There is so much going on in all cases concerning Micheal Jackson’s Estate, Casey Anthony, Anna Nicole Smith’s Estate and Dr. Arnold Klein Bankruptcy turned into what seems is going to be another major event in the Jackson SAGAS.
Here are the papers on just the Michael Jackson Estate vs. Howard Mann and Vintage Pop, please also note on the right side of the front page is an updated scrolling court dates on a lot of cases I did this morning.
This Scheduling Order consists of the following dates and information involving the Estate of Jackson vs. Mann and Vintage Pop:
June 23, 2011 Estate of Michael Jackson vs. Howard Mann and Vintage Pop Media are to disclose information and confer on a discovery plan by this date.
June 30, 2011 Estate of Michael Jackson vs. Howard Mann and Vintage Pop Media “Rule 26(f) Report” due as required by Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26 and the Local Rules of this Court.
July 14, 2011 Estate of Michael Jackson vs. Howard Mann and Vintage Pop Media Scheduling Conference at 2:30 PM
Then we have the bankruptcy of Dr. Arnold Klein which WAS to be discharged as of today and gone!!!! Surprise like all of the cases involving Anna Nicole Smith and her Estate and the parties who knew her. Klein’s bankruptcy has turned into anything but “normal”. I started going through the files this afternoon and suddenly realized there were mass Motions and Memorandum of Law and revolving lawyers and claims and counterclaims. It is going to take me most of tonight to just see which ones to pull for ya’ll. However here is the Schedule of hearings I have read today.
May 10, 2011 at 2:00 PM Status Hearing on Arnold Klein’s Bankruptcy
May 18, 2011 9:00 AM Hearing on Multiple Motions on the Bankruptcy of Arnold Klein
Then we have poor Casey Anthony standing trial in the media circus that is said by the judge it will be bigger than O. J. Simpson’s murder trial. The sad things is Casey Anthony does not have the money to buy the dream team O. J. had, another reminder in the U. S., you are entitled to the best defense YOU have the money to BUY.
We are going to do something interesting with this case and I will put up some links to papers you may or may not have about this trial.
May 9, 2011 Jury Selection begins in Casey Anthony First Degree Murder Case in Florida. Already we are getting Nancy Grace’s grating voice on commercial that “she will have a panel” to cover the highlights everyday on her show. Thank God for remote control for the television, because Grace is not going to be beamed into this house.
May 16, 2011 Opening statements due on the Casey Anthony First Degree Murder Case in Florida. Rose Speaks.com will be giving twitter updates throughout each day of the trial.
Ken is setting up some new gadgets that is going to allow us and those of you who want to, twitter throughout the trial each day as we watch it on Tru TV the old Court TV. If you want to participate let us know you do on our twitter that we are sending out in about 5 minutes and Ken will work the magic that allows all of us to do this.
Do y’all want Diamond Girl to set up an open daily discussion each day for this case in the Community she runs? Let her know and I am sure if she can she will get with you about how you want to set this up.
On Anna Nicole Smith Estate vs. Susan M. Brown and the Brown Law Offices, Ford Shelley, G. Ben Thompson et. al. Ms. Brown is going to represent herself, what is that saying about a lawyer with themselves as a client?
Here is a brief description of which dates are for what in that case:
May 13, 2011 Final Status Report due in in the Anna Nicole Smith Estate vs. Susan M. Brown, Ford Shelly, G. Ben Thompson et. al. Brown is going to be Pro Se as is G. Ben Thompson now
June 27, 2011, the parties shall file and exchange Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(a)(3) pretrial disclosures in the Anna Nicole Smith Estate vs. Susan M. Brown, Ford Shelly, G. Ben Thompson et. al. Brown is going to be Pro Se as is Thompson now.
July 8, 2011 Mediation is to be complete in in the Anna Nicole Smith Estate vs. Susan M. Brown, Ford Shelly, G. Ben Thompson et. al. Brown is going to be Pro Se as is Thompson now.
