Watch where you park

If you’ve been spending any time downtown, you may have heard of the recent rash of thefts from parked cars, particularly near Detroit’s entertainment venues.

To help combat the problem, the Detroit Police Department is testing one possible solution: the banning of street parking in areas where cars have been targets for crime.

It won’t affect you if you’re in the city for business, but if you stay late for dinner or a show, be sure to park in one of the well-lit lots, rather than on the street.

More here from Michigan Public Radio.

COA to Maroun: stay put

The Michigan Court of Appeals has denied an emergency motion to get billionaire Manuel “Matty” Maroun and Dan Stamper out of jail.

Lawyers for Maroun and Stamper said their imprisonment yesterday, ordered by Wayne County Circuit Judge Prentis Edwards, violates the pair’s due process rights. Judge Edwards tossed them in jail for violating — for nearly two years — an order to bring the Detroit International Bridge Co. border crossing into compliance. The failure to comply, according to one of the seven motions filed yesterday, arises not from willful contempt, but from “differing interpretations of their respective contractual obligations in connection with a portion of the Ambassador Bridge Gateway Project.”

Further, attorneys for the pair say that neither man was a party to the action in which the order was entered in February 2010, so neither has been “held to have personally violated any order of the Court, and at no point throughout the proceedings have Mr. Maroun or Mr. Stamper ever been ordered to show cause why they should not be held in contempt or should not be jailed. …. Mr. Maroun and Mr. Stamper [have] never been given notice that either was in jeopardy of being found in contempt or jailed.”

Counsel immediately moved for release pending appeal (read filing here), and the Court quickly denied it.

But Maroun’s lawyers have a chance to scramble today to make a successful motion, since the denial was based on procedural grounds.

The motion, the Court said, relies on MCL 770.8, which is not applicable to a civil contempt ruling.

From the order (read here): “When an appellant fails to challenge the basis of the rulings by the trial court, we need not even consider granting the party the relief requested. … Furthermore, although Maroun and Stamper challenge the trial court’s authority for directing their imprisonment, they have not filed a motion for peremptory reversal and/or for a stay of the trial court’s January 12, 2012, order.”

Quist appointed to Kent County Probate Court

George “Jay” Quist was appointed Wednesday by Gov. Rick Snyder to the Kent County Probate Court, where he will be assigned to the Circuit Court’s Family Division. He was appointed to fill the vacancy created when Judge Nanaruth Carpenter resigned.

Quist is from Grand Rapids and worked early in his career as a civil litigator with Kluczynski, Girtz & Vogelzang in Grand Rapids, before joining Roberts Betz & Bloss. In 1999, he was appointed to the Workers’ Compensation Board of Magistrates, and was named chief magistrate in January last year. Over the summer, he was tapped to serve as director of employment services for the Michigan Administrative Hearing System in the state’s Department of Licensing & Regulatory Affairs.

Quist will stand for election in 2012 to complete the last four years of the judicial term, which expires in 2016.

Source: State of Michigan

Tamara Green transcripts released

For those that can’t get enough of He Whose Name We Have Vowed Not To Mention In 2012 – okay, that’s probably not going to happen – Kwame Kilpatrick, the Detroit Free Press has obtained and released the unsealed transcripts from the Tamara Green lawsuit.

The Freep focused its early attention on a “testy back-and-forth” between the Green family’s attorney, Norman Yatooma, and Kilpatrick’s attorney, Jim Thomas:

After a testy back-and-forth, Kilpatrick lawyer Jim Thomas summed it up with: “Point your finger at me again, and I’m going to break it off and shove it up your (expletive).”

Norman Yatooma, representing Greene’s family, responded: “Do that. Do that now, Mr. Thomas. Come here now, break off my finger and shove it up my (expletive).”

“Thank you for the invitation. Ask (Kilpatrick) a question,” Thomas said.

I’ve seen worse. I’m sure you have as well.

