Eideard

 
Networking giant Cisco was blasted by a Canadian judge for arranging for the criminal arrest of a whistleblower who was suing the company.

Peter Adekeye launched an anti-trust case against his former employer in the US District Court for Northern California and was giving his deposition where he lived in Vancouver when four coppers entered the room and interrupted the hearing.

According to Ars Technica. Adekeye was jailed while the legal mess was sorted out. Part of the problem was that the highly expensive legal team for Cisco had done its best to convince the Canadian authorities that Adekeye was a “sinister” Nigerian on the run from 97 charges of illegal computer hacking…

US prosecutors invoked “emergency provisions” of the Extradition Act to obtain the arrest warrant…

When the extradition documentation actually arrived, the judge would discover that it was a pack of “innuendo, half truths, and complete falsehoods.”

Throughout all of this, the judges and the Canadian legal system was apparently unaware that all the made-up crimes were part of the bigger anti-trust battle Adekeye was waging against Cisco…

Justice McKinnon was shocked that a trivial $14,000 civil case had been transformed into a criminal proceeding and engaged the full might and resources of two governments, with the aim of misleading one of Canada’s senior trial courts.

Cisco allegedly engineered it so that the arrest took place in the presence of a US High Court Judge, Special Master, George Fisher, with Cisco’s lawyers insisting on filming the entire arrest on the record. It was clearly an attempt to humiliate Adekeye and weaken his case.

McKinnon said that it all spoke “volumes for Cisco’s duplicity”.

What should be most alarming is that Cisco could use extradition laws and their buddies in the US government to have those who challenged their dominion locked up under American laws – in Canada.

Melanie Beacham, who had fallen behind in her car payments, wanted debt collectors to leave her alone.

MarkOne Financial representatives had emailed her, texted her and called her at home, on her cell and at work — 23 times in one day, according to a lawsuit she filed in Pinellas Circuit Court.

And, a MarkOne employee going by the name of Jeff Happenstance sent a message to the St. Petersburg woman and her friends on Facebook, the suit said.

That turned out to be a precedent-setting no-no. A judge ruled last month that MarkOne can no longer contact Beacham, her family or friends on Facebook or any other social-networking site.

It’s the first court decision of its kind and serves as a warning for debt collectors to tread lightly when using social networks to recoup money owed. The suit, in which Beacham alleges harassment, is still pending in court…

Debt collectors’ use of social media has become a major issue for the industry…

“This is a new age of harassment,” Beacham’s lawyer, Billy Howard said. “A couple of key strokes you can use one of the oldest debt collectors’ tricks there is … that is, to contact family members and friends. Most harassment is one-on-one, but when you bring in family members and friends that’s when you really turn up the psychological pressure on people.”

No one with MarkOne returned a message left in its Jacksonville office.

Leave a message for them on their Facebook page.

Waiting for the Market to open this morning I came across Margaret Carlson’s excellent analysis.

“It isn’t fair!” is a cry we try in kindergarten and never give up. To tamp down this thirst for instant justice, the nuns at my school invoked the sweet hereafter, where all wrongs would be righted, as a reason for us to suck it up at recess.

As an adult, and a lucky one, the last thing I want now is fairness. I could be waiting on tables instead of being served at them, delivering the papers instead of writing for them.

In that, I’m like Wisconsin’s Republican governor, Scott Walker. He didn’t want fairness to kick in after he assumed power in January and used the rubric of “budget repair” to bully the folks who clean his office and guard his prisoners.

The sweet hereafter made an early appearance in Wisconsin on Tuesday. A Democrat, Chris Abele, cruised to victory in the race to fill Walker’s former post, Milwaukee County executive. And state Supreme Court Justice David Prosser, part of a 4-3 conservative majority seen as likely to support Walker’s assault on unions, ended up in a too-close-to-call election that may result in a recount. Just six weeks ago, Prosser was expected to coast to victory over JoAnne Kloppenburg, an assistant attorney general. Only five incumbent Supreme Court judges have been defeated since 1852.

Ordinarily it takes four years to right an electoral wrong. Not this time. Liberal and conservative groups descended on Wisconsin to turn what would normally be a ho-hum election into a referendum on Walker…

Regardless of the eventual outcome, Kloppenburg’s out-of- nowhere showing is a cautionary tale for those governors following in Walker’s path by curtailing workers’ bargaining rights, and for the Tea Party, which you’d think would be fighting for the little guy, not the big bully…

Read the rest of this entry »

Britain’s most senior family judge has overturned a man’s attempts to stop his children emigrating to Australia with their mother – saything they can keep in touch by Skype.

