Things That Make You Go "Hmmm."

Let's see....wake up South Florida!

John Pacenti is a fantastic reporter, and I've certainly had my fun with Big Lew, but I sort of agree with Joe DeMaria regarding the Lew Freeman emails that appear on the front page of today's DBR.

They're entertaining as you would expect -- and naturally involve food and bowel movements -- but where's the newsworthiness?

They seem private to me and I feel somewhat uneasy reading them.  That doesn't mean they shouldn't be published if there's some larger point to them, but I guess I'm not seeing it at the moment.

Or maybe I'm missing something -- what do you all think?

Other exciting news -- the guy in charge of handling US renditions to Egypt is now Mubarak's new VP -- that definitely makes me go "hmmm."  And even Dr. Zhivago says it is time for regime change.

Hmmm.

But this is my favorite "hmmm" moment of the morning (from today's DBR but not online):

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.

Young Vic Diaz To Start Own Law Firm!

We're really happy for him:

Attorney Victor M. Diaz Jr., a partner at Podhurst Orseck, is leaving the firm for a Miami Beach startup with three other lawyers from the firm.

Diaz has spent his whole law career at the Miami-based plaintiff-and-appellate law firm since graduating from Yale Law School in 1985.

“Victor is a great friend and an exceptional attorney,” Aaron Podhurst, founding partner of Podhurst Orseck said in a joint statement issued by Diaz and the firm. “While his departure is bittersweet, I am proud to see him fulfill a dream of building a firm on his own.”

Also, I found an old high school photo of Victor which also still happens to appear on the Podhurst firm website:

I sure hope he tries out for track next year!

Judge Brown Gets Results!

Amazingly, somehow, the Podhurst and Motley Rice firms have agreed on a location for their upcoming mediation:

Pursuant to the Court’s November 24th, 2010, order, the Parties have met and conferred regarding mandatory mediation and pending discovery requests. Parties have agreed to hold mediation at the Podhurst Offices at a time convenient for the mediator, Mr. Shapiro, and counsel. Further, Podhurst has agreed to voluntarily withdraw the pending discovery requests until after mediation has taken place and if mediation is unsuccessful.

 This is a clear victory for the Judeo/Legal system.

Magistrate Judge Brown Has Another Interesting Case!

Judge Brown Has Another Case

Longtime readers know I am a great fan of Magistrate Judge Brown so I'm pleased to see he's got more on his plate than toe-tapping footsie follies.

For example, here he is presiding over one of the most painful episodes in all litigation -- a fight over where to hold a mediation.

That mind-numbing dispute is almost as idiotic as fighting over the location of a deposition, but possesses a bit more irony given that the dispute is over where to meet to try to resolve the underlying dispute.

Anyways, Judge B handles it as only he can:

Rarely, if ever, in the Court's thirty-eight plus years of experience in the Judeo/Legal system has the court seen "so much about so little". Motley Rice does not want to attend mediation at the Podhurst offices. The reasons for same are, to be kind, unclear. This is a mediation - not a trial...the Podhurst employees will not be jurors deciding this matter. Motley Rice can bring an electronics expert to check the "break-out room" Podhurst offers to be used, so as to make sure it isn't bugged.

The Podhurst firm doesn't want to go to Plantation - it is too inconvenient. The Podhurst firm litigates all over the country .. .indeed all over the world ... but Plantation is too inconvenient. Apparently there are no direct flights from Miami to Plantation. Podhurst's position is bolstered, in part, by the allegation that "other interested Parties ... have indicated an intent to attend the mediation ... " (page 3 of the response). "Edward Montoya, whose work with Motley Rice is the subject of this lien, needs to attend the mediation. Counsel for some of the Defendants involved... have also indicated that they would attend the mediation ... ". (ld.) Apparently someone needs to point out that mediation is NOT a public proceeding. See Local Rule 16(g)(2) ... and while on the subject of actually citing law, the Court notes that neither party cited any as regards the location of the mediation ... probably because it's more a matter of professionalism than adversarial legality.

Thanks to the loyal tipster who forwarded this along -- your No-Prize is in the mail!

I don't say this often, but read the whole thing.

Judge Huck Cites Emily Dickinson And "International Concept of Due Process."

huckdickinsonorder

Ok, maybe not a entirely fair headline, but I have to spice things up somehow.