July 11, 2011 the parties shall file and exchange Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(a)(3) objections, any objections to use of a deposition designated by another party and any deposition counter-designations under Fed. R. Civ. P. 32(a)(6) in the Anna Nicole Smith Estate vs. Susan M. Brown, Ford Shelly, G. Ben Thompson et. al.
July 14, 2011 Motions in Limine must be filed by this date by all parties in the Anna Nicole Smith Estate vs. Susan M. Brown, Ford Shelly, G. Ben Thompson et. al.
July 14, 2011 Attorneys shall meet for the purpose of exchanging and marking all exhibits. See Local Civil Rule 26.07 in the Anna Nicole Smith Estate vs. Susan M. Brown, Ford Shelly, G. Ben Thompson et. al.
July 21, 2011 All Parties shall furnish the Court with pretrial briefs (Local Civil Rule 26.05) in in the Anna Nicole Smith Estate vs. Susan M. Brown, Ford Shelly, G. Ben Thompson et. al.
July 28, 2011 Jury selections begins Attorneys and parties are expected to be available for trial of this case during the months of August and September 2011 unless the court notifies you of a later date in the Anna Nicole Smith Estate vs. Susan M. Brown, Ford Shelly, G. Ben Thompson et. al. Susan M. Brown and G. Ben Thompson will be Pro Se for the trial.
We are going to do brief lead in daily that Sprocket’s site of Trial and Tribulation are covering, so we will try to stay up with all of you, but expect papers and articles on other cases like Cynthia Sommer and Narcy Novak to be on the weekends during the Casey Anthony First degree murder trial.
Be sure to participate in our COMMUNITY , get the most out of the site by learning your way around in the community where you can discuss things about the cases in a debate area of the site. Diamond Girl runs that entire section don’t hesitate to contact her to make suggestions on how this forum is more user friendly.
Visit our Download Section for all documents on the cases we are following.
We will be listening to all of our readers about new cases. Do you have a tip for us on a case to follow? If so Contact Us, a link appears at the top of all pages; ALL TIPS ARE OF COURSE CONFIDENTIAL. If you would like to do some articles for Rose Speaks.com send us that information and we will give you our rules for guest writers.
The expressions in this blog article are based on the opinions of Rose Turner or our featured authors, please remember we are not lawyers and those opinions expressed here are each of our individual opinions and should not be taken as legal advice and/or legal opinions. The comments following this blog article are the opinions and sole property of the blog site members and do not necessarily reflect those of the site owners. If comments to this or any other articles are not related to the article or does not meet the terms of use for Rose Speaks, they will be removed by the moderators.
Ok folks, Dr. Conrad Murray heads to opening statements on May 9, 2011, trial to be televised. As of today the latest “defense” is Michael Jackson was so depressed and scared about money he killed himself. Ah the Google alerts pouring in, and the rumor that one of Murray’s top lawyers has been offered a “reality show” at the end of the trial.
There is a hearing on April 11, 2011 at 10:00 A. M. on Howard Mann and Vintage Pop Motion to Dismiss the lawsuit initiated by the Executors and Administrators of Jackson’s Estate, John Branca and John McClain. In scanning through the exhibits I came across one that Joe and Katherine Jackson with some of the other family members went bankrupt in 2000 and in 2002 the Bankruptcy Trustee sold some of the rights to Howard Mann. So this suit might not be as open and shut as it looks. I suggest you download the papers and let us know what you think:
Then there are the required Notice of Interested Parties, Joiner in the Motions, the Opposition Reply by the Estate and the Response to the Reply by Mann and Vintage Pop. All of these are set for hearing in Los Angeles Federal Court if you are in town that day, drop by listen to the lawyers and tell us what you think and more important what all of this is going to end up costing Michael Jackson’s three children. It gives greed a whole new meaning.
Just to make sure you have all of the documents that lead up to this hearing, here is the Original Complaint by the Estate of Michael Jackson filed against Howard Mann, Vintage Pop et. al.
