Alberto Gonzales after becoming the
U.S. Attorney General.
Blawgletter doesn’t pretend to know the ins and outs of relations between U.S. Attorneys and the Attorney General, but we’ve always assumed a high degree of independence. Practically every U.S. Attorney, in Blawgletter’s experience, has distinguished himself or herself in criminal matters, preferably as a trial lawyer
The Ninth Circuit today affirmed remand of a case to state court after a new defendant removed it under the Class Action Fairness Act. The court concluded that, because under California law a lawsuit commences upon filing of the original action in state court, any later changes — including new claims, new plaintiffs, or new
In Bellikoff v. Eaton Vance Corp., No. 05-6597 (2d Cir. Mar. 15, 2007), the court affirmed dismissal of claims arising from payment of fees to encourage Morgan Stanley and other brokers to sell Eaton Vance mutual fund shares. The plaintiffs, who owned shares in Eaton Vance mutual funds, sued under the Investment Company Act
Yesterday, the First Circuit affirmed a judgment against an insurer that tried to avoid paying a company’s loss due to embezzlement. The court held that the evidence supported the jury’s conclusion that a false answer about check-signing authority didn’t materially increase the carrier’s risk. Federal Ins. Co. v. HPSC, Inc., No. 06-1050 (1st Cir.
Blawgletter has at times compared deposing witnesses to barbarism. You compel a person to sit in a room of strangers and — often on camera — force him to answer all relevant questions. Normal people fear the process, despite their lawyer’s assurances that the witness needs only to tell the truth.
Yet some witnesses lie.
Blawgletter wonders whether a district court may, via a protective order, bar lawyers from using documents and information, which they did not obtain in discovery, to do things necessary to represent their clients. The Eleventh Circuit today held insupportable an effort so to restrict lawyers in a civil case. Romero v. Drummond Co., Inc.
The Ninth Circuit today reversed an order requiring disclosure of confidential attorney-client communications under the "crime-fraud" exception to the privilege. The court distinguished between the proof necessary for a court to order in camera inspection of the attorney-client material and the procedure a court must follow before ordering "outright disclosure" of the material. While a
Loyal readers know how much Blawgletter appreciates vigorous enforcement of antitrust laws. As the U.S. Supreme Court has said:
Antitrust laws in general, and the Sherman Act in particular, are the Magna Carta of free enterprise. They are as important to the preservation of economic freedom and our free-enterprise system as the Bill of Rights
San Francisco Peaks. Wupatki National
Monument in foreground.
A decision by the Ninth Circuit today took Blawgletter back to happy childhood days and a winter visit to a bison ranch. Blawgletter remembers awe at the shaggy buffalo as they lumbered around and snorted wisps into the frosty air. Then the ice. Patches of yellow ice.
Twelve Angry Men (1957) celebrated the reasonable juror.
Blawgletter sat not long ago in a courtroom full of potential jurors. Among the potential jurors. As a potential juror. The experience both frustrated and enlightened.
The plaintiffs’ lawyer started by revealing that he represented a young woman and her two sons but — maddeningly for Blawgletter