Actually, this is an interesting order in which Judge Huck denies reconsideration of his refusal to enforce $97 million in Nicaraguan judgments against Dole over alleged injuries sustained from the pesticide DBCP sprayed on Nicaraguan banana plantations.

We've previously discussed this case here and here.

Judge Huck's Dickinson reference brought back some pleasant college memories:

But now, Plaintiffs contend that, unbeknownst to the participants in this lawsuit, including, apparently, Plaintiffs themselves, late arriving, independent legal grounds have emerged that compel recognition of Plaintiffs’ judgment. This alone is reason to deny Plaintiffs’ motion. “The past is not a package one can lay away.” EMILY DICKINSON, SELECTED LETTERS 290 (Thomas H. Johnson, ed., Belknap Press of Harvard University Press 1986) (1914). Rules 59 and 60 do not provide litigants with an opportunity to test new legal theories in the absence of an intervening change in controlling law.

Classy and erudite (and properly cited!), but I might have went with this bon mot:

For each ecstatic instant
We must an anguish pay
In keen and quivering ratio
To the ectasty.

For each beloved hour
Sharp pittances of years,
Bitter contested farthings
And coffers heaped with tears.
I don't know, maybe the Judge's reference was more on-point.

Then we have Judge Huck's reference to that dreaded hip Eurobeast, international "law":

In refusing to recognize the judgment, the Court applied the “international concept of due process” outlined by the Seventh Circuit in Society of Lloyd’s v. Ashenden, 233 F.3d 473, 476-77 (7th Cir. 2000). Osorio, 2009 WL 3398931, at *16, 2009 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 99981, at *51.

Woah -- I guess the Judge is unaware of the mild hand-wringing that occasioned Yale Law Professor Harold Koh's nomination to serve as legal advisor to the State Department or Justice Sotomayor's comments on "foreign law" (she actually said Justices Scalia and Thomas had a point).

Old Europe and Emily Dickinson, all in one order -- that must have been one nice Valentine's Day.

Prieto!

I like it when rumors by my tipsters are validated, it makes me feel like all is well with the world.

So John Pacenti's article on Pete Prieto's move from defense lawyer at H&K to full-time plaintiff's lawyer at Podhurst was satisfying:

“Working in a litigation boutique is considered by many to be the gold standard,” Prieto said. “To handle complex and challenging cases with great lawyers who also happen to be my friends was incredibly appealing.”

Aaron says pay has not yet been discussed:

Podhurst wouldn’t discuss what kind of compensation he offered Prieto to lure him from Holland & Knight.“We just wanted to have him,” he said. “Those things haven’t even been discussed. He wants to come, and we want him. We are going to treat him right.”

Congrats all around!

Dreaming of Soofganiyot.

Well kids, I'm warming up the dreidel and pulling out the soofganiyot recipes, and yet here we are still dealing with the slings and arrows of this thing we call "practicing law."

I just bumped into Aaron Podhurst by the Starbucks near the courthouse, looking trim and thin btw.

Congrats to him and the leadership team he has put together for the Miami Art Museum, including lawyers Juan P. Loumiet and Arthur Halsey Rice.

Now it's time to raise some gelt, fellas.

Speaking of conflicts, former Justice Sandra Day O'Connor and other state court justices will be rolling out a campaign to end judicial elections:

Many judges and the American Bar Association argue the legal system is tainted by judges seeking campaign donations.

"It doesn't support the fundamental principle of judges acting fairly and impartially," Ohio Chief Justice Tom Moyer told The Associated Press.

A judicial think tank at the University of Denver has assembled a group of prominent judges, including O'Connor, to push for the abolition of directly elected judges in the 33 states that have them.

They want state commissions made up mostly of non-lawyers to pick judges. Governors would appoint judges the commissions select, and voters would decide in future elections whether the judges keep their jobs.

Exactly -- I mean, that worked out pretty good in Broward recently. Maybe anybody wearing a mustard suit need not apply?

Meanwhile, the federal judiciary gets a $357 million boost in its budget for 2010, less than what is needed but better than a budget cut.

Sorry Judge Fay, still no judicial pay raise yet.

Ok, back to my recipes.

Lawyer Spotlight -- Steven Marks

Steven sure has generated a lot of news recently.

First, there's the $22.5 billion Bank of New York Russian customs case, which settled for $14 million (prior coverage here).