We are getting the Michael Jackson documents connected first under the new software, and as every time we have changed, simplified, tried to make the site more user friendly there are a LOT of burbs. THE ONLY DOCUMENTS AVAILABLE TO DOWNLOAD ON THE SITE ARE THE ONES LISTED ON THE NEW DOWNLOAD SECTION AT THE UPPER TOP RIGHT HAND SIDE. We are tweaking with the coding. So far the I. E. browser is user friendly with the downloads; Fire Fox is not as much, you have to line your mouse up towards the left hand side of the error on the download button to get the document, EXCEPT when you download them from the article. Thus like with this one of the multiple Michael Jackson trials we will list all of the documents in the articles. We are trying to see what happens if you use Chrome. WE FULLY expect to have this all tweaked and working for all browsers by no later than Saturday. IF YOU WANT A DOCUMENT FROM AN OLDER TRIAL (I. E. MOST OF THE ANNA NICOLE SMITH CASES) EMAIL US AND WE WILL GET IT TO YOU ON AN INDIVIDUAL REQUEST We will be doing a short article everyday with the list of downloads that have been transferred to the new system, but also check the Download page daily.
Now with all of that said we have televised trials coming up. I have three sites I like if you intend to watch the Casey Anthony Case that we will do brief lead-in articles on their daily coverage. If you have a site you like let us know and we will contact the owners to see what we can work out with them. IF YOU want an area to discuss the Casey Anthony trial get with Diamond Girl to get a general discussion area for the trial in the community section. We have several members that will be watching that trial as well as several that will be watching the Dr. Conrad Murray Manslaughter trial. Again you can get in touch with Diamond Girl if you want a daily general discussion section set up in the community during Murray’s Trial.
If you want to twitter during the coverage of either trials here to our site email us and we will get that set up. We are going to be enlarging the area on the side of each main page for twitters during both trials.
Ken and I with our administrators and moderators want to thank you for flying RoseSpeaks.com
Visit our Download Section for all documents on the cases we are following:
Be sure to participate in our COMMUNITY , get the most out of the site by learning your way around in the community where you can discuss things about the cases in a debate area of the site. Diamond Girl runs that entire section don’t hesitate to contact her to make suggestions on how this forum is more user friendly.
We will be listening to all of our readers about new cases. Do you have a tip for us on a case to follow? If so Contact Us, a link appears at the top of all pages; ALL TIPS ARE OF COURSE CONFIDENTIAL. If you would like to do some articles for Rose Speaks.com send us that information and we will give you our rules for guest writers.
The expressions in this blog article are based on the opinions of Rose Turner or our featured authors, please remember we are not lawyers and those opinions expressed here are each of our individual opinions and should not be taken as legal advice and/or legal opinions. The comments following this blog article are the opinions and sole property of the blog site members and do not necessarily reflect those of the site owners. If comments to this or any other articles are not related to the article or does not meet the terms of use for Rose Speaks, they will be removed by the moderators.
In the South Carolina federal Court the Estate has filed it’s Reply to Susan M. Brown’s Response in which she states L. Lin Wood charges to much!!! I personally think it was reasonable especially if you look at some filings against attorneys in other venues for Sanctions and Contempt. Which then begs to ask, how much is Brown’s time worth and/or billed to clients?
Jury selection is scheduled to began on January 13, 2011 in South Carolina but I just don’t see this going to trial but rather Brown’s insurance paying and getting damage control under way to restore Brown’s reputation.
Bringing up Brown’s reputation, I am sure most of you read in my 2010 deposition in the Texas case where I was told by a representative for Susan M. Brown, that she was going to sue this site and ME for damaging her professional reputation. I have been very hesitant to write anything about Brown following that. Believe me three plus years of being tangled up in lawsuits with people you have never met, is enough for a life time. That said, if Brown is going to put herself out there with having an Order by a Court to Sanction her for Contempt, then do we have an obligation to cover it as we do all things Anna Nicole Smith? I personally don’t believe this site has ever published anything harmful, [unless you consider the truth harmful], to any of the people in this saga of overlapping jurisdictions and lawsuits. We have stated over and over we know NONE of these people, have little to no contact with these people directly and we have learned to ask both sides for comments on the record.
