Day: February 18, 2014

The Magistrate is a reasonable man…..

Full docket text for document 52:
ORDER ON MOTION. In response to The Times-Picayune, L.L.C.’s Motion for Extension of Time to Comply with Order, Record Doc. No. 49, my office requested counsel for the parties expeditiously to provide their positions in writing. They have done so by letters I have directed to be filed separately in the record. Assistant United States Attorney Fred P. Harper, Jr., counsel of the government, has no objection. Edward J. Castaing, Jr., on behalf of defendant, has no objection to a short extension of the deadline from February 19 to February 21, 2014, but he objects to the requested extension through February 28, 2014, for the reasons contained in his letter. Having considered these submissions, I accept the supporting reasons proffered by The Times-Picayune, including logistical necessity and provision of the full 14 days from entry of my order for making objections provided in Fed. R. Crim. P. 59(a). Accordingly, IT IS ORDERED that the motion is GRANTED, and the deadline set forth in this court’s order of February 14, 2014, Record Doc. No. 47, is hereby extended to February 28, 2014 at 5:00 p.m. In the interest of maintaining the current schedule for trial and other deadlines in this case, however, The Times-Picayune is encouraged either to file its objections or produce the materials to me for in camera review as soon as possible in advance of this deadline, which I will not extend again. Signed by Magistrate Judge Joseph C. Wilkinson, Jr on 2/18/14. (tbl)

Mississippi House Bill 44 clears House of Representatives, referred to State Senate

Folks all I can say is God bless the Mississippi House of Representatives, which voted 116-2 in favor of passage of Rep. Jeff Smith’s measure, which guarantees certain of our constitutional rights from the interference of activists courts located in Judicial hellholes like Nova Scotia Canada.  Yesterday House Bill 44 was sent to the Senate and now is awaiting action in the Mississippi Senate’s Judiciary A committee, where it is my hope it will be well received.

Deadbeat Judgment Debtors: They still owe me for the first try.

I hear Team Goatherder is trying, via listserv, to solicit representation for a redo of the SPEECH Act case Trout Point Lodge, Charles Leary and Vaughn Perret recently lost to me in a precedent setting decision.  I guess it is time I solve a mystery for all the national law bloggers that wrote about the case.

The court ruled the way it did on the default because we agreed to try the case on cross motion for summary judgment, which you lawyers know means there could be no dispute of material facts.  So I took a mulligan and stipulated to all the crazy stuff Trout Point Lodge, Leary and Perret said in their nonsensical complaint, including being the sole author of all the posts and comments made to the blog, something they absolutely knew to be untrue when they plead it since they had been previously conducting a witch hunt against Slabbed for Aaron Broussard in their Louisiana Media SLAPP suit for 5 months previous. That is the tip of the iceberg.

A plain read of the SPEECH Act indicates I am entitled to have their defamation allegations heard right here on the Gulf Coast, in full and this time there won’t be any stipulations on a cross MSJ. Continue reading “Deadbeat Judgment Debtors: They still owe me for the first try.”

Slabbed New Media Intervenes in Bay Tech Civil Suit

Today, Slabbed New Media filed a Motion to Quash and/or for Protective Order in the civil suit styled Magnolia Group v O’Dwyer Realty et al in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi. In the Motion and Memorandum of law in support, Sole Owner/Publisher of Slabbed New Media, Douglas Handshoe argued that certain discovery requests were being made for materials covered by the qualified reporter’s privilege applicable in the United States 5th Circuit.

“Slabbed New Media believes that off record communications should remain exactly that”, said Handshoe, who’s website is locally renowned for its coverage of the massive political corruption scandal in Jefferson Parish, Louisiana which included bribery and money laundering schemes involving former Parish President Aaron Broussard and certain contractors for the Parish of Jefferson and other prosecutions which collapsed under the weight of the US Attorney Commenting Scandal.

“Trust is the only currency that is readily tradable in the field of investigative journalism. Sources take massive amounts of personal risk to leak information on public wrongdoing to investigative journalists, such no doubt part of the reason the US Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals created the qualified privilege for journalists.”, opined Handshoe. ”It is my hope to return to reporting the events of the Bay Tech case, instead of participating in discovery fights in the case itself.”

The Sun Herald had access to the DMR “Public” records for 7 weeks……

Man o’ man that sure was an epic public records battle for the public to have not seen so much as one of the so called public records that were battled over 7 weeks and a day out. Just sayin’.