While we’re at it, there are other aspects of our voting process that desperately need to be changed.
• Voter purges late in the election year. It’s hard to avoid the conclusion that the purge carried out in Florida targeted minority voters and other communities that favor Democrats. It was ill-crafted and designed to restrict voting rights, rather than guarantee them. This is contrary to the best American traditions.
• Fewer early voting days. Was it just a coincidence that the early-voting schedule pushed by Gov. Rick Scott eliminated the last Sunday before the election, a day traditionally used by black churches to get their congregations to vote? You’d have to believe in the tooth fairy to buy that.
• Long, perplexing ballots. This year’s ballot goes on and on, with 11 constitutional amendments written about as clearly as those manuals that “explain” how to assemble a complicated children’s toy with 23 moving parts. Let’s not do this again.
Voting is a right, as well as a duty. Too many Americans take it for granted. Do your part and vote, and let’s hope that next time around those who make the laws make voting easier instead of harder.Third, here's the lawsuit Kendall Coffey, Mike Olin, Bruce Rogow, and Seth Miles filed to keep the early voting sites open, pending before Judge Ungaro:
12. The voting facilities within these Counties were plainly inadequate to meet the
needs of County electors seeking to exercise their right to vote during the early voting period provided by Florida law.
13. The extraordinarily long lines deterred or prevented voters from waiting to vote.
Some voters left the polling sites upon learning of the expected wait, and others refused to line up altogether.
14. These long lines and extreme delays unduly and unjustifiably burdened the right to vote.The complaint is only nine pages long and was prepared in a hurry, but can anyone seriously dispute the above three factual allegations?
"A Great Time For A Great Cause"
Fundraiser for Hurricane Sandy Victims Sponsored by Lawyers to the Rescue
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The event will include:
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Event Entrance Fee: $20.00 goes to the Red Cross Hurricane Sandy Relief Fund
To make a donation to this cause, please click on the link below:
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Rothstein said in a marathon deposition that he even enlisted a paralegal employed by his partner, Stuart Rosenfeldt, to pose as a Florida Bar staffer in a phone call with worried investor Ari Glass and his lawyer.Hey, why should that raise any alarm bells? Have you seen this guy's private elevator?
"I had given her a script to refer to about what was going on, what questions she should answer," Rothstein testified in the deposition. "I told her specifically that when they ask for something that she couldn't think up an answer for to just say that pursuant to the Bar rules she couldn't answer that type of question, that was her escape vow, so to speak."
Kendall Coffey of Miami will be the featured speaker at an Annual Convention seminar titled “Foreclosure Jurisprudence in Florida after the Real Estate Collapse.”The program, presented by The Florida Bar and LexisNexis, is set for June 24 from 2 to 4 p.m., at the Gaylord Palms Resort and Convention Center in Kissimmee.
"Suddenly the pouting sex kitten gave way to Diana the Huntress. She rolled onto him and was somehow sitting athwart his chest, her knees pinning his shoulders. 'Tell me, or I will make you do terrible things,' she hissed."Hey now!
Moreover, ATT's case management approach thus far frankly guarantees that the proposed amendments or supplementations will unnecessarily delay the resolution of this case....
...ATT has not demonstrated that it has diligently undertaken its responsibilities to prosecute this case...
Presumably ATT's counsel spoke with its experts prior to agreeing to this deadline. In any event, it demonstrates a lack of diligence to wait until the due date, August 13, to advise the Court that the survey would not be completed in time that ATT committed to for disclosure.
Nonetheless, ATT's attempt to resurrect the dismissed claims via the proposed supplementation is somewhat akin to engrafting a horse onto a horsefly - if it doesn't smother the fly it will certainly ensure that it never flies.And here's my favorite:
The Defendant should not have to outlay additional resources in defending this action because ATT has just come to market with a new product and its lawyers have, on the last day for amendments, divined an admittedly creative attempt to try to circumvent a dismissal with prejudice.
Before proposing such a fundamental expansion of this presently streamlined case, ATT would do well to consider its obligations of pre-suit due diligence as well as think through a realistic litigation management approach that achieves the promise of Rule 1 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, namely that civil actions and proceedings be administered to secure the just, speedy and inexpensive determination of every action and proceeding.
While ATT asserts that it would be inefficient to have ATT, CSI and PowerWave litigate these issues in separate suits, other than the fact that both ATT and Digital are parties in this action, ATT has provided no support for its efficiency argument as it applies to this lawsuit, rather than in a separate lawsuit. Indeed, just looking at the timing of the motion to amend, and then the shift to treating it as a motion to supplement plus the lack of consideration as to how the proposal will impact on others involved in the administration of this case, suggests that efficiency is only a buzz-word that counsel has employed rather than an apt description of an habitual approach to litigation.Ouch.
Littman lost his free attorney, former U.S. Attorney Kendall Coffey, but is hoping to get a new lawyer imminently.How the hail did that happen?
Former U.S. Attorney Kendall Coffey, not involved in the Miami case, says he could envision the Spence-Jones/Crist legal battle making its way to the state's highest court. ``She definitely has a chance of winning. The statute has no criteria for applying gubernatorial discretion.''There you go.
"Scott was good at spending money, but he wasn't that good," Mr. Rosenfeldt said, alluding to Mr. Rothstein's flamboyant lifestyle.And this one:
"When I met Scott he was already rich," Mr. Rosenfeldt said. "He told me he made a killing on stock." But, Mr. Rosenfeldt adds, "I now have to examine everything [Mr. Rothstein] told me."Yep, I would say that's a pretty good idea.