The rule of thumb here is going to be would I cover the lawyers I “like” if they were brought up on Sanctions and for Contempt, the answer is YES, therefore we are going to cover this using the same criteria as we would if it was say, Wood.
Should Susan M. Brown be worried about what a small time blogger has to say about her? Shouldn’t she be more concerned about her career and trying to restore her reputation as an ethical attorney? IF there is a Georgia State Bar Complaint against her we will never know that, but I would bet money with what two federal courts have said about her in Opinions she is being investigated and if not then the State Bar of Georgia has seriously dropped the ball on Brown.
Here are the latest filings in the Anna Nicole Smith Estate through the Executor, Howard K. Stern’s vs. Susan M. Brown, attorney, and others in recovering Estate property.
I think we can see the writing on the wall as soon as L. Lin Wood moved on to other cases and let Luke Lantta and Nicole Jennings Wade finished up this last major lawsuit involving Smith’s Estate .
November 11, 2010 Susan M. Brown’s Affidavit stating that none of the Estate’s property or any copies are in her procession. It details the actions she took to double check everything.
December 9, 2010 Susan M. Brown’s Response to Howard K . Stern’s bill as the Executor of the Estate of Anna Nicole Smith. Brown complains about how much money the Estate attorneys charged. Brown asks for a 25% reduction on the bill for $14,000+ but then goes on to really ask for a 50% reduction and that is based on what ? That Wood and team are better attorneys then Brown but still does not deserve to be paid for their work on the level of Wood’s abilities for his clients?… Yea that is going to fly, NOT!!!
December 20, 2010, L. Lin Wood’s Reply on behalf of the Estate of Anna Nicole Smith that basically says, oh Really, want to see the emails? Yeppers everyone keeps emails now especially lawyers trying to reach an agreement on anything, even something as simple as filing a joint status report the Court asks for.
With all of this said, I do hope we get to follow some of these attorneys who do defamation suits on high profile cases like L. Lin Wood and Jackson Walker over the years to come, both of them are the tops in the country and usually on opposing sides.
When I mentioned “All things relating to Michael Jackson, to Ken his first statement was “Rose your health can’t handle being pulled into any more legal wrangling”. Yes but we have great guest writers and what is pulling a few legal papers was my response to him. .
We are going to attempt to have someone in the court on January 6, 2011 for the judges ruling on pending motions filed by Steve Sadow and Brad Brunon to reduce the charges or for a new trial and of course for any sentencing the Court imposes on Dr. Khristine Eroshevich and/or Howard K. Stern.
Be sure to participate in our COMMUNITY , get the most out of the site by learning your way around in the community where you can discuss things about the cases in a debate area of the site.
Visit our Download Section for all documents on the cases we are following:
We will be listening to all of our readers about new cases. Do you have a tip for us on a case to follow? If so Contact Us, a link appears at the top of all pages; ALL TIPS ARE OF COURSE CONFIDENTIAL
The expressions in this blog article are based on the opinions of Rose Turner or our featured authors, please remember we are not lawyers and those opinions expressed here are each of our individual opinions and should not be taken as legal advice and/or legal opinions. The comments following this blog article are the opinions and sole property of the blog site members and do not necessarily reflect those of the site owners. If comments to this or any other articles are not related to the article or does not meet the terms of use for Rose Speaks, they will be removed by the moderators.
Once in a great while the veil of attorney’s fees are exposed so everyone can see what the best of the best charges.
We saw that when Jackson and Walker filed for Sanctions against Virgie Arthur in the Texas state Court. We heard it in the transcript of a hearing in that case when L. Lin Wood said his client, Howard K. Stern had a bill of $1,000,000.00, [yes one MILLION dollars], for attorneys fees to fight the two large suits in Houston, Texas Stern became entangled in with Arthur.
In the bill submitted per Court Order in the South Carolina Federal Court of the Estate of Anna Nicole Smith vs. G. Ben Thompson, Ford Shelley and Susan M. Brown Esq., we again have the opportunity to have a look behind the veil of billing by attorneys in high profile cases.
