Newly Filed Documents in Lewis Tein Dispute!

A blockbuster filing in the Lewis Tein state court case accuses Miccosukee Tribal lawyers of committing fraud on the Court.

The filing attaches two documents that appear to support Lewis Tein's account of the financial arrangement between them and their clients -- that the monies provided by the Tribe were merely advances or loans that the clients were obligated to repay.

The first document appears to be an internal Tribe account statement reflecting monies advanced or loaned by the Tribe to the clients.

The second consists of minutes of Tribal general council meetings in which the clients request advances or loans so they can pay Lewis Tein's legal fees.

The motion asks the Court to issue a show cause order holding the Tribe's attorneys in contempt, as well as a referral to the Florida Bar for numerous violations of the Bar rules and for "direct and knowing fraud on the Court."

Happy holidays!

Lewis Tein RICO Suit Update: Somebody Got "Disemboweled"; Also Martians in Spaceships!

How many pithy quotes can Paul Calli manage to wedge into John Pacenti's latest on the Miccosukee Tribe v. Lewis Tein matter?

And the hits just keep on coming:

"Jasper Nelson's deposition disembowels the tribe's wild accusations and lawsuits," Calli said.

A most unpleasant image!

And this:

"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.

Your Monday Morning Iqbal Update

I know I know, Iqbal is so 2009, almost as old as that Sony Playstation Mike Tein held up in front of Magistrate Judge Turnoff the other day.

Still, some judges continue to cite to it, as BLT notes:

A federal judge in Illinois refused to dismiss a lawsuit against former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld by two Americans who claimed they were detained and interrogated in Iraq.

David Vance and Nathan Ertel, who traveled to Iraq in 2005 to work for a security firm, filed suit against Rumsfeld and the U.S. government alleging that they were taken into custody and interrogated by the military because of suspicion that their company was providing arms to insurgents. They claim they were placed in cages, strip searched and questioned using “physically and mentally coercive tactics,” before they were finally released weeks later.

Rumsfeld filed a motion to dismiss. However, Judge Wayne Anderson of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois today allowed one claim against him to go forward, finding the two contractors pleaded enough details to implicate the former secretary. See the opinion here.

Placed in cages, strip searched and questioned using "physically and mentally coercive tactics"?

I don't like to repeat myself, but again -- I've seen worse in the bounce house at Chucky Cheese.

How did Judge Anderson handle this meshuga "plausibility" standard:

“Iqbal undoubtedly requires vigilance on our part to ensure that claims which do not state a plausible claim for relief are not allowed to occupy the time of high-ranking government officials. It is not, however, a categorical bar on claims against these officials. When a plaintiff presents well-pleaded factual allegations sufficient to raise a right to relief above a speculative level, that plaintiff is entitled to have his claim survive a motion to dismiss even if one of the defendants is a high-ranking government official.”

Let me translate this for all you burnouts out there in radioland:

While preachers preach of evil fates
Teachers teach that knowledge waits
Can lead to hundred-dollar plates
Goodness hides behind its gates
But even the president of the United States
Sometimes must have to stand naked.

Finally, didn't Kate Winslet look amazing yesterday?

Mike Tein Saves Everglades, One Decaying Road At A Time.

Everglades Road

Mike scored a huge victory Wednesday on behalf of the Miccosukee Tribe and pretty much everyone else:

A Miami federal judge has dismissed and closed a case brought by the Miccosukee Tribe against the National Park Service after the government agreed not to rebuild a decaying Everglades road without an extensive environmental review.

In an order Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Patricia Seitz granted the government’s motion to close the case, handing a victory to the tribe and Miami attorney Michael Tein.

The partner at Lewis Tein sued the government for failing to hold public hearings, notify the tribe or conduct environmental reviews before moving forward with plans to work on the 24-mile Loop Road, which runs through the Everglades and tribal lands off U.S. 41.

Fresh off this win, I have asked Mike to personally oversee the Burmese Python problem, Asian Carp, health care, global warming and doing something about Sarah Palin.

Rome wasn't built in a day.....

The SS Madoff Sinks; Wake Lifts All Boats?

John Pacenti of the DBR turns in a nice piece on the local lawyers and accountants salivating over the Madoff disaster:

Mark Raymond, managing partner of Broad and Cassel’s Miami office, said he represents a number of clients who lost millions when Madoff’s house of cards collapsed.

“There are people whose boat has capsized, and they are adrift,” he said. “There are families who went to bed at night with multimillion-dollar networks. I’m talking about networks worth $30, $50, $70 million, and all they have left are their homes and their cars because they put all of their money with Madoff.”

Raymond and other attorneys contacted for this story said the receiver, New York attorney Lee Richards of Richards Kibbe & Orbe, will take over what’s left of the investment firm bearing Madoff’s name and target investors who made money before the fall.

“They may have gotten out of the Titanic alive, but the ship may come back and sink them down the road,” said Lewis Freeman, a forensic accountant and attorney with Lewis B. Freeman & Associates in Miami.

Fired up, Lew continued:

"Yeah, it's like the investors are a penniless stowaway who think they're the king of the world, and Madoff is like a beautiful young socialite who is dangerously attracted to the stowaway but has agreed to marry Billy Zane. And Norm Braman is like Molly Brown. Is any of this making any sense?"

You know, I was ok with the sinking boat imagery when it was in Mark's steady hands. But leave it to Lew to always finds a way to take it one step too far.

UPDATE:

Intrepid reporter Julie Kay finds more local lawyers who want to sue some as-yet-unknown entities over Madoff. No sinking boat references, but there is this:

Michael Tein of Lewis Tein in Coconut Grove, Fla., is also looking to target third parties.

"We're going to be as aggressive as possible in pursuing third-party liability to the extent that we can," said Tein. Tein and his partner, Guy Lewis, are representing investors from South American and Manhattan who had invested $20 million with Madoff, including one client who invested $11.5 million. He declined to name the clients.

"I am very pessimistic about the ability to recover the investment itself," Tein said. "But the fraud is too big for there not to be a problem with banks, brokerage houses, clearinghouses and third party fiduciaries. It's not as if this gentleman kept all his money in-house."

And if he did, sue the maid!

Pretty soon it will be impossible to bump into anyone in this town who is not on one side or another of this thing.