Fall Is Here

  • Law

  • It’s a month old, but just came up on our radar: Judge William Kephart signed a stipulation and order of consent to public reprimand for an interview he gave regarding Kirstin Lobato. [Nevada Commission on Judicial Discipline]
  • Attorney Richard Patterson is attempting to freeze the assets of Stephen Paddock. [Fox5Vegas]
  • The shooting victims may face an uphill legal battle. [RJ]
  • The Cliven Bundy trial was delayed until the end of the month. [Reuters]
  • RIP Reno Judge Patrick Flanagan. [RGJ]
43 Comments
Oldest
Newest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Anonymous
Guest
Anonymous
October 9, 2017 3:48 pm

RIP Judge. He was a good man.

anonymous
Guest
anonymous
October 9, 2017 5:09 pm
Reply to  Anonymous

Only appeared in front of him once or twice. Good guy, and good-natured. Overcame many challenges. RIP.

Anonymous
Guest
Anonymous
October 9, 2017 5:21 pm
Reply to  Anonymous

Pat was amazing. He spent the last 10 or so years paralyzed from the waist down from a horrible bicycle accident. Always cheerful and pleasant.

Anonymous
Guest
Anonymous
October 9, 2017 3:50 pm

Couple comments on the Bundy Trial: (1) I heard that there was some shakeup amongst the defense team and one of the attorneys was fired from representing one of the Bundys on the eve of trial (I think it was Ammon or Ryan); (2) Do we really need to rely on Reuters for reporting on local trials? Is our local newspaper really that bad?

Anonymous
Guest
Anonymous
October 9, 2017 5:13 pm

Whipple got fired by Cliven but Navarro wouldn’t let him out

Anonymous
Guest
Anonymous
October 9, 2017 6:16 pm
Reply to  Anonymous

Navarro appointed Tom Ericcson to represent Ryan Bundy because he supposedly hated his other CJA lawyer.

Anonymous
Guest
Anonymous
October 9, 2017 8:47 pm
Reply to  Anonymous

I heard Ericcson was on the case for all of like 2 hours until he heard the level of crazy and then bowed out. Anyone know anything about this?

Anonymous
Guest
Anonymous
October 9, 2017 5:52 pm

Interesting thread here about attorneys reaching out to opposing parties directly, even when the party is represented by counsel.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/433293260115971/permalink/1255138107931478/

Anonymous
Guest
Anonymous
October 9, 2017 6:30 pm
Reply to  Anonymous

What is Alex Ghibaudo thinking? Is he asking for a bar complaint?

Anonymous
Guest
Anonymous
October 9, 2017 6:44 pm
Reply to  Anonymous

Do you want an honest answer? Its Alex Ghibaudo. Frankly this is one of those instances where if you are his friend, contact him, take him aside and recommend that he put down social media. Absolutely I understand the inclination to want to punch back but this is not the way to do it.

Anonymous
Guest
Anonymous
October 9, 2017 6:59 pm
Reply to  Anonymous

Whoa. This isn't good.

Anonymous
Guest
Anonymous
October 9, 2017 7:06 pm
Reply to  Anonymous

What a bully! What was he hoping to accomplish? This is same chap that got locked up for DV. Some cats never learn. My guess is that he loses his license yet again.

Anonymous
Guest
Anonymous
October 9, 2017 7:17 pm
Reply to  Anonymous

Guy needs help. Clearly he is having mental issues. It happens to many people through many walks of life.

Anonymous
Guest
Anonymous
Guest
Anonymous
October 9, 2017 7:23 pm
Reply to  Anonymous

Hate to bring it up, but he is all tied up with Sanson and his war on common sense. Therefore the erratic bullying behavior cannot surprise anyone.

Anonymous
Guest
Anonymous
October 9, 2017 7:38 pm
Reply to  Anonymous

He's had second chance after second chance. Looks like her has real mental problems and is paranoid. Get this bad apple out of the profession before he does some real harm. Did we learn nothing from Graham?

Anonymous
Guest
Anonymous
October 9, 2017 8:50 pm
Reply to  Anonymous

I am not an Alex Ghibaudo fan. I am absolutely not a Sanson fan. Yes it appears Alex was goaded by the Warmonger people into responding and taking the bait. No excuse for taking the bait.

