Injury Lawyer's Fees May Get Him Disbarred

In 1977, a fire burned through a popular nightclub in Southgate, Kentucky, killing 165 people and horribly scarring 200 more.  A young lawyer, Stanley Chesley, filed a plaintiffs' lawsuit on behalf of the victims in that fire, advancing a novel theory of liability.Rather than simply suing the Beverly Hills Supper Club for the insurance policy limits, Chesley fashioned a suit that included more than 1000 defendants; the entire aluminum electrical wire industry.  The tactic paid handsomely; over $50 million.Thanks to this and other similar lawsuits, the mass-tort era was born.  But Chesley did not stop with the nightclub case.  Incredibily, he was involved in several other big hits: breast implant...

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Posted in: Fen-Phen,Kentucky,Kentucky Supreme Court,Ohio,personal injury lawyer,plaintiff lawyer,product liability,Stanley Chesley

Are Digital Inspections Constitutional?

Whether a search of your computer is legal depends, in large part, on where the search takes place.  If you are singled-out at an international boarder, for example, you are going to be searched regardless of the presence of a "reasonable suspicion".If you are in a place where you have a reasonable expectation of privacy, on the other hand, the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution requires probable cause prior to a justified police search of your digital data.This issue is coming-up with increasing frequency as people travel with their digital lives at their side; and thanks to the increasing sophistication of law enforcement search methods.Courts have determined that international borders are areas...

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Posted in: articulable suspicion,constitutional law,criminal law,digital inspection,Fourth Amendment,Judge Bernard Friedman,law enforcement,probable cause

The Silent Justice

Supreme Court Justice Clarence ThomasSCOTUS pundits are not expecting Justice Clarence Thomas to ask any questions during the balance of the Court's term, which ends in June.  And why should they?  Justice Thomas last asked a question during oral argument in a February 2006 death-penalty case; he's been silent ever since.Rather than interact with the lawyers appearing before him, Justice Thomas has acquired the odd habits of slowly rotating in his leather chair in the famous courtroom, staring at the ceiling, examining his nails, while listening to the lawyers' oral arguments and the questions from his more engaged colleagues.  When I was sworn into the SCOTUS bench last term, I witnessed this peculiar behavior from the jurist...

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Posted in: Justice Clarence Thomas,Justice Thurgood Marshall,lawyer,SCOTUS

Retired Wayne Circuit Judge Heading to Trial as an Accused Defendant

It remains one of the biggest cocaine busts in Michigan history. Over 100-pounds were seized by the Inkster Police Department in early-2005. So much cocaine, it literally stunk-up a courtroom in the Frank Murphy Hall of Justice; Judge Mary Waterstone's courtroom.The case was so huge, Judge Waterstone feared her courtroom, and the cast of characters surrounding it, would be overwhelmed. Her instincts were correct as the case has gone South for everyone. Fast-forward 6-years. Judge Waterstone, the former Assistant Wayne County Prosecuting Attorney, and the Inkster police detective in charge of the original case are heading to trial next month on perjury-related felony charges of their own before Wayne Circuit Judge Timothy Kenny.The original...

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Posted in: James Feinberg,Judge Mary Waterstone,Judge Timothy Kenny,Justice Maura Corrigan,Michigan Attorney General,Michigan Court of Appeals,Michigan Supreme Court,Timothy Baughman

Cooley Law School Ranks (Itself) 2nd in Nation, Behind Harvard

Good News!  Cooley Law School's latest law school ranking has just been published on its web site.  In a single year, they have improved from 12th to second best in the nation; only Harvard Law School remains ranked higher than Cooley according to the their own rankings.Now, you've just got to stand back and take note of such bold and relentless devotion to self-promotion.  Simply refusing to allow reality to get in the way of its vision of excellence, Cooley actually announced its ever-higher ranking in a press-release on its web site.Despite a firm national consensus that the law school dwels in the basement of the "4th Tier", Cooley believes it deserves top-flight status largely based on their...

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Posted in: ABA,American Bar Association,Cooley Law School,Cooley Law School Stadium,Lansing,law school

Has Accused's Right to Effective Assistance of Counsel Been Expanded by SCOTUS?

Since 2009, I have served as a roster attorney for the Michigan Appellate Assigned Counsel System (MAACS). While a MAACS roster attorney hones his knowledge of the many facets of criminal law in the appeal context, most assignments involve assessment of yet another guilty plea appeal. No glory in that, to be sure.Many of the guilty-plea appeals involve the Sixth Amendment issue of ineffective assistance of counsel. Often, youthful offenders claim they are forced by trial counsel to "take a deal" that they later regret. Rarely do these claims have merit. In almost every case, the Michigan Court of Appeals is not persuaded that the accused youth tendered anything but a knowing and voluntary guilty plea.The mantra of the trial court taking...

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Posted in: criminal defense,effective assistance,immigration,MAACS,Padilla v Kentucky,SCOTUS,Sixth Amendment

Illinois Becomes 6th State to Recognize Same-Sex Civil Unions

Like neighboring Iowa, Illinois just passed a same-sex civil union law; the 6th state in the union (plus D.C.) to do so.  This law will likely be tested in court, as in other states passing such progressive legislation. Like the same-sex marriage law floated in California, civil union statutes, once passed, usually have a rocky road.  In Maine like in California, for example, the same sex union become law via referendum, only to be subsequently invalidated by a court. Invariably, there is a political price attached to this legislation.  No surprise, given such a polarizing issue that scholars have long-heralded as the next civil rights struggle in the USA.Recently in Iowa, Lambda Legal sponsored litigation on behalf of gay couples,...

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Posted in: domestic partnership,Illinois,Iowa Supreme Court,Lambda Legal,same sex union,same-sex marriage