Posts Tagged ‘ Lawyers ’

Crazy Sh*t Lawyers See: Reality TV Edition (Even their Lawsuits are Larger than Life)

April 9th, 2014. By LucyC

Ok—brace yourselves…for the Crazy Sh*t Lawyers See (or at least have to deal with).

Is this the “fun” in funeral? Let’s hope not. Plymouth, Mass, was the scene of a recent shooting. It happened during a funeral (why not?) and the accused is claiming self defense. Hey – funerals can be tense affairs. At least the corpse was safe, so to speak. (I know…I know…)

The accused, Gai Scott, of Randolph, pleaded not guilty in Plymouth District Court to armed assault with intent to murder. “When the dust settles with respect to this case, it’s going to be abundantly clear that Mr. Scott, a licensed gun owner, was acting in self-defense and in defense of his family,” said Jon Ciraulo, Gai Scott’s lawyer.

Thirty-six year old Scott is accused of shooting his 48-year old Uncle who goes by the name Benzino—a hip-hop artist and star of the reality TV show, VH1’s “Love & Hip Hop: Atlanta”. Benzino’s real name is Raymond Scott, and he put in a surprise attendance at his mother’s funeral. The incident occurred on Route 3 in Duxbury, during the funeral procession. I’ll bet that livened things up (pardon the pun).

According to a statement issued by the Plymouth district DA, “growing family tension” between the men resulted in the shooting. For his part, Benzino was released from South Shore Hospital in Weymouth earlier this week, very much alive. He said he had paid his respects to his mother in private at the funeral home but decided to skip the procession and funeral because of tensions in the family over money. Apparently, he was on his way to Plymouth to pick up a friend when he came upon the procession and someone opened fire. But he didn’t volunteer any names of the shooter. Not making things any easier for his lawyer here.

The accused was ordered held without bail pending a hearing, and as one might expect, Gai Scott was ultimately denied bail as it was sort of thought he might be a danger to society. Perhaps?

 

It ain’t all tutus and frills… A pair of brawling Betties—also known to the courts as Kelly Hyland and Abby Lee Miller, of “Dance Moms” fame—or infamy—you choose—finally have a court date. Kelly Hyland is charged with assaulting Abby Miller, and the whole thing is caught on tape. A slam dunk you think—um, not so much, according to the defense lawyer.

The back story—for anyone who failed to follow “Dance Moms”—is that the former star of the Lifetime series instigated a cat fight (as one does) over what role Hyland’s daughter, Brooke, would play in a dance routine—Meow! Gritty stuff indeed. (The pic at right shows a clip posted over at TMZ where Dance Mom Kelly goes at it with Dance Mom Dame Hyland over the amount of time the kids get to learn new routines. Like I said, this is gritty stuff indeed…)

Caught on video, as everything is these days, Hyland is shown losing the plot on dance instructor Abby Lee Miller backstage at Lehman College. “Get your finger out of my face!” Hyland screams before slapping, scratching and pulling Miller’s hair in the scuffle. “She’s crazy,” Miller yells back.

Hyland’s defense lawyer, Paul Martin, said he’s trying to unearth uncut footage of the incident, which he said would show Miller being the aggressor. “My client’s intention is to go trial. She believes that she’s not guilty of any crime and we’re confident that when a jury considers all the evidence that she’ll be vindicated,” Martin said. Yes, good luck with that.

“I think the videotape along with the history of Ms. Miller, my client will be vindicated of any type of criminal wrongdoing.” Guess we’ll see…court date’s set for May…

Tags: Benzino, Dance Moms, Lawsuit, Lawyers, Reality TV
Posted in Crazy Sh*t Lawyers See | No Comments »

Crazy Sh*t Lawyers See: Social Angst, the Illusory Sentence, and Blame Nike

March 20th, 2014. By LucyC

Ok—brace yourselves…it’s the “never a dull moment” side of lawyering. Regardless of whether it’s in a courtroom, a conference room or even a jail cell, lawyers surely see all kinds of crazy sh*t. And deal with it, too…

Let’s take this offline…Never mind cyber bullying—some folks like to keep it a bit more real. Two men engaged in a dispute over a Facebook post have taken to bricks and guns. No, it wasn’t a multiplayer Minecraft moment—these two went for the real deal! According to the Lee County Sheriff’s Office in Phoenix, AZ, 22-year-old Zachary Heath Belitz faces a disorderly conduct charge based on accusations he threw a brick at the home of a Facebook group administrator.

