JUSTICE BUILDING BLOG

WELCOME TO THE OFFICIAL RICHARD E GERSTEIN JUSTICE BUILDING BLOG. THIS BLOG IS DEDICATED TO JUSTICE BUILDING RUMOR, HUMOR, AND A DISCUSSION ABOUT AND BETWEEN THE JUDGES, LAWYERS AND THE DEDICATED SUPPORT STAFF, CLERKS, COURT REPORTERS, AND CORRECTIONAL OFFICERS WHO LABOR IN THE WORLD OF MIAMI'S CRIMINAL JUSTICE. POST YOUR COMMENTS, OR SEND RUMPOLE A PRIVATE EMAIL AT HOWARDROARK21@GMAIL.COM. Winner of the prestigious Cushing Left Anterior Descending Artery Award.

Monday, May 02, 2016

NEW STUFF

El Chapo cafe at the REGJB is now open for business. There was a soft-no-announce opening last week. Probably because the coffee was horrible and the food worse, and there wasn't- according to reports- a lot available. 

Judge Sayfie still has opposition. 
Can this really be the lawyer who thinks she is qualified to challenge Judge Sayfie?

Anonymous Anonymous said...
Rosy Aponte, who is currently the subject of investigation by The Florida Bar, is the long time cohort of the self proclaimed king of foreclosure defense, John Ruiz, who has himself spent the batter part of the last five years mired in a myriad of cases consisting of foreclosures, repossessions, and attempts to collect debts related to his la ley "empire". Ms. Aponte luckily managed to avoid payment of her debts through a discharge she obtained in a Chapter 7 bankruptcy. Interestedly, Ms. Aponte's complete ineptitude has been highlighted recently by the Hon. A J Cristol who barred her from practicing before the United States Bankruptcy Court as a result of her confession that she had no clue what she was doing in a contested chapter 7 case. Ms. Aponte's stellar representation resulted in the debtor and multiple family members of the debtor, including his elderly mother being held in contempt of court, faced with incarceration and substantially sanctioned. Unbowed, in yet another case pending before the Hon. Laurel Isicoff, Ms. Aponte was ordered to show cause and sanctioned as a result of filing an unsuspecting alleged debtor in bankruptcy without ever having met her client. Her excuse was simple, someone in her office used her credentials . It is a sad day when a distinguished, hardworking and well respected jurist is challenged by a puppet who sole qualification is a hispanic last name.
Monday, May 02, 2016 12:27:00 PM
 Delete

And Judge Jacqueline Schwartz is still a judge. 

And in case you didn't see our edit of Sunday's post*, Assistant Federal Public Defender Abby Becker won the Gregg Wenzel Young Lawyer's award for her work in spearheading the Federal Public Defender's Office's clemency project and her obtaining the release of a woman sentenced as a first offender to life in prison for one of those drug conspiracy cases in the 1990's that the Clinton Administration wrought by their desire to pander to the right. 

See you in court. 


* Many federal practitioners are a mild lot. They don't get trained to throw the elbows in close quarters that those who rose through the ranks of the REGJB did. But apparently our slight in not mentioning Ms. Becker by name in our original post brought out the worst in her supporters, not to mention their thesauruses. 
There's only so many ways one can be called a rude, ignorant bore by otherwise mild mannered litigators before you've had enough. We've had enough. We surrender. Ms. Becker has received her well earned, much deserved, due. 

Now stop sending us threatening emails with the words "a good thrashing" in them. 


27 comments:

Not JAFI much longer said...

Of those three, I find the cafe being open the most believable.

Anonymous said...

Miami-Dade Clerk of Courts was recognized as a 2016 Finalist of the Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce’s Best Use of Technology Award. “On behalf of 1200 employees of our office, I am honored to receive this recognition”, said Harvey Ruvin.

BWAHAHAHAAHA

Anonymous said...

Nice award. Except for this message I just got:

* * * NOTICE * * *
We are currently experiencing technical difficulties with some functionalities of our Traffic Online System.

Please accept our apologies for any inconveniences this may cause.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for letting us know of your success in getting LSA's dismissed. I also did that as a 23 year CLI. Keep telling us about your greatness

Anonymous said...

Please tell me that's a joke about the clerk and technology. If this was 1998 I'd say props, but it's a joke, right??

