Although I’d learned enough about “Who Dat” Judge Martin Feldman… to write the post, I’d found nothing to adequately explain how such an obviously bright man would embarrass himself with the errors he made in deciding Versai. Credit for my increased understanding goes to the SLABBED reader who sent a link to reporter Kim Quillen’s August 27, 2008, story Insurers use federal cash to help pay claims that included this additional background on Judge Feldman:
Judge Martin Feldman, who took the lead developing procedures to streamline the flow of cases in federal court, said the pace of settlement has been uneven. He signed 50 dismissal orders last week, for example, but said his efforts to resolve several hundred State Farm and Allstate cases swiftly have not paid off…
But Feldman said once the major questions of law created by the storm have been settled, cases should not go to trial.
“No great principle, other than ‘I bought insurance and I want my money,’ are at stake, and those tend to settle,” Feldman said. “They basically only involve issues of money and not issues of deep social and moral principle. Cases of deep social principle should go to trial. Cases of money should settle.”
“Who Dat” elitist?
Judge Martin Feldman showed his colors in Versai – a true blue outcome-oriented judicial activist who led the law where he wanted it to go. Otherwise, were he to allow the law to lead, his decisions would not be consistent with his perspective on Katrina litigation or his “procedures to streamline” the litigation process. Continue reading “streamlined or steamrolled – Judge Martin Feldman’s influence on Katrina litigation”