Cases

Conn. Takes Steps Toward ‘Civil Gideon’ Momentum

May 4, 2016 By CCM Staff

For some time, Connecticut Bar Association President William Clendenen Jr. has focused on the “justice gap” facing low and moderate income residents facing serious legal issues. So it’s no surprise that the state’s bar association, via its regular publication, is endorsing an effort by Democratic state Sen. Martin Looney to create a “Civil Gideon” task force, an important step if the state is ever going to address the issue.

Looney, who is the Senate president, has introduced a bill that would create a wide-ranging group to “… recommend the best ways to address the legal needs of the increasing number of people compelled to represent themselves when facing serious civil legal problems,” explains a piece in the Connecticut Law Tribune.

The CLT backgrounds that: “… [aid groups] are able to accept only a fraction of requests for assistance from eligible applicants. Those with modest incomes who do not qualify for free legal services are finding it increasingly difficult to afford market-rate legal fees. As a consequence, thousands of individuals and families face eviction and foreclosure notices, child custody proceedings, domestic violence hearings and other legal challenges involving basic human rights and interests without the support of legal advocates. Last year, nearly a quarter of all civil cases in Connecticut had one or more self-represented litigants. In family cases, the number rose to 85 percent.”

Eight of ten in family court. Wow! Read more here:

‘Civil Gideon’ Task Force Would Be an Important First Step

Filed Under: Cases, Community, Events Tagged With: Civil Courts, Civil gideon, Connecticut Bar Association, courts backlog, Senator Martin Looney

High-Profile Civil Lawsuit Sours 100th Anniversary of the National Park Service

March 7, 2016 By CCM Staff

Courts Monitor Publisher Sara Warner has written about some of the controversies plaguing the National Park Service in its 100th anniversary year. Everything from sexual harassment by NPS Grand Canyon river guides (complete with up-skirt photography charges and withholding food for sex), to the Office of Inspector General compelling National Park Service Director Jon Jarvis to receive monthly ethics training for the rest of his career, to a contract dispute with a former long-time concessionaire is souring what was to be a year-long victory lap by the NPS. It’s at The Huffington Post here: For Parks Service, Yosemite Re-naming Is Latest Shock In 100th Birthday Year.

Filed Under: Cases, Community Tagged With: civil litigation, contract disputes, Delaware North, Grand Canyon, Jon Jarvis, National Parks Service, trademarks, Yosemite

Balt. Lawyer Group: Freddie Gray Illustrates Civil Justice Issues

February 2, 2016 By CCM Staff

Photo from The Baltimore Sun report, “Lawyers launch fresh push to get poor represented in Maryland civil courts,” 2/2/16

A new Baltimore-based attorney’s group is referencing Freddie Gray in its push for free access to civil attorneys in some cases like child custody decisions and home evictions, the Baltimore Sun reports. Leadership of the Access to Justice Commission says that “… Gray, the 25-year-old West Baltimore man who suffered a fatal injury in police custody last April, grew up in housing with lead paint. He agreed to convert a major lead paint settlement that would pay out over many years into a lump sum that ultimately was worth far less.”

Reporter Ian Duncan writes that the group, “some of Maryland’s top lawyers,” has “launched a fresh drive Monday to have poor people represented by attorneys in civil cases in an effort to spare the vulnerable from what they see as predatory legal practices, such as buying out lead paint settlements for cents on the dollar.”

The story quotes sate Rep. Elijah E. Cummings using language usually reserved for addressing shortcomings in the criminal justice system (as opposed to civil cases): “If you do not have justice, then you’ll have the absence of peace…. I’m seeing it more and more, and … at some point, people explode. So we have a duty.”

The idea of requiring some civil cases to have a “right to attorney” similar to criminal cases is often called “civil Gideon,” after the landmark Supreme Court case that cemented the right to an attorney so often referenced in TV programs. Some cities, most notably San Francisco and New York, have moved toward civil Gideon, often citing potential cost savings if fewer people lose their homes.

Read more about the Baltimore group here.

Filed Under: Cases, Community Tagged With: Access to Justice Commission, Baltimore, civil court, Civil gideon, Freddie Gray, Rep. Elijah E. Cummings, right to attorney

State Seeks Millions In Valley Methane Gas Leak

January 28, 2016 By CCM Staff

The Courthouse News is reporting that state officials on Tuesday “sued SoCalGas for $440,000 per day in fines for its negligent response to the massive methane gas leak that has displaced thousands of people in the San Fernando Valley.” The massive gas leak has forced thousands of people out of their homes and the gas company has offered temporary relocation to many, but not all, affected families. The leak has been going since last October and it remains unclear when it might end. At that rate of fines, the gas company would already owe more than $40 million.

The CN explains that “the new lawsuit follows an independent panel’s approval on Saturday of the air district’s request for a stipulated order of abatement. Gov. Jerry Brown declared a state of emergency this month and the state Senate introduced a bill calling for an immediate moratorium on any new injections of natural gas and use of aging wells at the facility.”

Filed Under: Cases, Community Tagged With: California state lawsuit, Legal news, methane gas leak, San Fernando Valley, SoCalGas

Charter Schools Group Sues L.A. School Dist. For $224M

January 25, 2016 By CCM Staff

A leading California charter schools group is suing the Los Angeles School District for $224 million in bond money it claims was earmarked for charters but diverted. The L.A. based Courthouse News Service reports that the California Charter Schools Association claims in a Jan. 11 lawsuit that “… the LAUSD violated Proposition 39, the Smaller Classes, Safer Schools and Financial Accountability Act. The 2000 proposition amended the state constitution to reduce the voter threshold needed to approve school bonds from two-thirds to 55 percent.”

