Bad Ideas

Above the Law Lawyer of the Day: Joseph Caramagno

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Lawyer of the day? Hell, let’s give Joseph Caramagno the whole week:

After a lawyer due to defend a man against a kidnapping charge showed up to court late and smelling of booze last week, a Clark County District Court judge ordered the attorney to take a Breathalyzer test in open court, then declared a mistrial when the test confirmed her suspicions.

In a remarkable exchange captured by the courtroom’s video camera, District Judge Michelle Leavitt ordered defense attorney Joseph Caramagno to submit to the test after she smelled alcohol on his breath.

The result indicated that Caramagno’s blood-alcohol level was 0.075. In Nevada, it is illegal to drive with a blood-alcohol level of 0.08 or higher.

C’mon, Judge Leavitt, lighten up! The practice of law isn’t that hard. Defending a guy against kidnapping charges is much easier than driving — especially if the car’s a stick-shift.
And that’s not all; the story gets even better. Here’s a three-word teaser: black halter top. Check it out, after the jump.

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Above the Law Judge of the Day: Beverly Grant

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Who says going to court has to be so serious? Uh, the Washington State Commission on Judicial Conduct, that’s who. They just admonished a judge for this behavior:

Pierce County Superior Court Judge Beverly Grant asked about 100 people in court to say “Go Seahawks” before taking their seats on Feb. 3. Dissatisfied with the low volume of the response, she repeated the request.

And then she made them “do the wave.”
If Judge Grant had been hearing some boring contract dispute, her drumming up enthusiasm for the local sports team might have been fine. But her docket was a bit different that day:

That same day, Grant sentenced Steve Keo Teang to 13 1/2 years for manslaughter in the 2005 shooting death of Tino Patricelli, 28.

The Seahawks played in the Super Bowl that weekend. Patricelli’s stepmother said she was offended in part because the game fell on the anniversary of her stepson’s death.

Oops…
Some denizens of the bench think that “wearing a black robe means never having to say you’re sorry.” It takes a big judge to own up to her mistakes. But Judge Grant did just that. She apologized for her in-court cheerleading — and then filed a judicial conduct complaint against herself.
Forget the Seahawks. Go Judge Grant!
Judge Admonished for ‘Go Seahawks’ Cheer [Associated Press]

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Above the Law Judge of the Day: Deborah Tyner

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deborah tyner judge.jpgOver at the WSJ Law Blog, they have a “Judge of the Day” feature (see, e.g., here). We like the idea so much that we’re going to start up our own version.
But as you’ll see from our choices, our “Judge of the Day” selection criteria are a bit different. Our inaugural ATL Judge of the Day is the Honorable Deborah Tyner, of the Oakland County Circuit Court. Here’s why she deserves this honor:

A suburban Detroit judge who was filmed shopping, working out at a gym and visiting a spa during repeated absences from the bench last winter says she will leave at year’s end.

WDIV-TV followed [Judge] Tyner for several weeks last winter and reported that she repeatedly left the courthouse at lunchtime and did not return to the bench. Tyner said then that she had done nothing wrong and was caught up with her cases.

Shopping excursions? Spa visits? Regular work-outs at the gym? This jurist has her priorities straight. She’s fabulous!
Quite frankly, we don’t understand the “scandal” here. If a judge gets her work done, why can’t she check out a little early, and treat herself to a hot stone massage?
Law clerks and law firm associates have to put in face time, sure. But judges? What’s the point of being on the bench if you can’t play hooky every now and then?
Mich. Judge to Leave the Bench [Associated Press]
Oakland Judge to Leave Bench [Detroit Free Press]

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Stupid Lawyer Tricks: Ramming Your Car Into a Process Server

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road rage.jpgLawyers aren’t that different from the rest of the country — or, for that matter, from characters on Melrose Place (may it rest in peace). When their hearts get broken, they do some pretty crazy and stupid things.
We recently reported on a former New York litigator who forged a judge’s signature after a messy divorce. And now a Baltimore litigator, to avoid getting served with divorce papers, rammed his car into the process server:

Barron Stroud Jr., a commercial litigator, had just dropped off his daughter at a Clarksville, Md., daycare center last Aug. 11 when process server James Benjamin approached his car. Benjamin told police he knocked on the driver’s window, but Stroud ignored him. Benjamin said he then moved in front of the car and banged on the hood, when Stroud drove forward, hitting him in the legs. Benjamin said he took a step back, and Stroud drove into him again before fleeing the scene.

According to The Sun of Baltimore, Howard County Circuit Court Judge Lenore Gelfman said that because Stroud was in the midst of a breakup with his wife at the time, he must have known why someone was so aggressively seeking his attention; otherwise, he would have called police or stopped to find out why a man was banging on his car. He will be sentenced in October.

While we obviously can’t condone such violence, we can’t help but admire Stroud’s lawyerly chutzpah. Trying to avoid service of process by running over the process server is kinda awful, but kinda brilliant.
Inadmissible [New Jersey Law Journal]

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Milberg Weiss Death Watch: Partying on a Sinking Ship

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melvyn weiss mel weiss.jpgOne of our favorite legal reporters, Anna Schneider-Mayerson of the New York Observer — a paper that is, by the way, now under new ownership — chimes in on the slow death of securities class-action behemoth Milberg Weiss (headed by Melvyn Weiss, pictured).
Most of her piece summarizes recent developments that have been reported previously elsewhere. But the article does contain some nice color, including details about the indicted firm’s summer party on board an enormous yacht.
Some of our favorite anecdotes, after the jump.

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Stupid Lawyer Tricks: Forging A Judge’s Signature

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Sometimes smart lawyers do dumb things:

An appeals court in Brooklyn has disbarred an attorney who was convicted of criminal contempt for forging the signature of a Family Court judge during a post-divorce proceeding against her ex-husband.

A unanimous panel of the Appellate Division, Second Department, said that it could not offer a lesser sentence for the attorney, Mary K. Henning, despite her otherwise unblemished record….

Mary Henning, a former litigator at Kaplan & Winkler in White Plains, was not accused of forging the signature in her capacity as an attorney. She and her former husband, Robert A. Ritz, were divorced in 1999. In 2000, they agreed to spend equal time with their children, and Ritz signed a stipulation to that effect.

Ritz said that Judge Joan O. Cooney, the supervising judge of the family courts in the 9th Judicial District, had not signed the stipulation when it was given to him. But Henning later gave the document to school authorities as proof of residence, so she could collect a $16,750 refund for out-of-district tuition. The document had what looked like a “J” on Judge Cooney’s signature line.

We’d be interested in seeing the allegedly forged document. Getting disbarred for one teensy letter — isn’t that a bit harsh? Could the “J” have been a random stray mark? Or maybe a photocopying error? As any paralegal can tell you, if you don’t wipe the glass clean before copying, you will get smudges.
C’mon, Mary, think outside the box!
Panel Disbars Attorney For Forging Judge’s Name [New York Law Journal]

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