Then there was Judge Huck's ruling in the Dole matter, which has a number of facts that aren't too hot, as noted by CNNMoney's Roger Parloff:

The broad terms of Huck's ruling make its reasoning virtually certain to control the outcome of a companion DBCP case known as Herrera Rios v. Standard Fruit Co., in which U.S. Lawyers were expected to seek enforcement of another $800 million in Nicaraguan court judgments.

While Judge Huck did not reach the question of fraud, he did note, as relevant to the due process issues, that the Nicaraguan judge in the Osorio case had prevented Dole from introducing into evidence 151 birth certificates indicating that at least 32 of the 150 prevailing claimants in the Osorio case (representing $21 million of the $97 million judgment) had fathered at least one child after his last alleged exposure to DBCP.

One plaintiff, for instance -- who had been awarded $574,880 for sterility and related mental distress -- had, by his own admission, fathered at least four children after his last DBCP exposure. (Dole's evidence suggested that this plaintiff had actually fathered nine children in all, including eight after his last exposure.)

Huck also found that, even assuming the plaintiffs' medical claims were accurate -- the Nicaraguan procedures had not permitted Dole to test the plaintiffs independently -- more than half of them (78 of the 150) "suffered from injuries for which, according to the unrefuted medical testimony presented to the Court, there is no medical evidence that DBCP is capable of causing."

The average recovery in both the Osorio and Herrera Rios cases was about $650,000 per plaintiff, which is a lot of money in a country where most of the population earns less than $2 a day. According to Judge Huck's ruling, Nicaraguan labor law ordinarily requires employers to pay no more than $1,240 to compensate the family of a worker who has died or become totally disabled due to occupational hazards.

So let's see -- no forum nons to Ecuador, now Nicaragua, the list keeps growing.....

Finally, Steven just filed this interpleader action before Judge Gold involving disputed fees arising from the Siber Air settlement.

Boy, I sure hope he checked the redaction box, we don't need any more issues coming up this week.

Smiles, Everyone!

We've previously written about the $22.5 billion RICO suit that Podhurst's Steven Marks brought in Russia against the Bank of New York Mellon, which involved an expert affidavit by none other than Michael Hanzman.

Forbes previously reported that the plaintiffs were looking at something like $800 million as a reasonable settlement figure.

Looks like that didn't go too well:

The Bank of New York Mellon has reached an agreement to settle a $22.5 billion lawsuit by the Russian government for $14 million, after the two sides made a separate deal for a trade-financing pact, a senior Russian government official said Wednesday.

Alexei Kudrin, the Russian finance minister, told legislators that the giant American bank will cover legal costs incurred during the two-year suit, which was tied to a late 1990s scandal in which a bank executive was accused of secretly moving $7.5 billion out of the country.

Mr. Kudrin said that the Russian Federal Customs Service, which brought the suit, had “insufficient” evidence to win the case, which was being heard in Moscow Arbitration Court.

So the $14 million covers Steve's fees and costs, and that's it?

Ok, maybe that's not a bad result after all.

Steven Marks Defends Integrity of Nicaraguan Legal System (and also Co-Counsel).

Hi kids, how was your weekend?

The details of mine were quite inconsequential, really.

Very well, where do I begin? My father was a relentlessly self-improving boulangerie owner from Belgium with low grade narcolepsy and a penchant for buggery. My mother was a fifteen year old French prostitute named Chloe with webbed feet. My father would womanize, he would drink. He would make outrageous claims like he invented the question mark. Sometimes he would accuse chestnuts of being lazy. The sort of general malaise that only the genius possess and the insane lament. My childhood was typical. Summers in Rangoon, luge lessons. In the spring we'd make meat helmets. When I was insolent I was placed in a burlap bag and beaten with reeds- pretty standard really. At the age of twelve I received my first scribe. At the age of fourteen a Zoroastrian named Vilma ritualistically shaved my testicles.......

So are you following the unfolding drama playing out in federal court regarding Podhurst, Nicaragua, and the pesticide DBCP?

It's a role-reversal of sorts for forum non junkies -- normally the defendants are claiming the foreign legal system is okey-dokey, and the plaintiffs are railing against the lack of justice in corrupt courts run by big multi-nationals.

Here it's the opposite -- the Nicaraguan courts have fast-tracked injury sterility claims by farmers involving the pesticide DBCP, and plaintiff's lawyers are seeking to have those foreign judgments honored in federal court in Miami.