Anonymous said...

Jorge A. lopez filed today against Incumbent Rosa Rodriguez. Same treasurer, Carlos Trueba CPA, as Rosy Aponte's.

CAPTAIN JUSTICE said...


THE CAPTAIN REPORTS:

BREAKING NEWS ..... JUDGE ROSA RODRIGUEZ HAS AN OPPONENT .....

In another stunning move, at least to Judge Rodriguez, attorney Jorge A. Lopez has filed to run against the three time incumbent Judge.

Judge Rodriguez was first elected to the Circuit Court bench in 1998. She was reelected in 2004 and 2010. She is running to retain her seat.

Attorney Jorge A. Lopez has been a member of The Florida Bar for 19 years. He has an office in Coral Gables. According to his web site, this is what it says:

Jorge A. Lopez, Senior Partner

Jorge A. Lopez earned a Bachelor of Science Degree in Business Administration from Georgetown University in 1983 and a Juris Doctor degree from the University of Miami School of Law in 1986. Mr. Lopez was admitted to the Florida Bar in October of 1986. Mr. Lopez has extensive experience handling complex commercial matters and litigation involving investor fraud and corporate disputes. Mr. Lopez also handles litigation of catastrophic injury claims, aviation disasters and consumer fraud cases. In addition, Mr. Lopez has represented clients against some of the largest financial institutions including Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley, UBS Paine Webber, Salomon-Smith Barney, CitiGroup, Credit Suisse First Boston and Prudential Securities. Mr. Lopez speaks Spanish and Portuguese.

CAPTAIN OUT .....
Captain4Justice@gmail.com

CAPTAIN JUSTICE said...


THE CAPTAIN REPORTS:

GROUP 35 OF THE COUNTY COURT .....

There has been some attempts by an attorney that shall not be named to encourage Mr. Antonio Jimenez to switch Groups and not run against Judge Wendell Graham.

As I previously reported at least a week ago on this BLOG, Mr. Jimenez paid his filing fee of $5,520.80 on April 22 to run in Group 35.

His decision has been made and it is final.

CAPTAIN OUT .....

Anonymous said...

Yes, let's not name that attorney because he only sent an email to 400+ lawyers. I'm sure he wanted it to be private.

Anonymous said...

You are so smart my captain but, wrong. Candidates change races right up to 11: 59 am this Friday.

As for Wendell Graham, he's a nice guy and has done nothing to warrant an opponent.

I wish I could say the same for Ed Newman and a few others.

Anonymous said...

This attorney also sent out an FACDL-wide email listing Mr. Jimenez's personal cell phone number, encouraging attorneys to call him to talk him into switching seats.

Becoming a judge is not a coronation. Judge Graham is being challenged. So what? He should hit the ground and go run a tighter campaign than Mr. Jimenez and beat him. Surely a judge with Graham's experience knows how to campaign.



Anonymous said...

3:30 pm, Jimenez can still switch group before Friday's noon deadline.

Anonymous said...

Stuzin? Ha? Que? Como?

That is a name that no one will vote for in Miami-Dade County of today. Think hard and see the light. Stuzin has to spend a lot to get traction with that name. Being in Coral Gables County Civil she won't be able to campaign. Having Calleja as her Committee Chair is a calamity. She thinks MD-FAWL will support her. MD-FAWL is her unicorn because they are so the past.

Be brave and let Stuzin earn her seat. You will thank me in the primaries.

You know why?

Tu Zin Votos! = You without votes!

Anonymous said...

"Nice" note about Ms. Becker. You mention her accomplishment and then take a shots at federal defenders as somehow not being as tough as state defenders. Grow up.

Anonymous said...

It is about time Rosa R. got an opponent. She should have been removed in 2000. Elian is a happy adult in Cuba, and no one here cares anymore. Despite being Puerto Rican, she was the darling of the Cuban community. I think that shine has worn off. Besides, she has horrible temperament. She is abusive to the State and makes some pretty idiotic rulings. 'Ta luego.

Rumpole said...

There is no comparison. Give me a PD who has come up through Jail arraignments, tried a hundred bench trials off the a-form and a dozen jury trials the same way at the last moment over some fu-fu 4th year big-firm associate who decided they want to see a little of life and try some cases as a fed pd.