Frankly I am surprise that L. Lin Wood only charges $400.00 an hour, after all he is the best at what he does. NOTE AND CORRECTION: L. Lin Wood’s fee is closer to $815.00 per hour in most cases unless as with this case in which Bryan Cave has a “Hybrid fee basis” contract the fee is almost $1,000 per hour. I stand corrected and that is more in sync with what I thought “he should be paid”. I remember saying during my deposition that I was surrounded by thousand dollar an hour lawyers. I was wrong with that many attorneys and paralegals present I should have said about three thousand dollar an hour lawyers.
This also gives us a clear insight into what one of Wood’s client’s, Richard Jewell, said that he did not get that much money from the settled lawsuits but it was not about money to him it was about clearing his name.
Then there is ALL of the expenses of lawyers like Wood and his entourage of Nicole Jennings Wade and Luke Lantta for traveling, preparing filings, preparing for a hearing or deposition, the time spent at a hearing or deposition and even the transcripts. That plus the percentage, which is usually at least 1/3 of the settlement of a suit but can go as high as 50% of a settlement and then the “expenses incurred” and you see why lawyers walk away with most of the money.
That said, if you were Richard Jewell, John and the late Patsy Ramsey, or Howard K. Stern how much would it be worth to you for L. Lin Wood to restore your good name?
Some of these lawyers have what I call a God complex because of the mega bucks they make, however I never saw that in the depositions and hearings I was part of where Wood also participated. He is a southern gentleman but he also drives a $220k+ car and can be a mean fighting machine on behalf of his clients.
I will be writing a biography on Wood and what his previous clients got in some settlements, was it worth it to them and who is L. Lin Wood. I have done a lot of research and hope you will come back and read that later this week. Yes I will be asking Mr. Wood for a on the record statement about this unauthorized biography and his previous clients feelings about this mega lawyer.
Here are the papers filed by Bryan Cave last week.
November 29, 2010 Anna Nicole Smith Estatebilling statement by L. Lin Wood.
What do you think, is L. Lin Wood worth this much?
Be sure to participate in our COMMUNITY , get the most out of the site by learning your way around in the community where you can discuss things about the cases in a debate area of the site.
Visit our Download Section for all documents on the cases we are following:
We will be listening to all of our readers about new cases. Do you have a tip for us on a case to follow? If so Contact Us, a link appears at the top of all pages; ALL TIPS ARE OF COURSE CONFIDENTIAL
The expressions in this blog article are based on the opinions of Rose Turner or our featured authors, please remember we are not lawyers and those opinions expressed here are each of our individual opinions and should not be taken as legal advice and/or legal opinions. The comments following this blog article are the opinions and sole property of the blog site members and do not necessarily reflect those of the site owners. If comments to this or any other articles are not related to the article or does not meet the terms of use for Rose Speaks, they will be removed by the moderators.
So many of us have lost very close family and friends over the past year. That always makes these first holidays horrid. As Heath said to me when Ken and I lost someone that was the foundation of our family: “If you can’t cry for someone you love, then who can you cry for?” Those are very wise words for all of our members as well as Ken and me as we get through this first holiday without our love ones.
I told Ken I wanted to get up early this morning and watch the Macy New York Thanksgiving Parade. That is how the holiday of my youth were all about. My dad and I got up and watch the parade as my mom cooked. Such wonderful smells filled the house every Thanksgiving. I have to say I was disappointed in the Parade, it is not what I remember from my youth. Way back then there were high school bands and college bands that had auditioned, picked to appear and then worked hard to get the money to go to New York. It was wonderful to see those kids so excited and it put excitement in our home as well as we discussed who was the best. Gone are those and the floats for the most part all replaced by very commercial, planned acts and those horrid big balloons. I told Ken today the only thing that remained as I remember it was the last float as Santa arrived. I wish we had those old fashion parades again. Needless to say I will sleep in next year… LOL
The parade was followed by a lot of good eats and then the Dallas Cowboys who still plays every Thanksgiving Day. I have always said that becoming a football fan was not optional in my home, if you did not watch football then there was nothing to do after the feast but be bored the rest of the day. My dad and my brother would sit there and watch and cheer, discussing every play. I learned all I know about football being with my dad and brother. In fact I got pretty good, when my son became a teenager he turned to my husband and said; “Dad what is a shot gun and wishbone formations”? His dad had to tell him; “Ask mom she will know.” Yes I did know, what wonderful memories of people who are now gone.
