ABA's List of 25 Greatest Legal Movies

It's a snore-fest, but you can review their picks here.

No "Devil's Advocate"? No "The Firm"? No "Liar Liar" or "All of Me"? Wait a minute -- no "The Fortune Cookie" or "I Love You Alice B. Toklas"?

Now I'm getting steamed.

Celebrate Life

It's precious and fragile and your good fortune can change in a New York minute.

Steve Chaykin, RIP. The Aspen Daily News has a more complete account here.

3d DCA Watch -- The One In Which Judge Cope Becomes "Judicially Aware."

Well if you thought last week's edition was a little thin, you better take a pass on this week. You have your usual one-noter cert opinion from Judge Schwartz, as well as an economic-loss rule snoozer from Judge Wells. (Dear Judge Wells, the economic loss rule is confusing enough, is it too much to ask for some background facts before affirming with a string citation? Then your opinion could be useful to practitioners down the road. Just askin'.)

But it was this permanent alimony ruling from Judge Cope that caught my eye:

The husband is correct in saying that the wife should not have based her budget for housing on an assumed purchase of a home in the Florida Keys, when her actual plan was to relocate to Montgomery. Evidence was presented that costs are significantly lower in Montgomery, and we are judicially aware that the housing market in the Florida Keys is extremely expensive. The effect was to overstate the amount the wife needed for housing.

That's a neat trick, huh? It sure saves everyone time and money if you don't actually have to submit evidence at trial in order to prove a point on appeal, it simply is a sub silencio part of the "judicially aware" record. For example, the Court is "judicially aware" that attorney so and so is a complete butthead. Works for me!

Darn those judicial budget cuts really have affected everything.

"I Don't Want a Piece of You, I Want the Whole Thing!"

How about that? Scott Sheftall channels his inner Happy Gilmore:

Scott Sheftall calls himself the ''ultimate Cinderella story'' at this week's U.S. Senior Open.

A decent college golfer, Sheftall's best golf moments since then have come while on hand to see best friend Mark McCumber win two Doral titles and the 1988 Players Championship. He counts Fuzzy Zoeller as a client.

Now, though, the Miami attorney's own swing goes on display.

''This time, I'll get a little taste of it myself,'' said Sheftall, who tees it up Thursday alongside the likes of Zoeller, Tom Watson, Hale Irwin and Bernhard Langer at The Broadmoor in Colorado.

At 57, Sheftall is 10th-oldest among the 30 amateurs in the field. Only one, Dallas' Charles Palmer, is older among those making their Senior Open debuts.

''I figured at some time I might be able to put it all together,'' Sheftall said before he left for Colorado. ``Somehow, it all happened for me.''

Three decades ago, Sheftall helped Davidson College place second at the 1973 Southern Conference tournament. Eventually, he stopped playing competitively to focus on his law career. It wasn't until two years ago that he started entering tournaments again.

He earned his way to The Broadmoor by fighting off severe leg cramps to get into a three-man playoff for the last of two spots from a June 27 qualifier at Delray Dunes Golf Club. A birdie on the third extra hole punched his ticket.

''I don't know how I got through it,'' Sheftall said. ``I tried to be conscientious and drink a lot of Gatorade and eat a lot of bananas, but I still had [cramping] very bad.''

The pain got so intense that at one point, Sheftall was ready to lie down in the fairway between shots. It was then that his wife, Regina, reminded him of Tiger Woods' U.S. Open triumph on a bum leg two weeks earlier.

''If Tiger [Woods] can do it,'' she told him, ``you can do it.''

''It was a slap of reality,'' Sheftall recalled.

Scott's always been involved in charity golfing events, but who knew? Send the ball home, Scotty!

Smiles, Everyone, Smiles!

Boy it's another crappy day in paradise. I open up the paper and learn that Michael Putney thinks the Marlins stadium giveaway is a ridiculous joke, then I read how our schools chief was just named National Superintendent of the Year but he's about to be fired for no good reason.

