- Well, at least he cleaned up Wall Street; so runs one common valedictory to Spitzer, but Prof. Bainbridge begs to differ (Mar. 13)(and see links at my Point of Law roundup last week).
- “Should Spitzer really go to jail because of the way he took his own cash out of the bank?” asks Larry Ribstein (Mar. 11). And indeed bank “Know Your Customer” regulations, of which I’ve been critical for a good long time, might now come in for much needed scrutiny (Jack Balkin, Balkinization, Mar. 13; see also). One public figure who likewise faced the prospect of a “money laundering” indictment when personal weaknesses led him into surreptitious payments was ideological antipode Rush Limbaugh, Megan McArdle reminds us (Nov. 24, 2003).
- Last week’s New York Times article laying out Spitzer’s big crusade against the sex trade, and his successful push for a law lengthening sentences for “johns”, was powerful enough on its own terms. But isn’t it curious that the Times exclusively and at length quoted the feminist and legal-services groups who worked as Spitzer’s allies in that crusade, while not quoting a single source critical of the harsher penalties? Stephen Chapman has one corrective view [syndicated/Chicago Tribune, Mar. 13].
- Toronto law blogger Garry Wise says that unless Spitzer was diverting public moneys his fall constitutes “just another political lynching by the Monica brigade”, a sentiment I find sufficiently wrong-headed that I’m provoked to jump in with a comment [Wise Law Blog]. P.S. Wise says he was referring not to the governor’s downfall, but to his potential overcharging.
- How’d the press find out that “Client #9” was the governor of New York? All signs point to a prosecution leak — the sort of underhanded tactic that should be left to the likes of, well, the departing governor himself [Frum, National Post]. Plus: Don’t assume that all the ill-advised leaks came from the prosecution side [Beldar]
- Should “Kristen” sue AP and other press outlets for swiping her MySpace pics, she might prove formidable in court: “It’s not often you get a case where there’s someone in the room with a higher hourly rate than the lawyers.” [Steyn @ NRO “Corner”].
- One reader said he had to check Overlawyered to see whether a certain story was true or a parody, so please rest assured: it’s only a parody (Jason Roth, “Spitzer Sues Prostitute Over Sex Addiction”, Save the Humans, Mar. 11).
Author Archive
Detroit mayoral scandal
Lawyers are coming under fire for numerous alleged derelictions in the Motor City’s abuse-of-executive-power scandal, which involves claims of “false testimony, concealment of information from the city council and possible destruction of evidence. … ‘There’s so much wrongdoing, it’s hard to know where to start,’ says professor John Brennan of Thomas M. Cooley Law School. ‘The city attorneys are not acting like lawyers, they’re acting like (Mayor Kwame) Kilpatrick’s legal bodyguards. They’ve forgotten who their clients are.'” (Martha Neil, “Lawyers in ‘Ethical Minefield’ in $8.4M Detroit Settlement Scandal”, ABA Journal, Mar. 6; Joe Swickard, “Attorneys’ conduct questioned in the Kilpatrick text-message scandal”, Detroit Free Press, Mar. 6).
“Jury clears doctors of negligence in Ritter’s death”
“A Glendale jury on Friday cleared an emergency room doctor of negligence and liability in John Ritter’s death, holding he did everything he could to save the comic actor. … Jurors, who voted 9 to 3 against liability for Lee and Lotysch, said they were torn between sympathy for Ritter’s wife and children and their conviction that the doctors were blameless.” (John Spano, Los Angeles Times, Mar. 15). Earlier here and here (noting that Ritter family had already obtained $14 million in settlements from other defendants).
Scruggs in guilty plea
The WSJ and Mississippi’s WLOX have the news up on Dickie Scruggs’ plea of guilty to conspiracy in the attempted bribe of Judge Henry Lackey. Earlier today, the Journal had an illuminating page-one feature on Dickie Scruggs’s history of fee disputes with other lawyers. YallPolitics‘ server seems to be down at the moment from traffic, but is back up now; in an email alert, YP’s Alan Lange said the surprise plea came three days before the deadline for Scruggs to plead before his approaching trial. Our past coverage is here, or check our Scandals page.
Update 12:18 EST: AP coverage is here (via Rossmiller). Sid Backstrom also pleaded and, per Folo rapid updates, is cooperating with prosecutors. No deal for Zach Scruggs yet. Also per Folo, Scruggs pleaded to conspiracy in the Lackey bribe attempt but did not resolve possible charges in the DeLaughter case, per the government side.
12:44: Now Folo’s server has crashed. Temporary replacement site up here.
1:16: Per Patsy Brumfield at the NEMDJ:
…The government recommended a sentence of five years in prison for Scruggs and 2 1/2 years for Backstrom. They also will pay a maximum fine of $250,000 each and a court fee. …
Before Biggers accepted their pleas, Scruggs and Backstrom admitted in open court that they had done what the government said they had done in Count One – they had conspired to bribe Circuit Judge Henry Lackey of Calhoun City for a favorable order in a Katrina-related legal fees case….
Dickie Scruggs, arguably the most famous plaintiffs’ attorney in the U.S., looked pale and thin but carried himself with a bit more control than his younger colleague at The Scruggs Law Firm, headquartered on the storied Square in Oxford.