Ken and I wish for each of you a safe and wonderful holiday, and like us remember those who are no longer with us and shed a tear at the loss in your life, Ken and I will today. However, also remember the memories you have, not everyone has those great memories, so in that we are lucky as many of you are lucky.
Remember our service men and women so far from home and pray by next year they will be safe with their families for Thanksgiving dinner.
We also wish an exciting new adventure for Jay Patton of Bryan Cave and Neil McCabe of the O’Quinn Law Firm as they leave those firms begin new journeys and new endeavors. We hope both of them find something they love and thrive at in the year to come.
Surround yourself today with family and good friends and have a great day, lots of goodies to eat. Ken has been cooking for two days and the smells from the kitchen reminds me of long ago days and my family and those memories I made. The most important thing is remember those we have loss in the last year and with the tears, remember the good times, as Ken and I will do. In closing, how about those Cowboys?
The expressions in this blog article are based on the opinions of Rose Turner or our featured authors, please remember we are not lawyers and those opinions expressed here are each of our individual opinions and should not be taken as legal advice and/or legal opinions. The comments following this blog article are the opinions and sole property of the blog site members and do not necessarily reflect those of the site owners. If comments to this or any other articles are not related to the article or does not meet the terms of use for Rose Speaks, they will be removed by the moderators.
Per CNN: Florida Senate candidate Jeff Greene is a billionaire real estate investor who has spent millions to fund his primary campaign against fellow Democrat, Rep. Kendrick Meek. Now, one week before Florida’s primary elections, Greene is preparing to spend his money on a lawsuit against two Florida newspapers if they don’t publish lengthy retractions to damning articles they recently published about him.
Famed Bryan Cave LLP defamation attorney L. Lin Wood is the attorney Greene has chosen to represent him in what is shaping up as a very expensive battle with the St. Petersburg Times and the Miami Herald. The papers have a working partnership and often share resources to cover state news.
Times editor Neil Brown said last week after receiving a letter dated August 11, that no retraction is forthcoming, and Greene is expected to follow through, potentially as early as Friday, August 20, 2010
Both papers have endorsed Greene’s opponent, Meek in the Democratic primary for Senate Florida’s primary elections will be held Tuesday, August 24.
The allegations leading up to the threat of a defamation case is based on that one of the stories, first published on August 8, the Times reported that in 2006, Greene had sold California property to Delbert McConville, who is now in jail facing conspiracy and money laundering charges. Greene admits to selling McConville 300 condos, but insists that his connection to McConville ends there and that he was not a party to the dealings McConville engaged in that led him to jail.
Then we have the article stating links between Mike Tyson and Greene even going as far as to tying in a Sport’s Illustrated Article interview of July 28 where Tyson allegedly describes Greene’s 145-foot yacht, the activity on the yacht; including it was lavish, and teeming with naked, drunken parties. Greene denies those claims. Tyson–who is a close friend to Greene and was best man at his 2007 wedding–spent a month aboard Greene’s yacht, Summerwind, during the summer of 2005, however the Sport’s Illustrated Article does not name Greene. Sport’s Illustrated would not comment to CNN.
In the August 16 letter to the Miami Herald executive editor Anders Gyllenhaal, attorney L. Lin Wood, said the stories are “replete with false, misleading and defamatory statements of fact concerning Mr. Greene.”
Greene is threatening to open his wallet wide to wage this legal fight. “It will be a substantial lawsuit, because I am a high net-worth individual who does earn a lot of money,” Greene said at a press conference last week that was recorded by the Miami Herald, “and if my reputation is damaged, the St. Petersburg Times will be held accountable.”
