In Game: at Duquesne

[raptorcat]

Funny stories from the bench, continued:

Attorneys are low-hanging fruit for the jurist who wants to write about humorous events in the courtroom. Most stories are laughable because the lawyer's performance is so dreadful. This ultimately turns out to be tinged with sadness and pity for the hapless attorney and his poor client, and the humor gets obscured. But there have been occasions where some truly fine performances by attorneys were tinged with more than a bit of humor.

In Greensboro, the civil sessions of court are divided into two courtrooms, one for pretrial motions of all types and the other for the trials. Because I spent a big portion of my private practice arguing civil motions, the attorneys tended to load up my calendar with their motions when they learned I would be the judge; they knew they wouldn't have to spend an inordinate amount of time educating one of my brethren, many of whom had spent their careers on the criminal side of the law, on the finer points of the law when it came to civil procedure.

But they also knew that they had to be on their toes when arguing in front of me. It's ironic how much I enjoyed employing the Socratic method in court when I absolutely hated being on the receiving end of the professor's pointed questions in law school classes; I should have felt shame-faced, but I never did. I remember playing the role of ol' Socrates in one case, where the attorney was trying to persuade me to rule in his client's favor. I had read the lawyers' briefs they'd submitted and I was thoroughly familiar with where the issues were arrayed. So I began peppering him with questions based on the arguments that had been laid out in his opponent's brief, probing for legal sophistries.

When I'd finished with my questioning, it was the turn of the opposing counsel. He stood and asked for my indulgence while he rummaged in his briefcase for something. He must not have liked the way I posed my questions to his learned opponent, because he pulled out a glossy 8 X 10 studio photo of Paul Newman in his role as the woebegone attorney Frank Galvin in the 1982 movie "The Verdict" and said, "To quote the words of the immortal Paul Newman, 'Your Honor, with all due respect, if you're going to try my case for me, I wish you wouldn't lose it.'"

It's a great courtroom movie; here's the clip from YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cxwe8qwM1cE

GO CATS!

[MLC67]

My first job out of law school was to serve as a deputy attorney general for the great state of New Jersey. In 1974 when my career commenced, the Division of Law in which I served had two office protocols. In appellate work, the DAG could not file even a motion for extension of time without supervisory attorney approval. The second commandment was do not seek any assistance at the trial court level as every trial attorney had their own full docket of cases.

Whenever we were doing defense work in representing a State agency client, we would immediately file a motion to dismiss the plaintiff’s case because the hard and fast rule was that any and all objections to state actions had to be heard at the appellate court level.

So when a number of suburban municipalities sued my client, the Department of Environmental Protection, seeking to overturn a sewer connection ban imposed because their treatment plants were operating at inflow levels that exceeded their hydraulic capacities, I filed the handy boiler plate motion and brief seeking to have these complaints dismissed. All dispositive motions, as this was, were heard by the Presiding Judge for the County District in which the case was filed. In this sewer case, the Judge sat in Freehold, NJ, where I had never before argued anything as this was the first year in the office. As the moving party, the DEP had the burden of demonstrating the legal justification for throwing the case out of court, so when the court clerk called my motion to be argued, I went to the defense counsel table and stood there waiting for the Judge to give me the high sign to present my argument.

Instead, he called the plaintiff’s lead counsel to argue against dismissal. I quickly fell into my seat, thinking: “my God what have I done to piss this Judge off so bad that he would not even allow me to speak.” As I was pondering the end of my four month old legal career, the several plaintiffs’ counsel sat down having completed their 30 minutes of argument. At that moment, his Honor took out a sheaf of papers and started reading his already written opinion dismissing the municipalities’ complaints.

Only when I returned to my Trenton office was I informed by my much more senior colleagues that this Monmouth County Presiding Judge had attempted to rule on all motions by briefs alone as he always issued written opinions. The State Supreme Court chastised him for this truncated practice and ordered him to hold oral arguments on all cases before him as mandated by due process of law. As the winning attorney would not appeal having had the court decision in his favor, when any attorney was told by the Judge to start his oral argument, he or she knew already that they had lost. My career was saved and I learned to have lunch with my more senior colleagues before arguing any motions in a new county seat.

Go Cats!

[JCDC]

I move to call the game in favor of the visiting team.

[raptorcat]

I move to call the game in favor of the visiting team.

Awww, surely things aren't all that bad!

[i77cat]

Didn't Dae Dae go for 31 last game? He can't do it twice in a row. But he'll try. He might go 2-19 tonight. Go Cats.

[seamac77]

I move to call the game in favor of the visiting team.

Awww, surely things aren't all that bad!

......"Was it over when the Germans decided to bomb Pearl Harbor ?",.,,,

[JCDC]

I’m sorry that the games are no longer on TuneIn/WHIP. End of an era. So far, varsity Network has poor quality streaming. Skipping, dropouts. What ever happened to the good old days.

[bagelcat]

Dae Dae Grant is 98-103 from the foul line.

It's going to be confusing. They have 13 players that have averaged 9 minutes a game or more (one at 8.9, but I rounded up). A 14th player averages 7 minutes a game. They've had some injuries, so that accounts for some of that.

The two twins from Mali were prominent in the St Peters run to the Final 8 a couple of years ago. They stopped at LaSalle first.

Duquesne lost their first five games in conference, won their next 3.

[MrMac]

Funny, thought-provoking, crazy stuff above. Hoping for a dog-in, satisfying, much-needed win below. Go Cats!

[MrMac]

Their center looks like the old App State mascot.

[MrMac]

Sloppy start for both teams.

[MrMac]

Conner really understands how to cut to the basket.

[i77cat]

I’m sorry that the games are no longer on TuneIn/WHIP. End of an era. So far, varsity Network has poor quality streaming. Skipping, dropouts. What ever happened to the good old days.

It's on WHIP tonight.

https://www.1350whip.com/

[Dr. Bliss]

The Duquesne D logo is really awful.

[bagelcat]

Durkin fails to get out on DiMichele quickly enough on his 3.

Terrible cross court pass by Reed.

Was that a phantom foul on Durkin on the reverse layup attempt by DiMichelle?