(The Return of) Ignatz, by Sam Heldman

Wednesday, February 23, 2005

for law nerds
Today I will be filing a cert petition with the U.S. Supreme Court on a question that I think is very interesting, but then again I'm a law nerd: the governing standard as to when a District Court should award attorney fees under 28 USC 1447(c) upon remanding a wrongly-removed case to state court. It's a good question for the Court to resolve, I think, and there really is a split in the lower courts. If this fascinates you as it does me, let's chat.

Also, I hereby give a strong plug to Wilson-Epes Printing Co., here in Washington, which is a great printer of Supreme Court briefs and other legal materials. If you are ever filing a cert petition, or have some brief in a lower court that you want to make look really good (which is sometimes a useful strategy to make your case stick out from the pile), use them. Fantastic people and fantastic work.

[UPDATE: Based on overwhelming interest (i.e., 2 people, in comments) I have made the petition available for download from heldman.net. Accolades and constructive criticism will be appreciated.]

posted by sam 7:25 AM 7 comments

7 Comments:

Please post your petition once its final to share your arguments with everyone else.

By Anonymous Anonymous, at 12:26 PM  

I'd love to see the petition too-- especially since this is a pet issue of mine as well. I'm a fan of the pure "fee shifting" approach myself.

By Blogger nolo, at 1:55 PM  

Cool-- you cited the McFadden article. I have cited that article every time I've sought a fee award.

By Blogger nolo, at 2:39 PM  

So you think it will be granted, right? Right?

By Blogger sam, at 2:53 PM  

The petition certainly makes the case for it. If they take it, though, what do you think the Supremes will do?

By Blogger nolo, at 4:02 PM  

I can't see how they could uphold the 5th Cir. rule (i.e., can ONLY grant fees if removable had no reasonable basis); that would make the enactment of the statute an absurd event. I also can't see how they could uphold the 9th/10th rule, which is that Dist. Ct. can choose its own spot on the Piggie Park - Christiansburg spectrum; I know of no other statute that's ever been interpreted like that. I'm sure I could lose if they took the case, but can't wrap my mind around a good reason why.

By Blogger sam, at 4:08 PM  

Well, go get 'em. I'll keep my eye out for the grant of cert.

By Blogger nolo, at 5:02 PM  

Post a Comment

Powered by Blogger

 


email: first name@last name dot net