How To Curse Out A Judge in New Orleans
There are a lot of things you can do in New Orleans that you can’t do anywhere else. But cursing out a judge is apparently not one of them.
Ashton O’Dwyer has made a bit of a name for himself in the post-Katrina universe. A tipster provides some backstory on this former lawyer:
Ashton O’Dwyer has become a bit of a nuisance in Louisiana post Katrina. I am pretty sure that at one point, he actually seceded from the union in an attempt to get financial foreign aid following Katrina. He has been disbarred for abusive language and disrespect of the legal system. He does have several cases where he represents himself pro se.
Recently, Judge Ivan L. R. Lemelle (E.D. La.) held O’Dwyer in contempt of court for saying “screw you” and hanging up, at the conclusion of a status conference.
O’Dwyer fired off a (handwritten) response to the contempt order, defending his conduct:
[A]t the time he told Ivan L. R. Lemelle (as a man, not as a Judge): “screw you,” and hung up the telephone during the referenced status conference by telephone, the business of the Court had already been concluded.
Actually, that is not a terrible argument, if the court’s business was actually concluded before O’Dwyer made his remark.
But O’Dwyer doesn’t leave well enough alone. Did you know that both O’Dwyer and Lemelle are Judge Lemellle is black? That fact becomes important — at least in O’Dwyer’s mind.
More details after the jump.
Ashton O’Dwyer kind of plays the race card, but alas he’s playing Hearts when everybody else is playing Spades. After briefly accusing Lemelle of being biased towards defendants, O’Dwyer writes:
O’Dwyer found this bias and prejudice towards O’Dwyer by Lemelle particularly ironic, because as a Negro, Lemelle undoubtedly has suffered bias, prejudice and unfair treatment from time-to-time in life. However, when O’Dwyer pointed out this irony to Lemelle, Lemelle indicated in so many words that he was unmoved, and so O’Dwyer reacted in the way he did because there was no sense in prolonging and unfruitful conversation with Lemelle, whose mind was “closed,” biased, and prejudiced.
I really hope that “indicated in so many words that he was unmoved” means that Judge Ivan Lemelle put on his best Ivan Drago voice and said, “You will lose.”
The contempt fine is $1,000, but O’Dwyer doesn’t have that kind of flow:
As to the fine or sanction of $1,000, O’Dwyer pleads impecuniousness and poverty. O’Dwyer’s sole remaining asset is his home … which Lemelle seems “hell-bent” on taking away from O’Dwyer …In short O’Dwyer currently has $45 in his pocket, and is financially unable to pay any fine, much less one in the amount of $1,000.
The recession man, it’s brutal.
In any event, O’Dwyer signs off in the exact manner you would expect:
Finally, O’Dwyer has two more words for Ivan L.R. Lemelle (as a man, not as a judge), “SCREW YOU!”
Hopefully, this moves Judge Lemelle into the “I must break you” phase.
(40) Comments
Comments
First First First!!!
AROD ("Ashton R. O'Dwyer) isn't black.
Since Ashton is 75, the impression I got talking with him was that he doesn't give a f*ck about what others think.
I would rather go to Salusa Secundus and enter the convict "training camps" for early Sardaukar training instead of telling a judge to go screw himself.
O'Dwyer Rules!
ashton o'dwire is quite white
mystttal writing about race? wh...wh....what????
Haha, that is nuts. Here's the question, though: Has this guy always been crazy or did he used to be a decent lawyer? Looks like as recently as 2004, he was co-authoring a scholarly-sounding piece of writing -- with a former Lemelle clerk, no less! (http://wsgr.com/WSGR/DBIndex.aspx?SectionName=attorneys/BIOS/10643.htm) ...
Was he driven mad by Katrina? Old age? Or what? Any NOLAn readers know?
Any relation to Bud ("Blam") O'Dwyer?
This whole thing was actually submitted to the court handwritten on a legal pad.
Is 'Shabeefa' an Irish name?
Here's some flavor for you:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0fHjmubiWw4
"Screw you" = the new "I *strenuously* object!"
Judging by his conduct, I assume O'Dwyer went to Yale.
He was normal before the storm. Went crazy post-Katrina. The youtube link above says it all.
I hear the prison in NOLA is quite the experience.
The Bene Geserit used to have this same kind of problem with some of their lawyers.
The Tleilaxu used to have this same kind of problem with some of their attorneys; it, however, was not an insuperable problem for the Bene Tleilax.
The lawyers would get offed and then reborn as a ghola. It was noticeable that as gholas the lawyers were remarkably quiescent and less prone to unproductive outbursts.
His house is on St. Charles Ave. at State St. . . . so he either has family money or must have made some decent money at some time in his career.
That's a BS contempt call. What does not "swearing" have to do with justice? Nothing. Oh, somebody yelled at you judge? Then find them in contempt. Oh, wait... that's a remedy based on pride. Unless they're doing it constantly, just let it go.
19
Just remember that lawyers spend half their time practicing law and the other half dodging creditors.
AAAARGH stop it with the dune references already!
I think he was a partner at either Lemle or Frilot back in the day.
ummm suspended is much much much different than disbarred elie
He was a partner at Lemle and one of the Lemle "Cookie Monster"* scandal partners, if I recall correctly.
