HURRICANE CHECK LIST

UPDATE:  Updated 5 day probability cone posted below. It seems that there is just the slightest jog to the west, as the lure of tens of thousands of Republicans in Tampa is proving irresistible to Isaac. 

August brings a swell of newcomers to the REGJB as the SAO and the PDs ranks increase with the latest law school grads who are more than a little thankful to have a real legal job, and not waiting tables as many of their comrades with newly minted JDs are forced to do: "You should order the ribs tonight and counterclaim on that lawsuit you were served with."
Many of our new lawyers are new to South Florida and may not have experience with hurricanes. We can help. 

Hurricanes are a force of nature, designed by nature to do several things: a hurricane alters the environment that it strikes, creating new land barriers, altering the coast line, creating new estuaries, and  scrubbing clean old land growths, allowing new trees an shrubs a chance to thrive. 
Hurricanes were also clearly designed to boost the stock price of Home Depot and the ratings of channel 7 WSVN in Miami. When a hurricane is formed off the coast of Africa, channel 7 goes into an absolute frenzy, canceling scheduled programming as the station runs endless loops of the aftermath of hurricane Andrew and file footage of desperate people waiting in block long lines to buy a pint of water and a can of cold beans, while other footage shows determined looking people strapping hundreds of sheets of plywood from Home Depot onto the roofs of their  Kias and Porsche Boxsters. 
The lesson to be learned from all this is simple: to survive a hurricane in South Florida you need to 1) watch channel 7; 2) buy all the water you can; 3) buy all the wood at your local home depot.  You will need the wood to build an outhouse in which to sit and listen to channel 7 simulcast on your radio while surveying the splinters of your former home. 

HURRICANE CHECK LIST:
[  ] One radio.  [  ]  Two flashlights.  [ ] One package of C and one package of D batteries. [  ] One can of canned salmon. [ ] One box of Ritz Crackers.  [  ] Two candles and one book of matches. 
 [  ] Four  Six bottles of Tequila. [ ]  One cooler, filled with ice and as many bottles of Michelob Ultra Light as you can jam in there.  
[  ] One 8 x 10 glossy photo of Rick Sanchez.

You may be asking yourself "What should I do?".  You should check the blog  and NOAA Isaac updates frequently. Isaac should be approaching the coast of Florida Sunday. The 11th Judicial Circuit has procedures for notifying litigants and attorneys as to whether court is open. Computer modeling becomes more accurate as the storm nears South Florida. The chief judge will decide on when to issue the order closing courts. As in the past, you can expect that order between several hours and several days after the storm has passed. For instance, if the storm is predicted to hit Miami monday morning, Judge Brown will probably issue the order to close court Monday by the following Thursday. 

The main thing to remember as a storm approaches is to use common sense. Do not touch any downed electrical wires; stock up on plenty of food and water; give yourself extra time when going to the clerks office to  order files, and remember: if the roof is off and the windows are all blown out, then the arraignment calendars in the REGJB will probably be start at 10 instead of 9. 

See you in court... if it's still standing. 

CONE OF DESTRUCTION

"WE'RE NO DEWEY..."

ATL covers Greenberg Trauig which has recently taken on the mantle of being an "embattled big firm. What with the sanctions imposed in the Coquina Bank case, and a much discussed shareholders capital call, tough questions about the firm moved CEO Richard Rosenbaum to bluet out "Look, we're not like Dewey" in reference to the recent bankruptcy of Dewey Ballantine. 

Deny something enough...and maybe there's some truth to it. 
Just a thought. 

Boy does the JAA blog hate Judge Diaz in Broward County. It's nonstop anti-Diaz all the time. Judge Diaz is in a run-off election this November. 

The thing that bothers us so much about Representative Akin's 
(R-moron) comments about rape is that we just feel it in our bones that dozens of other right wing-religious candidates/elected politicians feel the same way but are just too smart to say it.  Akin rode a tea party inspired campaign to an upset win in Republican nomination for senator in Missouri. Next up for Akin: "why baseball is a communist/atheist conspiracy to destroy America." 

Isaac is coming.  Please go away Isaac. We have work to do. On the other hand, the Republicans are coming to Tampa, and you will be arriving at the same time....and nothing would be better karma than a big global-warming created storm knocking out their little pity party  when they deny global warming even exists.... hmmm...

Don't mess with mother nature. 

See you in court. 

JUDGE STANTON KAPLAN

Broward Judge Stanton Kaplan, a fixture on the Broward Bench since 1966 has passed away at age 76, 
The Sun Sentinel Obituary is here. The JAA Broward blog coverage is here. 
Judge Kaplan retired in 2008 and his son Michael was elected to the circuit bench in Broward in 2002. 

LOSE, FEES, LOSE, FEE, ARBITRATE-LOSE, FEES, APPEAL-LOSE, FEES:
This California Appellate Report blog reports on a whopper of a case. Lawyer gets hired, files suit and loses. Clients hire new lawyer and win on appeal. Lawyer sues for his original attorneys fees and wins but jury finds equal amount for fraud so it zeros out. BUT- clients appeal and win 250K in attorneys fees. Lawyer sues HIS lawyer who counterclaims for....you guessed it- unpaid fees. 
JAMS does the arbitration and awards each side zero, but the lawyers move for....you guessed it-attorneys fees and get....you guessed it- 250K! So lawyer appeals and loses and gets hit with....you guessed it- more attorneys fees. 

