Yesterday, I said that I thought Bernie Madoff's sentence was over the top given that he plead guilty. The Wall Street Journal Law Blog has a post called "Nobody... Is Every Going to Plead Guilty Again." This is more thoughtful analysis of my drive by thoughts yesterday. Madoff absolutely must go to jail. But a guilty plea plus a lack of causing physical harm to me does not equate to 150 years.
The Supreme Court ruled in a 504 decision today that white firefighters in New Haven, Connecticut were unfairly denied promotions because of their race, reversing a lower court decision in which Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor endorsed as an appeals court judge.
New Haven should not have dropped promotion exam, according to the court, because black and only two Latinos were likely to be promoted, based on the results. New Haven went with the "blame it on the lawyers" defense, saying that it had acted to avoid a lawsuit from minorities.
My opinion? I really don't have one. I have not spent the time to get up to speed employment law issues. At a glance, I can certainly see both arguments. My favorite Justice, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, wrote the dissent. Gun to my head, I go with her. But I have an open mind.
Obviously Bernie Madoff needs to go to jail. But, is the insanity of a 150 year prison sentence when killers often get less, lost on anyone but me? He plead guilty, right?
Stealing money from hundreds of rich people is jailable offense, no question. But to me, taking the life of someone's mother, someone's daughter is about a zillion times worse. And I'm not sure why stealing $500 billion - or whatever it was - is that much more serious of a crime than stealing $15,000. Stealing is stealing.
Nice thing about personal injury and other claims against Baltimore City: public record lets you know exactly how they turn out. The Maryland Daily Record reports that Baltimore City Solicitor George A. Nilson has released the details of the city’s recent settlement with one of its former lawyers who had sued for wrongful termination, alleging race was a factor in his November 2003 firing.
Interestingly, Plaintiff claimed his black supervisors in the Baltimore City law department and the police department treated him poorly and disciplined him harshly because he is white. Whether this is actually what happened I have no idea. I don't know what evidence was presented. Stating the manifestly obvious, American history has been almost exclusively filled with the exact opposite type of discrimination.
An unusual settlement to say the least: Of the $200,000 payment the Baltimore Board of Estimates is expected to approve today, $150,000 will go toward Plaintiffs' attorneys' fees and costs and $50,000 will go to Healthcare for the Homeless, a charity just a few blocks from Baltimore's City Hall.
First, cool thing designating proceeds to charity. The odd thing is all the money not going to charity is going to attorneys' fees. But the Plaintiff is now an employment lawyer in Rockville so my guess is that he is handling his own case. Why the settlement would be couched as attorneys' fees is a mystery to me.
Lawyers sued the manufacturer of Zicam yesterday on behalf of Zicam users who alleged they have suffered loss of smell after Zicam.
These lawyers moved quickly. The FDA issued a warning letter last week linking Zicam nasal gel and swabs to loss of smell. Zicam's manufacturer - to their credit - issued a voluntary recall of its Zicam Cold Remedy nasal gels and swabs.
The Drug Recall Lawyer Blog has more on the background of Zicam claims.
This is a funny story (via Overlawyered, via the AP). A Portland, Oregon lawyer blamed his BMW 535xi for a speeding ticket, claiming that he couldn't know that he was speeding.
C. Akin Blitz said he was just trying to get ahead of a line of cars following a motorhome over a mountain pass on U.S. Highway 26 -- that he had no idea his BMW 535xi was going 76 mph in a 55 mph zone because of its handling characteristics.
Funny right? But the funnier part is that he made a PowerPoint presentation and offered expert testimony from a mechanic. Now that is funny. Just the same, the judge found him guilty and ordered him to pay a fine.
While this is funny, what is not so funny is this: I'll bet you jurors would award less in a personal injury case if they read this article before giving their verdict. Americans are getting these kind of stories by the barrel. And it just does not help personal injury victims.
Bethany Kolenic writes a blog post for the Young Lawyers Blog on how to stay busy and productive when you have "nothing to do." I think it is good to try to apply these lessons during down time in an otherwise busy day. If you show up early for a hearing, the dentist, or whatever else.
One time I can't really "stay busy" is during breaks in a trial or while the jury is out. I'm either getting ready for what I have to do or I'm killing time. One day, I would like to have a Bill Clinton-like (he's second nod on this blog today before 8:45 a.m.!) ability to just compartmentalize and focus on making the most of my time in every moment. But I'm pretty sure I'll be twiddling my thumbs next time I have a jury out.
The Maryland Daily Record reports that a Rockville lawyer was suspended by the Maryland Court of Appeals. The slim minority of the court - 4-3 decision - voted for disbarment.