The 61-year-old Ole Miss Law School grad and legal giant-killer, as well as Backstrom, likely will voluntarily surrender their law licenses, as has co-defendant Timothy Balducci of New Albany, who pleaded guilty in December although he was wired and cooperating with the government at least a month earlier.
“Do you fully understand what is happening here today,” Biggers asked him.
“Yes, I do,” Scruggs responded.
Questioned about whether he had discussed his decision to plead guilty with his attorney, Scruggs responded, “With my attorney, my wife and my family.”
1:25 p.m.: Rossmiller has an update from a correspondent at the scene. And Folo is up at a temporary site until its server gets back online. Excerpts from Folo’s on-the-scene report:
…* Richard Scruggs is pleading to conspiracy to bribe a state court judge, count 1 of the indictment, with other counts to be dismissed. This was an open plea, that is, no recommended sentence.
* The government expects that he will get the full five year sentence on that count. …
* There was no mention of cooperation by Scruggs. …
* There was an interesting and unusual disagreement with the government’s statement of facts in the plea colloquy. The government stated in its facts for both Backstrom and Scruggs that a conspiracy began in March to corruptly influence the state court judge, and Scruggs spoke to say that he had agreed to earwig the judge but not corruptly influence him in March, and that he later agreed to join a conspiracy to corruptly influence the judge. Sid Backstrom took a similar stance….
[See also WSJ law blog and later NMC post, as well as WikiScruggs on “earwigging” as a Mississippi tradition.]
1:56: Welcome Glenn Reynolds/Instapundit and David Rossmiller/Insurance Coverage Blog readers.
3:18: The Jackson Clarion-Ledger reports: “As part of the plea deal, federal prosecutors agreed to defer prosecution of Scruggs’ son, Zach Scruggs, who agreed to give up his license to practice law.” [N.B.: NMC @ Folo has a very different take, and other sites are also questioning the C-L’s reporting on this point.] Folo at its temporary bivouac has PDFs of the Scruggs and Backstrom pleas and underlying facts, as does David Rossmiller. ABA Journal coverage includes the text of a forthcoming article by Terry Carter on the affair, written pre-plea. Other reactions: Above the Law (“has Scruggs employed bribery as a tactic in other matters — e.g., the tobacco cases that made him famous …?”), Beck and Herrmann (“What a week. First Spitzer, and now Scruggs. What goes around, comes around.”), TalkLeft, Michelle Malkin, NAM Shop Floor (“So what are the odds that this was Dickie Scruggs’ first and only crime during his decades-long career as a trial lawyer?”).
6:27: Roger Parloff wonders whether Scruggs will cooperate, and whether the statute of limitations might have run already on tobacco skullduggery. NMC @ Folo wonders what prosecutors will make of a slew of fresh documents from the Scruggs Law Firm, or whether perhaps such documents have already had an effect. Not so surprising a plea, says Jane Genova at Law and More, but rather “widely expected“.
Legal hazards of waking students
15-year-old Vinicios Robacher says he was snoozing away in class when teacher Melisssa Nadeau chose to rouse him abruptly by slamming her hand down on his desk. That rude awakening resulted in pain and “very severe injuries to his left eardrum”, according to the pre-lawsuit complaint filed by his lawyer, Alan Barry, with officials in Danbury, Ct. (“Danbury student suing after being awakened by teacher”, AP/WTNH, Mar. 13).
Red-light ticketing cameras, cont’d
We’ve come for your BlackBerries…
…as well as your keychain drives, backup tapes, laptops and network servers. New rules of federal procedure will make it more likely that a litigation opponent will show up on your doorstep with such a demand. (Martha Neil, “Opponent Computer Searches Likelier Under Revised Civ Pro Rule”, ABA Journal, Mar. 12; Nolan M. Goldberg, “Is Your Data Wide Open to Your Opponent?”, National Law Journal, Mar. 12).
Global positioning systems liability
I’m pretty sure I know which intersection in Bedford Hills, N.Y. is being referred to in this account; it’s a badly confusing intersection, for sure, but I don’t think I’d blame the GPS if I took a wrong turn onto the train tracks. (Peter C. Neger, “The Legal Landscape of GPS Devices”, New York Law Journal, Mar. 5)(via Elefant).
$46,000 attorney fee request in $44.63 dispute
“Police officer Michael Harrington sued after getting snookered out of $44.63 in overtime pay. He later settled for $10,500 and sought about $46,000 in attorney fees. If that seems out of proportion, Los Angeles’ 2nd District Court of Appeal agrees with you. The court reduced the fee award to $500. ‘At the risk of understatement,’ Justice Miriam Vogel wrote last week, ‘there is no way on Earth this case justified the hours purportedly billed by Harrington’s lawyers.'” (Mike McKee, The Recorder, Mar. 5).
Contraband candy student reinstated
New Haven, Ct. honors student Michael Sheridan, suspended and removed from his elected class post after being caught buying a bag of Skittles candy from a fellow student in violation of his school’s policy against empty-calorie food, will be reinstated, the school says. (AP/Google). Ohio law blog The Briefcase (Mar. 13) has more, along with a link to this PTO Today article detailing how a federal law mandating school “wellness policies” has increased the pressure on states and local schools to adopt anti-snack measures.