So lets summarize: lawyer loses case but clients win on appeal with new lawyers. But lawyer is greedy and sues clients for $44,000.00 and ends up losing over $500,000.00 in attorneys fees paid to attorneys for his original clients and his own attorneys and that does not include the latest award from the court of appeals. 
Talk about wishing you never took the case in the first place. 

Two weeks down in August; two weeks to go. 
See You In Court. 

SATURDAY IN THE PARK

BELATED ELECTION CONGRATS: We have been remiss in not congratulating two REGJB regulars who also won election this past Tuesday. Kionne McGhee, a former ASA and current Regional Counsel attorney won election to the Florida House. Mr. McGhee is a great guy, a fantastic lawyer, and will do us all proud. 

Former Dade ASA Cathy Vogel won a primary against current Monroe County State Attorney Dennis Ward, putting Vogel in the general election against republican Mark Kohl- her former boss. Here is the story: Ward ran again Kohl four years ago and primarily campaigned against wasteful spending, including Vogel's  $140K per year salary as a chief assistant in Kohl's office. When Ward won, Vogel quit and went into private practice. 4 years later Kohl registered in the general election as a republican and Vogel challenged Ward in the democratic primary, campaigning on her experience as a prosecutor in Dade and Monroe. Now it's Vogel vs. Kohl in November.  We endorse Ms. Vogel all the way!


HURRICANE ANDREW 20 YEARS LATER. 
Where were you when Andrew roared though South Miami?
We were holding on for dear life. 
For some reason the City of Homestead (motto: "Don't forget us") is having a celebration. The Herald reports here. 

We've walked to court with the National Guard providing security  as downtown burned in the aftermath of riots; We've lived though floods and storms and even one term judges (Peter Capua anyone? a very nice man btw), but we've never lived through anything like Andrew. 

EXCUSE ME, I ORDERED THE KOSHER MEAL

New Tein/Lewis update below!

The Feds have sued the Florida Department of Corrections for not offering inmates a kosher meal. 
The Herald article is here. Noteworthy is that the State spends a whopping $1.54 per inmate for three meals a day. 

DOM has had continuing and excellent coverage of the Apple patent trial and the troubles Samsung lawyers have had in getting along with the trial judge. That's a picture of her honor scowling from the pages of DOM's blog. 

ATL Legal blog has this story about a top law firm in Chicago, seeking a lawyer as an associate who graduated in the top 10% of their class, willing to work 70+ hours a week. "Salary commensurate with experience, but in the range of $25,000-$35,000.00 /yr."
REALLY? 

25-35K a year for 70 hours a week? Are things that bad out there? 

The Dolphins have released their tailgating rules. That assumes people will be going to the games. 2-14 can't be pretty. 

Your two favourite lawyers- those wacky former feds-yes, we are talking about Guy "give me more" Lewis, and Michael "Billem up" Tein, are in the Herald again here. Seems their former clients, the Miccosukee tribe, has accused them and their former chairman of diverting 4 million dollars in fees from the tribe to their law firm. In exchange, the law firm represented two members of the tribe in a civil law suit resulting in a 1.3 million dollar judgment. As Joe Pesci famously said to Robert De Niro in Raging Bull "When you win you win. When you lose, you still win."  4 million for a traffic accident and they lost. As the song says in the new Miller lite commercial: "How do you like me now?" Not very much. 

Another hot week in August almost done. 
See You In Court. 

JUDGE LOBREE THOUGHTS.....

Anonymous said...
Judge Lobree,

Please know that you have quite a few people in our community who admire and respect you as a jurist. It is a sad day for our County to lose such an immensely talented and ethical jurist. Should you decide not to play this "game" again, please consider applying straight to the Third DCA, upon a vacancy. AFterall, it is only a matter of time before you get there anyway.

Wednesday, August 15, 2012 5:33:00 PM





We've always liked this scene from The Hunt for Red October.

Cream with that?  At the Waffle House located in the ironically named "Niceville", Florida, one woman patron poured coffee over the head of another. No arrests were made, nor did the waitress come by afterwards and ask "warm that up for ya?" 

ELECTION CENTRAL ... PRIMARY RESULTS

THE CAPTAIN REPORTS:
(captain4justice@gmail.com)


ELECTION CENTRAL ..... AUGUST 14, 2012 .... PRIMARY RESULTS .....

EARLY VOTING NUMBERS & ABSENTEE BALLOTS HAVE NOW BEEN POSTED AND HERE THEY ARE. JUDGES LOBREE AND LUNDY THOMAS MAY NEED TO DUST OFF THEIR RESUMES.

HERE IS YOUR 9:00 PM UPDATE. CLOSEST RACE IS JUDGE PANDO V. GONZALEZ.  JUDGE WOLFSON IS 102 VOTES ABOVE A RUNOFF.  THAT WILL BE THE LATEST ONE TO CALL BY THE END OF THE NIGHT.

HERE IS YOUR 10:00 PM UPDATE.  PERCENTAGES ONLY EXCEPT WHERE CLOSE (NO LINE-THRUS-TAKES TOO LONG).  JUDGE LUNDY THOMAS AND JUDGE COHN ARE BOTH RUNNING BARELY AHEAD AT THE MOMENT.  DON'T HANG UP THAT ROBE JUST YET.

FINAL NUMBERS ARE IN.  CONGRATS TO THE WINNERS WHO APPEAR IN BOLD AND BLUE BELOW.

In January we welcome three new Circuit Court Judges: Verde, Santovenia, & Pooler; and four new County Court Judges: Gonzalez, Barakat, Cuesta & Brinkley.  (All seven, by the way, are women).

