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.

Wednesday, August 21, 2019

REVENGE OF THE JEDI TRIBE

Civil law. Gotta love it. Cases do not die. They just get appealed and re-litigated. 
Just when you thought the Miccosukee/Lewis Tein contretemps was over, comes your friendly neighborhood 3rd DCA, reversing the order of the trial court which denied attorneys fees. 
So now L&T, which no longer exists, is on the hook for much wampum. 
Note that L&T bringing in the big guns at Colson Hicks did little to save the day on appeal. 


21 comments:

Anonymous said...

The firm may no longer exist but the lawyers do and they personally brought this action along with their defunct firm. The issues seemed pretty straightforward so you have to wonder what in the world Butchko was thinking when she made her ruling. Note that Martinez, a former US Attorney and mucho influential arbiter of federal judicial appointments appeared before Butchko, a perennial applicant for such positions. These two lawyers had better start packing their bags because the hammer is about to fall on them.

Anonymous said...

I think the 'wampum' stuff is pretty offensive, suggesting Native Americans are primitive and 'other.' The fact that the tribe has sovereignty doesn't warrant othering, especially of a pejorative nature.

Anonymous said...

Except for the few involved, the rest of us are tired of this story. Who cares!

Rumpole said...

I was waiting for that comment. First, I think the term is used by Native Americans to describe money. Second there is a humorous component to the name because it sounds funny. Third, unlike derogatory terms like "Redskin" or "Injun" or such, it doesn't describe a group of people negatively. The Yiddish word for money is "gelt" and I would use it if the Anti-defamation league was replaced for the Tribe in this case for the same humorous reason.

"Other than that Mrs. Lincoln, how was the play?" Is an offensive joke that over time has lost its offensiveness.
No offense was intended. As the President would say- "I love Native Americans. No one loves Native Americans more than me. They are very special people."
So there.

Anonymous said...

@731

It's a story about some very important problems in the law (particularly civil litigation): 1) the subtle and negative power of influence and being well connected; 2) the bad faith games (form over function stuff that they taught us was wrong when we were in kindergarten) that lawyers play in litigation; and 3) fee driven over-litigation.

It looks like Lewis and Tein, two powerful and well connected lawyers, were leveraging their connections and reputation and telling half-truths that bordered on perjury to please a well paying client. And all the while, they collected fees in excess (or about equal to) the judgment amount that the family of the deceased will likely never see. In short, it looks like Lewis and Tein did wrong to line their pockets.

Some of the past chapters of this story speak ill of other lawyers involved, and those lawyers may very well have deserved what was coming to them too. This story isn't a hit job on Lewis and Tein. Instead, this story sheds light on the ills played out in civil litigation all the time. And its important to shine a light on it. And it is especially important to shine that light on the Lewis and Teins of the world - just because a lawyer has a shinny name doesn't mean that everything they touch is gold.

Figg said...

Shekels is also an acceptable alternative to gelt.

Anonymous said...

The conspiracy against Tein and Lewis continues, or so say they say! If you believe what they say the 3rd DCA has now joined Judge Cueto as a conspirator against these pillars of the community.

Truth is often like molasses on a winter’s days, slow to start to flow, but a little warmth, a lite tap and it flows - thick, gooey and sticky. The truth is pouring out into a thick, gooey and sticky mess. And so as divorced couples say “here's another nice mess you've gotten us into . ? . ? .”

Tein and Lewis’ quest for revenge is unwinding. According to Judge Cueto, Tein and Lewis’ quest was built on lack of candor, fueled by false evidence starting before Judge Dresnick and continuing thereafter. According to the 3rd DCA, the quest for revenge lead to a defective lawsuit worthy of an award of attorneys fees in favor of the Miccosukee Tribe. Gotta ask how lawyers who represented an Indian Tribe for years, collecting millions of dollars in fees, can claim they did not know Indian Tribes have sovereign immunity.

Me think a lots and lots of questions for many people coming . .

I leave you with though . . “Revenge is like a rolling stone, which, when a man hath forced up a hill, will return upon him with a greater violence, . .”

Anonymous said...

I love the poorly educated.

Anonymous said...

Oh the wokeiness of you people. Lighten up Francis 7:03.

Anonymous said...

Hey Rumpole, Did you hear that longtime traffic clerk "Richard" died unexpectedly last week?

Anonymous said...

You acknowledge you expected "that comment." So you knew it would offend at least some of your readers. Of course it is your blog and you may offend any or all of your readers whenever you like. I respect that.

With regard to "gelt," if a non-Jew used it in casual conversation with a Jewish person he didn't know -- say, you asked a yarmulke-wearing guy at the bank if he was withdrawing gelt -- the Jewish guy probably would be offended. It's really a question of context. Jews might use it among themselves, or even in conversation with a non-Jew they know. But if you're not Jewish and don't have a close relationship with the Jew you're talking to, probably best to avoid "gelt" to avoid giving offense.

