Florida

Pizzi Logic: Lesson #318

Posted on February 28, 2011
?If this is the worst thing anybody can say about me that I referred an alleged crime victim to the police about some table, then I must be a pretty ethical and upstanding person,? Pizzi said.Today's lesson underwritten by Medley taxpayers at the heavily discounted rate of $500 $80 an hour...

Taxpayers Continue to Pay Lawyers to Defend Citrus Canker Debacle.

Posted on February 25, 2011
It's hard to describe exactly why I find the state's continued defense of its disastrous citrus canker eradication program so irksome.Was it the program in the first place, so badly designed, industry-skewed, poorly managed and enforced, and which only succeeded in eradicating a way of life for many of us who grew up in South Florida enjoying the abundant fruit on every street corner and every backyard?Was it the way the state wasted millions of taxpayer dollars paying private lawyers to take untenable legal positions and engage in "scorched earth" litigation tactics that only managed to hurt the citizens they were entrusted to defend?Is it the pointless waste of judicial resources, forcing jurors, experts, judges, and precious time and money to be spent trying the same issues over and over again in county after county?Whatever it is, the madness needs to end...

Magistrate Judge Goodman Cites Justice Scalia on Civility!

Posted on February 25, 2011
 Sanctions on Admissions                                                                I'm beginning to appreciate Magistrate Judge Goodman's orders...

Carlton Fields Now Working on Red Light Camera Cases.

Posted on February 24, 2011
I love how this article makes it seem like the mere presence of competent lawyers can magically turn a case around:Instead of letting a police community service aide try to combat legal arguments raised by attorneys hired to beat the tickets, the city dispatched Assistant City Attorney Lisa Conforti...

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There Was A Time When No One Wanted To Hire Spencer Aronfeld.

Posted on February 24, 2011
It's true!Just listen to Spencer explain:  ?I have owned and operated my own law firm from the day I was sworn in as a lawyer,? said Aronfeld. ?Not because I wanted to or because it was my dream, but because even though I graduated from the University of Miami of Law, cum laude, in 1991, I simply could not get an interview, much less a job...

3d DCA Watch -- Judge Shepherd Is Happy To Not Question Judge Learned Hand.

Posted on February 23, 2011
I pretty much think any judge named "Learned Hand" should get a wide berth and be entitled to do whatever the hail he wants.I mean, the judge is literally named "Learned Hand."Well, in today's bunker watch, we peer at the delicate dance between our very apodicticly-minded Judge Shepherd and the Hand of Learning:In fairness to the parties, I note that the doctrine, first articulated by Judge Learned Hand in Walker v...

I'd Rather Be Steve Hammer Than A Nail.

Posted on February 22, 2011
No, I'm not referring to that Simon & Garfunkel song.I'm talking about Steven J. Hammer, who is beating the pants off Big Tobacco in the wake of the controversial 2006 Florida Supreme opinion allowing for certain jury findings to be applied against the defendants:Tobacco company lawyers insist the process is rigged...

It's Citibank Arbitration Day in the SD FL!

Posted on February 22, 2011
Citibank Arbitration Clause                                                              Are you arbitration-ed out?Waiting with bated breath for the Supremes to rule in Concepion already?Well we have two significant arbitration updates to report on this evening...

Buju Banton -- Guilty Verdict!

Posted on February 22, 2011
BREAKING -- Buju Banton found guilty.

Foreclosure Lawyers Have Conflicts of Interest?

Posted on February 21, 2011
I can't believe lawyers could be motivated by something other than what is in the best interests of their clients:[M]ediators complain lenders and their attorneys are stifling the system by pressuring negotiations to end in a stalemate.In some cases, mediators report that deals were struck for trial payment plans or to seek a loan modification, but that banks or their attorneys asked for the meeting to be recorded as an impasse...

Warren Gamaliel Harding -- I Just Want Someone To Talk To.

Posted on February 21, 2011
My favorite President!!

More on Pedro and Ryan's Move to DLA Piper!

Posted on February 20, 2011
Wow, this is pretty cool -- it turns out Bono actually penned an ode to their enduring relationship.Enjoy!

3d DCA Enjoins All Non-Judge Emas Investiture Legal News.

Posted on February 18, 2011
You may have heard that today is the day that young Fine Jacobson(!) associate Kevin Emas gets investitured (ed. note -- is that a word?) -- 3 pm in the bunker's mechanical room/janitorial closet/gym spacious central courtroom.Congrats Judge!  We're proud and happy for you!In honor of this auspicious event, the 3d has sensibly placed an embargo on all other South Florida legal news until after the fourth robing ceremony and the 190-piece/600 voice ensemble orchestra has completed its extended rendition of Ashford & Simpson's "Ain't Nothing Like the Real Thing," which means we should be out of there and able to report on other less worthy news by around 9:30 or so...

DLA Piper Opens Miami Office.

Posted on February 18, 2011
Pedro J. Martinez-Fraga's wanderlust continues, along with C. Ryan Reetz.How best to describe these two, rockin' down the highway from GT to SSD, and now to DLA P?The Dynamic Duo, Batman and Robin, Thunderbolt and Lightfoot, Seals and Crofts, Bert and Ernie...

Footsie Case Inches Closer to Trial; Defendant ASSUMES Something!