Also of Note:

Mike Satz wins primary and faces Rep. Jim Lewis in November.

Our good friend and former Dade ASA Cathy Vogel wins primary beating incumbent State Attorney in Monroe County and faces Rep. Mark Kohl in November. Way too go Cathy!

Jeff Ashton, he of the losing side of the Caylee Lee Anthony trial beats incumbent State Attorney Lawson Lamar and is your new State Attorney.

Dale Ross is still a Judge in Broward.

Julio Gonzalez won 34% of the vote and will be in a run-off with Laurie Wilson who won 27% for Circuit Court seat.  Two other candidates collected the other 39% of the vote.

Judge Diaz in Broward got 49.64% and will be in a runoff with Roshawn Banks (27.94%). Diaz needed 718 more votes to have avoided a run-off.

Judge Terri-Ann Miller was re-elected.

STATE ATTORNEY

Katherine F. Rundle - 60%
Rod Vereen -  40%

CIRCUIT COURT

Judge David Miller -  62%
Mauricio Padilla - 38%

Robert Coppel - 93,227 - 49%
Maria Verde - 98,661 - 51%

Alex Jimenez Labora - 90,027 - 49%
Maria Santovenia -  95,298 - 51%

Victor De Yurre - 43%
Teresa Pooler -  57%

COUNTY COURT

Frank Hernandez - 44%
Judge Patricia Marino-Pedraza - 56%

Diana Gonzalez - 95,523 - 51%
Judge Ana Maria Pando - 92,605 - 49%

Michelle Alvarez Barakat - 71%
Judge Fleur Lobree - 29%

Arthur Spiegel - 46,018 - 24%
Greer Elaine Wallace - 51,720 - 27% (R)
Judge Andrea Wolfson - 90,978 - 48% (R)

Ivonne Cuesta - 67%
Jacci Seskin - 33%

Tanya Brinkley - 61%
Enrique Yabor - 39%

John Rodriguez - 94,685 - 50%
Judge Teretha L. Thomas -  95,943 - 50%

Lourdes Cambo - 90,981 - 49%
Judge Don Cohn - 94,870 - 51%

That is the line-up in Miami-Dade County.  We should have early voting results very soon.  We will keep you updated during the evening.

CAPTAIN OUT .....
(captain4justice@gmail.com)

TODAY IS ELECTION DAY

WE VOTED!
We walked into our polling place and three elderly women addressed us in Spanish. We replied in English, causing the woman who we approached to frown. She carefully checked our voter card and DL and then our name (Horace Rumpole) against her list and handed us a Republican slip.

HR: Wrong slip. I'm a democract.
Poll: Worker: No eess blank on my page so I give you wah I wan.
HR: Look on my voter card. It says Democrat.
Poll: Worker: No says on my list so I can gev you.
HR: Get your supervisor.
Much discussion in Spanish ensues, of which I can follow most including the supervisor telling the woman words to the effect of "I told you not to do this."
Supervisor: I'm sorry. It was a mistake.
HR: Has she done this before?
Supervisor: No.
HR: Then why did you just yell at her and tell her you told her not to do it again?
Supervisor: I didn't say that.
HR: Give me both your names so I can file a complaint.
More discussion in Spanish at which point I am given a form and told I have to fill it out there and return it to the Supervisor. I take the form, fold it and put it in my pocket.
Supervisor: You cannot do that.
HR: Call the police. In the meantime give me a democratic ballot before this gets worse for you.
I get the ballot, vote, and then to the mean stares of several elderly woman, scan my ballot and walk out.
Miami.

Something occurred to us: Why are Republican Governors enacting "voter fraud" laws which will effectively disenfranchise tens if not over a hundred thousand eligible voters from voting (mostly minority voters with less access to IDs) when the demonstrable election fraud for the last decade amounts to less than three hundred votes? Why not enforce the laws on the books? And yet, the same party which wants to enact dozens of laws to deal with a minuscule problem that is almost theoretical (one poll impersonation for every 15 million votes as per this Washington Post article) , shouts the party line that the laws on the books should be enforced when it comes to handguns. Today 8 more children will be shot by handguns. How many elections will be changed by voter fraud? Just a thought.

In no particular order, we like Judge Wolfson, Judge Don Cohn, Kathy Fernandez-Rundle, Robert Copel, Alex Jimenz-Labora, Mauricio Padilla, Michelle Alvarez, Judge Teretha Lundy-Thomas. Best of luck to all. 

Sex and the Single Girl: Helen Gurley Brown passed away yesterday. She certainly showed the world what Brown could do for you. 

Vote!

TOMORROW IS ELECTION DAY

Tomorrow is election day in Miami Dade. In Hialeah, election day has been held for the last sixteen days, and depending upon the number of absentee ballots you filled out, you may well be able to vote at least twice tomorrow.

But for the rest of us, tomorrow is the day to vote in local elections. We have refrained from making any endorsements, but we feel pretty comfortable in saying this:

Judge Andrea Wolfson has done a great job on the bench and there is no rhyme or reason for why she has opposition. She is a good judge who did not deserve any opponents and she should be elected. If you vote in Hialeah, you can vote for her twice! Although we are sure she wouldn't want you to do this. Once is enough.

Kathy Fernandez Rundle merits being retained. Rod Vereen would be a good State Attorney, but his association with nefarious individuals, who this being Miami, are police officers, is disturbing at best.