I don't know how I would vote on this. He failed to keep an IOLTA account which is a huge problem. The second "error" he made was loaning money to his client's relatives. Both are incredibly obvious no-nos.
These are bad offenses but not crimes of intent to cause anyone harm at the lawyer's own expense. But adding salt to the wound in the dissent's view was what brings down most people: the cover-up. Ask Nixon or Clinton. Judge Harrell's dissent makes clear that he did not find he was honest with bar counsel during its investigation.
The absence of “selfish or dishonest motives” generally, as found there by the hearing judge, may influence the sanction, but have no bearing on whether the violative conduct was unintentional or negligent in the first instance... Considered together, we are
confronted with intentional misappropriation, negligent misappropriation, obvious conflict
of interest, and intentional misrepresentations to Bar Counsel in the course of an
investigation. This array, I think, cuts to the core of what we should expect minimally from
a Maryland lawyer. “Candor and truthfulness are two of the most important moral character
traits of a lawyer.”
A footnote to Judge Harrell's dissent indicates that it "is probably of no great moment" to the lawyer whether the court disbars him or not because he intends to retire. I would may have had some impact on the Maryland Court of Appeals decision. I would think that you would hate to send a guy into retirement with a disbarment after what the majority opinion indicated was 40 years in practice. (Of course, this begs the question: why are you operating without an IOLTA account after 40 years of practicing law?)
You can find the full opinion here.
Iran's parliament plans to scrap stoning and amputation of a hand as punishments in a revised version of the Islamic penal code, the official IRNA news agency reported Monday. The timing of this is pretty incredible.
This legal backdrop is an excuse to make a comment on the situation in Iran. It is absolutely incredible what is going on in Iran. I have absolutely no clue what is going to happen. I'm glad the President is letting Iran handle its own affairs on this one. Our interference in what is going on in Iran would have no impact other than making us all feel self-righteous.
I just wrote about on Friday about how Baltimore Mayor Shelia Dixon was weathering the story of the criminal allegations against her. Did I jinx her? Ronald H. Lipscomb, a prominent Baltimore developer at the heart of the years-long investigation into corruption at City Hall, has pleaded guilty to a campaign finance law violation. The Baltimore Sun reports that Libscomb will tesify against Mayor Dixon at trial.
The Baltimore County Bar Association just send out this letter from Judge Larry Daniels. This is just a very nice letter that underscores that judicial election are just the wrong play.
Dear friends and colleagues,
It has been my privilege and pleasure to serve as a judge in Baltimore County since 1989. Over that 20 year span I have tried, and I hope I have succeeded in some small way, to have a positive impact on the practice of law here in Baltimore County.
After 20 years, I still am quite passionate about my service as a judge. I enjoy coming to the courthouse each day; I enjoy very much the people I work with in and out of the courtroom; and, most of all, I enjoy working with you, my fellow members of the Baltimore County Bar Association, in making the Baltimore County court system the best in the state of Maryland.
My term of office expires in November of this year. In order to continue my service as an active judge I would have to run successfully for a new term in the election of November, 2010. As much as I enjoy my service as a judicial officer, I must confess I have no desire to spend the next 16 months campaigning for office.
Any political campaign requires a complete and total commitment of time and effort on the part of the candidate. Politically, there is no such thing as a "part-time" campaign. As you all are aware, our "baby judge" on the Baltimore County Circuit Court bench, Judge Sherrie Bailey will be on the ballot in November of 2010. She has already begun an extremely vigorous campaign. Because I can not give a total commitment of time and effort to a campaign, it would be unfair to Judge Bailey and the other judges on the ticket to run as a "hanger on." For that reason, I have decided to advise Governor O'Malley of my intent to take retired status when my current term expires in November.
Needless to say, I wish all of my colleagues on the Sitting Judge ticket success in the election of 2010. It is my sincere hope that the Baltimore County Bar Association will vigorously support the members of the Sitting Judge ticket. They are good people and dedicated judges who deserve your support
At this time, I would like to take the opportunity to thank each and every one of you for your support of me as a judge. I would also like to apologize to you for any time when I was not as courteous or polite as I should have been.
Thank you, thank you, and thank you again for your friendship and support over the years.
Sincerely yours,
Judge Larry Daniels
The Baltimore Sun reports that Frederick County reached a $300,000 settlement in the death of a fireman who died of heatstroke in 2002 while training for a full-time position with Frederick County. His family filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the county after the 23-year old died, contending that Frederick County was responsible for the death because identifying the man heat stroke symptoms.
You have to admire Shelia Dixon and Bill Clinton for a least one thing: cool under fire. In the middle of Monica Lewensky (I've misspelled her name because I've forgotten her) debacle, Clinton buckled his chin strap everyday and went to work. Shelia Dixon clearly has the same inner strength plugging along every day. I can't stand her and like and admire her all at the same time.