The Rothstein Rosenfeldt Adler law firm has hired prominent lawyer and former U.S. Attorney Kendall Coffey to represent it in what he called "very very difficult circumstances" caused by an imploding investment venture by the firm's president, Scott Rothstein, who is believed to be in Morocco.
"The allegations [against Rothstein] do not involve the firm's law practice, they involve an investment business that Scott Rothstein created," said Coffey, who contacted the Pulp this evening. "There are a number of allegations being made and I'm trying to assess the firm's position and what steps it may need to take."When asked if the firm's lawyers feel victimized by Rothstein, Coffey answered simply, "Yes." It's a near certainty that victims of Rothstein's investment scheme will sue the law firm and possibly even individual lawyers -- whether on solid ground or not -- in an attempt to get their money back.
Coffey said the law firm will be open for business Monday, but said it's too early to tell if the firm will survive. Other sources say that the firm is filing for bankruptcy Monday.
Bob's prior coverage is here, the Herald's coverage is here, and the Sun-Sentinel (after love jobs like this one) finally gets to it here.
Not to be outdone, I covered high-flyer Scott's public embrace of expensive suits and his deep personal interest in the message communicated by associate facial hair here.
So Bob, that makes us even?
UPDATE:
Jay Weaver writes of the complaint filed today by Coffey and an email by Chief Judge Tobin:
The complaint states, ``It is with surprise and sorrow that the attorneys of Rothstein Rosenfeldt Adler, P.A., have learned that Scott W. Rothstein, the managing partner and CEO of the firm, has, according to assertions of certain investors, allegedly orchestrated a substantial misappropriation of funds from investor trust accounts that made use of the law firm's name.''
The case will be heard at 4 p.m. before Judge Jeffrey Streitfeld.
Rothstein's partner, Stuart Rosenfeldt, is seeking immediate judicial action to facilitate the investigation of investor funds.
The firm was founded by Rosenfeldt and Rothstein in 2002 and currently employs more than 70 lawyers.
The complaint also states that a review of the firm's records undertaken this past weekend showed various funds that were controlled by Rothstein could not be accounted for. ``Some investors allege that defendant Rothstein may have been fabricating nonexistent structured legal settlements for sale to investors,'' the claim states.
Rothstein's actions were done without any knowledge of any other attorneys at the firm. ``And, in fact, Rothstein actively endeavored to hide the existence of the scheme,'' the claim says. Rosenfeldt and other lawyers only learned about the allegations several days ago, they said.
Broward Chief Judge Vic Tobin sent an email at 6:45 a.m. to judges about the Rothstein case.
`'I learned of some very distressing news yesterday....,'' Tobin wrote. ``Whoever draws the case try to set the motion today because of the amount of clients and money involved. Also if you have a case with te firm please be patient. I don;t know if they lawyers will come or not and if they do come there is no money at this point to go forward with the case or pay firm employees.''
Tobin also write that there may be ``multiple filing of receivership motions'' and that creditors may also file a motion.
News crews were outside the law firm's Las Olas Boulevard office in Fort Lauderdale Monday. They were not allowed access to the firm's office. No one was answering the phone at the firm.
Gotta love South Florida.
On top of that, there were these additional staffing issues:Last week, federal prosecutors unsealed an additional 30-page indictment charging Mutual Benefits’ founders and legal advisers with conspiracy, fraud and money laundering.
The case was randomly assigned to U.S. District Judge Marcia Cooke. However, Cooke issued an order Tuesday saying she was stepping aside.
U.S. District Judge Paul Huck, who then received the case, recused himself Thursday. Huck’s order, without giving specifics, cited “a conflict,” though he had presided over earlier criminal matters related to Mutual Benefits.
Steven Larimore, chief administrator for the federal court in South Florida, transferred the case Thursday afternoon to a third jurist, U.S. District Judge Adalberto Jordan.
The back-to-back judicial recusals, unparalleled in recent memory, followed an unusual decision by the two highest-ranking lawyers in the local U.S. Attorney’s Office to have no further involvement in matters related to Mutual Benefits.Luckily, by some miracle, Kendall Coffey was available and provided the following insight:
Question -- is there some contractual obligation to include a Kendall Coffey quote in any story ever written about our federal courts or the U.S. Attorney's Office?Former U.S. Attorney Kendall Coffey said the officials might be stepping aside to avoid “even the appearance of a conflict” in the case.
“Public officers have every right to stand back when conflict concerns arise,” Coffey said.
SFL: "Hello? Why yes Kendall, that's funny I was just about to post a story....ok, that's weird, you already knew that?
Alright, go ahead, what's the answer -- do you really have to be quoted in everything?"
KC: "Yes, I do."
SFL: "Thought so. Great, thanks. Talk to you soon, I'm sure."
KC: "Yes, you will."
"It's certainly not believable to assume that the entirety of the state's corruption is concentrated in Palm Beach," said Kendall Coffey, a Miami lawyer and the former U.S. attorney for South Florida.It's not? Holy hail, there goes my faith in Miami-Dade County.
"A possibility is that folks [in Palm Beach County] thought they were in a smaller city, rather than Miami, and can do certain things and fly under the radar screen," Jimenez said. "That obviously did not pan out for them."These guys don't miss anything.