So go stand in line tomorrow and be a good American and vote for your favorite judge, many of whom have  been at the polling places for the last week or so during early voting, sweating, and cursing the misfortune that brought them an opponent. Don't feel too bad  for them however. Once elected, they'll take it out on you in court.

POLITICS MAKES STRANGE.....

"The wolf shall live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the kid, the calf and yearling with the lion, and a little child shall lead them." Isaiah 11:6. 
Several aspiring bloggers sent us that quote when the news broke last week that the League of Prosecutors would be joining forces with the FACDL to challenge the Limited Registry system. 
This is the LOP's motion to file an Amicus Brief in the case before the 3rd DCA. 

Amended Motion for Leave to File Amicus Curiae Brief


DOM never surrenders.
You need to check out this post on South Florida Lawyers last week on DOM's petition to the United States Supreme Court to review and reverse the 11th Circuit's very disappointing opinion in the Shaygan case. To refresh your memory, the Feds prosecuted Dr. Shaygan, threatened him and Mr. Markus if they didn't plea, sent snitches to try and get Mr. Markus to improperly get witnesses to change their testimony, and then didn't tell anyone what they did until Mr. Markus uncovered it during cross. Judge Gold hit the roof, sanctioned the prosecutors and the US Attorneys Office and awarded 600K in costs for a frivolous prosecution. Among other things, Dr. Shaygan was innocent, which is why the feds are so peeved off that he was acquitted. As we know, their unofficial motto is  "Anyone can convict the guilty, but it takes a really good prosecutor to....." well, you know the rest. 
The 11th circuit undid most of Gold's order  in a very strange and extremely disappointing opinion. DOM with some Amicus briefs, now seeks the Supremes to remedy the whole situation. 

Final Results: In our informal, unscientific poll: 
State Attorney KFR: 406: 53%
Rod Vereen: 352: 46%

The start of another long, hot week. 

SAVING CONGRESSMAN RYAN

85: Breaking: Saturday Night Davie, Florida: Embattled Dolphin WR Chad Johnson nee Ochocinco was arrested Saturday night after "head butting" his new wife who became irate when she found a receipt for condoms in the WR's car while the couple was returning home from dinner.  Those receipts will kill ya. 

Because we have sources everywhere who never sleep, the Captain scooped  the national media and broke the news last night that Mitt Romney would be picking Wisconsin Republican Congressman Paul Ryan as his VP nominee.

Ryan is the Republican Party's new Jack Kemp, for whatever that is worth. And it might be worth a lot. Read on Macbeth.

First a bit on timing. The polls were in rapid free fall for Mitt Romney over the last few days.  Obama's campaign gambled that by spending early to negatively define Romney (adopting the Bush playbook versus John Kerry in 2004), the Republican would be forced to spend defensively to rebut the allegations. The strategy has worked. Thus the Romney campaign called an audible, or one could say panicked a bit as the mid week polling data came in late Friday night, and chose the second worst media day of the week: Saturday morning, to make their official announcement. 
Take from the timing what you will, but outside of some favorable news in Colorado, the polling data was alarming. New polls showed Romney behind 4 points in Virginia (NY Times/CBS/ Quinnipiac)  and even the Rasmussen polls, which are somewhat Republican biased, has Obama up two points in Virginia, which not surprisingly, has a below national average unemployment rate of 5.6%. When the issue is not the economy, Romney has no chance.

Next: the rest of our data and analysis is drawn from the 538 blog, which has shown since 2000, that it is THE preeminent political analysis blog on the planet. You call follow 538  here on the NY TImes. 
538 has no demonstrable bias, calling the 2004 election for Bush in the closing days when even the Kerry campaign started calling the senator "Mr. President" when early returns on election day  suggested Kerry was going to win big in Ohio (Bush squeaked out a win in Ohio which gave him the margin of victory in the electoral college). 

The Ryan Factor: Congressman Ryan has the smallest positive impact on Romney's vote of all the potential vice presidential nominees. Ryan's positive impact on Romney votes in Wisconsin and in the national vote was put by 538 at +0.7%, whereas traditionally a vice presidential choice has  a +2.5% positive impact on the candidate in the nationwide vote.  By comparison, New Mexico Governor Susana Martinez has a positive impact of +27% on her home state voters and +4% on voters in the national election. 

Ryan comes with baggage: his conservative monetary policies, particularly as it relates to social security and medicare/medicaid, open the Romney/Ryan ticket to continued charges that the Republicans don't care about the poor. The choice of Ryan creates, in our opinion (and there is no data analysis by 538 on this at the moment) a negative impact on Romney's chances of winning Florida, with its high population of elderly retirees. But Ryan may have a bigger positive  impact on Wisconsin and to a lesser extent Ohio, although the polling data doesn't yet reflect it, and his choice should bolster Romney's current surge in Colorado, which is currently a battleground state with both campaigns  pouring large amounts of money and time into the state. One caveat: Ryan comes from the monetary neo-con movement, whose young members idolize Ayn Rand. However, Ms. Rand's Objectivist  philosophy, with its total rejection of religion, plays poorly to the Christian Right- which has a solid base in Colorado (especially the Colorado Springs area). In the past Ryan, who at times has enthusiastically embraced certain principles of Rand's philosophy, has been forced to back track when challenged by religious conservatives. 

Unfortunately for Ryan, as Ms. Rand was known to remark about "straddlers", in for a penny, in for a pound. 

