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11/11/09 3:43 PM Senior U.S. District Judge Malcolm Muir turned 95 last week and is still
on the job
ABA Journal
One of Muir's earlier memories is the end of World War I, an occasion he
remembers because church bells and sirens commemorated the victory, the
Sun Gazette reports. He remembers learning of the stock market crash
that brought the Depression, and his years in the Navy during World War
II. Muir attended Harvard Law School, where the curriculum was difficult. "I
didn't do well," he told the newspaper. In law practice after World War II ended, "I worked extremely hard," Muir told the publication. He said he typically arrived at the office at
about 4:30 a.m. and worked until 5 p.m. He was appointed to the bench by Richard Nixon in 1970. Being a judge is what he enjoys the most, he said in an interview last year.
http://www.abajournal.com/news/federal_judge_still_working_at_95/ 11/2/09 7:33 AM Congress Set to Take Aim at Judicial RecusalsThe National Law JournalCongress is preparing to wade into one of the most sensitive of issues for the federal judiciary: when a judge should step aside in a case and who should make that decision. The House Judiciary Committee, led by Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., is planning a hearing on federal recusal guidelines amid controversies that have swept through state court systems in recent years, culminating in a U.S. Supreme Court decision five months ago that tightened the recusal requirements for elected state judges. 10/27/09 12:48 PM Albert Freed won a trip to Hawaii. As part of the vacation celebration, Mrs. Freed bought her husband some new Hanes brand briefs. But Mr. Freed is a husky gentleman, and apparently the new trunks couldn’t contain all of his junk. He sued Hanes, claiming they made “defective” underwear. (The fortunate part is that Freed lost his suit).
Above from: http://abovethelaw.com/2009/10/lawsuit_of_the_day_defective_u.php
Read the whole court decision: Freed v Hanes.pdf 10/26/09 9:38 PM A federal bankruptcy judge in New York created new uncertainties for mortgage servicers when he expunged a mortgage debt after the servicer could not provide sufficient documentation that it had a claim on the home. The ruling came earlier this month in bankruptcy court in the Southern District of New York in a case involving Mount Laurel, New Jersey-based PHH Mortgage and a property in White Plains...Judge Robert Drain wiped out a $461,263 mortgage debt on the property, in another case of how things can go wrong when documentation does not keep up with transfers of mortgages in a world of securitized loans. A recent ruling by the Kansas Supreme Court similarly denied the Mortgage Electronic Registration Service (MERS) rights to recovery in a foreclosure case, even though MERS often stands in for banks that actually hold the mortgage. As a consequence, the bank holding the mortgage lost out in the foreclosure...In the hearing, the PHH lawyer argued that in the secondary market, there are many cases where assignment of mortgages or assignment of notes don’t happen at the time they should – that this was standard operating procedure for many years... Judge Drain rejected that argument
http://www.dsnews.com/articles/bankruptcy-court-wipes-out-mortgage-debt-when-servicer-fails-to-document-claim-2009-10-26 10/26/09 7:42 AM
AP – Mon Oct 26, 4:13 am ET
TAOS, N.M. – Larry Whitten marched into this northern New Mexico town in late July on a mission: resurrect a failing hotel. The tough-talking former Marine immediately laid down some new rules. Among them, he forbade the Hispanic workers at the run-down, Southwestern adobe-style hotel from speaking Spanish in his presence (he thought they'd be talking about him), and ordered some to Anglicize their names. No more Martin (Mahr-TEEN). It was plain-old Martin. No more Marcos. Now it would be Mark...His rules and his firing of several Hispanic employees angered his employees and many in this liberal enclave of 5,000 residents at the base of the Sangre de Cristo mountains, where the most alternative of lifestyles can find a home and where Spanish language, culture and traditions have a long and revered history. 10/23/09 12:25 AM Judge Dismisses Sheriff's Lawsuit over Craigslist's "Erotic Services" Listings
DART V. CRAIGSLIST, INC.
(N. Dist. of Ill.) - In another win for interactive service providers under the Communications Decency Act, a federal judge in Illinois has granted Craigslist's motion for a judgment on the pleadings in a suit over the website's former "erotic services" listings. Read more on Findlaw...
10/15/09 10:48 PM This judge is a disgrace to the bench. Hopefully Louisiana will immediately remove him (for life) from the bench.
AP – NEW ORLEANS - A Louisiana justice of the peace said he refused to issue a marriage license to an interracial couple out of concern for any children the couple might have. Keith Bardwell, justice of the peace in Tangipahoa Parish, says it is his experience that most interracial marriages do not last long. Bardwell said he asks everyone who calls about marriage if they are a mixed race couple. If they are, he does not marry them, he said. 10/14/09 9:27 PM
AP – Wed Oct 14, 4:55 pm ET
COLUMBUS, Ohio - The Ohio Supreme Court on Wednesday ordered two estate planning companies and their co-owners to pay nearly $6.4 million, the state's largest-ever fine for the fraudulent practice of law. The owners and employees of American Family Prepaid Legal Corp. and Heritage Marketing and Insurance Services Inc. of Columbus committed more than 3,800 acts of unauthorized law practice by participating in a "trust mill" operation...From March 2003 to March 2005, the companies targeted Ohioans 65 and older with exaggerated mail and magazine advertising aimed at dissuading them from obtaining a will. Sales representatives who were not licensed as attorneys to advise on estate planning gave "high-pressure" in-home presentations in which customers were told they would save money by purchasing one of the companies' living trusts... The court noted that it has found other similar trust mills illegal, and that such trusts may not be needed, may be insufficient or could be harmful for certain people...
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I should note that in most states for a normal estate "avoiding probate" via a living trust is typically a huge waste of money. Always see a lawyer and determine what you actually need for your estate. Most (but not all) times it will be a simple will and not a living trust. 10/13/09 1:59 AM
Reuters – Mon Oct 12, 2:57 pm ET
KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Malaysia's eastern state of Terengganu is offering free honeymoons worth up to $440 each to rekindle the romance between married couples on the brink of divorce. Full Story » 10/9/09 3:11 AM
AP – NEW YORK - A teenager trying to get into his apartment after school is confronted by police. A man leaving his workplace chooses a different route back home to avoid officers who roam a particular street. These and hundreds of thousands of other Americans in big cities have been stopped on the street by police using a law-enforcement practice called stop-and-frisk that alarms civil libertarians but is credited by authorities with helping reduce crime |