pernickety
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I agree with you that the “judge doesn’t have the right to redraft the document”, a sloppy pleading. But when you characterize judges as “gods of the legal system,” or “guardians of the law”, those are ideals that aren’t always met. In 2011 then Chief Justice Chase Rogers, addressing a meeting of the Greenwich Retired Men’s Assoc., began her remarks by saying, “The CT Judicial Branch has a reputation for corruption…” That reputation hasn’t faded.
NP has represented indigent clients in criminal cases as a “special public defender” or “assigned counsel” over the years. See links from Pattisblog.com:
SPDs: Beware the New Con Job
Lawyers Can Choose; Can The Middle Class?
Norman Pattis Blog
For those services he was paid in public funds by the State of CT. But as he admits in one blog post, he does this with no contract. In my reading of the statutes, this is an unlawful relationship with the state. It’s the court—the judge—who is authorized to assign counsel, from a list, to an indigent criminal defendant (“on a contractual basis”), not someone from the Office of the Public Defender, as NP says he was casually assigned a case. (See comments to above NP blog post about the need for a contract—There’s also a statutory requirement for a contract between the Judicial Branch and hired outside counsel) Norm doesn’t have to fill out the questionnaire that other attorneys applying for assigned counsel positions have to fill out, which include questions on whether they’ve ever been “the subject of a legal proceeding, in any state or federal court, wherein the legal representation provided by you was at issue?” Or whether any disciplinary committee had ever found probable cause that he was guilty of misconduct? By his own admission, the Federal Grievance Committee did find probable cause of his misconduct. But no contracts, no questionnaires for Norm, though considerable public funds have been dispensed to him by the CT Judicial Branch over the years for SPD services. What’s the basis of this special relationship between NP and the hegemony in the CJB? Is it beholden to him for some reason?
A judge is also not authorized to rule on an issue not pleaded by the parties. IMO Judge Noble did that in his ruling granting NP’s motion to quash his subpoena in the Farber v. Dulos civil case. NP’s pleading was primarily about the attorney-client privilege, and Weinstein filed a very good objection to it, citing pertinent case law. But Judge Noble’s ruling declined to address “the issue of privilege and confidentiality”. Instead he granted the motion on an issue NP didn’t brief-- Sec. 13-2 of the Prac. Book rules: “The documents requested are not reasonably calculated to lead to the discovery of admissible evidence.” IMO this deprived the plaintiffs (Gloria Farber and her late husband’s Trust) of their right to due process—as her counsel wasn’t given the opportunity to argue Sec. 13-2, which states in part, “It shall not be ground for objection that the information sought will be inadmissible at trial if the information sought appears reasonably calculated to lead to the discovery of admissible evidence.” Who wouldn’t find it reasonable that if FD alleges he has no money to repay his debt to the Farbers, he should provide evidence of how he’s paying NP, the other lawyers and the high-profile PI? If the judge rules that the evidence sought from NP wouldn’t be admissible, is that going to be precedent if Weinstein tries to get it from FD? I’m wondering if Weinstein will file a motion for reconsideration.
It appears to me that Pattis is being protected, and if so, that means Dulos is being protected. What if NP is representing FD as assigned counsel, in which case there’d be no retainer agreement between NP and FD, because the State of CT would be paying NP from public funds. IF there are funds coming from Greece, that could be extra. A female reporter (off-camera) from a CT TV channel (WFSB?) interviewed NP earlier in the case. She asked him if he was afraid he wouldn’t get paid for representing Dulos. Pattis said he wasn’t afraid of that, but then added, “If he wants to pay us more, we’d be glad to accept it.” In CT a lawyer’s retainer agreement has to conform to the code of ethics. I don’t think a contract that said the lawyer would accept more if the client wanted to pay him more would pass ethical muster. (Can’t find that interview online anymore)
NP didn’t provide a “privilege log”, describing the documents for which he is asserting privilege, as to date of doc, author, intended recipient, subject matter, etc., So when the judge says in his ruling that “the documents requested are not reasonably calculated to lead to the discovery of admissible evidence”, how does he know the requested documents—e.g., a retainer agreement—even exist? IMO that’s a sloppy ruling. MOO.
