Nota Bene

In the news and around the web today:

• QuizLaw reports that a Wisconsin law maker wants to cut funding to the Univeristy of Wisconsin law school because there are too many bad lawyers in that state already.
• May it Please the Court reports on the graying demographics of California’s lawyers.
• The Wall Street Journal’s law blog reports on the dissenting opinion of a Second Circuit judge who admits he did not bother to read the majority opinion.
• E! News reports on the public fee dispute between Loeb & Loeb and Steven Seagal.
• The Thoroughbred Times reports on a lawsuit over a horseowner’s rejected requests for records maintained by the California Hores Racing Board concerning the data of horse deaths on race tracks.

[If you have your own story of legal news and views that you want included in this semi-daily summary, leave it in the comments below or e-mail me.]

The Victoria Advocate reports:

The attorney for the Billy Fischer family, whose daughter was cut from the Yorktown High School junior varsity cheerleading squad, says her clients have no other option but to sue the school district.” At this point we are planning on going forward with a lawsuit,” said Lisa Duke of the San Antonio law firm of Anderson and Duke. “We have not filed the paperwork yet, but we will soon.”

Incoming freshman Wycoda Fischer was cut after tryouts were held for six positions on the squad. Seven girls tried out. The family contends that because an exception was made for the varsity cheer squad, nine girls were allowed on instead of the eight called for in the high school’s cheerleader constitution, that an exception should also be made for allowing Wycoda on the squad. The high school principal and cheerleading sponsor approved the expanded JV squad, but superintendent Deborah Kneese ordered tryouts.

Who knew that there was such a thing as a “cheerleader’s constitution” and the violation of it gives rise to a lawsuit. What a fantastic set of lessons these parents are teaching their daughter:

1. If you can’t successfully compete against your peers, you should file a lawsuit!
2. A spot on the team is not something to be earned but is something you are entitled to get just for showing up.
3. A lawsuit is the answer for all of life’s problems.

The Seattle PI reports:

A Southern California teenager is suing Starbucks Corp., alleging negligence and sexual harassment after she says she was forced “hundreds of times” into a sexual relationship with a store supervisor who also fondled her and asked for sex while at work.

The case, filed last week in Orange County, Calif., alleges that managers at an Irvine store knew of the “sexual harassment, molestation and abuse and illicit drug and alcohol activity” committed by the supervisor but did nothing to prevent it.

USA Today reports:

The nation’s first law to help protect Oregon high school and college journalists from censorship by school administrations will be signed Friday by Gov. Ted Kulongoski

The Oregon law makes student journalists responsible for determining the content of school-sponsored media, and gives them the right to sue schools if they feel free-press rights have been violated.

It is the country’s first law in more than a decade to protect high school journalists, and the first ever to cover both high school and college journalists under one statute, said Warren Watson, director of J-Ideas, a First Amendment institute at Ball State University in Muncie, Ind.

The Santa Barbara Independent reports:

Santa Barbara Superior Court Judge Thomas Anderle on Tuesday threw out a lawsuit by the City of Santa Barbara against a woman who organized a ballot initiative in that would give marijuana offenses by adults the lowest law enforcement priority. Heather Poet, the woman named in the lawsuit, filed a motion to strike the suit based on the state’s anti-SLAPP statute, which prevents strategic lawsuits that would limit public participation in the political process. The ACLU Drug Law Reform Project attorney who represented Poet praised the decision, calling it a “resounding affirmation of voters’ right to de-prioritize marijuana enforcement.”

The Sacramento Bee reports:

The California Supreme Court refused Wednesday to hear an appeal by one of Phil Spector’s former attorneys, who was found in contempt for refusing to tell the jury in his murder trial about a possible piece of evidence allegedly withheld by a defense expert.

The decision opened the door for attorney Sara Caplan to be jailed if she continues to refuse. Superior Court Judge Larry Paul Fidler ordered her to appear in his courtroom Thursday.

Legal Pad reports:

Working for Robert Nudelman must have been a really bad experience — because some of the fellow lawyers in his Woodland Hills firm decided to take him down.

State Bar officials announced Monday that they shut down Nudelman’s Criminal Defense Associates Inc. last week because the firm had become “incapable” of properly representing its 150 clients who face criminal charges.

Nudelman resigned from practicing law immediately, officials said in a press statement, after the State Bar seized about 700 files, froze the firm’s bank accounts and placed it under the jurisdiction of the Los Angeles County Superior Court.

State Bar Deputy Trial Counsel Kimberly Anderson said Monday that some of the lawyers employed by Nudelman are largely responsible for stopping Nudelman before things got worse. (more…)

The Sacramento Bee reports:

A judge on Monday removed high-profile defense attorney Mark Geragos from the case of a defense contractor charged with conspiring to defraud the CIA because the lawyer refused to submit to background checks.

U.S. District Judge Larry Burns said Geragos placed an undue burden on the court by refusing to obtain a security clearance. Prosecutors said they would have to spend six months sifting through 17,000 pages of documents to remove any classified material.

The move may delay the trial against former top CIA official Kyle “Dusty” Foggo and his best friend, Poway-based contractor Brent Wilkes, Burns said, after repeatedly asking Geragos to reconsider his stance.

The trial is scheduled to begin Oct. 23.

Geragos, who represents Wilkes, called the government’s insistence that it could not hand over the material “laughable” and said his client has a constitutional right to any incriminating evidence. Burns said Geragos may appeal to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

The North Country Gazette reports:

Judges don’t like being criticized and it would seem to be a given that other judges would stand in support of their colleagues who felt that they were disrespected despite the First Amendment guarantee of free speech.

The First Amendment took yet another hit last week when the Michigan Supreme Court reinstated a formal reprimand against high profile attorney Geoffrey Fieger for likening three judges to Nazis while hosting a 1999 Detroit-area radio show, saying that Fieger’s remarks were “vulgar and crude”.

The court’s 4-3 ruling had first been handed down last year with the court saying that Fieger’s remarks on the radio show against the judges were not constitutionally protected.

Law.com reports:

U.S. District Judge Manuel Real approved a roughly $49 million settlement in the BAR/BRI class action Monday — but only after rejecting incentive payments to five class representatives, claiming they had a conflict of interest.

The judge also delivered lower attorney fees than previously suggested for the class action, which alleged that West Publishing and Kaplan Inc., both major players in the legal test prep market, cut a secret deal to give West’s BAR/BRI a virtual monopoly over bar review courses, and Kaplan less competition in LSAT preparation classes. The proposed settlement called for the class of about 300,000 current and former law students to collect about $125 each.