The admin’s crime? He posted an item about Belitz’ upcoming trial on indecent exposure charges involving multiple women. Whoops. That posted tidbit had the potential to reach close to 15,000 people on FB—not including shares. Keep in mind, it’s not like the indecent exposure charges had not already been reported by multiple news outlets last fall… (fyi, Belitz goes to court on April 15)

Not content to let law and order take its course, sheriff’s officials say the Facebook administrator—Eric Woodson, who heads up the local FB page “The Neighborhood Watchers”–ran outside with a shotgun and fired twice at a truck, presumably with Belitz inside, who fled the scene. No one was hurt. It wasn’t known whether Belitz has an attorney yet for this latest hiccup. He might be looking for one–any volunteers?

Texas Style Justice? In 1977, Jerry Hartfield was convicted and received the death sentence for murder in Bay City, Texas. Seems straight forward enough. And, like a good prisoner, he has subsequently served 37 years, presumably without incident. But there’s a problem. (You knew that was coming). It seems that Hartfield’s sentence was actually overturned in 1977. BUT, in 1987 the governor at the time commuted Hartfield’s sentence to life in prison, before Hartfield was able to demand his release. Say what?

It might be worth mentioning here that court documents describe Hartfield as being illiterate with an IQ of 51. Back to the story…

Cut to 2006 – a fellow inmate convinced Hartfield to apply for a retrial—based on the grounds that his sentence was illusory—there was no sentence to commute! The motion for retrial has since been granted, and Hartfield is set to go to court this April.

While attorneys representing Hartfield call their client’s treatment a blatant violation of justice, the prosecutors have actually suggested that Hartfield himself is to blame for his 30 year stay in prison. And no, I am not making this up.

And it just keeps getting crazier…

Just Do It Baby! Twenty-six year old inmate and former pimp Sirgiorgio Clardy recently decided to take matters in to his own hands. Doing time in Oregon for beating up a john who failed to pay, he has now handwritten a $100 million lawsuit naming Nike as the defendant. Not connecting the dots between pimp + john + jail + Nike? Ok, here we go…

Clardy claims that Nike inadequately marketed its Air Jordans—the ones you wear to “be like Mike”. See, Clardy was wearing a pair when he stomped and kicked the john using a “dangerous weapon” – the Nike Airs. He apparently maimed the john’s face. Clardy quite naturally believes that because Nike allegedly failed to label its shoes as dangerous weapons, the company is partly to blame for his incarceration. Where the heck’s the ATF weighing in on this one?

Clardy’s rap sheet has more sheets than a roll of Scott’s toilet tissue—and as such, he’s seen the interior of a court room a fews time before. (That’s him, strapped into a chair in court, in a picture that first ran in The Oregonian.) Lawyers within an arms’ length radius of him have been spit on and threatened, according to reports, and one judge who figured out that Clardy might have a tough time seeking willing counsel, appointed a legal advisor. Wasn’t long before he cried uncle and got off that case. (That’s the legal advisor, sitting at a safe distance, in the foreground of the pic.)

Yep. Lawyers see plenty of crazy sh*t.

 

Tags: Civil Court, Crazy Lawsuit, Criminal Court, Defense Attorney, lawsuits, Lawyers, Legal Advisor, Legal Humor, Personal Injury, Public Defender, Weird Lawsuit
Posted in Crazy Sh*t Lawyers See | 1 Comment »

National Class Action Pursues Separation Pay for Discharged Gays

November 30th, 2010. By BrendaC

LawyersandSettlements.com has a new column that looks at a side of lawyers you don’t hear too much about—the side that gives back…pays it forward..and shares the love. We’ve found quite a number of attorneys who log non-billable hours helping others—simply because they believe it’s the right thing to do. Their stories are inspiring, and hey, who knew lawyers were so…good? If you’ve got a story to share about an attorney who’s doing the right thing, let us know—we’d love to let others know, too. Today, we talk with Attorney Joshua Block of the ACLU…

Attorney Joshua Block: “…even if you believe that DADT was necessary…it doesn’t provide a reason to cut someone’s separation pay in half.”

