mr. Campbell’s array of monitors, which he has expanded to three screens, at times adding a laptop and an iPad.
On the left screen, Mr. Campbell follows the tweets of 1,100 people, along with instant messages and group chats. The middle monitor displays a dark field filled with computer code, along with Skype, a service that allows Mr. Campbell to talk to his colleagues, sometimes using video. The monitor on the right keeps e-mail, a calendar, a Web browser and a music player.
Even with the meeting fast approaching, Mr. Campbell cannot resist the tweet about the corpse. He clicks on the link in it, glances at the article and dismisses it. “It’s some article about something somewhere,” he says, annoyed by the ads for jeans popping up.
Preliminary research shows some people can more easily juggle multiple information streams. These “supertaskers” represent less than 3 percent of the population, according to scientists at the University of Utah.The problem is we all think we're in that three percent.
The deal offered a return of eight percent per month for the following four months. It involved a purported lawsuit against California-based Dole, which Faulkner said had settled for $500 million in the face of accusations that it had overstated the percentage of pineapple in juices it sold to school districts.So this is a secret whistleblower action -- possibly unfiled -- in which Dole forks over a half billion over mislabeling the content of its pineapple juice? And for some reason Dole wants to pay this half billion out over time?
Marc, why is your client still giving interviews to the Herald?"I keep seeing names on the Internet who were alleged investors of me and I have no idea who they are,'' Rothstein told The Herald on Thursday. "There are sublayers of people doing very, very bad things to people in my name, so we shall see.''
"Not that I didn't do something wrong, and I'm back here to fix it,'' he said. "I made a decision to come back from Morocco and do the right thing. I know people are laughing and saying he can't repay these people, and they are wrong.''
“We are in the eye of the hurricane. This is the calm,” Freeman said.Ok, this time he went with a naturally-occuring disaster. What else:
“That’s the trend we are going to see in the future: The superhero of the court system and litigation,” Freeman said.Superhero? But Lew, they're all ambivalent, conflicted and moody nowadays.
“There’s so much backed up that when it comes out we are going to need hip boots,” he said. “It’s going to stink, and it’s going to be deep.”"And I'm just talking about breakfast," Freeman added.