But out in LA a state court judge, Victoria Chaney, has questioned whether the claims and plaintiffs in related cases are manufactured, and has apparently implicated Podhurst co-counsel in the Miami cases, Texas lawyer Mark Sparks:

The scam, Chaney wrote, was part of a much wider fraud in Nicaragua -- a thriving industry of manufacturing plaintiffs to capitalize on a justice system rigged against multinational corporations.

At the center of that system, she wrote, is a law passed by the Nicaraguan government in 2001 that ordered the courts to fast-track DBCP claims.

Anybody claiming to have been exposed to the chemical on a banana farm who can produce a lab report showing he is sterile is entitled to damages. Evidence presentation is limited to eight days, after which the court has three days to decide the case. Defendants, such as Dole, must deposit millions of dollars in a trust for the right to defend themselves. They generally don't bother because it is almost impossible for them to win.

As the Florida case is set to restart, attorneys for Dole have already submitted Chaney's ruling to bolster their argument that the $97-million judgment in Nicaragua was a sham.

The plaintiffs' attorneys countered that Chaney's ruling is full of inaccuracies and overly broad.

"It's amazing to me that a judge can criticize in a sweeping way an entire country's integrity and make a ruling on every individual's honesty and integrity, even those who aren't before her," said plaintiffs' attorney Steven Marks of the Miami-based firm Podhurst Orseck.

Chaney's ruling implicates Provost and Umphrey, a Texas law firm representing plaintiffs in the Florida case along with Podhurst Orseck, in the alleged fraud in Nicaragua. Chaney wrote that one of its attorneys, Mark Sparks, was present in a 2003 meeting in Nicaragua at which lawyers, medical laboratory officials and a judge set out a plan to manufacture evidence and bolster cases in the Nicaraguan courts.

In court filings, Sparks and his firm denied he ever attended such a meeting, and argued that Chaney's ruling was fundamentally unfair because it did not offer them the right to defend themselves.

The ruling was based primarily on information from witnesses whose names and unredacted testimony to Dole lawyers remain sealed under an order by Chaney, who became convinced that their lives would be in danger if their identities were made public.

In any case, the plaintiffs' lawyers in the Florida case said they had no involvement in the California cases.

Sparks and his firm released a statement saying they "are confident that our investigation, testing and diagnosis protocols were superior to other firms in this litigation."

In other words -- go pound sand, Judge Chaney.

Our interest in this case has nothing to do with sperm motility or related health issues, I assure you, but we will nevertheless be following this one closely.

Victor Diaz Probably Doesn't Like "Dogs Playing Cards" Much Either.

Hi kids!

Is it me, or is Podhurst partner Victor Diaz looking better and better? The sharp clothes, the funky glasses, the man is just rockin' it lately.

But you won't see him buying any Velvet Elvis oil paintings:

Commissioner Victor Diaz, who has been outspoken in his desire to keep Gehry at all costs, said the city has mismanaged the project -- and mishandled the famed architect.

He said Gehry was right to be offended by the tone of comments by city officials during public meetings, including suggestions he was hard to work with and a ''prima donna.'' And he said commissioners should hardly be surprised that Gehry would prove expensive.

'It's like saying I want to buy a Picasso and when you get the price, saying, `I'll buy from the guy at the Coconut Grove arts festival, he is just as good,' '' Diaz said. ``I'm not sure that certain individuals on the City Commission understood the genius we were dealing with and treated him with sufficient deference.''

Miami Beach, carefully run by a bunch of hacks since 1915. Thank goodness Victor is there to provide a modicum of reason and dignity to that hopeless crew.

BTW, Victor you need to update your firm photo. You look great nowadays, no need to use that pic from 1985, ok?

Fortune Doesn't Like Steven Marks That Much.

Roger Parloff, senior editor at Fortune Magazine, has penned this odd ode to Podhurst lawyer Steven Marks:

The good news is that a Moscow judge adjourned Tuesday's scheduled pretrial hearing in Russia's dubious $22.5 billion suit against the Bank of New York Mellon to allow the parties to pursue settlement talks. The agency bringing the suit, the Russian Federal Customs Service, had requested the talks in a short letter that the bank's lawyers received Friday.

