Posted by
NOTLEGALROADKILLYET on Sunday, January 28, 2007 5:42:43 PM
"
In Las Vegas, They're Playing With a Stacked Judicial Deck." At least, that's what the LA Times reports. They go on to subtitle the article "
Some judges routinely rule in cases involving friends, former clients and business associates -- and in favor of lawyers who fill their campaign coffers."
The story begins with a campaign fund raiser for Judge Gene T. Porter, scheduled just four days before the civil trial of the company of Michael D. Farney.
The fundraiser was organized by Robert D. Vannah, whose firm had the hearing scheduled in Porter's courtroom in four days, would later explain his donation this way: "Giving money to a judge's campaign means you're less likely to get screwed…. A $1,000 contribution isn't going to buy special treatment. It's just a hedge against bad things happening."
Vannah and others in his law firm, along with one of their consultants, made donations worth a total of $13,500, fundraising reports show. It was the fattest combined contribution of the night.
The hearing that Judge Porter was to have in four days involved Mr. Farney's company. Porter was asked to recuse himself and refused. Porter was asked for a delay and refused. Farney hadn't contributed, and bad things
did happen to his company. $1.5 million of bad things.
If you look at the $13,500 in contributions as an investment (Vannah and Porter would doubtless deny that it was any such thing), the investment might have netted Vannah's law firm several hundred thousand dollars in legal fees, perhaps as much as $500,000.
Justice in Nevada, conceded Cal Potter III, a veteran Las Vegas lawyer, is such that "outside law firms just don't trust Nevada courtrooms."
The LA Times article is nine pages long. I've only scratched the surface.
The legal ethics rules prohibit what is going on, the article concedes, but they are not enforced against either judges or lawyers. They are not even enforced against Federal Judges.
It is out of this cauldron of ethics violations that one Senator and lawyer Harry Reid rose to power in the US Senate. Is it any wonder why he opposes tort reform? He wouldn't even consider ethics reform.
Until a legal ethics reform movement gets a stranglehold on this kind of conduct, there will always be enclaves of outright judicial lawlessness. It is amazing that a whole state could be so lawless.