286 results for 'cat:"Judiciary"'.
Per curiam, the Georgia Supreme Court accepts attorney Brian Walton Whiteside's petition for voluntary discipline and imposes a three-month suspension as discipline for his multiple violations of the Georgia Rules of Professional Conduct. The attorney made false statements to a client in a medical malpractice matter, failed to answer the client's requests for information and failed to advise the client that the matter was dismissed. The attorney also mishandled the same client's divorce litigation by failing to serve the wife or take any action after filing.
Court: Georgia Supreme Court, Judge: Per curiam, Filed On: May 31, 2023, Case #: S23Y0579, Categories: judiciary, Attorney Discipline
Per curiam, the Georgia Supreme Court upholds the board's decision denying attorney David Roberson's application for readmission to the state bar and certification of fitness to practice law. The attorney, who was disbarred in 2001, mischaracterized the circumstances leading to his disbarment during an informal conference and failed to explain his conduct during a formal hearing. The board correctly found that the attorney was not sufficiently rehabilitated because he failed to show that he takes responsibility for his actions and appreciates the harm he caused.
Court: Georgia Supreme Court, Judge: Per curiam, Filed On: May 31, 2023, Case #: S23Z0402, Categories: judiciary, Attorney Discipline
Per curiam, the Georgia Supreme Court rejects the bar's notice of discipline seeking a public reprimand for attorney Craig S. Bonnell based on his abandonment of a client. It is unclear that a public reprimand would be sufficient discipline for the attorney's violations of the Georgia Rules of Professional Conduct. The attorney violated two rules which have a maximum available sanction of disbarment and two rules with a maximum sanction of a public reprimand. The information available is insufficient to allow for the imposition of discipline at this stage.
Court: Georgia Supreme Court, Judge: Per curiam, Filed On: May 31, 2023, Case #: S23Y0123, Categories: judiciary, Attorney Discipline
[Consolidated.] Per curiam, the Georgia Supreme Court disbars attorney Ian Zimmerman for his multiple violations of the Georgia Rules of Professional Conduct. The attorney failed to communicate with clients in personal injury cases and failed to disburse the full amount of settlement proceeds in each matter.
Court: Georgia Supreme Court, Judge: Per curiam, Filed On: May 31, 2023, Case #: S23Y0492, Categories: judiciary, Attorney Discipline
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J. Kernodle grants the motions to dismiss the individuals' suit that challenges the constitutionality of a Texas law concerning vexatious litigants. The individuals, who were declared vexatious litigants, lack standing to sue the accused parties, which include an administrative judge, county district clerk and the Director of Court Administration.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Texas , Judge: Kernodle, Filed On: May 30, 2023, Case #: 6:22cv367, NOS: Constitutionality of State Statutes - Other Suits, Categories: Civil Procedure, Constitution, judiciary
Per curiam, the Supreme Court of Ohio finds the lower court properly dismissed the tenants' petition for a writ of prohibition in a rental dispute. Even if the trial court lacked jurisdiction over a settlement agreement, it retained jurisdiction over the original case filed by the landlord and properly entered an order of restitution against the tenants for their failure to vacate the premises. Affirmed.
Court: Ohio Supreme Court, Judge: Per curiam, Filed On: May 30, 2023, Case #: 2023-Ohio-1754, Categories: judiciary, Settlements, Jurisdiction
J. Foote finds an Acadiana parish school board’s actions on racial desegregation over the last year — “sudden unexplained changes in positions and general obstructionism” — have “severely” undermined its bid to end nearly 60 years of court oversight. As a result of the board’s refusal to negotiate with Black plaintiffs, even on agreed-upon remedies to foster “graduation pathways,” the South Louisiana school district may not apply for an end to court-supervised racial desegregation until the fall of 2026.