But anytime anybody affiliated with either side of the Fecesfest comes up on this board, I just wonder about the origin of some of the posters and whether they are not stakeholders in that fight that is going on over there on Facebook.

Anonymous
Guest
Anonymous
October 9, 2017 9:35 pm
Reply to  Anonymous

He has his issues no doubt, but 12:38 essentially equates his conduct(both as to severity of conduct and the type of conduct) to that of Rob Graham by posing the inquiry "Did we learn nothing from Graham?"

Again, no doubt there are some issues here, as there are with many members of the Bar. But the alleged issues do not seem to primarily concern financial matters, and certainly, no broad based financial fraud is alleged. Instead, various behavioral issues are alleged which may center around impulse control, reacting without fully thinking, etc.

Those can in some cases add up to something pretty serious if repeated and not adequately addressed. But please don't compare his situation to a lawyer who apparently spent the better part of the last decade stealing millions of dollars from clients.

If the lawyer in question continues with such conduct and does not improve, he could lose his privilege to practice law–temporarily or permanently. But you are comparing his situation to that of someone who committed multiple financial felonies and who will serve a lengthy prison sentence.

The logic of 12:38 would be comparable to a situation where a prosecutor indicates that a JP is not severe enough on a shop lifter who has not yet made full restitution, and then to induce the judge to be tougher the prosecutor argues "haven't we learned anything from the Charlie Manson massacres back in '69?"

Anonymous
Guest
Anonymous
October 9, 2017 6:00 pm

Question for the more-experienced here: How do I go about fixing a ticket for a friend? Just show up to justice court and ask for a reduction?

Jordan Ross, Principal, Ross Legal Search
Guest
Jordan Ross, Principal, Ross Legal Search
October 9, 2017 6:35 pm
Reply to  Anonymous

May I gently suggest that while many may not consider it to be a specialty with great depth or breadth, there is nonetheless a fixed skill set in traffic violations. Point in fact, here you are. I can certainly understand wanting to do the favor directly for your friend, but cutting a check to Craig Kinney is, in my humble (and regrettably experienced) opinion, the closest thing to a fool proof solution. Just sayin, the man's a wizard with this stuff.

Anonymous
Guest
Anonymous
October 9, 2017 6:41 pm
Reply to  Anonymous

Kinney used to do traffic tickets for free as a loss leader.

Anonymous
Guest
Anonymous
October 9, 2017 7:17 pm
Reply to  Anonymous

Kenny. As in "oh my God, they killed Kenny!" "You bastards!"

Anonymous
Guest
Anonymous
October 9, 2017 8:38 pm
Reply to  Anonymous

Jordan,

Nope. There is no "fixed skill" here. You just have your paralegal fill out a form and get a hearing date. That's literally it. I've done dozens of these for friends, family and referral sources over the years.

Anonymous
Guest
Anonymous
October 9, 2017 8:51 pm
Reply to  Anonymous

There is no skill. You show up and they hand you the paper. You have DUI? That requires a skill. You have someone who went 14 over the limit, that requires someone with a pulse.

Anonymous
Guest
Anonymous
October 9, 2017 11:14 pm
Reply to  Anonymous

Correction … a pulse and a bar number.

Anonymous
Guest
Anonymous
October 10, 2017 4:21 pm
Reply to  Anonymous

There's also a friends and family session the first Wednesday of every month at 1 with Judge Bonaventure handling them. As the front desk what court room it is in. You just show up (don't bring more than a couple tickets with you) and the Judge will typically reduce the citation and the fine.

Anonymous
Guest
Anonymous
October 11, 2017 12:50 am
Reply to  Anonymous

Perhaps 11:00 might be interested to attend this upcoming CLE… https://www.clarkcountybar.org/ccba-events/traffic-cle-seminar/

Anonymous
Guest
Anonymous
October 9, 2017 6:19 pm

Looking for an expert witness on a case where life insurance carrier changed from mailing premium bills to "electronic" premium billing to insured's "online account" without insured's knowledge. As a result, insured did not pay premium for a year and policy was cancelled. Client is still alive wants to reinstate policy. Client was diagnosed with brain cancer at or around the same time the carrier flipped to electronic payment system without consent. Any referrals would be appreciated. Thank you.