Also, I don't know there's a valid distinction to be made between using the word "wampum" and "redskin" or "injun." Is "wampum" a metonymy (or synecdoche?) for a Native American. I don't know. I would imagine the question depends on how Native Americans feel about someone who isn't using the word.

I'm not Native American, so I can't say whether a Native American would find your use of it offensive. (I'm making the unsupported assumption that you are not Native American). In any case, here's a discussion about the issue, as applied to kids in school: https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20090310173607AAw3plP&guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAANwUUFpwT_TFWRjce1h8A9xxZ_Gh1Lsz9or0suA4Aondde64DM8aJIXpuT0wOrsIyS_33zlIo7AEMvTujipQcnFe-5d7-UDHJV_3_xvItWCpGWkl6eIjALD73vlp0VksqVvw1o5r_wMm4lHDjDJlHITVmXzXzG9JREBWtH2BFi78. I have no idea who picked the "best answer." But I think that answer raises some interesting issues.

Oy how much gelt I've just lost in billable hours!

Anonymous said...

He worked at the clerk's office for 47 years. Even longer than Beetle. Remember her? He never married, lived his whole life in Hialeah. Always so helpful to everybody. He will be missed.

Rumpole said...

I didn't know it would offend anyone. I did know that there are hyper-sensitive readers constantly searching the blog for a "gotch-ya" moment because when you are correct 99.99% of the time while writing a very popular blog, it makes some people angry and they look for any excuse to attack. Not that this is you. Far from it. Just sayin....

Anonymous said...

I believe the term you're looking for, in referring to "hyper-sensitive readers constantly searching the blog for a 'gotch-ya' moment," is "snowflake," the word used by GOPers for people whose sensibilities are offended by Trump's racist, anti-immigrant, anti-Muslim, misogynist language.

No need for your "Not that this is you. Far from it. Just sayin...." I am a snowflake. I am sensitive to the ways in which language serves to fortify structures and patterns of oppression. I do not know whether "wampum" falls within that category. It was a question I raised.

But you're the blog-master. It's your right to insult people who question your language choices. I respect that.

Anonymous said...

Whomever thinks who you are does not affect the consequences of your actions or the outcome of cases you handle is fooling themselves. However you look at it, the history of the Tein and Lewis affair is text book corruption of the Bar and the system. As they say . . . Lady Justice is blind, but not deaf . . . she can hear the clatter of coins dropped into the plates of her scale . . . so true.

Tein and Lewis are an example of the failure or corruption of the system. They have gotten away with much over the years. From reading Cueto's report, looking at the 3rd DCA opinions and a goggle search, Tein and Lewis have gotten away their creative theories in various forums. They are obviously connected with the Bar Attorneys in Miami. I was told that the Bar Attorneys who protected them in prior Bar investigation about what happened with Judge Dresnick are the same attorneys who later worked with them in pursuing the Bar process against their opponents. How is that not compromising and corrupting the system.

Lawyers get slammed for minutia and excessive fees regularly. How do you explain collecting millions in fees in a case that could have been settled for a fraction of the fees and no consequences . . . you cannot. Nothing happens only because Tein and Lewis have friends at the Bar and in high places.

I goggled and in a few minutes came up with several articles that add to the point that the system protects its chosen ones!

https://www.miamiherald.com/latest-news/article1951893.html

https://www.palmbeachpost.com/article/20111012/SPORTS/812022921

https://www.nbcmiami.com/news/Nevin-Shapiro-Contraversy-Spreads-129996113.html

https://wsvn.com/news/key-figure-in-miami-ncaa-probe-claims-perjury/

https://blogs.wsj.com/bankruptcy/2011/10/14/the-broke-and-the-beautiful-nevin-shapiro-edition/

the trialmaster said...

Didnt they try to disqualify Judge Dresnick because he made a comment about having a "POW WOW"?

the trialmaster said...

Loved Beetle Baily.

Anonymous said...

"Wapum"? Racist.

Anonymous said...

Stop the nit-picking with offensiveness and related craziness and snowflakeness.

Anonymous said...

Why was there no Bar Complaint against Guy Lewis or did I miss something?

Kissimmee Kid said...

The Indian question has been burning since Plymouth Rock. There are two schools of thought. One is that American Indians are human beings just like anyone else. Brave Roger Williams was exiled by the Puritans for taking the stand that Indians should be paid for their land.

Davy Crockett was a lifelong enemy of our first racist president, and his position was the same. American Indians are american citizens; they are blessed with the same rights, and subject to the same obligations.

So, I for one am tired of these tax cheats and their gaudy gambling den. You say you are at "war" with the United States? Time to surrender or die.