Eastland stands behind Motion to Dismiss – Greer files cross-claim for Patterson in Wilson v Scruggs

Big football weekend here in the land of the slabbed; but, no sports channel was covering the settlement game – and one is definitely playing in Wilson v Scruggs.

Almost simultaneously with their settlement with Team Scruggs, Team Wilson filed a weak response to co-defendant Steve Patterson’s Motion to Dismiss – an obvious incentive to settle.

Apparently, it was also incentive for Eastland to stick with the playbook while co-counsel Greer went with the legal equivalent of wild Rebel and filed a cross-claim for Patterson that suggests there is still more to learn about the money paid Ed Peters:

Patterson’s only involvement in the circumstances surrounding this action was

Shirley gives Sop, Bam Bam and Nowdy the night off!

In 1985, I went to work for an attorney who had just left a defense firm.  He opened a solo office, started doing personal injury work, but his real love was insurance law – FOR THE PEOPLE.  And that’s the type of law I was involved in for 20 years – on the Plaintiff’s side.

As I look back, I see how fortunate I was to learn a new area of the law; not just the insurance first-party property type, but the bad faith aspect of it as well.  That part amazed me and it still does.  If it did not, I would never have discovered SLABBED.

Anyway, learning that an insurance company could get punished for not “playing fairly”

T’row me some’tin Sista – the Ladder on Leslie Jacobs for Mayor

This I could never summarize – not ever, not in a million years.

Editilla Gotta Toll’ya… we toll’ya! hahaha~ I took one look at this woman and all sorts of Intuitive Bells and Whistles began popping off, the good kind, the right kind… like this time we may very well have a Real Chance for, I dare say, Change. Suffice to say, Editilla is Tickled to Bits. Buuuttt…

Here’s the deal: when President Obama finally came to town to pee down our legs and tell us it was Katrina, Editilla iced over, sadly jaded with Social Networking as a Platform for Change.

Slabbed Scoops the News: Bossier gets nothing in Phase 2

We’ve confirmed Kris Carter’s comment. On behalf of Nowdy and Bam Bam we’d like to thank Mr and Mrs Bossier for sticking with this litigation to the end. While our gratitude will certainly be of little solace to them right now perhaps in time they’ll take comfort from the greater good it accomplished. We also thank Judy Guice.  The tenacity in her advocating for the Bossiers is self-evident and indicative of the fine consumer lawyer she is.

I’ll be back with some analysis a bit later on the jury.

sop

While today’s Bossier verdict is still a rumor, chew on this!

If you read A Private Matter, a Public Court, you’ll know how deeply troubled I am by the injustice in our system of justice.  I’m even more concerned after reading a comment reporting:

Unconfirmed, but I’m hearing it was a defense verdict today. No punitives, no extracontractuals.

Once again, I ask: Where is the law that prohibits Judge Walker from allowing State Farm to run out the clock and run up the tab on plaintiffs? 

In early August, the 10th in fact, SLABBED posted a timeline of Guice’s five-month effort to compel discovery in Expedite is a plaintiff’s turtle and an insurer’s hare.

Slabbed also reported Bossiers’ counsel was still fighting the discovery battle two week’s before trial – Bossier challenges State Farm’s round tuit approach to compliance with Court’s Order – Trial begins in 2 weeks!

Out of respect for the chair, or in this case the bench, I held my tongue typing finger over the most telling Order of all SLABBED reported: Judge Walker sorta sanctions St. Farm – issues parking ticket in Bossier v State Farm.

I repeat, there was no justice, kindness or humility in Judge Walker’s orders nor any excuse for his conduct of the pre-trial discovery in Bossier…Give juries the evidence needed to make just decisions. Open court so that open court is a reality and not a lofty ideal.

Breaking News – Wilson v Scruggs settles!

Remember Eastland dismantles RICO claim in Wilson v Scruggs? Well, he sure ‘nuf did – although Patsy Brumfield broke the story in the Daily Journal before I could get to my computer:

Roberts Wilson Jr.’s multi-million-dollar lawsuit against imprisoned ex-attorney Richard “Dickie” Scruggs has come to an end – it’s been settled, Wilson’s attorney, Charlie Merkel of Clarksdale tells the Daily Journal.

Wilson sued Scruggs and others, accusing them of not paying what he was owed years ago for his part in national asbestos litigation. He also claimed they owed him for using his fees to bankroll other national lawsuits, which yielded mega-fees for the attorneys involved.

One of those “others” was Scruggs co-defendant Steve Patterson and Eastland’s motion to dismiss the RICO case was written in his role as Counsel for Patterson.

Breaking: One by one the North Mississippi “railroad” house of card comes tumbling down

Not defending the attempted fee stripping of John Jones but Mr Jones won’t be taking anything extra from the innocent.

We find that the trial court had the discretionary authority to impose sanctions against SKG based upon the acts of a single partner that occurred in the ordinary course of business of SKG. However, we conclude that the trial court erred by finding that Richard Scruggs’s misconduct occurred in the ordinary course of SKG business.

The Sun Herald wasted no time putting up the news flash from the A/P. Glad to see the Mississippi Supreme Court is more energetic than certain lazy circuit court judges that let certain blogs write their legal rulings for them.

Jim Brown Compares the Greatest Generation and the Me Generation

Thursday, November 12,, 2009
New Orleans, Louisiana

WHY AREN’T WE THE GREATEST GENERATION?

Ten years ago, Tom Brokaw wrote a book about what he called “the greatest generation.” And now, there is a new best seller out calling America today “the dumbest generation.” And since Louisiana is at the bottom of the barrel on most comparative national lists, you can imagine how folks in the Bayou State are viewed. But with all the tools of modern technology where we live in a digital culture with 24/7 information overload, and opportunities for intellectual development at an all time high, why aren’t we making a run at being ‘the greatest generation?” What conditions existed 70 years ago that set those who fought World War Two apart?

These questions were the focus of discussion last week in New Orleans at the opening of some new spectacular attractions, all part of the National World War II Museum. The world premiere took place for an immersive, 4-D cinematic journey through this war, produced and narrated by actor Tom Hanks. It’s a breathtaking experience and worth a special trip to New Orleans just to view the film.

Battle fields come alive with the viewer as a participant. The movie screen wraps around the theatre so one is immersed in the action. When planes fly over, your seat shakes. When it snows as the Germans invade Russia, snowflakes fall on you from the ceiling. New Orleans historian Dr. Stephen Ambrose, the best known chronicler of World War II who initially conceived of the museum, would have been proud.

Tom Brokaw was in New Orleans for the grand opening and talked about his definition of “the greatest generation” in his bestselling book. “They came of age during the Great Depression and the Second World War and went on to build modern America – men and women whose everyday lives of duty, honor, achievement and courage gave us the world we have today.”

Look, there is no doubt that these men and women of the 1940s were resourceful, hardworking and deeply committed to giving extraordinary service to their country. But do we instill these same values today? Or does today’s generation value lifestyle over success, who get trophies for showing up at soccer games, and who have been rewarded for little while being told they are “special” too much?