There are a number of errors however -- as far as I know he has not been disbarred by the La. Supreme Court yet but has in fact been suspended from practice before the EDLA. ( he sued all the judges of the Eastern District and then moved for their recusal in his disciplinary proceeding in federal court).
* A locally famous event at Lemle & Kelleher involving a secretary, oral sex and chocolate chip cookies. Part of local legal legend.
Follow up: Ashton is suspended from practice by the La. Supreme Court but he has not been disbarred. Yet.
"Actually, that is not a terrible argument if the court's business was actually concluded before O'Dwyer made his remark."
No, Elie, its a terrible argument for any number of obvious reasons. Among them is the fact that the only reason the Judge was on the phone with this clown in the first place was to conduct court business. This wasn't a social call, it was a court appearance. The fact that the argument may have ended doesn't give you license to tell the judge to screw off, anymore than you could wait for the Judge in open court to bang his gavel and then give him the finger .
Another link to crazy: http://www.folo.us/2009/02/14/got-us-another-wild-n-crazy-louisiana-case/
Judge Lemelle is a decent guy, and he's been on the bench for a while. I'm sure he's seen people crazier than A-ROD
Does this have anything to do with Tulane's Mexican Party situation?
Does this have anything to do with Tulane's Mexican Party situation?
25, I'll bite. Lets hear the Cookie Monster story.
When did this guy leave Lemle?
32,
AROD (the personalized license plate on his old Mercedes) "left" Lemle immediately after Katrina and his numerous appearances on national news. The leaving was not voluntary, or so I am told.
The Cookie Monster story -- back in the good old days -- the Mad Men world of New Orleans law (circa 1989) a secretary was discovered giving a blow job to lawyer in a supply closet at Lemle. It turned out that the secretary was sharing the wealth with several lawyers, and her signal to the magic circle of chosen lawyers as to who was next in line, was a plate of chocolate chip cookies left on the lawyer's desk.
Hilarity ensued.
32 and 33,
As I remember, the hilarity that ensued involved threatened lawsuits (not sure if any were actually filed), sullied reputations, divorces, and a spin-off law firm (Frilot Partridge). The offending attorneys were all a**holes, hence the hilarity. Considering that 95% of the attorneys at Lemle were a**holes, the hilarity was not unexpected, but still enjoyable.
O'Dwyer was one of the heaviest hitters in town before Katrina. He worked on really big cases- you didn't see him till the first 10 million or so was gone.
Another famous 1980s / 90s story about O'Dwyer-- he didn't show for some conference with Judge Feldman, sending a lackey instead. Feldman called the office demanding to speak to him; they said he was at Galatoire's. So Feldman sent the marshals to Galatoire's, who cuffed him and took him to court.
So goes the story anyway.
As for the "cookie" story-- I've heard that story for 15 years, sourced to various law firms. Whatever truth is in it, and there may not be much, cannot be believed as applied to any individual.
if you use the word "fuck" as a noun, that's protected speech. so he should have said: "Judge you are a fuck." and then it would be okay.
Fuck is an iconic word in English language slang, used to indicate absolute and forceful emphasis. In its canonical transitive verb form, it simply refers to the act of sexual intercourse in its rather crude and vulgar associations (cf. fornication). By extension it may be used to profanely or negatively characterize anything that can be dismissed, disdained, defiled, or destroyed, and it is due to the convergence of these two weighty concepts (sex and destruction) that the term carries such overloaded emphasis and has such vulgar connotations.
"O'Dwyer was one of the heaviest hitters in town before Katrina. He worked on really big cases- you didn't see him till the first 10 million or so was gone."
Ha. Maybe at one time but not for the last ten years really. But then Lemle is a shadow of its former self. The Sick Man of Europe if you substitute "Poydras St" for "Europe." Lemle's moment of glory was when McGlinchey had that little problem with a federal appeals deadline.
Perhaps our definition of "heavy hitter" differs though.
"As for the "cookie" story-- I've heard that story for 15 years, sourced to various law firms. Whatever truth is in it, and there may not be much, cannot be believed as applied to any individual"
It was absolutely Lemle. I know people who were there at the time and the identity of the lawyer who was caught in the act (an associate at the time) is well known in the local legal circle. (Most of the participants are now at Frilot apparently.) There were similar things happening at other firms certainly but Lemle was unlucky enough to become famous. To this day any office door that has glass in it and shows the office is called a "Lemle door." (At least at some firms, e.g. Stone and Liskow).
"As I remember, the hilarity that ensued involved threatened lawsuits (not sure if any were actually filed), sullied reputations, divorces, and a spin-off law firm (Frilot Partridge)."
Yes, exactly. There was a lawsuit that settled quickly.
"The offending attorneys were all a**holes, hence the hilarity. Considering that 95% of the attorneys at Lemle were a**holes, the hilarity was not unexpected, but still enjoyable."
An astute observation. Or as they used to say at Lemle" "Boy, you said a mouthful."
25 & 33
UPDATE! O'Dwyer was, not surprisingly, held in contempt. The Court struck his answer and defenses and instructed the plaintiff to move for a default. They did so (within hours). O'Dwyer filed an opposition to the motion for default but the motion was granted nonetheless. The grand total of the judgment is over $130K. That's not all... O'Dwyer wrote a letter to the court after the judgment was entered. Therein, he refers to the Judge as a "Blue-Gummed Ni**er." It's time to throw him in jail or the looney bin.