tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5173950.post7060241781910060280..comments2024-03-28T00:01:43.037-04:00Comments on Grim's Hall: "Clock Boy" Lawsuit Dismissed With PrejudiceGrimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07543082562999855432noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5173950.post-51295848870690220622017-01-12T13:51:27.918-05:002017-01-12T13:51:27.918-05:00Attorneys win again, by pitting human dogs to figh...Attorneys win again, by pitting human dogs to fight each other. No matter what the outcome, the bar gets their fees. Even though there is no bar or fee anymore in France.Ymar Sakarnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5173950.post-81966585630367132882017-01-12T12:30:44.221-05:002017-01-12T12:30:44.221-05:00I'm more familiar with federal practice, which...I'm more familiar with federal practice, which is controlled by a rule (FRCP 11) permitting sanctions against the lawyers for signing a groundless pleading, including the occasional denial of attorney's fees or the awarding of fees to the other side at the expense of the lawyers rather than (as is more usual) the client. It turns out Texas has adopted something similar, a Rule 13. I don't know anything about how it's been applied in practice.<br /><br />Under Federal Rule 11, the standard is not so much that you are subjectively aware you can never win as that you know there is no legal or factual basis for your claim. If the court thinks it's a long shot, but there is at least some law backing you up, perhaps a minority position or an analogy to existing law, you'll probably skate. Things are a little hazier in the evidentiary context, but you're really supposed to have more than the hope that you'll get to turn up something dirty after a lot of expensive and inconvenient discovery. In my experience, Rule 11 sanctions were quite rare; they would cause quite a stir in the legal community.Texan99https://www.blogger.com/profile/10479561573903660086noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5173950.post-75501293375579860492017-01-12T10:32:00.979-05:002017-01-12T10:32:00.979-05:00I have always wondered about stuff like this. Ano...<br /><br />I have always wondered about stuff like this. Another example was the lawyers who took the case for the Aurora theater shooting victims' families in suing gun manufacturers for criminal negligence (in the face of federal law preventing such clearly ridiculous lawfare). At some point, I think the proper remedy is for the judges to bring the lawyers up with malpractice investigations before the bar association. Because literally, if you are taking a clients money for a case you KNOW you can never win, and further subjecting your client to a clear SLAPP penalty, I can't see how a lawyer can ethically do that.<br /><br />I mean, I am no lawtalker, so I don't know what the actual rules are, but that strikes me as super unethical.MikeDhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08116809134355184859noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5173950.post-20108519542232937422017-01-11T10:57:04.062-05:002017-01-11T10:57:04.062-05:00It's not easy to get attorney's fees under...It's not easy to get attorney's fees under the "American Rule," in which each side typically pays its own fees no matter what, but it can be done in an egregious case. Like, maybe, one in which you file a suit for defamation but, when the judge asks you if you have any facts to point to that would qualify as defamatory, you shuffle through your papers for 15 minutes and finally announce, "Your Honor, I got nothin'." Was she hoping the defamation evidence would drift in later? Was it going to be enough that the family had defamed-ish feelz?Texan99https://www.blogger.com/profile/10479561573903660086noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5173950.post-23380461450103086902017-01-11T01:31:24.331-05:002017-01-11T01:31:24.331-05:00My HOA was the defendant in a frivolous lawsuit. T...My HOA was the defendant in a frivolous lawsuit. The morning of the trial, the plaintiff decided that he would withdraw the lawsuit with prejudice. I found out that "with prejudice" means that the plaintiff may not file a similar lawsuit. <br /><br />However, the plaintiff did not want to pay our attorney's fees. As we already had a trial scheduled, we proceeded with jury selection and had a jury trial over payment of attorney's fees. Both the plaintiff's attorney and the HOA's attorney were called as witnesses. The jury decided in 15 minutes,in a 11-1 vote, to award all we had asked for attorney fees, some $50,000. The plaintiff dragged his heels in paying, which was not because he lacked the funds. Gringonoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5173950.post-44149285892255554542017-01-10T22:53:13.741-05:002017-01-10T22:53:13.741-05:00Will anyone ask Obama what he thinks of this?Will anyone ask Obama what he thinks of this?Assistant Village Idiothttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01978011985085795099noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5173950.post-75092826604381340562017-01-10T21:14:40.808-05:002017-01-10T21:14:40.808-05:00I gather that they expect to get attorney's fe...I gather that they expect to get attorney's fees, yes.Grimhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07543082562999855432noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5173950.post-50171058851247099132017-01-10T19:54:42.198-05:002017-01-10T19:54:42.198-05:00Make him and his father pay the costs to the defe...Make him and his father pay the costs to the defendents in the whole matterBird of Paradisenoreply@blogger.com