Our post yesterday on Judge Freeman's sanctioning of Stearns Weaver for refusing to move a deposition scheduled for Rosh Hashanah was picked up by ATL (thanks Staci!).
Now Gene Stearns is back before Judge Freeman, asking her to reconsider baby:
The Court should reconsider and vacate the portion of its September 27,2011 Order Granting Dupont's Motion for Protective Order, to the extent that it awards attomeys' fees against Plaintiffs' counsel, without permitting Plaintiffls counsel to explain the circumstances that led to its position. In his entire career, Plaintiff's counsel has never been sanctioned. A finding of sanctions here, without even hearing Plaintiff s explanation of the circumstances, is not consistent with Florida law.Read it and decide for yourself.
If the judge grants this someone please let me know.
12 comments:
since gene stearns is a a nice jewish boy, gil will vacate the attorneys' fee award
This is precisely why I enjoy working for a firm where the named partners are dead and do not have the ability to embarrass all of us!
The "I've never been sanctioned before" argument grows tiresome. Time to lay down some law, my pets.
Gene Stearns has never been sanctioned?? Oy vey, as they say, just like his claim to "never have lost a case." Both claims false.
Let's hear his excuse, please. "They scheduled my client on Christmas day", or "They never said it was Rosh Hashanah, and I'm not Jewish", or "I'm a rabid litigator; it's in my 'Genes' and I can't help it."
The response seems reasonable. The judge at least has to hear it. Getting sanctioned without an opportunity to be heard is pretty egregious.
In fact, one could paint a picture here that the witness was playing games. If everyone on the witness side observes the holiday they should have been aware of the holiday, should not have agreed to the dates to begin with, and could at least be suspected of having agreed to the dates with the intention of later refusing to attend due to the holiday. I'm not saying that happened, but given the way people practice law in this town, you need to at least be prepared to entertain the possibility.
I think a reasonable solution would have been for plaintiff to say "OK but remember you agreed that I would go first, so the onus is on you to reschedule the balance of the depositions so the original order we agreed to remains intact. If you can get that done within the next xxx days then I have no problem with moving these dates."
Seems like Kaplan did not tell the whole story, but Genie should have agreed regardless. So Kaplan makes a mistake in scheduling and Stearny boy tries to take advantage of it. What do you expect from a Greenberg off shoot and the firmt that rose from a fraudster carcass.
If you cannot work on a holiday; you are not a professional! No day is holier than Christmas, yet every Christmas, Christian lawyers are in court, defending indigents and prosecuting criminals. Do Jewish doctors leave the operating room Friday at sunset before the patient is off the table. Does the Israeli Army not fight back on Saturday? Of course not. Why? Because, they are professionals.
If you are a professional, your profession overrides your private live; otherwise it is just an occupation. We understand that your religion is important to you. Nobody would begrudge the Jews the opportunity to fast during their holy month of Rosh Hashanah; but, when we call you up and schedule depositions it hardly seems far for you to put it on the high holy day of Eid al-Fitr, then whine ‘cause there is a deposition scheduled on the last day of high holy day of Eid al-Fitr. Like we can keep all your festivals straight?
And this judge! Sanctions without a response or a hearing. That is why the Miami lawyer’s bar license is not valid north of Lake Okeechobee.
Lyndon Johnson was once asked why he repeated untrue statements about a colleague on the other side of the isle. He responded, "I love to hear him deny it." Johnson would have loved the internet.
Respect for the religious beliefs of others should not be trivialized by use as a litigation tool.
"Aisle" rather than "isle." Spelling was not my long suit, a deficiency which has become decidly worse since the advent of personal computing.
Uh, Kid,
Jews don't celebrate Eid.
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