Florida

Michael Grieco Wants You To Take His Business Card.

Posted on August 26, 2010
This is more Rump's turf, but anybody remember the prosecutor who got in trouble during the Sean Taylor trial for allegedly promoting his side business as a DJ on MySpace?Well he's got a hot new video in which he appears to be interviewed during a windstorm, "power walks" from a fake courthouse and across an abandoned office lobby, gets interrupted by his very lovely wife, possibly uses the calculator function on his phone, and then explains why you should always carry his business card...

3d DCA Watch -- Ticky Tacky Wicky Whacky Meaty Beaty Big and Bouncy!

Posted on August 25, 2010
I think it's pretty funny that The Who wound up releasing about five times as many compilations as original albums, but I still retain a fondness for their first one, which as Allmusic notes, actually had a purpose.And just like The Who kept going back to the well to release newly warmed-over collections of old material, so do the best-dressed appellate judges in South Florida, who have once again returned to the sad plight of truck owners in Coral Gables...

Exciting New CM/ECF Developments!

Posted on August 25, 2010
Hi folks, judicial elections are over, so everyone can take a deep breath.Here's a fun fact from a new Time poll on what Americans believe, as Stephen Colbert likes to say, in our guts:Twenty-eight percent of voters do not believe Muslims should be eligible to sit on the U...

Vote, Plebes!

Posted on August 24, 2010
I understand there is some kind of election today.Make your mom proud and go vote, ok?In other news, the intrepid one reports that the three foreclosure firms targeted by Bill McCollum's office is fighting back, filing motions to quash the subpoenas served upon them...

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Samantha Ruiz Cohen and Monica Gordo Receive Rousing Anti-Gay Anti-Endorsement!

Posted on August 24, 2010
I think it was ole Honest Abe who once said "[p]oliteness costs so little."With that in mind, a tipster passed along this exceedingly polite anti-endorsement for judicial candidates Samantha Ruiz Cohen and Monica Gordo, apparently by the editor of something called El Nuevo PATRIA:Voter Alert: UNQUALIFIED MIAMI-DADE JUDICIAL CANDIDATESTO THE GENERAL PUBLIC OF MIAMI-DADE COUNTY:Samantha Ruiz Cohen and Monica Gordo, both candidates for judge in Miami-Dade County, sought and received the endorsement of the extremist homosexualist hate group, "SAVE-Dade...

Heights of Audacity.....Officially Reached!!

Posted on August 24, 2010
Heights of Audacity Just curious -- is anybody in the office having another baby soon?(Don't worry, the way things are going this case might still be here nine months from now.)

Paralegals Working Overtime.

Posted on August 23, 2010
You know how your paralegal responds to your stupid emails on the weekend, brings your annoying depo materials home to work on at night, and answers your preposterous phone calls on a Sunday morning when you can't find a document -- can you believe they apparently expect to be paid for this???Not surprisingly, I like the comfortable and confident way Judge Marra deals with the Iqbal argument (a bill also languishing in Congress) that the pleading does not sufficiently detail how or when the defendant law firm The Hurst Law Group allegedly violated the FLSA:The allegations sufficiently state how Defendants violated the FLSA; namely, by not paying Plaintiff for overtime hours worked and by not maintaining accurate records of hours worked by Plaintiff...

It's Deja Vu All Over Again?

Posted on August 23, 2010
Happy Monday, plebes!It's a slow news day, law-wise.  Any of you smart guys have any tips for your humble South Florida civil law blogger?Well, things are really trending nicely with Obama's mosque.Indeed, I think it's so cute to see things like this: Opponents of the $100 million project two blocks from the World Trade Center site appeared to outnumber supporters...

Did Threat of Lawsuit Cause Herald to Run Jeff Greene Correction?

Posted on August 20, 2010
We previously reported that Jeff Greene has retained defamation specialist L. Lin Wood to possibly bring suit against the Herald over some of its election coverage.One of the contested articles dealt with Mike Tyson, coke, naked women, and Jeff Greene's yacht (don't those things always go together?):In another story, the Times linked comments Mike Tyson made to Sports Illustrated in an interview published on July 28 to time the boxer spent aboard Greene's 145-foot yacht, describing the activity on the yacht as lavish, teeming with naked, drunken parties...

