Law Professor Needs to Take Class on How to File a Valid Legal Complaint
Law professor is arrested for allegedly soliciting prostitute. Blogger mocks law professor. Law professor sues blogger, raising several specious claims.
For example, his first claim is “False Light” — in a jurisdiction that has ruled:
Because we conclude that false light is largely duplicative of existing torts, but without the attendant protections of the First Amendment, we decline to recognize the tort….
Whoops!
Ben Sheffner has the details, and concludes: “[D. Marvin] Jones has asked for a total of $44 million, as well as an injunction ordering ATL to remove the offending content. He’ll be lucky if he escapes without an award of sanctions and attorneys’ fees.”
hehehehehe….. score one for the humans!
redc1c4 (fb8750) — 11/3/2009 @ 6:59 amHe als.o seems to be making false claims in his complaint, such as sentence #2 “An expert in constitutional law.”
It’s OK though because he’s AA.
I wonder if he is a former Duke faculty member ?
Mike K (2cf494) — 11/3/2009 @ 7:07 amOh, I think that the law professor’s problems are more than knowledge of his field. If you read about the situation, the claim is made that this knob offered a prostitute 20 bucks for sex. Of course, the prostitute turned out to be a cop. But 20 bucks?
Um. Quite the high roller with expensive tastes. Maybe he should have a “beer session” with Spitzer to discuss the noblisse oblige of the upper crust..
Eric Blair (dd11cc) — 11/3/2009 @ 7:28 amAnd that law professor is about to get a lesson on the Streisand Effect.
Steven Den Beste (99cfa1) — 11/3/2009 @ 9:51 amDo they still include “moral turpitude” clauses in Educational contracts?
AD - RtR/OS! (e6a9d0) — 11/3/2009 @ 10:03 amThose who can’t do, teach. Those who can’t sue (properly), teach law school.
Mitch (890cbf) — 11/3/2009 @ 10:06 amHe’s a drunk, too? very sad.
quasimodo (4af144) — 11/3/2009 @ 10:14 ami said at overlawyered that the defendants were safe because he is a law professor. this only proves it.
A.W. (e7d72e) — 11/3/2009 @ 10:54 amwow, read the complaint and it is worse, much worse, than i would imagine. i would go as far as to say that it is so incompetant that if i was his boss i would fire his a– instantly.
My favorite part is when it ends by saying that it wanted a jury trial on all issues that were “friable.” yes, that is how he spelled it. yes, with an f instead of a t. yike.
A.W. (e7d72e) — 11/3/2009 @ 11:27 amMaybe he is relating this to a case involving trans-fats.
Eric Blair (0b61b2) — 11/3/2009 @ 11:38 amThat complaint was certainly friable.
Brother Bradley J. Fikes, C.O.R. (2116b2) — 11/3/2009 @ 11:48 ambtw, this is the website of the dean of his law school. http://www.law.miami.edu/facadmin/pwhite.php?letter=W
Now if you were inclined to point out what a complete imbecile this guy is and that gee, maybe he is too incompetant in his profession to teach anything, there is an email for her. can’t guarantee you that she will give a rat’s behind, but there it is.
But be respectful. if you are raving, or foul or what have you, that will make you alot less persuasive.
http://www.law.miami.edu/facadmin/pwhite.php?letter=W
A.W. (e7d72e) — 11/3/2009 @ 12:02 pmFor instance i just sent her this (notice i do pretty much ignore the specific claims of florida law raised in this post):
Dear Ms. White,
I just wanted to make you aware of the frankly poor quality of work product produced by a member of your faculty. D. Marvin Jones has sued the website Above the Law (ABL) for false light, invasion of privacy and copyright infringement. This is allegedly a copy of the complaint: http://abovethelaw.com/2009/11/03/Jones%20v%20Minkin%20complaint%20Donald%20Jones%20David%20Minkin%20David%20Lat%20Dead%20Horse%20Media.pdf
First, it is legally laughable. For instance, as an author Mr. Jones is a public figure and thus false light requires a demonstration of malice. Mr. Jones doesn’t even allege malice, and indeed the facts prove that none were there. For instance, he states it is false to allege he was arrested; but an incident report states clearly that he was, and he doesn’t dispute that this is an authentic copy of that report. You can read it here: http://abovethelaw.com/2007/10/the_possibly_propositioning_pr.php.
As for invasion of privacy, apparently Mr. Jones thinks that what happened on a public street is a matter of privacy.
And as for copyright infringement, using a picture from the UM website to accompany a post on the subject seems elementary fair use.
But most alarmingly is the poor quality of the brief which he apparently wrote. It is riddled with bad and odd formatting, incomplete arguments, irrelevant arguments (he complains for instance that they call him D. Marvin Jones even though that is what UM calls him on its site). It ends with asking for a jury trial on all issues that are “friable.” It is bluntly utterly unprofessional and it is stunning that a man who claims to have been at this longer than most of his students have been alive would be so incapable of delivering a coherent thought in written form.
