Month: January 2011

In this episode of Magnum JD – A not-much-class class action filed against BP by Magnum associate Eric O’Bell

Well, ringy, dingy, dingy! Bum steer and Bum Deal rang a reader’s O’Bell about the bum move by Magnum’s firm “of counsel” Eric O’Bell – a class action suit filed a few weeks before Magnum sealed his deal with BP.

O’Bell filed Greenfield et al v. BP p.l.c. et al on June 8, 2010 in U.S. Federal Court, Eastern District Louisiana, where the case was assigned to Federal District Judge Kurt D. Engelhardt. On the Complaint, O’Bell signed the Complaint on behalf of “The Law Offices of Eric O’Bell…Attorneys for the Plaintiffs”. After finding no documentation for “The Law Offices of Eric O’Bell”, I found Eric J. O’Bell, L.L.C  and double-checked the Complaint to be certain the word “Attorneys” appears in the plural. It does.

Also on the Complaint are Zwerling, Schachter & Zwerling, a New York firm and “Attorneys for the Plaintiffs” and David M. Foster, P.C., of Farmington Hills, Michigan, “Attorneys for Plaintiff Alan R. Higgs”  (Complaint in scribd format below)

On the 11th, Magnum told WWL that BP had ordered 32 of the devices he and his partner Kevin Costner were selling for use in the Gulf of Mexico; however, other sources indicate the contract was signed a week or so later.

The obvious conflict between Magnum super-sales job and the class action filed by O’Bell, like the oil spill itself, created a sticky situation Continue reading “In this episode of Magnum JD – A not-much-class class action filed against BP by Magnum associate Eric O’Bell”

USA v O’Dwyer – Ashton files Appellee Brief with 5th Circuit

Ashton’s brief in scribd format below speaks for itself and reads like a book.

I have just a few words – and all are directed to US Attorney Jim Letten:

You really should be ashamed of yourself for appealing the dismissal of USA v O’Dwyer!  Man up! Let it go!

[scribd id=47841735 key=key-2f9pldkrvfqzz9tiapya mode=list]

Bum deal – a fresh look at the “common benefits” of mass claims

Comments – both on blog and in email contacts – about today’s post, Bum steer, have prompted a fresh look at the “common benefits” of mass claims.

However, less I be misunderstood,  it’s important to start this post recognizing the work of plaintiffs’ lawyers following Hurricane Katrina.  Working largely on a contingency fee basis, some at great personal sacrifice, they opened the door to justice for many who would have otherwise had both their damage claim and justice denied.  Admittedly, some eventually made a lot of money,particularly those who also invested a lot of money; others not so much; and. a few probably lost money; but, pay day, if it came at all, didn’t come until after a case had been decided or settled and then some.

Even then, the result did not always fully compensate plaintiffs for their loss or plaintiffs’ attorneys for their cost; but, individual cases are a different matter from a mass claim action – cases where a win can be a loss for everyone but the lead attorneys representing the class or mass of plaintiffs,  cases such as the one subject to this recent 5th Circuit opinion.

A federal appeals court…rejected a $21 million settlement of Hurricane Katrina damage claims that some residents had complained was unfair, and that one group said would have entitled residents and businesses to as little as $40 each.

“Hope is not an investment strategy;” yet, many were left with nothing else following Hurricane Katrina – $40, however, would hardly buy gas to drive a “chevy to the levee” and jump in.  Such hopeless results, no doubt, are behind the concerns SLABBED readers have expressed about the oil spill litigation before Judge Barbier. Continue reading “Bum deal – a fresh look at the “common benefits” of mass claims”

Patsy Brumfield steps in deep doo-doo alleging Hatch Act violations by Public Safety Commissioner – Sun Herald covers for the “homeboy” with “everybody does it” story

First, Brumfield’s story from NEMS360.com: Simpson says he’s ‘not a candidate,’ so no Hatch Act Violation:

Stephen Simpson, who is running for attorney general, says he is not a candidate yet and therefore can’t be in violation of a federal law prohibiting state or local appointed executives from political party campaigns, if they administer federally funded programs.