Sir Nicholas Wall, President of the High Court Family Division, refused to block plans by the man’s former lover to start a new life on the other side of the world saying it was in her two young children’s “best interests”.

He heard how the woman, who cannot be identified, had become “isolated, trapped and depressed” in Britain and that the children were keen to go with her.

But the children’s father argued that their departure would destroy the “embryonic” relationship he has with them.

Whilst accepting that the man’s objections “came from the heart”, Sir Nicholas said it would be “plainly wrong” to block the woman’s chance of a new life.

Although he “did not minimise” the man’s objections, he added that the age of instant online communication including Skype – the voice and video call software – meant that the children’s move did not mean the end of the relationship with their father…

Har! Modern reality offers an alternative direction to jurisprudence.

I wonder what other decisions might be affected in this manner?

A cancer patient in Montana — identified only as L.K. — refused to undergo a hysterectomy as treatment for her cancer on the grounds that she is deeply religious and wants to have children. That’s sad enough in it’s own right. But no one could have foreseen what happened next: A judge found her “mentally incompetent” based on her “delusional religious beliefs” and ruled she was to have the procedure.

The Montana Supreme Court has halted the surgery to allow for an appeal, but in the interim let’s ponder this question: Since when do we force people to be sterilized in this country?

On one side of the case we have L.K.’s physician and psychiatrist testifying that without the surgery she could die in three years and that her “religious delusions” — namely, that God had cured her — interfered with her ability to make reasoned decisions about her care.

On the other, we have L.K. herself saying that while she did understand that she had been diagnosed with cancer and did understand the risks of dying if she did not have the procedure, she didn’t want it…Alas, this wasn’t enough to convince Judge Karen Townsend that she was of sound mind.

To be fair, it’s likely that Townsend acted in what she thought was the best interest of this woman: By ordering L.K. to have the lifesaving surgery, she was potentially saving her life…

Do you think this woman should be forced to have a hysterectomy?

What do you think? We interfere with beliefs like this all the time – to save children of True Believers. Do we have the right to do the same for adults?

Thanks, Mr. Fusion

Ain’t nothing like a good open-field tackle – even with a wig on

A judge rugby-tackled a sex offender to prevent him escaping from court, the Old Bailey has heard.

Judge Douglas Marks Moore wrestled Paul Reid twice as he ran out of the judge’s door at Woolwich crown court in August. Reid, 34, who had escaped from another court two years before, made for the door after giving evidence in his trial…

“One thing stood between Paul Reid and freedom – the judge trying his case,” said Rupert Gregory, prosecuting…

Gregory said: “The jury were just leaving when the defendant jumped up and ran across the clerk’s bench to get to the judge’s door.

“As he went through the door, His Honour Judge Marks Moore grabbed him round the throat to try to bring him down.

“Together they went down three steps and then Reid broke free and ran down the judge’s corridor.

“The judge gave chase. Just as Reid was about to open a push-handle fire door, Marks Moore rugby-tackled him around the throat and waist and brought him crashing to the ground, landing on top of him.

“He held him there, struggling and protesting, until the prison officers managed to catch up, secure him and return him to custody.”

Gregory added: “The only thing preventing Paul Reid from pushing that fire door to the outside world was a judge in a wig and full robes…”

The trial continues.

Sock it to ‘em, judge!

UPDATE: Thought you might wish to know Reid has received a life sentence as a rapist.

On being told that the 8 year old German Shepherd Zak had sunk his teeth into a thief’s buttock, Judge Julian Lambert exclaimed “Good! I hope it hurt. Well done Zak..!”

But sitting at Gloucester Crown court today the judge had no hesitation in locking up persistent thief John Davies for nine months. Davies, 35, of Summerfield Gardens, Evesham, had admitted trying to steal a £3,000 bronze statue from a park in Cheltenham, Glos, on the night of 4th August last year.

His efforts were foiled by a couple walking through Sandford Park who spotted him and raised the alarm.

Davies fled when he saw police arriving but Zak was unleashed and sent after him.

“The dog followed the scent to a nearby courtyard where the defendant was hiding,” said prosecutor George Threlfall. “Zak detained him by by biting his left buttock…”

After the hearing Zak’s handler Pc Rich Hunt said it had been the dog’s last bite in the course of duty because he has since retired.

