Wanna Buy a Watch? Asks Man With Golden Toilet
Think carefully before accepting this offer. And then don’t accept it.
Legal Profession
Censure for Judge Who Ordered Attorney Be Paid In Gift Cards, Like Class Members
Last year, Los Angeles County Judge Brett Klein was presented with a proposed class-action settlement in which the plaintiffs' attorney would get $125,000, but class members would get only a $10 gift card, usable only at the store that allegedly…
Judge Randomly Drug-Screened Courtroom Spectators, Complaint Alleges
The term "due process" is hard to define exactly, but one thing it doesn't mean is "we do this all the time," a lesson that a judge in Tennessee learned the hard way. Judge Durwood Moore was censured last year,…
Note: Affair With Client’s Spouse Tends to Create Conflict of Interest
Actually, it's hard to think of a situation in which doing this would not create a conflict of interest, but if you represent a client in divorce proceedings even though you are the one his spouse has been cheating with, that…
Plaintiff Who Alleged Airport Concealment Has Litigation History
Stanley G. Hilton, who recently sued (among many others) San Francisco International Airport and his realtors for allegedly failing to warn him that his house was close to the airport, turns out to be an attorney, and one with a record of…
So Long, Guy Who Refused to Marry Interracial Couple
"I do hereby resign," began the only sentence anybody was interested in hearing out of Keith Bardwell, who until November 3 had been Justice of the Peace for the Eighth Ward of Tangipahoa Parish, Louisiana. Everybody has been calling for…
State Assistant AG Fired After Inappropriate Cemetery Visit
A 66-year-old deputy assistant attorney general is now no longer employed by South Carolina after a police officer noticed him and another person engaging in an unspecified activity in a "secluded part of a downtown cemetery." He and the 18-year-old…
No Getting Around It: Terrorism Will Not Look Good on a Resume
In general, I think that once somebody has served a sentence or been pardoned for a crime, he should be free to get on with his life, get a job, maybe even practice law if he wants to. A past…
UPDATE: Opinion in “Pilates Instructor” Case
The opinion in this case (linked below, previously discussed here) is worth a read. Just to clarify a few of the details, the parties had filed cross-motions for summary judgment. Plaintiff's claims against the credit-card company were dismissed, which appears…
Blind Lawyer Says “Pilates Instructor” Cheated Him
I put “Pilates instructor” in quotes because—spoiler alert!—that’s not actually what she was doing.