Friday, September 4, 2015

Something here will interest you!


  • In the 90-Day-Rule-In-Action department, see today's MetNews for Judge Reprimanded for Slow Work, False Pay Reports: "A Humboldt Superior Court judge was publicly admonished yesterday for failing to issue timely decisions in 20 cases and submitting false affidavits that claimed he had no cases under submission for more than 90 days." See also, in The Recorder, Judge Admonished for Delaying Cases.
  • In the ABA Journal, Bryan Garner emphasizes that Good headings show you've thought out your arguments well in advance. "The most important part of a brief? ...  the table of contents: Done right, it shows all the substantive point headings arrayed on one or two pages. Certainly those headings are the most important part of the argument section in a brief."
  • The DJ offers Bill Funding 12 Judgeships Passes Legislature, about SB229 allocating $5M to fund a dozen trail court positions statewide--the first judge-funding bill to pass since 2007. "Pending a 30-day veto window, SB229 would fund four judicial positions in San Bernardino County, three in Riverside County, and one judge each to Fresno, Kern, Los Angeles, San Joaquin and Stanislaus Counties, plus accompanying staff for six months." The article quotes 4/2's Justice Miller, "who chairs the Judicial Council's Executive and Planning Committee and sits on the Commission on Access to Justice."
  • And the DJ article also notes: "In addition to lacking funds to fill needed judicial vacancies, California has also been accused of unlawfully denying sitting judicial officers the annual pay raises mandated by law from 2008 to 2013. A class action complaint for declaratory relief filed on behalf of all active and retired judges and justices, plus beneficiaries such as widows, is headed to a bench trial in Los Angeles on Sept. 30 before Judge Elihu M Berle. Mallano v. Chiang, BC533770 (L.A. Sup. Ct., filed Jan 21, 2014)."
  • San Diego lawyer Dan Lawton also has another good one in the DJ today, End the Incivility Plague in Our Profession. The article not only recounts rude behavior in American culture generally and among lawyers specifically, but also calls out a particular Ninth Circuit judge for making insulting comments from the bench, and notes that: "In an anonymous survey conducted by the 9th Circuit in 2009, poor judicial temperament and demeanor ranked among the top three complaints from attorney-respondents." He concludes with a suggestion: "Yet, in a small way, the American Inns of Court provide all attorneys a vehicle for doing something real about the incivility that has driven thousands of lawyers away from the bar or into a sort of loathing of their profession. If you're a young lawyer and you're reading this, do yourself a favor: apply for membership in an Inn of Court near you."
  • California Lawyer feature its annual Cal Supreme Court article by Uelmen and Graham: A Shifting Balance at the California Supreme Court?
  • Today's LA Times finally features an obit of Hillel Chodos, "a leading California trial lawyer, who during his 53-year career handled over a thousand trial cases and hundreds of appeals," and a founding member of the California Academy of Appellate Lawyers.
  • The DJ also serves up Los Angeles Restaurants Sued for Price Fixing, about Imhoff v. Goin, LASC BC593161. No doubt many SCAN readers have enjoyed meals at places like Melisse, AOC, Rustic Canyon, and may recognize the names of some of the defendants: "Suzanne Goin, Carolyn Stein, Lucques Catering Inc., David Lentz, Dirty Chicken Inc., Jon Shook, Vinny Dotolo, O&A Hospitality LLC, 1104 Wilshire LLC, Josiah Citrin, Rustic Canyon Food and Wine Inc., Josh Loeb and Zoe Nathan."