It’s like pouring salt on the wound, say critics of the government policy of cutting separation pay in half for men and women discharged from the US military under the controversial ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ (DADT) rule.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has just filed a national class action claiming the practice violates the rights of the former service members under the equal protection and right to substantive due process components of the Fifth Amendment.

“A little over a year ago, a former member of the US Air Force, who had been honorably discharged under DADT, came to us and said his separation pay had been cut in half and wanted to know if we could help,” says ACLU attorney Joshua Block.

Since the administration is on record opposing discrimination against gays in the military, Block and the ACLU thought this would be easy to reconcile, but after a year of letters and telephone calls, nothing has changed for former US Air Force Staff-Sergeant, Richard Collins. 

“We finally sent a demand letter saying we hope you fix this policy, but if you don’t, we have no choice but to bring this litigation,” says Block.

During his nine-year career, according to the documents filed by the ACLU, Collins had been an exemplary member of the armed forces. He was awarded a good conduct medal, served in Kosovo and was promoted quickly through the ranks.

Collins was honorably discharged in 2006 after two civilians who worked at his base reported seeing him kissing a boyfriend in a car stopped at red light. Collins was off duty, dressed in civilian clothes and more than 10 miles from his base in Arizona.

And Collins is not alone in being short-changed on separation pay. The amount of money owed to military personnel kicked out for being homosexual is “not insignificant,” says Block. “And the policy is offensive.” 

“It is rubbing salt in the wound,” says Block. “These people are kicked out of the military through no fault of their own and then on top of that their separation pay is cut in half.”

The argument against gays in the military has historically been that it affects troop morale says Block. “So even if you believe that DADT was necessary for unit cohesion, it doesn’t provide a reason to cut someone’s separation pay in half,” he adds. 

The class covers anyone who was honorably discharged over the last six years—with at least six years of service, and had their pay cut in half. 

Although how many ex-military personnel might qualify as members of the class is unknown, it’s estimated there may be as many as 500 potential class members.

The suit asks that former service members be paid the money owed to them with interest, both pre- and post-judgment, and that the attorney fees also be paid. 

The claims court cannot provide injunctive relief to plaintiffs says Block. “That’s beyond the scope of claims court; however, hopefully a judgment in our favor would stop the practice once and for all.” 

Joshua Block is a staff attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union in New York City working on the ACLU Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender and AIDS Project.

Tags: ACLU, Don't ask Don't tell, Gays in the Military, Joshua Block, Lawyers, Lawyers Giving Back, Lawyers Sharing the Love, Richard Collins
Posted in Emerging Issues, Lawyers, Lawyers Giving Back | No Comments »

Attorney Ted Frank: Modern Day Robin Hood Fights for the Class

November 16th, 2010. By BrendaC

This new column at LawyersandSettlements.com looks at a side of lawyers you don’t hear too much about—the side that gives back…pays it forward..and shares the love. We’ve found quite a number of attorneys who log non-billable hours helping others—simply because they believe it’s the right thing to do. Their stories are inspiring, and hey, who knew lawyers were so…good? If you’ve got a story to share about an attorney who’s doing the right thing, let us know—we’d love to let others know, too. Today, we talk with Ted Frank, founder and president of the Center for Class Action Fairness…

Attorney Ted Frank: “I don’t like injustice.” 

You can think of attorney Ted Frank as the new Robin Hood of the litigation system. “I just don’t like injustice,” says Frank in a matter-of-a-fact kind of way late on a Friday afternoon speaking from his office in Washington, D.C. “Many class action settlements are negotiated for the benefit of the attorneys rather than the consumers they are representing.”

