She maintained an "optimistic but unrealistic" attitude about her illness? Ouch!

I love those stress fueled e-mails!

Which practice area has a lower cancer risk? Sophisticated, cross-border transactional work or complex, bet-the-company litigation?

(T5-->V10)

That emails reeks of pretentious TTT douchery.

He should have paid her when she was sick and doing nothing becuase that is what we all would do in our personal financial decisions.

How come when it comes to other people's money we are so generous in requiring them to keep paying sick, absent workers. But, if you had a maid that you paid on a weekly basis and she didn't clean cause she was sick (or dying) would you pay her?!

Besides she is dying, what does she need money for. If she had a husband she would likely be covered by his insurance policy.

It is this LEFT-WING slant that LAT gives to all his postings that made this site jump the shark.

We support Lat's drivel by viewing these pages, but it is the comments that I crave hourly!

11:47, if the judge were personally paying this woman's paycheck, your maid analogy would work much better. As it stands, you're the one who jumped the shark.

11:48, if you enjoy the ATL comments, you should also check out AutoAdmit.com.

This whole "you're not the boss of me" spat reminds me of the Clark County (Las Vegas) (Chief) Judge Kathy Hardcastle vs. (500 lb) Judge Elizabeth Halverson debacle of 2007.

BTW, for all the fans of the 500 lb motor driven jurist will be pleased to know that Halverson—dispite her continuing interim suspension pending disciplinary proceedings not yet filed—is eligible to run for another judicial term. (The filing deadline is Jan. 18.)

PS: everyone knows that if David has a "slant" it is to the right and not the left of the political spectrum.

Great post Lat--welcome back!

11:49: The point is the judge should treat the government's money with as much care as he would his own. That is why the maid analogy works.

I'm with 11:47 - sort of.

Why didn't she take the diability leave offered to her?

The Times Union story says that one of the rotating judicial assistants had been assigned to Judge Bowden full time, at his request. So his concern about being without an assistant for several months seems bogus. Most probably would agree that having a judicial assistant with cancer is inconvenient, but would see it as more of a problem for the assistant than the judge. I agree with 11:35 - this guy is leadership material. Is he a fundie? DOJ has openings.

60 days? what the hell was the judge doing for the preceding 110+ days that he couldn't do for another 2 months?

what a douche. i hope he dies of AIDS.

Well Bowden has the reputation of being a pretty self-absorbed A-hole. He once threatened to hold and EMT in contempt if he wasn't more quiet in treating a woman who passed out in the courtroom. But Moran recently (4-5 months ago maybe) got in trouble for smacking his wife around. Of course she recanted and nothing was ever done about it. Just another beautiful day in the Jacksonville legal market.

12:02

the disability leave was permanent. it was a retirement package.

This wouldn't happen if we had universal health care.

This judge is an asshole. You don't fire your assistant of 17 years and leave her without health insurance when she's dying of cancer because you might have to go an extra two months with a floater. That's pretty much the worst thing I've ever heard of.

What kind of asshole decides to fire his terminally ill assistant of 17 YEARS because she's not returning calls fast enough? God forbid he should actually go down to the hospital to tell her personally that he'd have to fire her if she didn't take the retirement package.

This wasn't handled well at all.

Bowden should probably not have fired her, but he was also probably cheesed off that she wouldn't accept disability.

Moran certainly shouldn't have publicized the spat; shows poor judgment, even if he thought Bowden was out of order. Sure, reinstate her pay, which is your perogative as the CJ. But don't trash Bowden in public. Just making her a floating assistant alone would implicitly show Moran's distaste for Bowden's decision.

Are either one of these judges still accepting clerkship applications?

Right on 12:51. It's hard to maintain any respect for the legal profession when a man like Bowden feels he's the victim after he fires his terminally ill employee after 17 years of service knowing that it will mean she will be without insurance. This boils down to Bowden knowing he was screwing her over because he didn't want to be inconvenienced. As between allowing his 17 year employee to live out her last few months in as much relative comfort as insurance could provide and his convenience he chose his convenience. Now he feels like the victim. Wow. I know people have little respect for lawyers, but we look like peace corps volunteers next to some of these judges.

There is but one way to settle an incident such as the above - a best-of-seven, Street Fighter 2: Championship Edition series with Judge Bowden using Dhalsim and his assistant playing as Zangief. None of that pussy, Ryu v. Ken stuff, oh no no. Straight up yoga flame against spining piledrivers.

I don't get it. She's dying. She should've taken the disablitiy and taken out tons of loans. It's not like she'll have to pay it back when she's dead.

"But, if you had a maid that you paid on a weekly basis and she didn't clean cause she was sick (or dying) would you pay her?!"

If she was my maid for 17 years and I knew that firing her would make her lose her health insurance, then yes, I would continue to pay her. Especially, if someone else was doing all of her cleaning at no additional expense.

Of course, the judge didn't fired her because he was worried about the strain on the payroll. He fired her because he was worried he'd have to go an additional two months with a temporary assistant.

And who cares if this judge doesn't have any assistant for two months. Is he going to lose clients or get fired if he lets calls go to voice mail? Is he going to be censored if his docket slows down for a couple weeks after his assistant of 17 years dies? No. At worst he'd be inconvenienced for a couple months. What a prick.