538 currently puts the chances of an Obama electoral college victory at 72%, up from 68% in June. It's been a hot, tough summer for Romney. Although the economic news over the summer has been tepid at best, Obama has been able to not only negate the negative impact of the economy on his campaign, but actually increase his lead over Romney by painting him as an out of touch, wealthy, uncaring elitist. Like that picture of John Kerry windsurfing, pictures of Romney on his jet ski over the 4th of July weekend didn't help matters. Small things sometimes win big elections. 

One final thought: the selection of Ryan is Romney's final capitulation to the Republican Right. The moderate wing of the Republican party is now arguably dead and buried. It was last represented in any strength  by George Herbert Walker Bush on economics and social policy (Bush's tax increases, which cost him the election, arguably set the stage for the great economic recovery during the  Clinton adminsitration) and by on foreign affairs by  Brent Scowcroft  (Ford and Bush 41's National Security Advisor and a loud and frequent public critic of Bush 43's invasion of Iraq) and Collin Powell.

The selection of  Paul Ryan now makes him the face of the Republican party for the next thirty years (Ryan is 42).  Perhaps then it was more than just a slip of the tongue when Mitt Romney introduced Paul Ryan at their first official campaign event, televised on all the major cable news networks, as "The Next President of the United States." 
In many ways, Mr. Ryan may well be the next REPUBLICAN President of the United States. 

Game on. 

...THEN THEY CAME FOR ME.

Remember Susan Estrich? Campaign manager for Michael Dukakis's presidential campaign in 1988? For that matter, remember Michael Dukakis? Governor of Massachusetts. His party's nominee for president. Faded into oblivion. Massachusetts politicians are 0-2 in presidential elections since 1988. Not good news for Mitt. Anyway, Susan Estrich appeared in court for Samsung at a hearing in the Northern District of California in Samsung's battle against Apple. Problem is, Estrich is not admitted to the Northern District of California's Bar.  Ooops. 

With two days left to vote in our thoroughly unscientific poll, and with almost 800 votes, State Attorney Katherine Rundle has held a consistent 55%-45% lead over challenger Rod Vereen. 
Vote early. Vote often. 

Preseason football started Thursday night. Are you ready for some football Dolphin fans?

It takes about five years from the time a murder case is arraigned in Miami until it is tried, pled, or dismissed. In China, it took seven hours for the murder trial of Gu Kailai to begin and end. Gu is accused of killing British business man Neil Heywood in November, 2011. Ms. Gu is the wife of recently disgraced Chinese party leader Bo Xilai.  As the NY Times reports: 
Ms. Gu and her accomplice, Zhang Xiaojun, were deprived of their own legal counsel and forced to accept a government-appointed lawyer. No defense witnesses were produced during the trial. The defendants’ lawyers never had a chance to review the prosecution’s evidence.

Not quite Limited Registry stuff, but give Governor Scott and the Florida Legislature a few more months to catch up to the Chinese system. 
Meanwhile, in a Twilight Zone like twist of fate, Ms. Gu was once a respected lawyer in China who extolled the virtue of the Chinese criminal justice system in a book: 
"she ridiculed the American justice system as doddering and inept. “They can level charges against dogs and a court can even convict a husband of raping his wife,” she wrote.

By contrast, China’s system was straightforward and judicious. “We don’t play with words and we adhere to the principle of ‘based on facts,’ ” she wrote. “You will be arrested, sentenced and executed as long as we determine that you killed someone.”

Guess what Ms. Gu? They determined you killed someone and you will be executed because you live in a country that does not have due process and does not recognize the implicit value of an independent, well compensated attorney who has only your best interests at heart. Sort of like.....Florida? 

First they came for the communists,
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a communist.

Then they came for the trade unionists,
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a trade unionist.

Then they came for the Jews,
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a Jew.

Then they came for me
and there was no one left to speak out for me.

Pastor Martin Niemoller, 1892-1984. 

Another summer weekend on tap. 

...AND I APPROVED THIS AD

This political ad for Judge David Miller is just......awful. The voice over is about as bad as we have ever heard.  The sound is bad, the music doesn't fit and the message is obtuse. Yes, we know Judge Miller has the reputation of agreeing to set hearings at unusual hours, but really, most voters will not care about that. Plus, the pull away shot shows him reading, out loud, to .....no one.  Which is sort of weird. Most of have learned to read silently without moving our lips since we were about 8 or so. The penultimate shot of Miller with his wife and dog is a good one,  but that's about it for this amateurish ad.




By contrast, this commercial by Tanya Brinkley is much better. The music is similar which leads us to believe they may have both used the same company to create the commercial, but it is a bit softer. The images that are projected are more compelling and interesting and there is an underlying message of Ms. Brinkley out in the community dealing with people. The voice over is much better and the only complaint here is that the two very close close ups of Ms. Brinkley don't really work. We would have pulled back a bit on both. But over all the commercial works much better.  




We're not endorsing or "not endorsing" anyone here. We're merely drawing upon our vast knowledge, accumulated many years ago, of election advertising.

July was THE hottest month EVER recorded in the United States, since 1895 when  records were first kept. But as Mitt Romney and most republicans will tell you, that proves nothing when it comes to global warming. Indeed Romney was over heard saying "why don't they just turn up the AC in their Escalade or vacation home if they're hot?"

See you in court. Keep cool.  

JUST SAY NO

David S Markus, the scourge of the limited registry, took his quixotic fight -via FACDL-  to the 3rd DCA, challenging Joel Brown's administrative order implementing the limited registry ("reasonable doubt at a reasonable price"). 