The bad news is that an anonymous "Russian government" source has been quoted in the Russian newspaper Kommersant as suggesting that $800 million would be a reasonable figure for resolving the suit.

On top of many other reasons why Russia's suit, which has extortionate overtones, must not be permitted to succeed -- see my September feature story in FORTUNE, "Bank of New York's $22.5 Billion Headache" -- there's now a capper. Last October the bank, at the U.S. Treasury's bidding, accepted $3 billion in TARP (Troubled Assets Relief Program) money.

Are taxpayers now going to watch more than a quarter of that money go to Russia to pay off a fishy-smelling suit? And even if taxpayers could stomach that, are they prepared to then see 29% of the $800 million -- $232 million -- pass through to American lawyer Steven Marks of Miami's Podhurst Orseck, who represents victims in many airplane crash cases and who has been Russia's contingent-fee trial counsel in the weird case? Court records show that that's what Marks's retainer agreement calls for him to receive. Marks did not return emails seeking comment.

No, I think the public would rather see BoNY-Mellon blow all the money on bonuses and corporate parties!

BTW, it's a private contract that calls for Marks to accept huge risk for uncertain or perhaps no reward -- I thought this was to be encouraged? I also love how Parloff acts as if the Bank had to be begged -- "at the U.S. Treasury's bidding" -- to accept the TARP money.

Oh you're a funny man, Mr. Parloff.

Putting aside the merits of the suit (which does look somewhat weak), you still have to be amazed at Parloff's entire premise -- that by filing the action in Russia, Marks was attempting to make use of a corrupt foreign legal system that favors the entrenched and powerful, instead of filing in America where all sides have an equally fair shot.

Not exactly the type of argument you'd expect from a Fortune 500 macher.

Indeed, isn't that the 900-pound gorilla in the room whenever the court deals with a forum non motion by a large corporate defendant? You know, when the corporation swears that the legal system in some small backwater where it happens to control the economy and all the levers of power is perfectly suited to adjudicate some poor schmuck's claim?

Please Fortune -- don't tell us what you and your readers really think of foreign legal systems. You're gonna shoot my Kinney analysis all to hail!

An Actual Court Hearing!

What do you know -- I'm going to Court this morning! And that means lots of lawyers on the other side, a judge, a court reporter, and a courtroom.

If I'm lucky maybe there'll even be some law involved. It's state court, so who knows?

Congrats to the DBR for their new redesign -- I was at the unveiling at the Havana Club last Tuesday, and I like it alot. What do you all think?

In other news, the arts festival was a lot of fun but not really a success, Carlton Fields rubs it in, and here are two words you don't say together often enough:

Alex Rundlet and marine hoses.

Have a good day everybody!

Republican Plaintiff Lawyers Celebrate Crist's Marriage to Real Live Heterosexual Woman!

Howdy folks, so are you on the guest list to the Gov's big "marriage" thingy?

What's that, you won't say?

Oh I get it -- don't ask, don't tell.

Well the Herald leaked a few names anyway -- funny, they all happen to be hotshot Republican plaintiffs' lawyers: Roberto Martinez, Dean Colson, and Paul Huck, Jr., all of Colson Hicks.

Also good guy, former federal law clerk, and current power broker Manny Kadre. That guy gets invited to everything.

Have fun, boys!

Meanwhile, did anyone catch this story in yesterday's NYT on the fledgling "liberal" equivalent to the Federalist Society, something called the American Constitution Society:

When Eric H. Holder Jr. addressed a convention of the American Constitution Society for Law and Policy in June, he urged young lawyers to get involved in the liberal legal network, saying America would soon be “run by progressives.”

“With this new administration that will be taking its place in January of 2009, you know, we are going to be looking for people who share our values,” said Mr. Holder, a member of the society’s board. He added that a “substantial number of those people” would probably be “members of the A.C.S.”

Six months later, Mr. Holder is preparing to take over the Justice Department as President-elect Barack Obama’s choice for attorney general. And the American Constitution Society, founded in 2001 to be a liberal counterweight to the conservative Federalist Society, is rising to power.

Although Mr. Obama has just started to fill the thousands of politically appointed jobs in his administration, the society’s affiliates are already well positioned to shape legal policy, hiring decisions and judicial nominations for years to come. In addition to Mr. Holder, other prominent officials in the new administration who have ties to the society include Lisa Brown, the White House staff secretary; Melody Barnes, who will direct the Domestic Policy Council; and Ronald Klain, chief of staff to Vice President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr.

