Reversal by a higher court is not proof that justice is thereby better done. There is
no doubt that if there were a super-Supreme Court, a substantial proportion of our
reversals of state courts would also be reversed. We are not final because we are
infallible, but we are infallible only because we are final.” Brown v. Allen, 344 U.S. 443,
Justice Robert Jackson.
____________________________________________________________________________
Ethical Walls
"An appellate ruling OK'ing the use of so-called ethical walls was denied review
Thursday despite requests by solos and small-firm practitioners that it be reversed or
depublished.
"The California high court's action lets stand a ruling that muddied the waters about
when law firms can be disqualified over an attorney's client conflicts.
"For the last 11 years, courts have followed Supreme Court precedent that said the
disqualification of a lawyer from a case "normally extends vicariously" to the entire
firm.
"But Los Angeles' 2nd District Court of Appeal threw in a monkey wrench in April
when it ruled that firms need not be disqualified if they provide evidence that the
tainted lawyer didn't share client confidences with colleagues representing an
opposing party. …
"In Kirk v. First American Title Insurance Co., the 2nd District held that while
disqualification is the general rule, that presumption is rebuttable and "can be refuted
by evidence that ethical screening will effectively prevent the sharing of confidences
in a particular case." ….
The case is Kirk v. First American Title Insurance
Co.
____________________________________________________________________________
It's Election Time and…..
You may well have missed it but Justice Richard Sanders is running for re-election to
the Washington State Supreme Court. In an August 5 editorial The Seattle Times
endorsed him with these words:
"Sanders can be cavalier about the rules of his trade. A judicial
panel said he violated the appearance of fairness (but not fairness
itself) in a visit to prisoners at McNeil Island in 2003.
Clearly he spoke injudiciously in 2008 when he stood up in an
audience and called U.S. Attorney Michael Mukasey a 'tyrant'
to his face. This page hammered him in 2009 for ruling in a public-
records case that could have affected a case of his own by increasing
the award to his lawyer. …
"But of nine justices, Sanders is more often the one standing up
Yelling 'No' at some rotten thing a political agency is doing to
someone."
[Cavalier, injudicious, hammered? So this is what it's come to?]
Primary election day up there was August 17 – he won.
____________________________________________________________________________
They're Own Comic Book
[From an article by Marcia Coyle in the May 5, 2010 The National Law Journal]
"Justice Sonia Sotomayor has attained true stardom. This month, she joins House
Speaker Nancy Pelosi, former Vice President Al Gore and conservative radio icon
Rush Limbaugh in having her own comic book.
"Describing the four as 'some of the most fascinating and polarizing figures on the
national political stage,' Bluewater biography comics is publishing separate comic
books on each that will be in comic book stores today.
" 'These four individuals represent some of the most influential and historic figures of
the 21st century,' said Bluewater president Darren Davis in a statement. 'Each has a
uniquely compelling story that defines who they are today and how they got there.'
"Davis said the books try to tell 'an even-handed story' and are not 'puff pieces or
hatchet jobs.'
"Sotomayor and Pelosi are part of Bluewater's 'Female Force' series. Gore and
Limbaugh fall under the 'Political Power' series. Both series were launched in 2009
and feature biographies of prominent individuals who have shaped the political and
cultural landscape.
"Davis said 'Female Force' offers a broad examination of strong and influential women
who are shaping modern history and culture. In past issues, the monthly series has
featured Michelle Obama, Hillary Clinton, Oprah Winfrey, Stephenie Meyer, J.K.
Rowling, Barbara Walters and others.
"The Sotomayor title has been requested for inclusion for the Supreme Court's library
archive, according to Davis.
[Please give our best to Batman and Robin and tell Lamont Cranston we're praying for
him.]
_______________________________________________________________________
The Rule of Necessity
[From an article by Joel Stashenko in the July 21, 2009 New York Law Journal]
"The six associate judges of the state's highest court, who normally are expected to
recuse themselves in cases where the outcome would affect them personally, now
face the prospect of invoking a 'rule of necessity' to consider whether they and the
state's other judges must be given a raise.
"The Court of Appeals has determined that there is an appeal as of right in two judicial
pay cases, Maron v. Silver, 58 AD 3d 102, and Larabee v. Governor, 880 N.Y.S. 256. But
if the court is disqualified from hearing the issues involved, there apparently would be
no other forum for their resolution, and the litigants would be left in limbo.
"Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman has said he will recuse himself from the pay cases
because he is the plaintiff in a third case, Chief Judge v. Governor, 400763/08, which
was launched by his predecessor, Judith S. Kaye. Kaye also said before her
retirement that she would recuse herself but that the rest of the court could hear the
matter under the rule of necessity.
" 'It is the quintessential rule of necessity case,' Kaye, now of counsel to Skadden,
Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, said in an interview last week.
"While not codified in state law, the rule of necessity has developed within the
judiciary in New York and elsewhere as a last resort to having cases adjudicated when
there are no other courts to turn to.
"While seldom used by the Court of Appeals, the rule has been invoked in some of the
more memorable cases in the past quarter century."….
__________________________________________________________________________
Tweet
[From an article by Brock Vergakis in the June 21, 2010, Associated Press]
"Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff defended his use of Twitter on Friday to tell the
world that he had given the Department of Corrections the OK to execute a
condemned man by firing squad.
"Shurtleff's tweet shortly before Ronnie Lee Gardner was shot to death Friday
morning has drawn criticism from other Twitter users and on comment boards from
those who found his use of the microblogging site distasteful.