SFL Friday -- Who Knew Calendaring Was So Important?

Posted on August 20, 2010
Dates schmates, why does the practice of law always involve pesky deadlines?And some are apparently more important than others: THIS MATTER is before the Court on Lead Plaintiffs' Motion to Reconsider and Vacate Order Striking Motion for Class Certification [DE-801, to which Defendants have not responded...

The Second Circuit on "Capturing the Friedmans"

Posted on August 19, 2010
There are few films about domestic and family life more harrowing than "Capturing the Friedmans," the 2002 documentary about the well-off family from Great Neck, NY, and their journey through the criminal justice system after the father and son were charged in 1987 with multiple counts of child molestation...

Magistrate Judge Torres Asks A Good Question.

Posted on August 19, 2010
 torresquestion                                                              That one being, "why would someone move to enforce an arbitration agreement and then not pay the arbitrator, forcing the arbitration to shut down and causing plaintiff to seek to reopen the case in federal court"?Let me take a stab at this: maybe because the defendant wants to impede an adjudication on the merits, and is trying to "exhaust" the limited financial resources of the plaintiff and leverage or squeeze a financially-strapped claimant -- via continuing delay, multiple filings, and useless arbitration expenses -- into walking away or accepting less than he or she might otherwise be entitled?Oh well, that's why everyone calls me a cynic...

Miami Herald Facing Possible Lawsuit Over Jeff Greene Coverage.

Posted on August 18, 2010
CNN is reporting that Bryan Cave litigator L. Lin Wood has been retained to possibly sue the Miami Herald and St. Pete Times over several articles on Jeff Greene that the candidate claims are defamatory:Greene's lawyer has demanded the St. Petersburg Times and the Miami Herald publish the retractions to correct three articles the newspapers published earlier this month...

3d DCA Watch -- The Case of the "Cryptic" Letter

Posted on August 18, 2010
Hello kids, it's another sun-shiny day in paradise, so let's change the mood by digging deep into the recesses of the bunker, into the cool dark crevices where -- long after the last coffee has been swilled -- we may yet dredge up from the slimy underbelly...

Kanye West To Mediate with Suge By "Telephone"

Posted on August 17, 2010
This Solomonic order by Judge Seitz splits the Kanye West mediation baby nicely in half:  you can go be "outside the continental United States" when you are supposed to be mediating in Miami, but you have to appear by telephone and you need to send some authorized flunkies to go sit in a room with Suge...

Judge Moreno Has An Interesting New Case!

Posted on August 17, 2010
Hmm, I wonder if Judge Moreno has anything interesting on his docket.Let's see, admiralty, wage claims, ADA......hey now:Spanish-language soap opera star William Levy demands $10 million from a Los Angeles attorney and his clients, claiming they tried to extort $950,000 from him with false accusations that he forced a girl to perform oral sex on him, and gave her a venereal disease...

Daubert Happens.

Posted on August 16, 2010
Lest any of you forget that whole "gatekeeping thing," the 11th reminds us by affirming Judge Moore in a case where an otherwise well-respected, accomplished, and qualified expert offered an opinion that was not deemed reliable either as to general or specific causation...

Judicial Election Follies.

Posted on August 16, 2010
Michael Kinsley famously wrote that "a gaffe is when a politician tells the truth."Hector Lombana may have inadvertently committed a "Kinsley gaffe" when he penned an unusually candid op-ed for the DBR in which he asserted:The key to maintaining order in Miami-Dade judicial elections has been the informal partnership between the Cuban American Bar Association, the Florida Association for Women Lawyers, the Dade County Bar Association and other minority bar associations...

Welcome, Summer Associates!

Posted on August 13, 2010
Boy I remember a time when downtown was thick with young, fresh-faced, overeager summer associates, prepared at the drop of a hat to "sheperdize" a case or bring you an important "fax."Now, according to the ever intrepid Julie Kay, not so much:But one firm that completely eliminated its summer associate program in Miami now regrets it ? especially since business has picked up...