NP has represented indigent clients in criminal cases as a “special public defender” or “assigned counsel” over the years. See links from Pattisblog.com:
SPDs: Beware the New Con Job
Lawyers Can Choose; Can The Middle Class?
Norman Pattis Blog
For those services he was paid in public funds by the State of CT. But as he admits in one blog post, he does this with no contract. In my reading of the statutes, this is an unlawful relationship with the state. It’s the court—the judge—who is authorized to assign counsel, from a list, to an indigent criminal defendant (“on a contractual basis”), not someone from the Office of the Public Defender, as NP says he was casually assigned a case. (See comments to above NP blog post about the need for a contract—There’s also a statutory requirement for a contract between the Judicial Branch and hired outside counsel) Norm doesn’t have to fill out the questionnaire that other attorneys applying for assigned counsel positions have to fill out, which include questions on whether they’ve ever been “the subject of a legal proceeding, in any state or federal court, wherein the legal representation provided by you was at issue?” Or whether any disciplinary committee had ever found probable cause that he was guilty of misconduct? By his own admission, the Federal Grievance Committee did find probable cause of his misconduct. But no contracts, no questionnaires for Norm, though considerable public funds have been dispensed to him by the CT Judicial Branch over the years for SPD services. What’s the basis of this special relationship between NP and the hegemony in the CJB? Is it beholden to him for some reason?
A judge is also not authorized to rule on an issue not pleaded by the parties. IMO Judge Noble did that in his ruling granting NP’s motion to quash his subpoena in the Farber v. Dulos civil case. NP’s pleading was primarily about the attorney-client privilege, and Weinstein filed a very good objection to it, citing pertinent case law. But Judge Noble’s ruling declined to address “the issue of privilege and confidentiality”. Instead he granted the motion on an issue NP didn’t brief-- Sec. 13-2 of the Prac. Book rules: “The documents requested are not reasonably calculated to lead to the discovery of admissible evidence.” IMO this deprived the plaintiffs (Gloria Farber and her late husband’s Trust) of their right to due process—as her counsel wasn’t given the opportunity to argue Sec. 13-2, which states in part, “It shall not be ground for objection that the information sought will be inadmissible at trial if the information sought appears reasonably calculated to lead to the discovery of admissible evidence.” Who wouldn’t find it reasonable that if FD alleges he has no money to repay his debt to the Farbers, he should provide evidence of how he’s paying NP, the other lawyers and the high-profile PI? If the judge rules that the evidence sought from NP wouldn’t be admissible, is that going to be precedent if Weinstein tries to get it from FD? I’m wondering if Weinstein will file a motion for reconsideration.
It appears to me that Pattis is being protected, and if so, that means Dulos is being protected. What if NP is representing FD as assigned counsel, in which case there’d be no retainer agreement between NP and FD, because the State of CT would be paying NP from public funds. IF there are funds coming from Greece, that could be extra. A female reporter (off-camera) from a CT TV channel (WFSB?) interviewed NP earlier in the case. She asked him if he was afraid he wouldn’t get paid for representing Dulos. Pattis said he wasn’t afraid of that, but then added, “If he wants to pay us more, we’d be glad to accept it.” In CT a lawyer’s retainer agreement has to conform to the code of ethics. I don’t think a contract that said the lawyer would accept more if the client wanted to pay him more would pass ethical muster. (Can’t find that interview online anymore)
NP didn’t provide a “privilege log”, describing the documents for which he is asserting privilege, as to date of doc, author, intended recipient, subject matter, etc., So when the judge says in his ruling that “the documents requested are not reasonably calculated to lead to the discovery of admissible evidence”, how does he know the requested documents—e.g., a retainer agreement—even exist? IMO that’s a sloppy ruling. MOO.