Neil Brown has stated; “The Times’ coverage of Mr. Greene and his business transactions has been thorough and fair, and the reporting is well-documented in public records,” Brown said in a statement published on The Times’ political blog. “Our story is accurate, balanced and we stand by it.”Mr. Greene is welcome to submit a letter to the editor if he wishes to take further exception.”
An aide to Greene told CNN that this is no political bluff and that “recklessly disregarding the truth is actionable and Jeff plans to take action.”
The South Florida Law Blog says in their article today; “to paraphrase Steely Dan, Lin Wood is a major dude. He previously represented accused Centennial Olympic Park bomber Richard Jewell, the parents of Jon Benet Ramsey, Howard K. Stern, and has been involved in many other high-profile defamation cases. The article goes on to muse that; “if the Herald will retain our own silver fox, Sandy Bohrer, …if so we are looking at a powerhouse match up.”
Rose Speaks.com will follow this suit for sure if it is filed in Federal Court which it might not be as all of the parties are located as entities or citizens of Florida. If it is file in state Court if the Sunshine state shares the filings as they have on other high profile cases then we will followed the case as well.
This is going to prove up to be an interesting fall season if Wood slaps both papers with defamation suits in the next few days.
Be sure to participate in our MEMBERS ONLY FORUMS, get the most out of the site by learning your way around in the forums where you can safely discuss things you do not want to see copied and pasted on another site.
The expressions in this blog article are based on the opinions of Rose Turner or our featured authors, please remember we are not lawyers and those opinions expressed here are each of our individual opinions and should not be taken as legal advice and/or legal opinions. The comments following this blog article are the opinions and sole property of the blog site members and do not necessarily reflect those of the site owners.
As the California Criminal Trial of Howard K. Stern, Dr. Sandeep Kapoor and Khristine Eroshevich looms for August 4, 2010, the Estate of Anna Nicole Smith tightens the noose on four major witnesses.
You have to wonder if this will affect the credibility of Ford Shelley, G. Ben Thompson, Gina Thompson Shelley, Gaither Ben Thompson II and Melodie Thompson as well as attorney Susan Brown. It also appears that Magistrate Judge Thomas E. Rogers III for the South Carolina Federal Court decided to issue this Order without need of a Hearing.
On July 1, 2010 the Court in South Carolina issued an Court Order allowing the addition of Gaither Thompson II, Gina Shelley, Melodie Thompson and the attorney Susan Brown and her Law Firm in Atlanta Georgia. The new defendants have twenty one (21) days to answer the Amended First Complaint so don’t look for this to go to trial before the criminal charges in California is tried to conclusion.
HERE ARE THE HIGH POINTS I FOUND IN THE COURT’S SEVEN (7) PAGE ORDER
“Plaintiff asserts causes of action for conversion, wrongful taking of estate property in violation of California Probate Code § 850, et seq., statutory and common law commercial appropriation of right of publicity in violation of California Civil Code § 3344.1, unjust enrichment/restitution, unfair competition in violation of California Business & Professional Code § 17200, et seq., violation of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, 18 U.S.C. § 1030(a)(5) and civil conspiracy.
That the Estate’s property has been distributed to other entities including Geraldo Rivera with Fox News, the O’Quinn Law Firm, former television journalist Rita Cosby, and the California Department of Justice.
Counsel for Ford has consented to the filing of the proposed Amended Complaint. See Email from MacDonald to Lantta dated October 28, 2009. Thompson has not filed a Response in opposition the motion. The only opposition comes from proposed new Defendants Brown and the Law Firm. 1 Brown argues that allowing the amendments would be prejudicial to her and would be futile as to the claims against her. Brown does not appear to oppose the addition of Gaither, Melanie and Gina as Defendants in this action or to the addition of factual allegations regarding Ford’s distribution of Estate property to other third-parties.
[Brown] argues that she would be prejudiced due to the fact that she has not had the opportunity to participate in discovery as a party. However, in his Response, Plaintiff asserts that he is not opposed to amending the deadlines in this case to allow Brown to conduct discovery.
