Great moments in immigration law

Getting wide exposure on YouTube, and providing fodder for Lou Dobbs:

The video shows attorneys for Cohen & Grigsby, one of the largest law firms in Pittsburgh, explaining at a conference on immigration how to obey laws that require Americans be given top priority for jobs while still ensuring foreigners are hired.

“The goal here of course is to meet the requirements, number one, but also do so as inexpensively as possible, keeping in mind our goal. And our goal is clearly not to find a qualified and interested U.S. worker,” Lawrence Lebowitz, the firm’s vice president of marketing, told the audience in May.

(“Pa. law firm’s immigration talk hits YouTube; U.S. senator demands investigation”, AP/Arizona Star, Jun. 23; Sister Toldjah; Doug Ross). More: Kim’s Play Place says the lawyers were serving their clients’ legitimate interests and that if they can arrange compliance with the letter of an irrational law there’s no reason for them to show allegiance to its claimed spirit. Further: Gina Passarella, “Immigration Law Seminar Generates Unwanted Publicity for Firm”, Legal Intelligencer, Jun. 25 (& welcome Opinionator readers).

Filed under: Arizona, Pennsylvania, Pittsburgh, workplace

Working eight hours, billing for twelve

Wait, you mean there’s an ethical problem with that? More coverage of the Ross survey (Thomas W. Krause, “Ethics Survey Finds Lawyers Lower The Bar”, Tampa Tribune, Jun. 24). Earlier: May 2.

Filed under: ethics

L.A. attorney ethics beat

A jury has convicted prominent attorney Stephen Yagman, who’s prospered greatly filing police-misconduct and civil-rights lawsuits in Los Angeles, of 19 counts of attempted tax evasion, bankruptcy fraud and money laundering. Prosecutors said Yagman led a lavish lifestyle while declaring bankruptcy, hiding assets from creditors, and failing to pay payroll tax. (“Famed SoCal civil rights attorney found guilty of tax fraud”, AP/Riverside Press-Enterprise, Jun. 22; Patterico, Jun. 22 and Jun. 23 (not sharing Duke lawprof Erwin Chemerinsky’s somber view of the verdict)). Last year (Jul. 5, 2006) Yagman sued a retired police detective who in a letter expressed “glee and profound satisfaction” over the lawyer’s indictment. For Yagman’s other appearances on this site, see Feb. 23, 2000, Mar. 18, 2005, Apr. 3, 2006, and Nov. 4, 2006.

Meanwhile, the city attorney of Los Angeles, Rocky Delgadillo, who’s figured in these columns a couple of times (grandstanding on Grand Theft Auto, Jan. 28 of last year; defending the city’s $2.7 million settlement of the firefighter dog food case, Nov. 22) seems to have landed in an ethical spot of bother himself (more).

Filed under: bankruptcy, ethics, firefighters, libel slander and defamation, Los Angeles, Rocky Delgadillo, Stephen Yagman

Pizza Hut door-swing case, cont’d

The police officer sued in the now-celebrated Madison County, Ill. case (Mar. 13, May 21) submits affidavits in his defense, pointing up some interesting angles that didn’t emerge in earlier rounds of coverage:

A Troy police officer who was ordered to pay Edwardsville attorney Amanda Verett $311,700 for a shoulder injury claims he never even came into physical contact with her during an incident Feb. 12 at the Troy Pizza Hut.

Sworn affidavits and other court documents filed by Troy officials this week, including the police chief and assistant city administrator, claim the reason officer Clarence Jackson was at the Pizza Hut in the first place was because Verett and her male law partner were causing a disturbance. Jackson was responding to a 911 call.

Verett, a family attorney in Edwardsville, filed suit against Pizza Hut and Jackson alleging she was injured when walking out the door of the restaurant while holding open the door to allow herself and Jackson to exit.

Last month a judge issued a default judgment against Jackson, who now argues his actions were on behalf of the city of Troy and should be shielded by sovereign immunity. (Steve Gonzalez, “Police officer claims he never came in contact with Verett”, Madison County Record, Jun. 21).

Filed under: Madison County

By reader acclaim: Dutch woman loses suit over not entering lottery

You can’t win if you don’t play: “A Dutch woman who claimed she suffered emotional damages due to not winning the lottery missed the jackpot in court too. Amsterdam District Court judges Wednesday rejected the claim of Helene de Gier, who said she was traumatized by not winning the country’s National Postcode Lottery, which she didn’t enter, while her neighbors did.” DeGier said one lucky neighbor had rubbed in his good luck by showing off a new Porsche, and claimed lottery ads had engaged in “emotional blackmail” by suggesting that non-entrants like herself might be sorry afterward. (AP/IHT, Reuters).