The quality of this complaint is literally so low that I think it is fair to wonder whether he is still qualified to perform his job, never mind the moral turpitude of not only potential solicitation of prostitution but of his attempt to silence a troublesome critic by lawsuit abuse. If I was a judge I would sanction him and dismiss the case. If I was his dean, I would call for a very close look at his actual qualifications for the job.
I thank you for your time and consideration.
Sincerely,
A.W. (e7d72e) — 11/3/2009 @ 12:10 pmA.W….Well Done!
AD - RtR/OS! (e6a9d0) — 11/3/2009 @ 12:28 pmThis one is pretty funny/pathetic.
JD (8e2709) — 11/3/2009 @ 1:04 pmMoral Turpitude + Incompetence = Tenure!
AD - RtR/OS! (e6a9d0) — 11/3/2009 @ 1:09 pmRe # 13 by A.W.: Fair use is a defense to a copyright infringement claim. Jones has a worse problem than a valid defense to his claim; he does not have a copyright claim becasue he does not own the copyright. Also a prerequisite (condition precedent) to a copyright lawsuit is that the copyright must be registered with the Copyright Office or under the Berne Convention. Wouldn’t it be nice if one could sue for infringment of copyrights owned by others?
Bill (83e712) — 11/3/2009 @ 2:01 pmI always thought that the copyright for a photograph belonged to the photographer. Maybe he took his own photo? Maybe he doesn’t know copyright law? Maybe he is a dumbass.
Hazy (4e0dda) — 11/3/2009 @ 2:13 pmBill, fair crit, but the way i see it if you anticipate that the other side would have an obvious and complete defense to your claim, then you shouldn’t bring it in the first place. you have a duty to be sure that your claims are valid and no defenses apply.
And more importantly this is just thuggish behavior. Unless we discover something really surprising like that the incident report is a fake, or something like that, it seems that ATL did nothing more than show a few police reports and then make fun of him. And really the suit comes off as him saying, “wah-wah-wah, those meanie bloggers are picking on me.” Well man up, bud.
A.W. (e7d72e) — 11/3/2009 @ 2:27 pmMercedes are getting very pimpy to where a lot of people what used to buy them don’t buy them anymore it seems. Here in LA anyway. Are they gangsta elsewhere too?
happyfeet (71f55e) — 11/3/2009 @ 2:46 pmI checked and it looks to be a trend you’d only notice in cities and the ethnic skew is noticeable but really slight. If it’s a trend the data hasn’t caught up with it really.
happyfeet (71f55e) — 11/3/2009 @ 2:55 pmAre they gangsta elsewhere too?
Comment by happyfeet — 11/3/2009 @ 2:46 pm
You cannot be a genuine Polish immigrant in Chicago’s Jefferson Park area unless you drive a used Mercedes. Badly.
nk (df76d4) — 11/3/2009 @ 3:08 pmTraded in the Mercedes, not because it was pimpy, but ‘cuz it got crapola gas mileage.
JD (dfc4ed) — 11/3/2009 @ 3:09 pm#13
/me applauds wildly
that’s bound to leave a mark. %-)
redc1c4 (fb8750) — 11/3/2009 @ 3:09 pmI’d fire the creep that can’t keep it in his pants for playing the race card and no other reason.
nk (df76d4) — 11/3/2009 @ 3:11 pmAny irony in a black law professor misspelling the President’s name in the first paragraph of his Complaint?
Anyone wonder why the President’s name is even mentioned in the first paragraph of the Complaint?
Stephen G. (540991) — 11/3/2009 @ 5:04 pmStephen G – It would surprise me more were it not. As we all know, Barcky is responsible for all that is good in this world. And all that is bad is Boooooooooooooosh’s fault. And these elections have no reflection on Teh One.
JD (6dce29) — 11/3/2009 @ 5:11 pmBtw, at above the law they are noting that the case has been voluntarily dismissed by the plaintiff, so basically he is slinking off in embarrassment.
I wonder if i had anything to do with it. nah, probably not, but it would be really cool if i did.
A.W. (e7d72e) — 11/4/2009 @ 1:38 pmThe plaintiff dropped the lawsuit, dismissing it without prejudice.
Cyrus Sanai (3b1f29) — 11/4/2009 @ 1:39 pmI hate to be a boor, but this kind of thing would be easier to avoid if legal research was streamlined. A law professor at a ‘good’ school probably is not well versed on local laws.
Does Lexis and Westlaw give law professors free access, the way they give students? regardless, I sure wish there was a standardized and free system for people to use to understand what precedents have been established, overturned, etc. In many places, this changes from county to county.
Dustin (bb61e3) — 11/4/2009 @ 1:44 pmComment by Cyrus Sanai — 11/4/2009 @ 1:39 pm
If this professor takes the corrective action suggested in the lede, CS can audit the course with him.
AD - RtR/OS! (9e209a) — 11/4/2009 @ 2:13 pm