Day: February 9, 2011

Judge Berrigan orders River Birch to file a floor plan with the Court! (no s#!% – she really did!) UPDATED with photographs

Lordy, lordy, Judge Ginger ordered Heebe to send Nowdy a Valentine – not really but sorta!

IT IS ORDERED that Plaintiffs provide the Court with a floor plan of the third floor of 2000 Belle Chase Highway by Monday, February 14, 2011 by 10:00 a.m. ♥  If the Government has a floor plan of the third floor of 2000 Belle Chase Highway, it shall also provide a copy to the Court by Monday, February 14, 2011 by 10:00 a.m.

IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that the Government provide a detailed inventory of what it seized from the premises of 2000 Belle Chasse Highway. That inventory shall indicate what was seized, from where it was seized, and on what basis the Government concluded that the seized material was related to River Birch, Inc. It shall also indicate which items have already been returned to Plaintiffs. This inventory shall be submitted in the record by Monday, February 14, 2011 by 10:00 a.m.

After reviewing the Government’s inventory Plaintiffs shall submit a memorandum regarding what seized items they believe should be returned pursuant to this Court’s previous Order by Wednesday, February 16, 2011 by 12:00 p.m.

IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that the Government provide the Court with a status update of the review of allegedly privileged documents seized from the third floor of 2000 Belle Chase Highway by Monday, February 14, 2011 by 10:00 a.m.

She also order Heebe-Ward-River Birch to submit to an IQ test – again, not really but sorta.  I mean just how smart would these folks be to use the Government’s inventory as a shopping list – like, well, “give us back that evidence showing we…”

The rest of Judge Berrigan’s Order might have been written by the Queen of Hearts:

“Who’s been painting my roses red?
WHO’S BEEN PAINTING MY ROSES RED? Continue reading “Judge Berrigan orders River Birch to file a floor plan with the Court! (no s#!% – she really did!) UPDATED with photographs”

I just had the most amazing conversation with the Lafayette Square Wino….

I’m coughing like I have TB but when the Wino calls I gotta take it.  “You’re doing a better job since I busted your chops on Meffert’s plea deal”, he said, “but is something you need to know….”

And talk we did but there is one problem, beyond being able to disclose that we received a great deal of additional color on Lawrence Chehardy’s untimely departure from the office of the Jefferson Parish Tax Assessor there isn’t much I can publish at this time.  (I know that sucks)

I will say this, I’ve again had a knowledgable observer explain how the DoJ is the fly in the ointment when it comes to some of these very obvious cases of public corruption down here. Holding case files until the statute of limitation expires is one way this is done. An understaffed US Attorney’s office is another way the public is cheated of justice as it is when valuable resources are wasted on political prosecutions like the one involving our own Ashton O’Dwyer.

Like with the crime cameras and Sean Alfortish, civil litigation could well force Mr Letten’s hand in some of these other matters. Continue reading “I just had the most amazing conversation with the Lafayette Square Wino….”

Dambala has more on the computer crash that put the NOLA real estate market on its knees.

Folks, after speaking with Jason at length on this topic, I’ll add that he did a masterful job rolling out Part 3 of The Big Crash over at Humid Beings and it is well worth the read as he dissects the NOLA Civil District Court, laying bare the bullshit from judges like Madeline Landrieu and Clerk of Court Dale Atkins.

IMHO that Executive Chef at CDC is the single biggest reason people on the inside started to talk about the myriad of ways these judges serve themselves instead of the public.

sop

File this one under you live by the sword you die by the sword….

It’s official, drunken MDOT Executive Bully Butch Brown’s career is over as the axe was delivered while Butch was at MD Anderson getting treatment for his cancer.  The bad news for the coast is that we are now on the wrong end of the historical 2-1 split at MDOT.  I wonder if they’ll be moving Wayne Brown out of the palace in Jackson to a construction trailer?