SFL Friday -- Is It Back to School Already?

Posted on August 13, 2010
Well it's Friday the 13th which means only good things can happen, right?Like NRO legal blogger Ed Whelan letting loose on Chief Judge Vaughn Walker (he ends with this carefully calibrated, mild observation:  "I can?t imagine that any federal district judge has ever committed more egregious and momentous acts of malfeasance in a case...

ATL Covers Toe-Tapping Lawyer Case

Posted on August 12, 2010
Toe Tapping Reply                                                             So I see the case of the alleged toe-tapping lawyer made the big time, as ATL covers the story...

Stop Hunger Food Bank Needs A New Pro Bono Attorney.

Posted on August 12, 2010
They apparently lost their old one: 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?More importantly, does anyone know a good civil litigator to help these guys out?

3d DCA Watch -- Sorry Folks, Park's Closed!

Posted on August 11, 2010
I have to be honest -- I had the most glorious 3d DCA Watch planned, a shot across the bow in direct response to the 1st DCA's new "Taj Mahal" courthouse, festooned as it is with 60 inch LCD televisions, law clerks dressed like Norse handmaidens, and personal hot tubs in every chamber (ok, I made the last part up)...

Judge Gold Issues IRS Tribal Immunity Ruling

Posted on August 11, 2010
Judge Gold Tribe Irs Judge Gold wades into the "thorny" thicket of tribal sovereignty regarding the IRS investigation of Billy Cypress:Here, as in the Red Lake case, the Miccosukee Tribe is attempting to use tribal sovereign immunity as a shield to protect a limited class of records from the scrutiny of the United States...

David J. Stern Is Like Hawkeye Pierce.

Posted on August 10, 2010
Or something like that, according to his attorney Jeff Tew: ?David Stern didn?t create that problem; he is representing banks who are entitled to foreclose. Since he is the visible person, he will get a lot of bad publicity. There?s been a huge train wreck and David is like the surgeon in the ER: He is part of the process...

Shorter Glenn Garvin: Civil Rights Laws Were A "Tactical Mistake."

Posted on August 10, 2010
I'm going to do my level best to fairly summarize Glenn Garvin's column today on Judge Walker's landmark decision on Proposition 8: 1.  Eric Deggins is black and recently got a racist voicemail.2.  This proves some whites still hate blacks despite the civil rights laws and all the judicial rulings on black/white relations...

How Judicial Elections Are Run.

Posted on August 09, 2010
Did you all see this column by my friend Hector Lombana on the ridiculous judicial elections farce that is ongoing in Broward?He contrasts the free-for-all up there with the more informally regulated atmosphere here in Miami-Dade County. Specifically, here's how Hector describes how things work down here:The key to maintaining order in Miami-Dade judicial elections has been the informal partnership between the Cuban American Bar Association, the Florida Association for Women Lawyers, the Dade County Bar Association and other minority bar associations...

Bumper Stickers Are Fun, They're Just Good Clean Fun!

Posted on August 09, 2010
Oh boy, when I become an elected official I plan to toilet paper the house of my political rival, offer him some fake gum that snaps his finger, and of course paste a nice big bumper sticker on his car (and get caught on video tape doing it!):When Miami Lakes Councilman Richard Pulido found two large bumper stickers plastered on his car outside Town Hall, he thought his car had been vandalized...

SFL Friday -- Every Day is Kagan Day!

Posted on August 06, 2010
So.......Kagan!It feels a bit odd how muted the reaction to her confirmation has been, though I'm happy she got through.Greenwald looks at how the Court makeup may change as a result here, and South Florida women lawyers reflect on how far we've come, baby(!) here...

Gelber v. Aronberg -- Getting Dirty.

Posted on August 06, 2010
I'm not referring to their handsome faces of course.I mean that accusations are flying and so is the mud as we get closer to the AG primary:?In his ad, Aronberg calls Gelber a ?Miami lawyer.? This is both unseemly and ironic, considering Aronberg was himself a Miami lawyer,? said Christian Ulvert, Gelber?s campaign manager...

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