Right @ 1:06. I ever get diagnosed with terminal cancer, there won't be any desperate chemo treatments. I'll be at a tropical resort maxing out every last one of my credit cards.

I hope this SOB judge dies a long, slow, lonely death when his turn comes around.

bowden = ninja
moran = pirate

Sure you will 1:13. I'm sure you'll be feeling up to jet-skiing, paragliding and sipping daiquiris on the beach when you're dying of cancer. Not to mention that your spouse may be held accountable for whatever debt you rack up.

We don't even know that her cancer is terminal. This judge decided it was, but it's not like he's talking to her doctors.

I'd just like to take this moment to recall Judge Marion Pope, then on the Georgia Court of Appeals, who stood by his long-time senior clerk when the clerk was diagnosed with AIDS in the mid-1980s. Back then, AIDS was the gay disease, and was a horrible social stigma. When others in the courthouse refused to allow that clerk to use the common bathroom, Judge Pope allowed him to use the private bathroom in the judge's chambers. When the clerk became too ill to work, Judge Pope kept him on the payroll, working short-staffed, until the clerk's 20-or-so years of accumulated sick leave ran out. Stories like the one in Lat's post remind me how very rare and special that kind of loyalty to staff is.

1:04, I KNOW some guy named "Justin Timberlake" did NOT call the Masters of the Shou-ryu-ken "pussy."

Bowden's email reeks of someone who is upset because he wanted his actions swept under the rug rather than brought to everyone's attention.

>This wouldn't happen if we had universal health care.

No, then she'd be on a waiting list until 2011 to have her first doctor's appointment.

She will have the option to extend her health insurance under COBRA. She will only lose it if she elects not to pay the premiums.

i thought that this post was going to be about something juicy like a judge having sex with a dying man-pig assistant or something. who really cares if some non-lawyer in Florida got canned?? Come on LAT, give us the good stuff.

11:47/1:53 = Federalist Society troll.

Oh, and 1:53 - my Canadian friends don't seem to be reporting stories about being on a 3-year wait list for an oncology appointment with an oncologist.

"... Thank you for your conscientious and loyal service. You will always have a special place in my heart."

Assuming someone can find it.

I take a look at how the government runs massive government projects: public housing, public schools, Hurricane Katrina and I think... I want that for my healthcare!!!

Unless you are poor and black, you don't want government ANYTHING!

2:30, Of course they don't you douchebag, they are all crossing the border to come down here for their health care. HEY, wait a minute, why don't you MOVE to Canada if it is so great?!

President Obama will make the U.S. even better than Canada.

Go Barack go!

Yes but Barry Hussein will make us all convert to Islam.

3:45 = 11:47/1:53/2:06/3:43 = Federalist Society troll.

Hey, assclown, get your facts straight. There is more medical tourism headed OUT of the US than in.

The John Stossel/Cato/Fed Soc types always parrot stories about waiting lists in Canada for MRIs, hip replacements, etc., but they conveniently neglect to mention stories about folks who end up being bankrupted when they happen to become very ill and don't have medical insurance.

Much of the hostility towards the Canadian single-payer system comes from typical American hubris - the Rush Limbaughs and other conservatives of this nation can't believe that a country might be better than the US of A at something. ZOMGZ, a health system which covers everyone?!?!?

Their hostility towards Canada is almost as amusing to behold as their hostility towards France.

And don't give me the shit about COBRA being an adequate replacement for employer-funded health care. COBRA premiums are way higher than what the employee was paying when he or she was working - and if you're not working, how the hell are you supposed to be able to afford COBRA premiums in the first place?

All I know is that Bowden will not step down until Paterno does, and that I'm I'm 1-0 on Bobby Bowden Field.

Dear Mr. Zook,
Not so impressive. I beat F$U 33-0 on Bobby Bowden Field. With Weak Florist. Too bad Bobby's gone senile.

Toodles,

Mr. Grobe
(FU Arkansas, Nebraska, and countless other jobs which I've turned down).

To 3:43PM Jan. 4
"Unless you are poor and black, you don't want government ANYTHING!"

You could have left it at poor, but you threw race into it. You're a racist a$$clown. Lots of people have their hands out for government freebies and those people are not all black. Farm subsidies, discounted loans being auctioned off by the Federal Reserve, prescription drug benefits, social security, subsidized student loans. Many whites receive government assistance. You probably think "affirmative action" every time you see a black person in a suit who is "well spoken." Sad to know there are still racists out there to make life that much more interesting. Ridiculed any minorities today? If you get started now, I'm sure you can make some racist jokes before the sun goes down.

Dear Mr. Grobe,

I hear you. There's nothing better than a place where you can live like a king and go 8-4 every year. Look at me now!

Stay away from the pressure jobs.

Your humble servant,

Ron

I can't believe that most of you haven't realized that this article doesn't tell the whole story. What it doesn't mention is this JA has had terminal cancer for 5 years, and that he has protected her job and benefits for that entire period of time. No company in corporate America would have kept her on the payroll for that long--3 months tops. And yes, this is a great case for universal health care, so that someone with terminal cancer (who can't work) needs a job to be able to afford medical treatment.