Brown argues that, as former counsel in this case, she is immune from the claims Plaintiff seeks to allege. Generally, an attorney is immune from liability to third persons arising from the performance of his or her professional activities as an attorney on behalf of and with the knowledge of his or her client. See Hunt v. Mortgage Electronic Registration, 522 F. Supp.2d 749, 758 (D.S.C. 2007). However, both Thompson and Ford testify that they did not authorize her to distribute Estate property to the O’Quinn Law. Firm.
The Clerk of Court is directed to file the Amended Complaint, which is attached as an exhibit to Plaintiff’s Motion. Plaintiff must serve the Amended Complaint within 15 days of the date of this Order. Defendants must respond in accordance with the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. Ok after reading the First Amended Complaint I see this is the same exhibit filed with the Court in September 2009, so nothing new here; just has not read it in almost a year.
FILINGS ON JULY 1, 2010 WITH THE SOUTH CAROLINA COURT.
July 1, 2010 Court Order allowing the First Amended Complaint to include Gina Thompson Shelley, Gaither Ben Thompson II and Melodie Thompson and the attorney Susan Brown and her Law Firm in Atlanta Georgia
July 1, 2010 First Amended Complaint filed by the Estate of Anna Nicole Smith adding Gina Thompson Shelley, Gaither Ben Thompson II and Melodie Thompson and the attorney Susan Brown and her Law Firm in Atlanta Georgia
July 1 2010 Exhibit A filed with First Amended Complaint by he Estate of Anna Nicole Smith adding Gina Thompson Shelley, Gaither Ben Thompson II and Melodie Thompson and the attorney Susan Brown and her Law Firm in Atlanta Georgia
July 1 2010 Exhibit B filed with First Amended Complaint by he Estate of Anna Nicole Smith adding Gina Thompson Shelley, Gaither Ben Thompson II and Melodie Thompson and the attorney Susan Brown and her Law Firm in Atlanta Georgia
July 1 2010 Exhibit C filed with First Amended Complaint by he Estate of Anna Nicole Smith adding Gina Thompson Shelley, Gaither Ben Thompson II and Melodie Thompson and the attorney Susan Brown and her Law Firm in Atlanta Georgia
July 1 2010 Exhibit D filed with First Amended Complaint by he Estate of Anna Nicole Smith adding Gina Thompson Shelley, Gaither Ben Thompson II and Melodie Thompson and the attorney Susan Brown and her Law Firm in Atlanta Georgia
July 1 2010 Exhibit E filed with First Amended Complaint by he Estate of Anna Nicole Smith adding Gina Thompson Shelley, Gaither Ben Thompson II and Melodie Thompson and the attorney Susan Brown and her Law Firm in Atlanta Georgia
July 1 2010 Exhibit F filed with First Amended Complaint by he Estate of Anna Nicole Smith adding Gina Thompson Shelley, Gaither Ben Thompson II and Melodie Thompson and the attorney Susan Brown and her Law Firm in Atlanta Georgia
July 1 2010 Exhibit G filed with First Amended Complaint by he Estate of Anna Nicole Smith adding Gina Thompson Shelley, Gaither Ben Thompson II and Melodie Thompson and the attorney Susan Brown and her Law Firm in Atlanta Georgia
July 1 2010 Exhibit H filed with First Amended Complaint by he Estate of Anna Nicole Smith adding Gina Thompson Shelley, Gaither Ben Thompson II and Melodie Thompson and the attorney Susan Brown and her Law Firm in Atlanta Georgia
July 1 2010 Exhibit I filed with First Amended Complaint by he Estate of Anna Nicole Smith adding Gina Thompson Shelley, Gaither Ben Thompson II and Melodie Thompson and the attorney Susan Brown and her Law Firm in Atlanta Georgia
Summons to Serve on Gina Thompson Shelley, Gaither Ben Thompson II and Melodie Thompson
Summons to Serve on Susan M. Brown and the Law Offices of Susan M. Brown
LATEST FILING IN THE TEXAS CASE I have not had time to read any of these papers.
For now we are NOT going to buy these papers due to cost, if it gets traction after the beginning of the Criminal trial or the August 6, 2010 hearing on Stern’s Special Appearance, then we will begin to purchase these papers as well.
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