Three other society board members are on the transition’s agency review team, and observers expect that the Obama team will turn to society members to fill subcabinet positions and judgeships.

“People who are committed enough to a progressive vision of the law to work for and with A.C.S. when progressives are out of office are going to be a natural resource when the electoral winds shift,” said Orin S. Kerr, a conservative-leaning law professor at George Washington University who has spoken at society events.

But with power comes temptation. Several society leaders said they were mindful that the Bush administration had gotten into trouble by considering applicants’ affiliations with ideological groups like the Federalist Society when hiring for nonpartisan positions.

“That will not be repeated in the Justice Department in the next administration,” vowed Dawn Johnsen, a law professor at Indiana University who is an American Constitution Society board member and co-chairwoman of the transition’s Justice Department review. “I feel like I can say that with confidence.”

While of course I know of the Federalist Society -- how many times do I have to see Richard Thornburgh at the Miami City Club drone on about constitutional protections in the Age of Terror? -- I personally have never heard of the ACS.

Yet apparently there is a South Florida chapter, run by Steve Rosenthal over at the Podhurst firm.

Since it's unlikely Steve will be at the big St. Pete wedding, maybe he can weigh in on what the ACS is doing locally. If it involves Dick Thornburgh and the City Club, count me out.

The Bank of New York Mellon Doesn't Like Michael Hanzman

Get a load of this hilariously-worded press release, obviously written in Russian and poorly translated by somebody for whom English is a second or third language. The release is about expert testimony submitted in a case brought against the Bank of New York in a Russian court by the Russian Federal Customs Service, which is represented by Podhurst lawyer Steven Marks. Here is how the release describes the case:

The meritless claims in the case, which were devised by trial lawyers from Miami, Florida, center on unspecified customs duties that the FCS alleges were owed to Russia on funds transferred out of the country in the 1990s, some of which moved through accounts at The Bank of New York. U.S. courts have summarily dismissed attempts by these trial lawyers to use the same legal theories to bring similar claims for customs duties against U.S. tobacco companies on behalf of Belize, Ecuador and Honduras.

A pretty fair and balanced account, don't you think? From what I can glean from this amateurish press release, the question before the Moscow court is whether US RICO law could be applied and, if so, whether or not the complaint pleads a proper RICO count. In support of the motion to dismiss, the Bank submitted the affidavit of former US Attorney General Richard Thornburgh.

In opposition, Steve submitted the affidavit of none other than SFL fave Michael Hanzman (sheesh, get a web presence already!), which I guess the Bank doesn't think too highly of. Here's their laughable account of Michael's testimony:

Lawyers for the FCS submitted an "expert affidavit" on U.S. RICO law from Michael Hanzman, who, like FCS's lead counsel Steven Marks, is a plaintiffs' lawyer also based in Miami, Florida. Hanzman specializes in initiating class actions in product liability and securities law cases, not RICO law. Further, his "expert affidavit" is full of misstatements of fact and governing law, and fails to address key points made by The Bank of New York Mellon in its motion to dismiss the case for lack of jurisdiction. For example:

-- Hanzman repeats the falsehood, also cited in the FCS's Statement of
Claim, that the Company admitted violating various U.S. criminal
statutes in its Non-Prosecution Agreement with the U.S. Department of
Justice.  As is clear from the face of the Non-Prosecution Agreement
and Mr. Thornburgh's affidavit, the Company was never charged with
violating any of those criminal statutes, and it certainly did not
admit to violating them as Hanzman erroneously claims in his affidavit.
-- Hanzman inexplicably cites from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth
Circuit, Republic of the Philippines v. Marcos, where the government of
the Philippines brought a RICO claim in a U.S. court.  This case,
instead of supporting the FCS's position, in fact supports the
Company's legal argument that all RICO cases must be brought in U.S.
courts.
-- Hanzman fails to cite a single case where a foreign court has applied
U.S. RICO law, apparently because no such case exists.
-- His affidavit completely fails to address the Company's argument that
RICO requires a court to engage in a criminal law analysis and that
this particular court, the Russian Arbitrazh Court, does not and cannot
apply criminal law.

Yeah, Mike's not qualified to opinion on RICO.

If this is all they have for rebuttal, the Bank is in trouble.