I don’t know if they coined the phrase — kudos to whoever did — but “the ‘poof principle” is the phrase the guys at California Attorney Fees use to sum up one aspect of Sanai v. Saltz, case nos. B198217 & B202787 (2d Dist. Jan. 26, 2009). What better phrase to apply to a case where the defendant sees a million dollar attorney fee award evaporate because the underlying judgment is reversed?
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A Published Supersedeas Case. Really!
From my lips to the Court of Appeal’s ears . . . or maybe from my keyboard to the Court of Appeal’s monitors . . . barely a week after I lamented how old most of the published case law is regarding supersedeas and other stays on appeal, along comes Veyna v. Orange County Nursery, Inc., case no. G041305 (4th Dist. Jan. 15, 2009), a published decision denying a petition for writ of supersedeas. Published opinions on this topic rarely come along, so we might as well grab all the gusto we can from it. First, a synopsis of the facts, then a couple of lessons to take away from…
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Supremes Grant Cert in Teen Student Strip Search Case
Remember all the blog coverage (and not just here) about school officials’ strip search of a 13-year-old Arizona student in a “zero-tolerance” motivated quest for that dreaded scourge, Ibuprofen? I covered the original decision upholding the search here, noted the grant of rehearing here, and the en banc reversal here. Here’s the en banc opinion: Redding v. Safford USD #1, case no. 05-15759 (9th Cir. (en banc) July 11, 2008). SCOTUS granted cert Friday afternoon, so there is sure to be another burst of blog coverage about the case. If you want to get up to speed while saving yourself some clicks, go straight to this synopsis by newly minted…
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Can Bad Legal Writing Get You in Trouble?
You bet it can, and your boss isn’t the only one who can create trouble for you. To see what other kinds of trouble you can get into, and how to avoid it, check out this oldie but goodie (but just recently posted to SSRN), Ethical Legal Writing, from UT law professor Wayne Schiess of Legalwriting.net and its blog. The abstract: “This article describes real cases in which lawyers got into trouble for poor legal writing: court sanctions, fines, bar discipline, civil liability, and public humiliation. It offers advice for avoid [sic] those fates.”
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Dominance and Submission at the Appellate Court?
But of course! Not of the leather, whips and chains variety, though. “Dominance and submission” at appellate oral argument is one of the areas taken up by UNLV law professor Michael Higdon in his forthcoming Kansas Law Review article, available now at SSRN: Oral Argument and Impression Management: Harnessing the Power of Nonverbal Persuasion for a Judicial Audience. From the abstract: As you will see in the article, nonverbal communication goes well beyond simple hand gestures, but also encompasses how a person speaks, how a person dresses, a person’s facial expressivity, and even such things as a person’s posture and head position. Furthermore, social science research reveals that both these…
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“There is no exception for Supreme Court cases of ancient vintage.”
That’s from Mehr v. Superior Court (1983) 139 Cal.App.3d 1044, 1049 fn. 3, regarding the doctrine of stare decisis. It’s a handy quote to keep in your arsenal for those occasions when you have to cite very old cases. I can remember legal research and writing instructors pounding into our heads that we should always use newer cases, where available. Thus, while I’ve never seen anyone try to discount a case based on its age alone, there’s that uneasy feeling any time I find it necessary to cite an old case that the adverse party will try to do just that. A smart lawyer, of course, would not rely on…
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Who Says CRC 8.108(f)(1) is for Cross-Appeals Only?
Certainly not Division Three of the Fourth District Court of Appeal. In The Termo Co. v. Luther, case no. G038435 (Dec. 17, 2008), the court holds that the rule of court allowing the 20-day window for “any other party to appeal from the same judgment or order,” triggered by the clerk’s mailing of the notice of the filing of an appeal, means just what it says, notwithstanding its “Cross-appeal” heading. Termo and Angus Development Corporation were co-petitioners in the administrative writ proceedings. The trial court denied the writ. Termo filed its notice of appeal from the judgment on the 59th day following service of notice of entry of judgment —…
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Blogroll Addition: “Courtoons”
Fellow Jones Day alumnus David Mills publishes a daily legal cartoon at his Courtoons blog, recently added to the blogroll under “Legal Humor Blogs.”
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Judge Kozinski’s “Dirty” Pictures May Not Be So Dirty
Remember the big “to do” about Judge Kozinski having posted material from an obscenity trial on his website? My prior coverage concentrated mainly on how this could affect his qualification to preside over the trial, and noted the interesting fact that Kozinski, an appellate judge, was presiding over a trial at all. There is another aspect to the media coverage that I did not give much thought to, and that is the way that the media painted the materials as sexually graphic and/or obscene. Considering the mischievousness that is usually attributed to Judge Kozinski, I figured that would be water off a duck’s back. And while it might have been…