 There has got to be a better way of doing this transportation thing. Maybe like the 49 other states do……..

sop

About this Sean Payton moving to Dallas tom foolery….

I’m as big a Saints fan as anyone in the Slabbed Nation but after turning off sports talk last night in disgust I resolved to say a word on this topic unfiltered by the media gate keepers.

Anyone who has read the official statements made by the team, especially owner Tom Benson’s make it pretty clear Mr Payton has a major family problem at the house.  Part of the charm of this area is that for all our problems everyone is invested here on a personal level in a way unlike many other areas of the country and especially after Hurricane Katrina.  To the extent Payton and the Saints accepted accolades to which they did not deserve, such as the meme about winning the Superbowl being indicative of how the Saints literally brought us back after the storm they now face a torrent of questions after the Coach bugs out of the area.  I think T-P sports writer Jeff Duncan did a great job on that aspect of this saga.

There is something else in play here though that causes me to lose patience with some of the media, in this case the Big Chief Deke Bellavia who last night seemed to flame every caller on the topic, one that has generated intense interest, page views, media ratings etc locally.  The two simple truths are that the media including this blog favors subject matter our readers favor. The other truth is whatever the problem inside Team Payton which lead to this abrupt move to Dallas, the local media is trying their best to protect it as well. It is a tightrope Deke failed to negotiate last night IMHO. Continue reading “About this Sean Payton moving to Dallas tom foolery….”

The Golden Rule: Twenty Percent Retainage!!????

He who has the gold makes the rules.

Is the above a more “cynical” version of the Golden Rule or one that accurately explains how the business world works? As Geoff Pender reports for the Sun Herald it is the latter as local contractors evidently agreed to what amounts to loan shark contractor terms to get a piece of the BP pie. I work for none of these companies so I’ll comment here as an expert and say that holding retainage to maximize the float is very common.  Also common is 10% retainage and even then generally not on cost-plus labor contracts.

Insurance companies delay paying claims to max out the float. Certain mortgage companies did likewise after Katrina, holding insurance proceeds paid on damaged/destroyed homes, in one case in which I am personally familiar, in an amount far more than the related mortgage.

This story also made it on MPB this morning. While SEACOR subsidiary O’Brien’s Response Management’s treatment of its subs certainly appears to smell (as does homegrown Yates and a host of other generals for that matter), I’ll add there is another element in play that makes this story as reported in the media to this point incomplete as there are complexities present that I do not see accounted for in the reporting.  I will say that greed was the driver of a 20% retainage clause in the subcontract in question.  There is no telling what other devils are buried in the details.

sop

Nowlin’s Motion to Vacate – another view of the “just-us” system of North Mississippi

A few months ago, I began getting email messages about this case. The most recent came today and, I suspect but don’t know for certain, the NEMS360.com report on the upcoming hearing of Zach Scruggs’ Motion to Vacate prompted this latest message.

In the event it did not, I’ll confess that Judge Biggers’ decision had everything to do with my decision to toss my plans for the evening and dig a little deeper into Ken Nowlin’s Motion to Vacate his guilt plea. Why? Because there’s little comparison between Nowlin and Scruggs; yet, both have filed motions to vacate their agreements to plead guilty before a north Mississippi federal court.

Nowlin was the big fish in the little pond of Ecru, Mississippi – population 947 in the 2000 Census. Scruggs, on the other hand, is the son of the biggest fish in the pond – an award winning catch for the federal prosecutors working for the U.S. Attorney of the northern district of Mississippi.

Nowlin served almost 15 months and paid nearly $276,000 in restitution after pleading guilty three years ago to one count of a 53-count federal indictment, which accused him of a conspiracy to corruptly accept some $827,000 in insurance commissions. (NEMS360.com)

However, Nowlin, like Scruggs, claims he was pressured to plead guilty; albeit under different circumstances: Continue reading “Nowlin’s Motion to Vacate – another view of the “just-us” system of North Mississippi”