Court: USDC Western District of Louisiana , Judge: Foote, Filed On: May 25, 2023, Case #: 6:65cv11314, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: Civil Rights, Education, judiciary
J. Harper finds the trial court properly denied defendant's pretrial motion to dismiss burglary and home invasion charges. Although he still had keys to the victim's condominium, text messages sent a day before the assault, in which the victim requested the keys and told defendant he "no longer lived there," clearly revoked his privilege to be inside the property. Meanwhile, the trial judge was not required to recuse himself for alleged bias after he referred to the victim as "victim" during pretrial proceedings because the term was never used in front of the jury, and was not used in a hostile or critical way toward defendant. Affirmed.
Court: Connecticut Court Of Appeals, Judge: Harper, Filed On: May 25, 2023, Case #: AC42991, Categories: Burglary, judiciary, Assault
J. Shea answers a certified question from the Ninth Circuit concerning whether, in an action for wrongful discharge, an employer may defend a termination solely for reasons given in a discharge letter. The court says y. The internet provider cites the Montana Supreme Court’s holding in the case referred to as “Galbreath.” The holding in this case states that “any collateral reasons suggested by the evidence, other than the sole reason stated in the discharge letter, were irrelevant, and therefore, inadmissible.” Because the Galbreath rule is an evidentiary rule predicated on the Montana Rules of Evidence, it has not been superseded by statutory amendments from 1999.
Court: Montana Supreme Court, Judge: Shea, Filed On: May 23, 2023, Case #: OP 22-0023, Categories: Evidence, judiciary, Employment Retaliation
Per curiam, the Ninth Circuit certifies a question to the California Supreme Court concerning California’s governmental interest choice-of-law test. The question arises from an action brought by the Cassirer family under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act, seeking the return of a Pissarro painting stolen by the Nazis and now in the possession of Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection Foundation.
Court: 9th Circuit, Judge: Per curiam, Filed On: May 22, 2023, Case #: 19-55616, Categories: judiciary, Immunity
J. Smith grants the title company’s petition for a writ of mandate challenging the trial judge’s alleged improper striking of its statement of disqualification as untimely, insufficient and successive. The company filed the statement of disqualification a year after the judge accused it of participating in a “name change shell game, trickery … and scheming” to evade payment. No judgment had been entered, and issues of fraudulent transfer, alter ego or successor liability had not been presented. A statement of disqualification for bias is not impliedly waived as untimely under relevant code of civil procedure, stating “There shall be no waiver of disqualification if … the judge has a personal bias or prejudice.” The title company had also never filed a prior statement of disqualification and the statement was not insufficient on its face.
Court: California Courts Of Appeal, Judge: Smith, Filed On: May 19, 2023, Case #: F084913, Categories: judiciary, Due Process
J. Bumatay finds that the district court improperly issued an order disqualifying the entire District of Arizona U.S. Attorney’s Office and directing the Department of Justice to supply an attorney from outside Arizona in a matter in which the government charged 19 alleged members of the Western Hills Bloods with multiple offenses. The district court’s sweeping disqualification order was an abuse of discretion because disqualification of an entire U.S. Attorney’s Office is an extreme remedy that should only be used in extraordinary circumstances. Reversed.
Court: 9th Circuit, Judge: Bumatay, Filed On: May 18, 2023, Case #: 22-10174, Categories: judiciary, Gangs
J. Wilson finds the state court properly convicted defendant for aggravated assault with a firearm and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, sentencing him as a habitual offender to two concurrent life sentences without the possibility of parole. Defendant unsuccessfully pursued post-conviction relief in state court then filed a federal habeas petition, which the district court erroneously granted. Two state courts rejected defendant’s claims for relief on speedy trial grounds, as all statutory requirements had been met. Claims of ineffective assistance failed to meet both prongs of the statutory test. The district court “failed to accord required deference to the decision of a state court.” Reversed and rendered.
Court: 5th Circuit, Judge: Wilson, Filed On: May 18, 2023, Case #: 21-60344, Categories: Habeas, judiciary, Assault