The CNS offers background: “Almost 20 percent of LAUSD school students attend independent charter schools, and in the past 10 school years enrollment in charter schools has increased by 400 percent, the association says. In that time, L.A. public schools decreased by 150,000, according to the complaint. The association says charter schools and students desperately need public funds to stay open and maintain their facilities. In 2008, California voters approved a $7 billion bond measure that included $450 million earmarked for charter schools.

Read the CNS coverage here:
http://www.courthousenews.com/2016/01/14/charter-schools-sue-lausd-for-millions.htm

Filed Under: Cases, Community Tagged With: California Charter Schools Association, LA Public schools, LAUSD, law suit, Los Angeles School District

New SoCal ‘Stealth Charter Schools’ Bring Confusion, Prompt Litigation

December 16, 2015 By CCM Staff

They are calling them “stealth charters” and the San Diego Union-Tribune newspaper reports that “… San Diego County has seen a rise in ‘out-of-district’ charters in recent years — mostly independent-study programs authorized by small districts in the eastern reaches of the region. The arrangements can be appealing because the authorizing districts don’t stand to lose students, and they receive a percentage of the charter’s revenue in exchange for varying degrees of oversight and often administrative support services… regardless of what’s driving this trend, it has sparked bitter turf wars that have pitted districts against one another and stirred costly litigation.”

The challenge is that charters that are authorized in one district can set up shop in another. It’s a whole new front in the Golden State’s school wars.

Catch up on it here: Out-of-town charters spur lawsuits

Filed Under: Cases, Community Tagged With: California education, charter, charter schools, education, K-12, Public Education

Silver Trial Headed For Closing Arguments Monday

November 20, 2015 By CCM Staff

The federal criminal trial of former New York Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver is expected to enter the closing arguments stage on Monday, with his defense team opting to call no witnesses. They did grab headlines with a motion asking the judge to dismiss the case – which is actually a routine step in such trials. While a criminal trial, the Silver case is being closely watched by the civil trial bar, in part because lots of the case rests on his referral arrangement with an asbestos litigation firm.

That firm has said that Silver was “of counsel” for many years but performed no legal work while receiving more than $3 million in referral fees. The government contends that the then-Speaker steered government contracts to a clinic that helped with the referrals.

See a good Wall Street Journal recap here:

Defense Won’t Call Any Witnesses in Trial of Sheldon Silver

Filed Under: Cases, Community Tagged With: asbestos litigation, Legal news, Sheldon Silver

Bi-Partisan Trials Allege Corruption In New York

October 28, 2015 By CCM Staff

You have to admit that two looming corruption trials in New York are at least bi-partsan. One will be of a Democrat, New York’s former Assembly Speaker, Sheldon Silver (slated to begin Nov. 2) and another is of a Republican, former Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos, two weeks later. The Wall Street Journal says the trials are “.. set to expose the inner workings of a cast of characters that stretches from the state capital to Nassau County to Columbia University, and to some of the country’s biggest law and real-estate firms.”

Both men, charged in totally separate cases, are both charged with schemes in which they are alleged to have used their public offices for personal gain. Silver is accused of raking in millions in civil court-related referrals as part of a process where he pushed state money to a clinic in return for that clinic sending asbestos-cancer victims to his law firm, which has not been accused of doing anything wrong.

It will be the stuff of New York litigation legend. See the WSJ coverage here: Albany Braces for Corruption Trials

Filed Under: Cases, Community, National Tagged With: Albany, asbestos, New York Assembly Speaker, Sheldon Silver

Big Asbestos-Related Trial Set For Nov. 2

October 22, 2015 By CCM Staff

The federal corruption trial of a former New York State Assembly Speaker is set to begin Nov. 2 with authorities saying that the eventual jury might see up to 1,500 exhibits. The case has asbestos litigation ties because the defendant, Sheldon Silver, is accused of funneling state government money to a particular mesothelioma clinic that then sent cancer victims to his law firm.

Prosecutors say Silver made millions off the scheme.

The Wall Street Journal reported that, “… during the [pre-trial] conference in Manhattan federal court, prosecutors from the Manhattan U.S. attorney’s office also said they planned to call as a witness Robert Taub, who headed a Columbia University center for mesothelioma research.”

Read an overview of the case here: Sheldon Silver Trial Set to Begin Nov. 2

Filed Under: Cases, Community, Courts Budget Tagged With: asbestos, litigation, mesothelioma, New York Assembly, New York Speaker, political corruption, Sheldon Silver

Charter Schools Efforts Play Out In Courts

September 29, 2015 By CCM Staff

Dan Walters, the Sacramento Bee columnist who is picked up by other papers statewide, has noted the ongoing school reform battles that usually end up in civil court. In the context of state officials handing off to local jurisdictions, he noted that they “… haven’t succeeded in persuading judges that they can wash their hands of responsibility, most recently in a suit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union on behalf of high-risk students, alleging that they hadn’t received the attention state and federal law require.”

“A state cannot abdicate its supervisory responsibilities by ignoring credible evidence of persistent or significant district noncompliance,” Los Angeles Superior Court Judge James Chalfant declared in a recent 45-page decision. “If districts fail to provide services and the state has notice of this failure, the state has a duty … to take reasonable action.”

Faced with that, writes Walters, state officials backed down and agreed to monitor what districts are doing for high-risk kids. The writer does not make this point, but the column offers an example of how much civil courts have become policy-setting bodies. Read the story here.

Filed Under: Cases, Community, Courts Budget Tagged With: California politics, charter schools, Civil Courts, Los Angeles, school reform