What is funny is that I think this whole debacle with her chief of staff getting charged with hitting his ex-girlfriend is actually a good thing for Dixon.
By the way, Wikipedia tells us Monica Lewinsky is actually out there working hard for us lawyers. She graduated from the London School of Economics (I know, insane). He graduate thesis was titled “In Search of the Impartial Juror: An Exploration of the Third-person Effect and Pre-Trial Publicity.” I've read it and it is absolutely amazing. (Okay, I'm making that part up.) Even if she wrote it like John Kennedy wrote Profiles in Courage, I'm still impressed she got into the London School of Business. I really can't imagine she got in because of her high profile history (but maybe I'm naive).
Who knew?
Overlawyered reports on a North Carolina jury that found that a woman owes her former wife's husband $500,00 after a jury found the woman broke up a 50 year-marriage.
I hate these stories. There is a tendency by many to confuse wrong and what should be illegal, at least in my opinion. I care about this not only because I think it is wrong but also as a personal injury lawyer because unreasonable verdicts have chilling impact on injured plaintiffs. Jurors, like the rest of us, lump things in categories and this spurned woman verdict gets mentally latticed with my personal injury clients who are seeking a recovery for their real injuries.
Tricia Bishop has an article in the Baltimore Sun on how lawyers stereotype jurors in Maryland. The title of the article is "Stereotypes Confound Jury Selection" and the subtitle is "Bias assumptions seldom right; juror's experiences called best indicator."
I disagree with the subtitle. I don't think assumption are "seldom right" but "usually right." But usually is not 99%, it is more like 60%.
The bigger point that the article misses is that while juror experiences are the best indicator, Maryland has what is probably the least probative voir dire in country, according to retired Howard County Judge Dennis M. Sweeney. So Maryland personal injury lawyers picking a jury have very limited means to determine juror experiences which leaves most Maryland lawyers making assumptions based on stereotypes that have varying degrees of accuracy depending on the stereotype. Of course, lawyers on both sides of the v are equally handicapped by this minimalist voir dire approach.
The Maryland Daily Record writes today about a good lesson for Maryland lawyers underscored by the Court of Appeals: no stalking horse trainers even if you are a New Jersey lawyer.
Lawsuits alleging that denture creams can cause zinc buildup in the body and neurological problems are on the rise, according to the National Law Journal. In the lawsuits, plaintiff attorneys claim that products including well known brands PoliGrip and Fixodent can lead to neurological problems because copper and zinc compete to bind to receptors, and the body expels the copper that isn't absorbed. Denture cream lawyers have filed denture cream lawsuits in California, Colorado, New York,, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Florida and Tennessee and there is an motion to consolidate these cases in an MDL (class action for discovery purposes). .
Dentists have recommended denture cream to denture users for years but these are not malpractice cases: they are product liability claims against the manufacturers of PoliGrip and Fixodent for, among other things, failure to warn of the risk of zinc or even properly label the product that it contains zinc.
John Cord's Drug Injury Recall Blog has a post on national product liability claim statistics. As John points out, asbestos cases skews these the results but the statistics are still interesting.
The Baltimore Sun has an article on lawyer layoffs in Maryland.
The San Francisco Zoo agreed Thursday to settle its lawsuit against the two brothers who survived the fatal attack by an escaped tiger on Christmas Day 2007 for $900,000.
I really did not follow this accident very closely. I remember the allegations that I don't think were ever proven that the victims taunted the tiger before it jumped out of its enclosure. But I bet it happened just like that.
Again, from a distance, this case has a "public relations nightmare turned into overpaying for the case" flavor to it.
The Washington Post has an article on noted Supreme Court blogger Tom Goldstein, the founder of SCOTUS. The article says that "One measure of Goldstein's commitment to Scotusblog, which accepts no advertising: He keeps it afloat with up to $100,000 a year from his own pocket."
I enjoy blogging but if I had to pay $100,000 out of my pocket to do it, these chats would come to abrupt end.
A Baltimore jury has awarded $60,000 to a Patterson Park man after finding he was a victim of an overzealous officer on Christmas Day 2007, according to an article today in the Maryland Daily Record. You can click on the link, I don't have much to say about the case beyond the Daily Record summary.
I'm sure that there are a lot of police brutality cases in Maryland. As a lawyer, I have never reviewed one. How police brutality lawyers are able to weed though the all of the claims is incredible to me. Reviewing medical malpractice cases is harder but the upside make it worth the trouble. You can get a good verdict on a case with extreme facts in brutality cases and still get a relatively small verdict. Moreover, so many of the police brutality cases are invariably "he said, she said" cases.