The 3rd said NO, but it might be a pyretic victory for the dark lord, because while the 3rd denied some of what the petitioner sought, they ordered Judge Brown to respond (gasp!),  which means that his honor will have to A) do some legal research and write a response (ok, stop laughing) or B) Hire a law firm.

The battle continues. "Never never never never never surrender."
Willis Reed, 70 Knicks,  & Winston Churchill, 40 Brits. 


Just say NO

FYI: we might be induced to lower our hourly fee. But someone will have to ask nicely. 
BTW: 80 followers. Thanks.

SHE'S BEEN SLIMED

Yesterday's post (mail for you yanks) brought a singularly slimly and disingenuous piece of political advertising. Besides almost revealing exactly where the State Attorney lives (which is a crime in Florida), complete with photographs of the front and back of the area of her residence, the three-fold, double sided flyer, contained an excerpt from a PBA newspaper in which the State Attorney was labeled "the most corrupt politician in Miami-Dade County". 
The flyer then asks why we should trust the State Attorney if the police don't?
Except of course that the PBA does not speak for all police officers in Dade County, and is run by a man who has displayed thuggish tactics against Assistant State Attorneys who were prosecuting  police officers; who has had a well publicized feud with the State Attorney; and who may well be behind, or acting in concert with, "Big Vote For Justice", the putative political group responsible for the mendacious flyer. 

What we can say for sure is this: Rod Vereen is way too classy to allow himself to be associated with this perfidious piece of political offal. 

We can also say politics in Dade County just got dirtier, as if that was even possible. 

Missing: The JAA broward blog. Or maybe they're just on vacation, like the rest of the attorneys in south florida, according to the South Florida Lawyers. 

This is a remarkable photo, taken by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, showing the descent of the Curiosity Mars Rover, with the parachute deployed. NASA now has a satellite orbiting Mars and a one ton vehicle set to explore the Martian surface. Well done NASA, well done indeed. 

Keep cool....see you in court. 

FACDL: BACK TO SCHOOL SUPPLIES DRIVE: 
The Facdl's Homeless Outreach Committee is organizing a school supplies drive for homeless children. 
From August 13-16 Judge Bloom has graciously donated her chambers on the sixth floor (the high rent district) to receive any school supplies you wish to donate. 
What a great cause. Please donate. Crayons, notebooks, pens, pencils, all school supplies needed and welcome. Shout out to FACDL Prez Jude Faccidomo for getting this rolling and for attorney Karen Ruiz for chairing the committee and organizing the collection. 


TOO MANY PRISONERS: Give the Federal Government several decades and bureaucrats will come to realize what the rest of us already know. Thus this report from the Justice Department: "The growing federal prison population, now more than 218,000 inmates, and a prison budget of almost $6.2 billion are incompatible with a balanced crime policy and are unsustainable." 
And this from the US Sentencing Commission's report  "Mandatory minimum sentences are often excessively severe, especially for people convicted of drug-trafficking offenses, who make up more than 75 percent of those given such sentences. Mandatory minimums have contributed in the last 20 years to the near tripling of federal prisoners, with more than half the prisoners now in for drug crimes."


Next up: new federal report:smoking might be bad for you. 


Another Gun Massacre: This one in a Sikh temple in Wisconsin on Sunday where a person with a gun killed six people worshipping. 
Of course the worshipers were to blame for not being fully armed and prepared for such an attack. Next time they'll know better. 


Yup, it was a great day for America when the Supreme Court upheld the expansive view of the second amendment. More guns, more guns, more guns. That's what we need. 


We have 79 followers. It would be nice to get to a simple 
round number like 80.
Enjoy your week.

DAS NICHTS nichtet

"Why is there something
rather than nothing?"

DOG DAYS AND BEARS

This gem from Roy Black's blog. The author is anonymous:
“Excellence can be obtained if you care more than others think is wise, risk more than others think is safe, dream more than others think is practical, expect more than others think is possible.”


If you're a trial lawyer, you should be reading his blog every day, so that when he writes: "The search for favorable evidence should never end." you have an idea on how he prepares for trial. 


If you're not reading the Bear Lawyer comic strip/blog, you're missing out 


Trying to follow the ballots in the breaking Hialeah Absentee ballot scandal is like trying to count popcorn as it pops. There was a big to-do yesterday when the woman found in possession of 31 absentee ballots in Hialeah of all places, zoomed up to the SAO and then was placed in an official looking police vehicle. For us, the real question is whose names were on those ballots? Al Gore? 


It's now officially the dog days of summer. August in Miami. Yuck. 


Here's the thing about our post the other day about Richard E. Gerstein: you have to look at the man within the context of his times. Yes, today his statements and investigations about things like pornography and homosexuality seem ridiculous at best. But within the context of the 1960's, even during movements promoting great social change like the civil rights movement, you didn't see or hear a peep about rights for homosexuals. It took time for society to evolve and we do not think it's fair to judge Mr. Gerstein today through that lens of time. There were prosecutions for the possession and sale of pornography during Janet Reno's tenure as State Attorney as well. And perhaps one day in the not too distant future, young lawyers will be reading this blog ( we don't age. It's all about high dose vitamin C) and commenting on the ridiculous prosecutions for drug possession and how those policies ruined tens of thousands of peoples lives during the lat 30 years. 


When dog bites man...ho hum. When man bites dog, it's breaking news. That's why the news that a Lauderhill police officer was planting drugs on people during traffic stops is not earth shaking, stop the presses news. Here is the Herald report.  Yeah, Broward is just paradise. 


