Arbitration & Mediation

Gekko the Great and the Smell of Napalm in the Morning

By Victoria Pynchon

One of my early mentors instructed me that "any yutz with ears can win a case on the merits ~ a truly great lawyer wins on procedure."

Still, when the New York Post crows Judge tosses Michael Douglas' ex-wife's bid for 'Wall Street' money and proclaims Gekko the Great wins again, I'm expecting actual victory, not the following:

Manhattan Supreme Court Judge Matthew Cooper ruled that a New York court was not the proper venue for the suit by Diandra Douglas. He dismissed her complaint on that narrow jurisdictional ground, without ruling on the merits of the case.

 

Diandra, 52, now has the option of re-launching the action in California, or of appealing Cooper's decision.

 

Her lawyer, Nancy Chemtob, said, "We respectfully disagree with the decision, and intend to appeal. Both parties are residents of New York, and the case should be decided here."

This is a litigator's victory, one of those battles won where you're counting on the price exacted by the sheer expense of fighting you.  You're feeling like a King of the Universe.  You will grind them down until they beg to dismiss their own law suit.

But then they appeal the jurisdictional ruling?  Really?  Instead of simply re-filing in California?

Victory like this recalls Robert Duvall's great Apocalypse Now speech ending with the immortal line . . . I love the smell of napalm in the morning . . . it smells like . . . vic'try.

Full post as published by Settle It Now Negotiation Blog on November 16, 2010 (boomark / email).