Thursday, September 05, 2002

I'd mentioned the other day the issue regarding defense efforts to recuse Judge Clemon, in N.D. Ala., by hiring his nephew. Today's news, for those following the story, is that Judge Smith is reconsidering his earlier order, and has asked the parties for more information. The issue -- as far as I can tell from reading the newspaper, which is always a perilous way to get your legal information -- is not whether Judge Smith still believes that the defense was manipulating the system to get rid of Judge Clemon. The new issue is whether the plaintiffs were manipulating the system too, in order to get Judge Clemon assigned in the first place (by designating the case, in the Civil Cover Sheet, as "related" to a case already on his docket). If the manipulative motivation is proven -- and I don't know if it will be, or (even leaving aside the issue of "proof") if this was their motivation -- this strategem would seem to come within what Ernie the Attorney was talking about, re gamesmanship in litigation.

posted by sam 6:44 AM 0 comments

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