So lets summarize: voter fraud in Hialeah; bad cops planting drugs in Broward; it's hot here in August. 
*Yawn. *


Enjoy your summer weekend. 

FROM ACORNS TO OAK TREES

We continue to be in a reflective mood. 


When the Justice Building opened, no one wanted to move in. 
The reasons: lawyers handling multiple cases downtown could move from court to court and floor to floor to handle their calendar. Most of them had their offices on Flagler and walked to court. Plus there weren't any restaurants within walking distance of the new courthouse and parking was a problem. 
The more things change, the more they stay the same. 


REG:
He was 6'5, and startlingly bald, and he cast quite a shadow when he strode into a courtroom.  He was a  WWII war hero with one good eye.  He lost the other eye in a bombing mission over Germany, for which he received a purple heart. 
He investigated Watergate when no one else would, and obtained the first  conviction. He rallied the local police chiefs in the 1960's to crack down on homosexuality after a national magazine labeled Miami as a city friendly to those with that sexual orientation. He prosecuted the owner of Whelan's Drug store in Miami Beach for selling pornography: Henry Miller's Tropic Of Cancer. He cut a wide swarth through the political and legal history of Miami from the 1950's until his death in 1992. He hired Janet Reno and then picked her as his successor as State Attorney. He was tough, smart, controversial. 


We are of course talking about Richard E. Gerstein, the man for whom the building we all work in is named. 
Here is a Miami Archives Blog post about Gerstein,  courtesy of Bill Cooke at Random Pixels.  which may well be South Florida's second most popular daily blog. 


There are gaggles of newly minted lawyers headed our way in August.  It's important to know who planted those acorns that became the oak trees, in whose shade we all rest beneath. 


See you in court. 

THE BEST

COMING THURSDAY: It was 1962. Kennedy was President. Castro was settling in in Havana and Miami had a brand spanking new courthouse no one wanted to work in. 


If you're under 40- go away. Go tweet or Facebook or get a latte at starbucks. This isn't for you. 
Today's post is very simple. Who's the best Judge you've ever appeared in front of?
State. Federal. Circuit. County. Have at it. 


Our thoughts: Any discussion involving the best at the REGJB usually starts and ends with the late Judge Cowart. A very smart man. Great judicial temperament. A true southern gentleman. Usually responded to most inane objections with "bless your soul", but when he needed to apply his razor sharp legal mind, his reasoning was spot on. Is remembered for telling Ted Bundy when he sentenced him to death that in another circumstance he wished Bundy would have been a lawyer appearing before him "but you chose another path pardner...." A great and memorable line. 


But time has passed and these days the discussion should be a bit more lively. 
The hardest working Judge? That's easy. Tom Scott, both as a circuit judge in the then Justice Building and then as a district court judge, Scott  set the bar very high. Janet Reno said she never saw a judge try more cases in one year than Scott did when he was in the Justice Building. But does he deserve discussion as the best? Perhaps. 


We would put the late Rob Pinero in the discussion. Hard working, sensible, fair, he was everything you wanted in a judge. He earned being in this discussion and we'd take him in any case. Period. 


In Federal Court we had the great pleasure of trying cases before Jose Gonzalez and Ned David, two of the very best we have ever seen.  


County court judges often become circuit judges but some stay their entire career in county court and become damn good judges. Put the late Henry Oppenborn  and the current Keieger-Martin in that category. 


Judge Fred Moreno has to have a place at the table here. County court judge, circuit judge. district judge, chief judge of the southern district- he's done it all here in South Florida and done  a damn good job every step of the way. 


These are our thoughts, but what are yours? Make some nominations, explain your reasons, and perhaps we'll have a a few runoffs until we arrive at a winner. 


See You In Court. 


FYI: sitting north of the border does not, per se, eliminate you from this discussion, but for the purposes of this discussion,  being a judge in Broward...well, res ipsa loquitor. 

Limited Registry Act II

What were you doing when the great and unexpected Saturday-FACDL Listserv-Limited Registry kerfuffle erupted?  Were you watching the olympics, grilling some ribs, or emerging from the shadows of some cheap yet thrilling Saturday afternoon assignation? 

For those of you who wear robes (and are thus not allowed to receive Listserv emails) prosecute (ditto) or were  just blissfully enjoying a Saturday afternoon, the email from David S. Markus (NOT DOM- David O Markus, the fine federal attorney and proprietor of the Southern District Of Florida Blog) where he “named names” and listed the phone numbers of five defense attorneys who had signed up for the category of the limited registry that enables them to receive murder case appointments for a cap of $2,500.00 in fees burst across the legal landscape of Miami like an unexpected appearance of Halley’s comet, or a judge picking up the check at lunch.

Mr. Markus’ email was lengthy, explaining his position and his conversations with two of the attorneys who signed up and deigned to speak with him. One lawyer basically told him “FU. I can do this and make it work for me” while the other not only gave an impassioned plea on the need for quality defense for the indigent, but ended up agreeing to serve as a co-petitioner on Mr. Markus and the FACDL’s quixotic quest to sink the limited registry. 