As had been reported before, not all of the deposition transcripts have been unsealed. U.S. District Court Judge Gerald Rosen opted to keep the testimony of former attorney general Mike Cox, Kilpatrick’s wife, Carlita, and former Kilpatrick Chief-of-Staff Christine Beatty sealed.

The rest, however, are out there, and paint a picture of the police department’s strange handling of the case.

Although many of the officers were disturbed by how the murder probe was handled, Rosen said there was no evidence that the case was derailed.

Sgt. Marian Stevenson, the homicide detective initially assigned to the investigation, testified that the case was taken away from her after six months and that she was transferred to the 9th Precinct — what she described as the punishment precinct. …

Former homicide Inspector William Rice, whom Greene’s family hired to review the homicide file in 2010, said in a confidential report that the murder probe was reassigned to different investigators so often and there was so much meddling from higher-ups, the investigation lacked continuity and an investigation strategy.

In all, much of the released testimony details strange procedural steps taken by the Detroit Police Department and Cox, who, one State Police investigator said, interviewed Kilpatrick without police and criticized the work of the police investigating the allegations against Kilpatrick.

Have a few hours to kill? You can read all of the released documents online at the Freep’s website.

Being in the land of the free means it’ll cost you if you sing it wrong

If an Indiana senator has her way, you’d better know what follows “Oh say, can you see” when you’re in her state.

Rolling Stone has reported that Republican Vaneta Becker is pushing a bill to impose a $25 fine on anyone who doesn’t sing “The Star Spangled Banner” correctly — correctly as in not adding their own words or altering the original lyrics to it, not as in singing it in tune — at events sponsored by public schools and universities.

According to the report, “It is unclear whether or not an instrumental take on the song, such as Jimi Hendrix’s version from the Woodstock festival, or an unintentional lyrical flub like Christina Aguilera’s gaffe at last year’s Super Bowl, would violate the proposed standard.”

The question is, could something like this happen in Michigan?

Well, actually, it already is happening.

The report added that Michigan law prohibits anyone from performing the national anthem in a public space except in its entirety and “without embellishment.” (Apparently, what one does with it in the privacy of his own home is his business.) We fact-checked it. It’s true:

750.542 How played.

Sec. 542.

How played—The national hymn or anthem, “The Star Spangled Banner”, shall not be played, sung or otherwise rendered in this state in any public place nor at any public entertainment, nor in any theatre, motion picture hall, restaurant or cafe, except as an entire and separate composition or number and without embellishments of national or other melodies; nor shall “The Star Spangled Banner” or any part thereof or selection from the same, be played as a part or selection of a medley of any kind; nor shall “The Star Spangled Banner” be played at or in any of the places mentioned herein for dancing or as an exit march.

Massachusetts has a similar law, imposing up to $100 in fines.

The takeaway? Sing at your own risk.

“Occupy the Courts” protest planned for Jan 20

Just when you thought it was safe to go back downtown, a new group of “occupiers” are planning a protest of the U.S. Supreme Court’s controversial 2010 Citizens United v. FEC decision by “occupying” federal courthouses on January 20.

The majority in Citizens United, of course, opened the door for corporations, unions and non-profits to finance TV ads within 60 days of a general election, making “Jeopardy” essentially unbearable to watch during October.

The group planning the protest, Move to Amend, said on its website that it’s leading “the charge on the judiciary which created – and continues to expand – corporate personhood rights.” The protests aren’t planned at all sites, but the Theodore Levin U.S. Courthouse in Detroit is on the list.

Sounds like fun, you say? Move to Amend has your pre-protest preparations done, with words to a protest song “The Personhood Song,” sung to the tune of “This Land is Your Land.” There’s also a script for a short drama called “As the Country Turns” that you and your friends can perform for your dogs, or your kids or maybe someone you have chained up in your basement who can’t run away.

Also, most importantly, you can’t come to a party if you aren’t dressed appropriately, so the group also provides instructions on how to make your costume for the affair.

I wish I was making that up.

How many people will show up? Who knows? But this should make for some quality people watching. And good luck to any occupiers that try to enter the building dressed like that guy.