And when that happens, Ted Frank and the Center for Class Action Fairness, which he founded two years ago, will step in and as he says “balance the scales on behalf of class members.” 

 

Consider a California class action against Honda in which it was successfully argued that the car maker had overstated the per-gallon mileage achieved by its hybrids. The un-named members of the class, as agreed by Honda and the class action lawyers, would get a $500 coupon good toward the purchase of another Honda.

The class members would receive no money—instead they got a coupon which Frank describes as essentially a marketing device. “There was nothing stopping Honda from raising the price the car, the coupon was only good for six months and it applied to only Honda’s less popular vehicles,” explains Frank. “And before you could even use the coupon you had to agree to watch a 30 minute video about Honda fuel efficiency.” 

Meanwhile says Frank “the attorneys would get $4 million.”

The judge in the case threw out the settlement as a result of the intervention by the Centre for Class Action Fairness. The parties were forced to go back and come up with a deal that better serves the class members.

This is not happening in “smoked filled rooms where attorneys and defendants get together and figure out how to rip off the class,” say Frank. He describes it instead as a warped litigation system where everyone knows what the other side wants.  “There is sort of this Kabuki dance where they pretend to be negotiating on behalf the class and instead negotiate for the attorneys and not at all for the class.”

Of course, not every class action lawsuit is settled in such a way as to unreasonably favor the attorneys involved (see our prior post on the “fairness” of Tyson Chicken settlement compared to an Expedia settlement). But, according to Frank, unless the judge keeps a steely eye—or the Center for Class Action Fairness shows up to fight for class members—bad things can, and do, sometimes happen.

The Center is a non-profit public interest law firm. “Our budget is funded through a charitable foundation and generous benefactors. Some are anonymous donors,” says Frank, “and I like it that way—that way when I make a decision I am not worrying about who I might offend.”

“I saw a need, I saw a problem and I wasn’t satisfied with what I saw—and judges are all over the map in terms of the scrutiny they give class actions,” Franks says.

“I am hoping to move the law to better place,” says Frank about what motivates him to tackle a system that allows trial lawyers to help themselves to money that should be going to the members of the class.

Ted Frank is the founder and president of the Center for Class Action Fairness. Before that Frank was a fellow wit the American Enterprise Institute and director of the AEI Legal Center for the Public Interest. He is also a member of the American Law Institute.

Tags: Center for Class Action Fairness, Lawyers, Lawyers Giving Back, Ted Frank
Posted in Emerging Issues, Lawyers Giving Back | No Comments »

Lawyers Beware – Devious Scam Can Cost You Big Time

July 15th, 2010. By AbiK

Seems there’s a new and not-so-little lawyer scam going on. No calling a law firm about a package found on a subway, here. This one’s more devious and it involves some big cash.

According to a report out of wbztv.comin NH, two lawyers were targets of an international internet scam recently. The scammers used internet messages, fake companies and counterfeit checks in order to retain–albeit fraudulently–the lawyers.

Here’s how it worked:

It’s sort of like a Moneygram scam, actually. The lawyers were told that the fake checks were either settlement money or retainer fees. The lawyers were then instructed deposit the “money” and to then wire some money to someone else involved with the case.

The scammers were even doing things like using faux law firm stationery to make it look like it was opposing counsel who had sent the check.

One of the lawyers targeted was fortunate enough to have raised an eyebrow—he did some snooping around and found out that the check was counterfeit. He then contacted the attorney general’s office and state banking officials.

The other lawyer was not so lucky. He went and deposited the check and wired half the amount of it, a whopping $240,000, to a fake client of the company that retained him. Guess what? The $240k was yanked from his account and now it’s bye-bye. His loss. And a big one it is.

According to wbztv.com, Assistant Attorney General Karen Gorham said no arrests are anticipated.

No surprise.

Unfortunately, with scams like these—just as withMoneygram scams—it’s very difficult to track down the perpetrator.

So lawyers beware…

Tags: Fraud, Lawyers, scam
Posted in Consumer Fraud | 2 Comments »