Know this: Mr. Markus is correct in all respects. With regards to the lawyer who thinks he can make this work for him economically with an economies of scales approach in which, by taking a lot of cases, the volume of work and fees makes up for the few cases he ends up trying for $2,500.00, the lawyer will fail because the committee overseeing the appointments to attorneys on the limited registry is going to impose a small cap on the number of open cases an attorney can have. Thus when the litigation of these cases bog down with intransigent  prosecutors (“I know your client probably didn’t do it but the victim wants the max and their feelings and knowledge of the legal system supersedes mine”)  and difficult clients (“Man,  you just work for the state. That video ain’t me and that DNA ain’t mine”)  the financial realities of working for years to earn $2,500 will trump visions of grandeur: “Let’s see. If I take a thousand cases at $2,500 that is...umm...two and half million dollars! So I have to try ten of them. I can still afford that vacation condo in the Keys....”

With regard to the lawyer out to save the world, Mr. Markus’ rejoinder to him was spot on: the way to ensure that indigent clients get good legal representation is not to give into the Legislature but to defeat the limited registry, because if nobody signs up, then the appointments automatically go to the general registry wheel where attorneys are not reduced to hourly fees less than than those who clean the REGJB bathrooms (who also deserve a big raise by the way.) 

We struggled with publishing Mr. Markus’ email because he included the names and phone numbers of those misguided lawyers who got down on their bellies and prostrated themselves before the Florida Legislature who has blatantly sought to treat criminal defense attorneys in this state like “dogs needin a whuppin”. We won’t lick their shoes and our colleagues who have ought to be ashamed of themselves. That being said, we were cautious about using  the blog as a public vehicle to upbraid our colleagues, however in need of upbraiding they may have been. Events however, have overtaken our caution.

So here is the email which most of you have probably read. Have at it. 

lrdsmpdf

Sleepy summer weekend? HA!

NO REFUNDS NO EXCHANGES

There's something vaguely disconcerting about this. Fox guarding the henhouse type of scenario. But that being said,  the other day brought  this news from the Statewide president of the FACDL ("pay your dues!!")

I am happy to announce that this morning the Florida Bar Rules Committee unanimously voted against changing the rule to prohibit non refundable fees! This would not have happened without the incredible dedication and hard work of our ad hoc committee.  We made personal contacts with every member of the committee armed with talking points. 

This is a shining example of how FACDL makes a difference. 

Special thanks to David Rothman, Scott Fingerhut and Jim Miller for assisting in this cause. 

  

Derek Byrd, Esquire

Personally, we just give the money back before the arraignment unless we have done a lot of pre-filing work. Rarely happens. Perhaps twice in the last five years.  


JUDGE FAJARDO SWORN IN: 
If you missed the wonderful ceremony the other day, here is the recap of Judge Ariana Fajardo being sworn in. Congrats!


Coming Monday: The Best You've Ever Seen. 
Only on your favourite, award winning* legal blog. 
Enjoy your summer weekend. 




*Honorable mention in the 2010 Croatian -US legal blog contest.

ZLOCKED

South Florida Lawyers reported on how the State Attorney was Zlocked ( (c) Justice Building Blog 2012, all rights reserved) in her recent lawsuit to open up the August 14 "primary". 


Trivia question: which current circuit court judge was reported to the bar by then chief judge Tjoflat of the 11th circuit  when he was a defense attorney and made fun of the judge's name in a FACDL mailing?  Judge Tjoflat is currently the longest serving federal appeals court judge since although he is eligible for senior service, he has not elected it. Judge Tjoflat was appointed to the 5th circuit by President Ford and confirmed in November 1975. 


By the time you're reading this, the Bar Exam in Florida is OVER. Congrats to all those who finished, and we sincerely hope you never have to go back to Tampa... unless you want to. 


The Olympics have already started and the opening ceremony is tonight. 
USA...USA.... actually our loyalties lie with the host country. Rule Britannia and all that. 
Meanwhile Mitt Romney's visit to our beloved London has set back US-Great Britain relations worse than the war of 1812. Open mouth...insert foot (albeit covered in silk socks and $1,000.00 shoes) 


DOM has a "feisty" (his word, not ours) update. 


Shooting tragedy: Carol City Highschool graduate Paul Royal, age 18, days away from starting his college football career, was shot and killed outside his home Tuesday the Herald reports.  Royal who wanted to get out of Miami before becoming another statistic becomes just that: one teen every three hours is killed by gunfire in the United States. Hard to figure out how having more guns in circulation would have stopped this tragedy. 


Another steamy summer weekend is upon us. 

SUMMER CLEANING

Your Florida Marlins packed it in this year, trading former NL batting champ Hanley Raminrez to the Dodgers and Anibel Sanchez and Omar Infante to the Tigers. We think they pulled the trigger too soon. 
Teams can make comebacks. 


Speaking of comebacks,  this documentary is about supermodels as they age. 


Is it us or is the REGJB just empty this summer? 


Mike Walsh is in trial in an interesting murder/self defense case before Judge Firtel. This is week two. You can check it out on the the 4th floor. 


Gun Control in the United Kingdom: here is how the UK responded to gun massacres. In August of 1987 a gunman killed sixteen people in Hungerford using semiautomatic rifles. The next year the Firearms Act was amended to ban the possession of  some semiautomatic weapons and shotguns with a capacity of more than three shells. 
In March of 1996 a gunman killed sixteen school children at the Dublane school.  In 1997 the Firearms act was amended to ban the possession of all semiautomatic rifles and handguns in the United Kingdom. 


In the United States in 2007 a gunman using semiautomatic weapons killed thirty two people at Virginia Tech. 
In 2012 in Colorado, a gunman killed twelve people and injured dozens in a shooting in a movie theater. 


The response to the last two firearm massacres in the United States has been, with regard to gun laws, do nothing. 


Wow. How tragic. 


See You In Court.