Anonymous
Guest
Anonymous
October 9, 2017 6:58 pm

@11:19; no offense intended, but unless you have a great deal of experience in litigating insurance coverage/bad faith issues you should be looking for an attorney that specializes in that area rather than merely an expert witness.

Insurance companies are normally a million for defense, not a dollar for tribute, but when it comes to bad faith issues, it becomes scorch earth policy and no cost is too high to defend themselves/destroy the plaintiff.

Locally, Steve Parson and Glenn Meir have been good in the past for bad faith issues. Robert Eglet (whatever you may think of him personally) seems to be loved by juries. Of course you can also always contact a big gun out of state bad faith firm and serve as their local counsel if they are willing to come in to handle it. If you are interested in a couple of referrals for out of state firms, leave a way to contact you and I'll happily give some of those as well.

Anonymous
Guest
Anonymous
October 9, 2017 7:06 pm
Reply to  Anonymous

Thanks Steve Parsons.

Anonymous
Guest
Anonymous
October 9, 2017 8:53 pm
Reply to  Anonymous

I think that's unfair 12:06. Insurance Bad Faith is what Parsons does. You can question his results if you wish. However I don't think 11:58's analysis reads anything like a self-endorsement by Steve (even with the misspelling of Glenn Meier's name).

Anonymous
Guest
Anonymous
October 9, 2017 8:57 pm
Reply to  Anonymous

I'm trying to say this in a way that matches the new "kinder, gentler" attitude of the blog… I've had personal experiences with Steve Parsons and would not recommend him.

Anonymous
Guest
Anonymous
October 9, 2017 9:02 pm
Reply to  Anonymous

@1:57 – Why's that?

Anonymous
Guest
Anonymous
October 9, 2017 9:14 pm
Reply to  Anonymous

I've had Steve Parsons and I WOULD recommend him. I also LOL at the idea that Steve Parsons is leaving comments online. The guy is a great attorney but a bit of luddite.

Anonymous
Guest
Anonymous
October 9, 2017 9:43 pm
Reply to  Anonymous

I'm someone in the middle on this one. On the one hand he would not be on my short list of top three attorneys I would select for such matter. On the other hand, if he is on someone else's short list, or someone has actually already chosen him, I would say that you could do a lot worse and that he will probably perform fairly well on the case.

So, IMO, he's in the very good to excellent range, but should not be in the range of excellent to one of the best.

Anonymous
Guest
Anonymous
October 9, 2017 9:47 pm
Reply to  Anonymous

So then who would you recommend?

anonymous
Guest
anonymous
October 9, 2017 9:49 pm
Reply to  Anonymous

This type of case has been Steve's stock in trade for probably three decades or so. Yes, he does rub people the wrong way at times, but you cannot argue with his experience or his depth and breadth of knowledge, particularly when it comes to any kind of life, health, or disability income policy.

Anonymous
Guest
Anonymous
October 9, 2017 10:14 pm
Reply to  Anonymous

11:19 here. I have had a few insurance coverage cases in my career. I even had a life insurance coverage lapse case some years back, but before the advent of electronic billing and notices. I was hoping somebody could point me to perhaps a former investigator/regulator for the Insurance Division for some consulting on the minutiae of notice requirements on a Nevada life insurance policy. The NRS and NAC is unclear, but maybe I am missing something. Thx

Anonymous
Guest
Anonymous
October 9, 2017 10:56 pm
Reply to  Anonymous

Steve Parsons

Anonymous
Guest
Anonymous
October 10, 2017 12:11 am
Reply to  Anonymous

@12:06 – Pretty sure Parsons wouldn't misspell his own name in the comment.

Anonymous
Guest
Anonymous
October 9, 2017 9:55 pm

Does anyone have access to the deposition transcript from the slip and fall case for Stephen Paddock? CNN apparently has gained access to it, but how does the general public?

Anonymous
Guest
Anonymous
October 9, 2017 9:57 pm
Reply to  Anonymous

By talking sweetly to Marty Kravitz