Posted on February 18, 2011
Defendant Assumes                                                                   You know that little case involving some damage to a few boats yachts, well it appears to be inching closer to trial...

"Hello"! Uncle Leo -- RIP

Posted on February 17, 2011
I don't know about you, but sometimes you get focused on a project and you really get going on it, and you wind up losing all sense of time.That's what happened to me this morning -- I holed up in my office and spent the last three hours recreating the Tom Hanks "fire" scene from Cast Away...

Akerman Thanks Litigation Gods for Chinese Drywall!

Posted on February 17, 2011
It's important to note the litigation requires (at least) two sides, and there has to be something close to a fair fight, or the other side will just find something else to do.For example, the white-shoe law firms representing former Fannie Mae executives have been feasting at the public trough, billing at least $132 million defending against various shareholder and other lawsuits directed at the bank's allegedly fraudulent business practices...

Of Course Jamie-Lynn Sigler Is Somehow Involved With Rothstein!

Posted on February 16, 2011
Bob Norman breaks it down here, but it involves allegations in the Rothstein investor suit being handled by Bill Scherer, in which a few of the defendants have counterclaimed:To drum up cash meant to help bail out their millions, the suit claims that Von Allmen worked hand in hand with Clockwork Capital Advisors, a hedge fund run by A...

Keep Your Eye on the Prize.

Posted on February 16, 2011
 This looks like a timely and relevant event and will be much better than anything else you were planning to do that day.Do we understand each other?

3d DCA Watch -- So Now Injunctions Have to Contain "Findings"? Who Knew?

Posted on February 16, 2011
View more videos at: http://www.nbcmiami.com.Yes kids, today the bunker made actual real certified news, reversing Judge Eig's temporary injunction allowing Krop basketball player Brian Delancy to play in the state championship series.Judge Eig did everything right, every little thing, well except for one very small omission:The order and the record contain no findings sufficient to sustain such an injunction...

Ava Maria University Gets "Death Book" Zealot as New Head!

Posted on February 15, 2011
Ava Maria University, a conservative Catholic law school based in Naples, made some headlines a while back when Loring Spolter noted that Judge Zloch has hired several law clerks from that school.Believe me, I'm not getting in the middle of that. But it seems the struggling school has a new head: James Towey, the former director of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives under George W...

Judge Milton Hirsch Word Cloud!

Posted on February 15, 2011
                        Rump and his merry band of quipsters are having some fun with a practice memo to attorneys issued by new Judge Milton Hirsch.To celebrate I have prepared a word cloud of the paragraph which very pointedly deals with the sin of handing up cases to the Judge...

11th Circuit Conducts Erie Analysis of Bremen Analysis of Krenkel Factors.

Posted on February 15, 2011
I'm sick of the law this afternoon.Law, law, law.I could note the 11th Circuit's surprise enforcement of a forum selection clause that sends Alabama customers to Cook County, IL -- where the Court is laying off employees left and right, so I'm sure they'll be real happy to see a new case where they have to apply Alabama law to an Alabama contract dispute...

Your $400 Million Case Will Be Decided By the Six People Ahead of You in Line at WalMart.

Posted on February 14, 2011
I found this article on what people are wearing when they go to court to be, well, revealing:Justice may be blind, but judges in South Florida are not.And what many are seeing is a continuing increase in the number of people showing up to court in very casual clothes, including one woman in Fort Lauderdale who recently appeared wearing curlers, bedroom slippers and a shower cap...

Buju Banton Goes to Court (Again).

Posted on February 14, 2011
Once again Buju has "him blacker" attorney David O. Markus at his side, as well as a Grammy that Banton won last night for Best Reggae Album.I recognize that prosecutors can do this, but a better question is why --The five-time Grammy nominated artiste, whose real name is Mark Myrie, had originally been tried on charges of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute cocaine, and aiding and abetting the possession of a firearm during a drug-trafficking offence...

Judge Cohen Lando Lowers the Boom on Marc Ben-Ezra.

Posted on February 12, 2011
I don't get why banks think the rules of evidence don't seem to apply to them.Their argument on missing/misfiled/wrong docs is always basically "but come on, judge."Would this work for anyone else?Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Maxine Cohen Lando expressed her displeasure Friday in a case that involved a property in Homestead with a $265,134 foreclosure judgment issued in July...

Kevin Unger Is A Pinball Wizard.

Posted on February 11, 2011
Boy did I love to play pinball machines when I was a kid.I loved the sounds, the lights, the compressed excitement -- the straightforward mechanics and technology.  I found the larger than life themes to be intoxicating, the idea that an entire game could be based, for example, on BJ and the Bear or ELO's Discovery album...

Important Legal Dispute Required Actual Federal Court Resolution!

Posted on February 11, 2011
Order on Important Legal Issue                                                              I read a lot of decisions, and some are fairly routine, while others are just routine...

SFL Friday -- I'm Done.

Posted on February 11, 2011

It's Sanctions Thursday!

Posted on February 10, 2011
Weren't we just talking about 57.105 and pointless/wasteful/inappropriate sanctions motions?Well a birdie in Tally must have heard our conversation, because in walks the Florida Supreme Court to big foot us on this very issue:The conflict issue presented for our determination is whether the safe harbor provision of section 57...

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