"Shurtleff's post said: "I just gave the go ahead to Corrections Director to proceed
with Gardner's execution. May God grant him the mercy he denied his victims."
[As a result of a death penalty case I prosecuted in Pima County, Arizona years ago, I
was invited to the execution. It came in a very official looking envelope of an obvious
important size (smaller than normal and not nearly as rectangular), thin and neat. It
announced the event and asked that I be there (the state prison) at 5 in the morning.
Living some miles from the prison I called ahead to make sure I had the details down.
When I commented that 5 am was pretty early and I would have to miss breakfast. The
person on the phone said that that was okay because there would be coffee and
doughnuts before.
I never made it; neither did he, he was spared at the last minute]
____________________________________________________________________________
Telephone Call for Judge Crater…Telephone Call for Judge Crater
Eighty years ago last month (August 6, 1930) Justice Joseph F. Crater, a newly
appointed (April 1930) Associate Justice of the New York Supreme Court left a New
York restaurant, bid to a few friends and climbed into a taxicab. He was never seen
again. He became known as the missingest man in New York. For a couple of years
many people thought they saw him just about everywhere, but nothing came of any of
the sightings. Police thought maybe his taking $20,000 out of his bank just a few days
before he was appointed had something to do with it. Or maybe it had something to do
with his role as a receiver for a bankrupt bank he sold for $75,000 to a bond and
mortgage company and two months later New York agreed to buy it for $3 million to
widen streets. On the morning of August 6 he spent two hours going through files in
his office, had his assistant cash two checks for $5,150, and at noon he and the
assistant were seen carrying two robust briefcases to his apartment. He went to a
comedy show that night and was in a good humor when he waved goodbye to his
friends at the Haas' Chophouse restaurant.
Oddly, hardly anyone noticed that he had gone. It wasn't until August 25 when he
didn't show up at the courthouse that people began to wonder. In October a grand jury
investigated, called many witnesses, but came up with only: "The evidence is
insufficient to warrant any expression of opinion as to whether Crater is alive or dead,
or as to whether he has absented himself voluntarily, or is the sufferer from disease in
the nature of amnesia, or is the victim of crime." In 1931 his wife found uncashed
checks, stocks, bonds, life insurance, and a note that said: “I am very whary (sounds
like weary to me, so I'll give it a "sic"). Joe.”
Please keep your eye open for the judge. He is a tall, heavy-set man, well
groomed, fastidious about his hygiene, a cloths horse, well educated and swave and
deboner. He should be quite old by now, but he was always in sterling shape so he may
still be mobile. My phone is open at all times.
There are a couple of good books you can get about the Judge:
1. Vanishing Point: The Disappearance of Judge Crater, and the New York He Left
Behind by Richard J. Tofel
2. The Man Who Never Returned: A Novel by Peter Quinn
3. The Empty Robe: The Story of the Disappearance of Judge Crater by Stella Wheeler
& Crater and Oscar Fraley
[I was lucky enough to spot him once at a Starbucks in Camden, New Jersey. He was
crouched up in a corner drinking a Danish Crem-Tone Latte with Irish Delight and
concentrating on his Apple. I approached him, but I made too much noise and he was
spooked, gathered his Apple, his bag, and quickly made his way out of the place and
jumped into a cab. I never saw him again. I told the police but they misspelled his name
on the report (Carter not Crater). Nobody could decipher the report when it went out on
the web and there was no missing Justice Carter in that area.
___________________________________________________________________________
Probation First, Prison Later
[From an article by Mary Pat Gallagher in the September 1, 2010 New Jersey Law
Journal]
"Wanda Molina, the Jersey City, N.J., chief municipal judge at the center of a ticket-
fixing scandal that caused her and three other judges to lose their jobs and face
criminal charges, was sentenced on Aug. 27 to 364 days in jail, though she may be
able to avoid hard time. [Oh, how's that?]
"Bergen County Superior Court Judge Harry Carroll imposed a three-year
probationary term to be served first, and at the end of it, Molina can apply to vacate
the prison sentence.
" 'We're very happy with the result because basically she won't do any jail time as
long as she successfully completes probation and there is no reason to believe that
that won't happen,' says Molina's lawyer, Anna Cominsky of Krovatin Klingeman in
Newark. ….
"Molina pleaded guilty on June 4 to tampering with and falsifying public records,
which are third- and fourth- degree offenses. She admitted that between Oct. 30, 2006,
and April 2, 2007, while she was Jersey City's chief municipal judge, she caused eight
parking tickets issued to her live-in companion to be dismissed. On three of them, she
wrote the word 'emergency,' falsely indicating that there were compelling
circumstances to justify the illegal parking."….
___________________________________________________________________________
There is a town in Massac County, Illinois, named Metropolis
Here is its courthouse
____________________________________________________________________________
[From the May 24, 2010 New Yorker, by Jeffrey Toobin] "A few weeks ago, on Air
Force One, Obama, a former laws professor, gave a useful definition of the term,
saying that 'an activist judge was somebody who ignored the will of Congress,
ignored democratic processes, and tried to impose judicial solutions on problems
instead of letting the process work itself through politically.' "
___________________________________________________________________________
Resume
Rules of Court
Funny Opinions
You will find Judge Schafer's web site at
inchambers.us
Email: boppananny@gmail.com
.In .
A commonplace book of interesting legal things
compiled by boppananny@aol.com
A commonplace book of interesting legal things
compiled by boppananny@aol.com
In Chambers........... Interesting things about judges, lawyers and cases Compiled by boppananny |