I know who I want fighting for me if I have a problem and it's the not the person who spent the first three years out of law school learning how to fill out billable hour forms and staring longingly at the junior partners who get to go to the deposition with the partner and write notes on a post-it.

Anonymous said...

Boy are some of you blog writers jerks. You Mr./Ms. 4:09 are a jerk.

The lawyer... me, send out a very polite email that asked people to politely ask Jimenez to pick another place to run. The phone number was his public Bar posted phone number. It was not his "personal cell number."

I bet the jerk who wrote that post would be livid at someone if he or she ran against his or her close friend who was a decent judge for over 20 years.

I wonder if that jerk ever spent an entire summer campaigning?

Anonymous said...

Amen, Rump

Anonymous said...

Rump well Said re FPD. Same applies to AUSA's. AUSA'S think that they are real "trial lawyers" after winning a few drug stings or kiddie porn cases where the defendant has the words "Lucifer" on his forehead and the cases could not be lost.

Anyone who knows anything knows that the best trial lawyers come from SAO and State PD's office.

Anonymous said...

Um you are making this up because she hasn't been in criminal court and therefore has made no rulings involving the State in over 4 years...Her opponent has no chance because she is universally respected and loved by both the criminal and civil bar. Good luck getting a cent Lopez.

Seth Sklarey said...

As a non-lawyer who has been personally involved in more than 2,000 judicial races in Dade County and later in Miami-Dade County I am always interested in perceptions of Judges and Judicial candidates both by impartial observers and those with skin in the game.
In a county with more than 100 people wearing black robes (and a few in purple and other shades) it is impossible to know all about each of them.
But as someone who has a deep interest in the system, I try to carefully review as much information as possible before making my recommendations to the more than 100,000 voters I am asked to influence. I screen each and every candidate formally and informally and look to their backgrounds, education, family friends, associates and civic involvement, attitude, reputation, knowledge and the types of clients they represented, their experience in court and in life.

I look to see if they understand people, if they can see through lies and bullshit, whether from the prosecution, the defense, witnesses or cops.
Whether they can fairly apply the law even if the person before them is morally reprehensible, physically repulsive or a circus midget from Sweetwater.
I look to the comments presented on this blog as part of my input, so please folks, sincerity from the heart for the good of the community, good and bad.
I want to know that if you had to appear before that Judge as a criminal defendant or a civil litigant would you have any hesitation and if so what would it be?
Everyone has a right to run in any race. But some Judges have EARNED a great deal of respect and others not and deserve opponents.
Let's hear objective facts, solid reasons pro or con, and keep the juvenile comments to a minimum.
Maybe if you did so the Herald might not have endorsed some bad ones last time.
I have really had it with the racial and ethnic crap I have heard for the past 50 years of judicial elections, starting with one Chinese Judicial candidate satirizing it with the slogan "Give a Chinaman a chance." It worked and he won.
We have some good and bad hispanic female Judges and candidates.
Let's judge them on their merits and not their names.
When a black judge draws an opponent the cry of racism always surfaces.
No one asks if a black judge deserves an opponent or why a better candidate from the same community can't be found?
And maybe it's time for a black female Circuit Judge in this town.
Filing deadline is Friday noon.

Anonymous said...

Poor Seth, he's looking for mature discourse from a bunch of lawyers on a blog. Seth, this is our porch where we put a pile of shit in a brown paper bag, ring the doorbell, and run.

Anonymous said...

Give me qualified, experienced, respectful, professional with community involvement and I am happy. Crying about diversity only feeds horror to the system. The diversity in courts is all about lowering standards if the best are overlooked. Seth is correct.

Anonymous said...

Go get her Lopez. She got 16 years more than she should have had. Elected in 1998 using fraudulent financials and violations of campaign financing laws, and then by selling her soul to Elian supporters, she has been immunized from the consequences of her suspension and reprimand for long enough.

Anonymous said...

ortega-tauler files and qualifies against sayfie before the friday deadline.

Anonymous said...

Sklarey said:

" I screen each and every candidate formally and informally. . . "

False.

Anonymous said...

aponte moved to county leaving sayfie wide open for ortega-tauler

its election time b!tch*s!