I’m a trial lawyer for injured people and businesses at The Beasley Firm. Founded in 1958, we have recovered over $2 billion for our clients through hundreds of verdicts and settlements in excess of $1 million. We’re listed in Super Lawyers, Best Lawyers in America, U.S. News’s Top Lawyers, [...]
A Detailed Look At The Hurt Locker Lawsuit
The producers of the Oscar-nominated The Hurt Locker, which Roger Ebert* deemed the second best film of the decade, were just sued by Sgt. Jeffrey Sarver, a former explosive ordinance disposal technician with the 788th Ordinance Company, with whom journalist Mark Boal — the writer of The Hurt Locker — was “embedded” on assignment for Playboy Magazine. The complaint, filed in the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey (where Sgt. Sarver lived during the relevant times), gives some examples of the similarities: The title “The Hurt Locker” – Plaintiff originated this term and said it often around ... Continue Reading
The Independent Invention Defense In Patent Infringement Lawsuits
Fred Wilson links to his partner Brad Burnham's post, "We need an independent invention defense to minimize the damage of aggressive patent trolls:" I know of no case where the engineers in one of our companies were aware of the patents that are now being used to attack them. The moral rightness of this screams at me. If, as an engineer focused on solving a problem, I happened to come up with an idea that is in some way similar to yours, then that in itself should suggest that it was obvious and not patentable. Unfortunately, that does not really help. ... Continue Reading
Always Draft Angry Briefs. Never File Them.
Last spring, in How To Write Your Brief So That The Judge Will Hate You, I profiled a sarcastic and dismissive brief — filed by attorneys for West Publishing no less, in a case against a law professor — and concluded: An opening brief filled with sarcasm will perturb a judge doing his or her best to reserve judgment until they've heard both sides just as much as an opening statement filled with indignity will repulse a jury doing their best to be fair and impartial until they've heard all of the evidence. As Bruce Merenstein posted on The Legal ... Continue Reading
Great Cases Don’t Always Make Bad Law
As Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes wrote, Great cases, like hard cases, make bad law. For great cases are called great, not by reason of their importance in shaping the law of the future, but because of some accident of immediate overwhelming interest which appeals to the feelings and distorts the judgment. Northern Securities Co. v. United States, 193 U.S. 197, 400–401 (1904)(Holmes, J., dissenting). That idea seems to be on David Feige's mind when he writes in Slate about the upcoming trial of admitted 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed: No jury on this continent is going to acquit their client, ... Continue Reading
Are You Being Properly Joined And Served? Plaintiffs Are Winning The 28 U.S.C. § 1441(b) Removal Debate
"Removal" is the process by which a defendant in a state court case "removes" the case to federal court. 28 U.S.C. § 1441(b) makes it sound so simple: Any civil action of which the district courts have original jurisdiction founded on a claim or right arising under the Constitution, treaties or laws of the United States shall be removable without regard to the citizenship or residence of the parties. Any other such action shall be removable only if none of the parties in interest properly joined and served as defendants is a citizen of the State in which such action is ... Continue Reading
A Panoply Of Cases On The Plain Meaning Rule In The Third Circuit
One of the positive parts of being involved with The Philadelphia Inquirer's bankruptcy is, though I've had to slog my way through over 1,500 separate filings (most of which are irrelevant to my clients) since The Inquirer filed bankruptcy in February, I've also been privy to extraordinarily exhaustive briefings of what are, on the surface, "simple" issues. A $300 million question in the bankruptcy is whether the banks that loaned the current owners the money to buy the company back in 2006 can use their existing debt to "bid" on its assets at the auction proposed by management. The question should be ... Continue Reading
Quinn Emmanuel v. Lucius Seneca and Sun Tzu On Checking Email 24/7
Yesterday, after posting a link to a productivity guide recommending email be checked twice daily, I saw this leaked email from a big name at a litigation powerhouse: Now more than ever there are many talented lawyers and law firms competing for our business. Doing really good legal work is not enough. Clients expect that and well they should given what we charge for our services You must all realize that we are in a service business. In this day and age of faxes, emails, internet, etc. clients expect you to be accessible 24\7. Of course, that is something of ... Continue Reading
The Risks (and Benefits) of Being Adversarial In Designating The Appellate Record
Howard Bashman (of How Appealing) has a new article in The Legal Intelligencer: Recently, however, in cases where I am representing the party that won in the trial court, I have observed experienced appellate opposing counsel who will designate the contents of the appendix or reproduced record on appeal in a far more "adversarial" manner than I would have done had I been in their position. What I mean is that the designation they are serving will include only the parts of the record that benefit their client's position, while excluding (at least until I counterdesignate them in response) those ... Continue Reading
The Lawlessness of “Law And Economics”
I admire Judge Posner, one of the flag bearers for the law and economics movement. He is thoughtful, prolific, and has not succumbed to the extraordinary pressure judges feel to guard their actual thoughts and feelings. He is in every sense of the word an open book, and we should be grateful for that. It also makes him the logical target for critics of any of the ideas he champions. Such is the case for my remarks below. I rather enjoyed Posner's latest article, How I Became A Keynesian, which does as good a job as any at summarizing Keynes' core ... Continue Reading
The Downside of Folding Medical Malpractice Into The Federal Tort Claims Act
Walter Olson at Point of Law refers us to a proposal by a Democratic legislator in Maryland: Primary-care providers who practice at federally qualified health centers do not need to purchase medical malpractice insurance. Why? The government promises to cover any claims against them under the Federal Tort Claims Act. If a patient has a successful malpractice case against the health center provider, the government becomes the insurer and agrees to pay the claim. The national health reform debate should include a proposal to expand Federal Tort Claims Act coverage to all primary care providers, regardless of where they practice, ... Continue Reading