Filed under: lottery, Netherlands, sports

Object to a class action settlement, face a RICO suit

Perhaps we shouldn’t rush to conclusions about this filing by plaintiffs’ counsel in Madison County, Ill., who are aiming a complaint under the federal RICO racketeering law against two lawyers and a Florida resident who had sought to block a $63.8 million class action settlement over the drug Paxil. After all, not all class action settlements are a bad deal for class members, some objections to such settlements are unmeritorious, and there are even some bad objectors out there who are more concerned with being paid to go away than with saving class members from a bad deal. Still, it may not take many treble-damage RICO suits before both types of objector, the helpful and the unhelpful alike, begin to reconsider showing up in court, will it? (Steve Gonzalez, “Plaintiffs in $63 million Paxil case claim ‘objectors’ violated RICO in new class action”, Madison County Record, Jun. 9). Update Oct. 7: suit dismissed without prejudice.

Filed under: class actions, Madison County

By reader acclaim: “Woman Wins $29,000 for Topless Stroll”

Women in the other forty-nine states should not count on comparably remunerative results if it happens to them, this being a New York precedent only:

A woman arrested for exposing her breasts has accepted a $29,000 settlement from [New York City], her lawyer said.

Jill Coccaro, 27, was arrested on a topless stroll two years ago, despite a 1992 state appeals court ruling that concluded women should have the same right as men to take off their shirts. …

“We hope the police learn a lesson and respect the rights of women to go topless,” [her lawyer Jeffrey] Rothman said.

(AP/ABCNews.com, Jun. 18).

Guest bloggers sought

It’s getting to be that season. Guest blogging for a week at Overlawyered is a great way to call attention to your blog (you do have one, don’t you?) or dip your toe into blogging if you’ve written in other formats. Return guestbloggers are more than welcome too. If the idea appeals to you, drop me a line at editor – at – [this domain name] – dot – com.

Filed under: guestbloggers

June 21 roundup

Okla. AG says scam artists are sending out bogus “you’ve won a class action settlement” notices that could hook unwary recipients [Consumer Affairs]

Rough on marriages, jobs, and tempers: life as a juror on a thirteen-month trial [Times Online]

“In some ways, that story represented everything about America: sex, money, and litigation.” [Tina Brown on Anna Nicole saga]

Baby steps toward consumer protection? When lawyers “go bare” without professional liability insurance, some in Calif. bar think clients should be told [The Recorder]

Norwalk, Ct. cop who won reinstatement after snatching body part (Jan. 23) is back in the news, and not in a favorable way [Jeff Hall; Advocate, Citizen-News]

Why RIAA probably needn’t worry that its scattershot suit-filing will expose it to RICO liability [Ars Technica]

Come to think of it, maybe shooting your husband is worse than serving beer to 16-year-olds [Bader @ WashPost; earlier]

Michigan woman “slain in the Spirit” at Pentecostal religious service wins suit alleging church was negligent and broke promise by not providing usher to catch her as she fell; defamation claims also figured in suit [Lansing State Journal, Lawyers’ Weekly; compare this case from Australia]

“Backlash Forms Against ‘Zero Tolerance‘” — well, we can hope [Associated Press]

New at Point of Law: State Farm moves to disqualify Scruggs in Katrina litigation; honest expert witness spotted?; proposed federal habitat regulation might dwarf current wetlands and species laws; and much more;

Auctioning off the right to handle a civil case… on eBay? [Five years ago on Overlawyered]

Filed under: Australia, child protection, churches, class actions, Connecticut, Dickie Scruggs, environment, expert witnesses, juries, Katrina, libel slander and defamation, Michigan, police, RIAA and file sharing, State Farm, zero tolerance

“Builders, Contractors Hammer Consumer Sites”

In two separate New Jersey cases, building contractors RSA Enterprises and WBG Builders are suing websites that carried consumer complaints about them; in a third case in Maryland, a suit by SCS Contracting Group names as defendant the well-known site Angie’s List, which compiles user reviews of home-improvement services. (Truman Lewis, ConsumerAffairs.com, May 4). More: John Kelly, “Homeowner’s Web Gripe Draws Contractor Lawsuit”, Washington Post, Mar. 13 (SCS Contracting versus Angie’s List); Eric Goldman, Apr. 25 (RSA Enterprises versus Rip-Off Report, and Google). P.S. Eric Goldman adds further details.

Filed under: Maryland, New Jersey, online speech