Monday, February 7, 2011

Kendall Coffey Sinks His Teeth Into Florida Rule of Evidence 90.803(25)a.ii.



I thought I'd followed closely Miami Voice's recall effort of Natacha. But somehow I did not know that Michael "Lou" Pizzi had previously led an unsuccessful Natacha recall effort. ( I just love saying that....NATACHAAAAAAAA...)

The Herald covers the drama here. So like, doesn't it seem a little less like Mikey is co-counsel to Big Ben, and a little more like Mikey hired Ben this time around to make sure things did not go south? Again.

Anyhoo, back to Natacha's depo. According to the Herald, Pizzi and Natacha really got into it. Can't wait for video, live at 5.

Natacha's attorney is non other than Kendall Coffey! You remember him, right?

No? Let me try to refresh your recollection.

He has attempted to stage a comeback by pushing his visibility through various publicity stunts.

First, he served as a CNN commentator on Eliot Spitzer's fall from grace for cheating on his wife and daughters and lying about being a prostitute's trick. Our own Glenn Garvin outed Kendall for his, er, "superior qualifications" for the gig. (One wonders if Garvin would have chimed in were Kendall a republican.)

Kendall's next publicity stunt was real early in the Rothstein Ponzi fraud, before he had any reasonable opportunity to understand the complex facts. Come on you remember! He took his client's word and invited the cameras in and shared his defense theories and gave a tour of the firm! Cool!

And don't forget the book!

Heck, I could go on and on with Ken's self-prooting publicity stunts - but why bother? Just check out his website.

Which brings us back to our evidence lesson for today. According to the Herald, in his depo defense of Natacha, Kendall cites the oft overlooked 90.803(25)a.ii. objection: "Kendall Coffey, Seijas’ attorney, repeatedly objected to Pizzi’s line of questioning, accusing him of a politically motivated “publicity stunt.’’

Wasn't Ben co-counsel with Ken for Gore, in the recount?

N.B.: I wonder how Ben is holding up.

Sunday, February 6, 2011

The Faustian Tale of David Stern



I knew David when he was nobody, and heck, that seems like almost yesterday.

But now he's all over the news! Heck, he's featured in the Washington Post!

Let's see:

Plush, marble floored offices with glass and fountains? Check.

60 million in personal real estate? Check

Bugatti, Ferrari, Bentley? Check.

Bombshell wife? Check.

Yacht? Check.

Shit out of luck? Looks that way.

The dude has all 50 attorneys general on his ass. Not even Madoff can say that.

Michelle Conlin puts out some great journalism in the Post article.

Here's Dave, in happier days.



N.B.: Note the wristband from the prior evening's all-you-can-drink wet T-shirt contest.

Friday, February 4, 2011

Kuehne and Pizzi



You know, you spend a few weeks at the bottom of a scotch bottle, and you miss a lot around here.

Ben and Mike are co-counsel to Miami Voice, the political action committee that is leading the effort to oust Miami-Dade County Commissioner Natacha Seijas?

(Natacha has fought back, asking a circuit judge to block her March 15 recall election, arguing that if the supposedly flawed recall petitions are excluded, not enough valid voter signatures were delivered to the Clerk of Courts to justify a recall election.)

Anyhoo, what a team, Ben and Mikey! Good cop/ bad cop, for sure! Check out the quotes from the Herald article!

The ``court must make every effort to validate the citizens' will,'' asserted Miami Voice, represented by attorney Ben Kuehne. ``Especially in view of the exacting standards for enjoining an election, this court should be confident, as should any responsible elected official, that the people can best be trusted to choose their political and governmental leaders despite the efforts of entrenched politicians to subvert the will of the voters.''

That Ben Kuehne, he's something else isn't he?

Then Mikey announced his presence with authority, stating that Natacha's ``claims are based on absurd technicalities. It is total nonsense.''

Ah, the old "absurd technicalities" defense.

But Mikey is not done. In response to legal positions taken by Natacha's camp, Mike says ``It's despicable they made an allegation they knew they couldn't back up,'' Pizzi said.

Watch the video of Natacha's aborted deposition on the Herald website - Natacha looks like a deer in headlights.

Natachaaaaaaa......



N.B.: Speaking of a numbers game, on this matter do you think Pizzi is billing out for his standard rate of $500 or his reduced rate of $80?