“He’s now living a quieter life with me in Cheltenham and is perfect with children and families.”

Good for you, PC Hunt. And good for you, Zak. I wish you a quiet and long-lasting retirement.

At issue in the case is none other than the F-bomb. At a criminal sentencing hearing last year, a defendant (who was not identified in the opinion) evidently was displeased about the sentence he received, exclaiming in court: “F*** y’all.”

The trial judge immediately found the defendant guilty of contempt for “uttering a profanity at me in my presence, in my sight, and in a calculated way.” He handed down a one-year prison sentence for contempt, on top of the other sentences he had imposed for the defendant’s underlying criminal offenses.

The defendant appealed the contempt sentence, claiming he did not obstruct justice, since he uttered the colorful turn of phrase after the hearing had already concluded.

But the D.C. Circuit held that verbal fireworks alone, even absent the “material” disruption of ongoing court proceedings, is enough to qualify for contempt…

[The] defendant won one concession: the D.C. Circuit reduced his contempt sentence to 6 months….

If one accepts the offense as a crime (the question under consideration by the courts), the question remains whether the punishment is equitable. I think you can deduce how I feel about it.

The dead victims of the Tuscon shooting attack represented a range of people that might be found at any congressional constituents’ event.

They included a 9-year-old girl just elected to her school council who wanted to see a real politician close up; a federal judge who happened to be nearby and stopped to see his friend the congresswoman; a congressional aide responsible for community outreach, and several senior citizens, representative of the demographic of the nation’s most active voters.

Of all the tragedies, the death of 9-year-old Christina Taylor Green seemed to cut the deepest, as children’s deaths invariably do.

The grade-schooler was recently elected president of the student council at the Mesa Verde Elementary School…

Her grief-stricken father, John Green, a scout for the Los Angeles Dodgers, told an interviewer through a voice that broke at times:

“She was born on 9/11. So she came in on a tragedy and she went out on a tragedy. Those nine years in between were very special. We’re all going to miss Christina. We were four people. Now we’re three. All I can say is we’re going to be strong for each other. And we’re going to honor Christina because she was a beautiful strong little girl. And we’re going to remember all the good things about her…”

Also killed was U.S. District Judge John McCarthy Roll, 63…

Gabe Zimmerman, 30, was Giffords’ director of community outreach. He was a former social worker who was engaged to be married…

The three additional victims were retirees: Phyllis Schneck, 79; Dorwan Stoddard, 76, and Dorothy Morris, 76.

Dory Stoddard was a retired construction worker who threw himself across his wife to protect her. She was shot in the legs three times.

Just folks who live on social security checks and medicare. Those “socialist” plots that undermine the freedom to be a murdering gun-thug.

An Ohio judge taken off a high-profile murder trial has dropped her $50 million lawsuit against a Cleveland newspaper and reached an undisclosed financial settlement with an affiliated company that runs the publication’s website.

Cuyahoga County Judge Common Pleas Judge Shirley Strickland Saffold and her adult daughter filed their lawsuit against The Plain Dealer, its parent company and the website operator in April over anonymous comments on the site that the newspaper said were traced to Saffold’s personal e-mail.

The inflammatory comments concerned the case of Anthony Sowell, a man who has pleaded not guilty to killing 11 women whose remains were found around his Cleveland home.

After the newspaper reported that the comments, including one critical of a Sowell attorney, had been connected to the judge, the defense team sought to have her removed from Sowell’s case. The Ohio Supreme Court agreed to do so, saying her removal was needed to avoid the appearance of bias.

The judge denied posting the comments and said they came from her daughter, Sydney Saffold, using a joint family account.

The Saffolds sued, claiming that the defendants released confidential information in violation of the website privacy policy. The suit was dismissed Thursday, said Brian Spitz, an attorney for the judge and her daughter. “We filed a suit that was for a very important cause and that my clients believed in very deeply and felt like fighting through until they got the resolution that they wanted,” Spitz told The Associated Press on Friday. “At the end of the day, my clients were very happy…”

An online editor decided to track down the e-mail address associated with the comments without consulting anyone, The Plain Dealer had said. Advance Internet later blocked editors’ access to the personal information of people who posted comments and said it never intended to make that information available to its affiliated newspapers.

Anyone here who comments regularly on the Web probably has a strong opinion about privacy rights – whether you avail yourself of them or not.

Site after site identifies email information as private. Violating that confidence is reasonably sleazy. An act for which the Plain Dealer has had to pony up an unpublished amount of money.