Appellate Practice

Justices Who Make About $200K Debate Enhanced Fee of $700K

Are good lawyers entitled to more money for exceptional results? Former Solicitor General Paul Clement answered in the affirmative in U.S. Supreme Court oral arguments yesterday. He argued that lawyers for Children’s Rights Inc. and the Atlanta law firm Bondurant, Mixson & Elmore deserve the $4.5 million in extra fees…

Oct 15, 2009 1:06 PM CDT

Lawyer Fined $100 for Getting a Case Citation Wrong

A Wisconsin lawyer has been fined $100 for getting a citation wrong in a brief submitted to the Wisconsin Court of Appeals. The appeals court expressed its frustration in a footnote to an unpublished opinion, Espitia v. Fouche, Legal Blog Watch reports. The lawyer cited an unpublished case that supposedly…

Oct 14, 2009 12:37 PM CDT

Contempt Isn’t a Felony, Says 11th Circuit, Eliminating Possible Draconian Sentences

A disbarred Florida lawyer caught representing a client in federal court after he lost his license to practice expected to plead guilty to criminal contempt. But what Lee Cohn didn’t expect was a ruling from U.S. District Judge William Zloch that the crime was a felony punishable by as much…

Oct 9, 2009 8:56 PM CDT

A ‘Visibly Angry’ Justice Scalia Ponders ‘Some Conglomerate of a Cross’

Civil procedure questions dominated most of the oral arguments Wednesday in a challenge to the placement of a cross to honor the war dead in the Mojave National Preserve, but that doesn’t mean fireworks were absent from the debate. Justice Antonin Scalia provided the drama in an exchange with Peter…

Oct 8, 2009 1:41 PM CDT

Compassion Is No Reason to Delay Foreclosure, Appeals Court Tells Judge

A Florida appeals court has told a judge that “benevolence and compassion” are not grounds for delaying a foreclosure sale. “Although granting continuances and postponements are, generally speaking, within the discretion of the trial court, the ‘ground’ of benevolence and compassion … does not constitute a lawful, cognizable basis for…

Oct 7, 2009 12:28 PM CDT

Top Mass. Court OKs $1M in Punitives for Fired Wal-Mart Pharmacist

A former Wal-Mart pharmacist who contended she was fired on a trumped-up disciplinary charge after she complained she was paid less than male counterparts by the giant retailer is entitled to $1 million in punitive damages, the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts decided yesterday. Its opinion upheld the trial judge’s…

Oct 6, 2009 11:07 PM CDT

ABA Gets ‘Shout Out’ in Oral Arguments About Attorney-Client Privilege

An ABA amicus brief got the attention of Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. in oral arguments yesterday on the right to appeal an adverse ruling on attorney-client privilege. The National Law Journal noted the ABA mention, saying Roberts “offered a rare shout-out to the American Bar Association.” The ABA…

Oct 6, 2009 1:01 PM CDT

Justices Skeptical of Defense Arguments in Miranda Delay Case

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday pondered what kind of rule should apply when a suspect who invokes his Miranda right to a lawyer is questioned again two years and seven months later. The justices “seemed skeptical of defense lawyers’ arguments” that police should not have been allowed to question…

Oct 6, 2009 12:25 PM CDT

Sotomayor Speaks ‘Early and Often’ in Oral Arguments

As the U.S. Supreme Court opened its term Monday, Justice Sonia Sotomayor lived up to her reputation as a frequent questioner in oral arguments, outpacing her fellow New Yorker, Justice Antonin Scalia, in the first hour of questioning. The Los Angeles Times and the National Law Journal had the count.…

Oct 6, 2009 12:04 PM CDT

High Court Denies Appeals Involving Pledge, Death Penalty, Insider Trading

A Louisiana death row inmate who claims she shouldn’t be executed because she suffers from fetal alcohol syndrome is one of several litigants whose cases were denied review today by the U.S. Supreme Court. According to SCOTUSblog, “a number of significant new cases were denied review” today. Lawyers for death…

Oct 5, 2009 4:43 PM CDT

6th Circuit Stays Execution of Ohio Inmate Due to Lethal Injection Concerns

A federal appeals court has stayed the execution of an Ohio inmate until a federal appeals court can hear arguments over the state’s lethal injection process. The Cincinnati-based 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals stayed the execution of Lawrence Reynolds, who was scheduled to die on Thursday, according to the…

Oct 5, 2009 3:23 PM CDT

‘Oh Dear’: O’Connor Disappointed to See Some Decisions ‘Dismantled’

In a rare moment of candor about the current U.S. Supreme Court, retired Justice Sandra Day O’Connor said this weekend that she has been disappointed to see some of her opinions dismantled. O’Connor made her comment this weekend at an “unusually candid” panel discussion sponsored by the William and Mary…

Oct 5, 2009 2:00 PM CDT

O.J. Simpson Prosecutor Marcia Clark Bolsters Case Against Polanski

After initial protests over the what some see as the unfairness of the arrest last week of fugitive film director Roman Polanski in a decades-old California sexual abuse case concerning a 13-year-old girl, additional observers are now weighing in on the side of the prosecution. Columnist Steve Lopez at the…

Oct 1, 2009 1:15 AM CDT

California Appeals Judge Scolds Lawyers for Excess of Acronyms

A California appeals judge who scolded lawyers for using too many acronyms decided to set an example by avoiding them in 27 pages of his opinion. Judge David Sills of the Fourth District Court of Appeal criticized the lawyers for “descending into an alphabet soup of jargon-based acronyms,” the Legal…

Sep 30, 2009 12:53 PM CDT

Federal Judge Nixes $390M Jury Verdict in Microsoft Patent Case

A stunning April jury verdict of almost $390 million against Microsoft Corp. in a patent infringement case brought by an anti-piracy software maker has been overturned by a federal judge. U.S. District Judge William Smith wrote that the jury in the Rhode Island federal court case “lacked a grasp of…

Sep 30, 2009 12:27 AM CDT