Simpson, a Republican, is the appointed commissioner of the Mississippi Department of Public Safety. On Jan. 14, he launched a statewide tour to announce his intention to be a candidate for attorney general…

The Daily Journal’s questions about Simpson’s candidacy began with the appearance of anti-drunk driving TV ads prominently featuring Simpson and his voice several days after he launched his campaign Jan. 14.

Next, the deep doo-doo shoveled up by and reported on Y’all Politics in Anatomy of a press hit: Continue reading “Patsy Brumfield steps in deep doo-doo alleging Hatch Act violations by Public Safety Commissioner – Sun Herald covers for the “homeboy” with “everybody does it” story”

99 boxes of files on the wall, 99 boxes of files, take 1 down, pass it around, and leave with 25!

After downloading a few more parts of Exhibit A to the Government’s “tour guide” of the River Birch offices, I’m amazed the search team left with only 25 boxes of files.  The “wall of files” in the photograph below was clearly visible to anyone “entering the office suites” after stepping off the elevator to the building’s third floor:

The Heebe-River Birch plaintiffs claim the “numerous boxes labeled ‘scanned leases’…[are]…an immediate indication of the presence of Shadowlake Management”, in other words, a different company from River Birch.  Not so, says SLABBED and every parent with teenage children!  Labeled boxes are an “immediate indication” of  – drumroll – labeled boxes!

However, the search team didn’t enter from the lobby.  The government’s “tour guide” noted “Special Agent Bezet stated in his Affidavit that he…used the stairway to the third floor…and photographs…were taken contemporaneously with the search”.  If so, by the time Bezet reached the wall of files and labeled boxes pictured above (photograph #131), he’d seen:

this (photograph #15) Continue reading “99 boxes of files on the wall, 99 boxes of files, take 1 down, pass it around, and leave with 25!”

The end of the mystery: Paul Rioux reports on the Waste Management suit for the Times Picayune

I was wondering which T-P employee was camped out with us last week on our Waste Management posts. Turns out it was likely Paul Rioux, who checks in today with a long report on the Waste Management suit and the continued revelations about the fix Aaron Broussard and his cronies in Parish government put in for River Birch. My read indicated there was not much new ground broken on the topic but Rioux’s report has a few quotes from River Birch PR man Glenn Smith and is still worth reading.

On this general topic I’ve had a few emails asking my professional opinion of Gwen Bolotte’s performance as Finance Director in this entire fiasco as she did not share her concerns about the shady way the River Birch deal was handled except with the perpetrators.  If she knew of a crime and failed to report it, she should lose her license to practice as a CPA and be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. That said I think this is more of a case that she feared Tim Whitmer and Tom Wilkinson as both were notorious bullies in the Broussard Administration and she figured standing up and voicing her concerns would cost her job.

I think a fine line separates misprision of felony and employment self-preservation.  If one of my clients had a CFO that was too timid to speak their minds, especially when the going got tough, my advice to the CEO would be to find a new CFO.

sop

We’ve made no secret of the fact…..

That the search engines love this little project called Slabbed and when I say our readership is literally global it is, from Iranians serially visiting an old “throwaway post” on Stormy Daniels to our more serious readers from the UK.

But occasionally someone arrives at Slabbed via interesting search string and such was the case early this morning when one of our old posts was visited by someone looking for “stories of male gangbangs of sissy sub men“.

I feel safe in saying the search bots simultaneously got it right and wrong.

PR genius indeed.

sop

Not another black eye! A Cedric Richmond charity looting update.

OK folks here is a multiple choice quiz on Cedric Richmond’s latest black eye, which he got:

A. In another bar fight.
B. From a woman defending herself from his unwanted advances.
C. Playing basketball.
D. All of the above.
E. None of the above.

I’m thinking Richmond really needs Charlie Rangel mentoring him, not Jim Clyburn. JMHO.

sop