[HT: ABA Journal, you can also read real stories about the protest from the New York Observer.]

Have bankruptcy cases finally peaked?

U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts buried the lead in his year-end report on the federal courts.

He starts off with a folksy tale about allegations that the Chicago White Sox participated in a scheme to fix the 1919 World Series, then launches into his take on ethics and recusal and the Supreme Court.

That’s all well and good, but down near the bottom of the report, he wrote about caseloads in the federal courts. And, miracle of miracles, bankruptcy filings fell by 8 percent in 2011. That’s the first time there has been a decline in bankruptcy cases since 2007, when the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005 took effect.

Maybe I’m more optimistic than a newswoman ought to be. But I can’t help but ask: Have we finally hit bottom and started to bounce back?

Let’s hope so.

Get your own Westlaw

Ever ask a law clerk to use his or her school provided Westlaw or Lexis access to research an issue for you? Ever do it while you were a student whether or not you were asked to do so?

Apparently, in Utah, the practice is becoming an epidemic to the point that the state bar issued an ethics advisory opinion denouncing  the practice. [HT: Legal Skills Prof Blog via Legal Blog Watch]. Of course, such usage of either service is a violation of terms of service. The opinion itself decries making clerical employment contingent upon the student using the service to save the employer fees.

Numerous students have reported that practicing attorneys have conditioned initial or continuing employment as a law clerk upon the student’s violation of the agreement with the research services. In other instances, lawyers have knowingly used information retrieved from the electronic services in violation of the student’s contractual agreement.

In the analysis, the opinion states that a lawyer “has no expectation that the law clerk will breach the contractual obligations for the benefit of the lawyer” and says she has an obligation to prevent such a breach. Not doing so is a violation of Utah’s RPC 5.3 and 8.4(c), which mirror Michigan’s (except it’s 8.4(b) here).

Is this practice rampant in Michigan? (Like anyone would admit it.) Should the State Bar of Michigan issue such a warning?

Ex-Detroit deputy mayor Green back at Miller Canfield

Apparently, Saul Green’s 2012 resolution is to go back into the law firm setting.

The former U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan and ex-deputy mayor of the city of Detroit has announced he’ll be serving of counsel in the Litigation and Trial Group at Miller, Canfield, Paddock and Stone, P.L.C.

Up until June 2011, Green was Detroit Mayor Dave Bing’s deputy mayor and executive over public safety (he was appointed in 2008 by then-Mayor Kenneth Cockrel).

He has a wide history of Detroit- and Wayne County-related involvement, having served as the county’s corporation counsel; chief counsel of U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development at the Detroit Field Office; and assistant U.S. attorney.

In 2007, Green, along with fellow Miller Canfield partner Thomas Cranmer, was named one of Michigan Lawyers Weekly’s “Lawyers of the Year.”

The eight craziest lawsuits of 2011: Yes, one’s in Michigan

The Week magazine recently rounded up eight lawsuits from 2011 that made legal and non-legal folk alike do a double-take.

One of them, which was mentioned in our blog, concerns Novi resident Sarah Deming, who claims she was misled by the movie trailer for the freaky Ryan Gosling drama “Drive.” In her words, it “bore very little similarity to a chase, or race action film … having very little driving.”

(On a sidenote, with all the retreads, remakes and reboots in Hollywood these days, doesn’t it make you wonder whether “Smokey and the Bandit” is due for an update?)

The others on the list are just as good/bad:

• A fugitive sued the Kansas couple he held hostage in their home because they breached their “oral contract” to stay put. (They escaped as he slept.)

• An ex-Target manager claimed he was fired for working during his lunch break, because he was “often interrupted by requests from customers and supervisors.” (You’d think maybe that would be an asset, especially on Black Friday.)

• A groom hated the photos of his 2003 wedding so much that he demanded the photographers pay $48,000 to recreate the entire wedding, and have it shot by a new photographer. (Someone else would have had to portray the wife, though, as the plaintiff has since divorced.)

With suits like this, we can’t wait for what’s to come in 2012. Right?