Ok, that's business-as-usual in the Magic City. But here's the tragic news -- Ashley Dupre dropped her Girls Gone Wild lawsuit:

The call girl associated with former New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer has dropped a Miami lawsuit against "Girls Gone Wild" founder Joe Francis.

Court documents show Ashley Dupre voluntarily dismissed the $10 million federal lawsuit Thursday accusing Francis of exploiting her image and name on the Internet, The Associated Press reported. She said she was only 17 when she signed a binding contract giving permission to appear in the "Girls Gone Wild" video.

Come on! Gone is our chance for a really interesting 3d DCA Watch, one where Judge Schwartz could finally opine on the sanctity of contract law in the context of underage, drunken displays of public nudity. That would have made slogging through those opinions week after week worthwhile.....

Fake Eliot Spitzer, the tribe awaits your comments.

Sex, Lies, and Willie Gary?

Once again I ask -- why can't I ever get a case like this? This time Michael Pike gets to have all the fun:

West Palm lawyer Michael Pike included in his filing two X-rated homemade DVDs of Gary's single adult son, Kenneth, having sex with Nedd. The second DVD, according to Pike, was filmed a week after Nedd and Gary met in a Stuart Best Western, where Nedd claims he sexually assaulted her.

"She claims she was assaulted by the father yet, a week later, she's making an amateur sex video with the son," said Pike.

Stuart police investigated both the rape and extortion claims but declined to seek charges in either case.

Earlier this year, Gary's attorneys accepted a settlement agreement that required the Nedds to pay $100 to resolve the extortion suit. A judge at one point dismissed Jillian Nedd's suit against the Gary firm, but her attorneys refiled it soon afterward with more information.

Nedd and Kenneth Gary met through the woman's husband, Kelvin Nedd. He was Kenneth's physical fitness trainer.

Exhibits accompanying the documents to be filed in Martin County court Monday afternoon also include: Allegations of heavy drug use by Nedd; allegations of assault by Nedd against Kelvin Nedd; witness accounts that, the day before Nedd and Gary met at the Best Western, she bragged to stranger at the bar at Stuart Ale House of being "Willie Gary's mistress" and that she would soon "celebrate" Gary's birthday in a hotel. There's also a police report in the Miami area that indicates Nedd may have accused someone else of sexual assault.

Let's see:

Stuart Ale House? Check.
Best Western? Check.
Meeting Gary's son through fitness coach husband? Check.

Stuff of Carl Hiaasen novel? Most definitely.

Late 3d DCA Watch -- Waiting For The Man

Well, there's slim pickings in 3d DCA Watch, we probably should have just skipped the whole darn week. But let's take a looksy anyways at those wacky, wily bunch of robed troublemakers, yes it's 3d DCA Watch:

United Auto v. Garrido:

Wait a minute; do my eyes deceive me? Did United Auto actually win an appeal? On a writ no less? It does appear that way.

In this case the provider submitted untimely bills for reimbursement, which for some reason United Auto decided not to pay. The Circuit Court Appellate Division decided that United Auto waived its right to contest that these bills were untimely. No no Circuit Court Appellate Division, you've been a bad boy:

Under section 627.736(5)(c)(1), an insurer has no obligation to pay late-filed bills. See Coral Imaging Servs. v. Geico Indem. Ins. Co., 955 So. 2d 11 (Fla. 3d DCA 2006). Neither submitting untimely bills along with timely bills to an independent medical examiner for a determination of medical necessity, nor failing to check “late billing” as a reason for denying payment of untimely bills on an explanation of benefits form, constitutes a waiver of this provision. We therefore grant the writ because the Appellate Division’s decision to the contrary amounts to a violation of a clearly established principle of law resulting in a miscarriage of justice. Because the ruling potentially affects large numbers of claimants and large numbers of claims processed by insurers under personal injury protection (“PIP”) coverage, exercise of certiorari jurisdiction is appropriate.

Now maybe my English ain't too good, to paraphrase Rocky, but I think Judge Wells is saying you guys got this wrong, real bad. Super bad.

Related question for United Auto: Can you win a battle but lose the war?