A fascinating and mysterious moment in a jury trial occurs at the very end, when the judge reads to the jury instructions summarizing the law that applies to the case. A trial lawyer has had years of legal education and law practice devoted to understanding how to apply law to fact, but s/he is not deciding the case. In a jury trial, it is the people in the jury box who must digest the facts presented at trial, understand the law that applies to the case and analyze what result to reach.
Unless a juror is an attorney, that juror’s entire legal education occurs at the end of the trial, when the judge spends some fifteen minutes reading the set of jury instructions, possibly in a monotone voice, with no question and answer session to follow. read more
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Jay Spillane Speaks About His Trial Philosophy to Los Angeles Legal Newspaper
“When you’re representing a business executive who is facing financial ruin through litigation, and he tells you, literally, that you saved his life, that makes you feel like you’ve made a difference,” Spillane Trial Group’s Jay Spillane recently told the Los Angeles Daily Journal, which featured the firm on January 18, 2013. Jay was referring to his representation of Ken Kilroy, former president of the Marvin Davis Cos., who after the death of billionaire Marvin Davis, was not only sued by one of his children for hundreds of millions of dollars but also denied his severance. Jay not only convinced his litigation opponent, represented by the David Boies firm, that they would lose their case against Kilroy and pay his legal fees, but also secured Kilroy’s severance in negotiations with the Davis family. read more
Spillane Trial Group Obtains Order Setting Aside Attachments
This month, the Spillane Trial Group was victorious on behalf of clients the Restful Groups and Barry Seidman, convincing San Diego Superior Court Judge Lorna Alksne to grant a motion to set aside an attachment against our clients obtained by Stanley Westreich and his company, Chalant.
Without notice to our clients, Westreich/Chalant applied for and obtained a writ of attachment, which permitted Westreich/Chalant to seize assets prior to trial to secure payment on an anticipated judgment. The attachment was based upon promissory notes signed by the Restful Groups and Seidman. When The Restful Groups and Seidman were served with the attachment orders, we moved to set the attachment aside, showing the following:
- that the signed notes were only temporary, demanded as a condition to contribution of money that Westreich/Seidman had already agreed to invest, and
- that the money reflected in the notes would not be due until the investments of the Restful Groups – cemeteries in Mexico – produced profits with which to repay the investment.
The Krav Maga Approach to Trials
For several years now I have been a practitioner of Krav Maga, the official self-defense system of the Israeli Defense Force. In the Krav Maga system, students are taught to react to realistic threats with one or more simple and direct movements that hopefully will quickly end the encounter. The Krav Maga mantra: “No rules; no rituals; no nonsense; no excuses.”
Just after World War II, the fledgling Israeli nation asked Krav Maga founder Imi Licthenfeld to develop a system of self defense for its armed forces. Not satisfied with ancient forms of karate, still taught through centuries-old memorized rituals known as “katas,” Licthenfeld instead developed a simple and effective system of hand-to-hand combat that emphasizes instinctive movements, practical techniques and realistic training scenarios. read more
Plagiarism of Creative Works
Courts in Los Angeles are frequently confronted with claims that an entertainment company has plagiarized a writer’s work. The word “plagiarize” means to use and pass off as one’s own the ideas or expressions of another. The legal rules that govern the dispute, the court in which the dispute will be fought and the success of the case will likely depend on whether the plaintiff claims that “ideas” on the one hand, or “expressions” on the other, were plagiarized.
When one writes a treatment or full teleplay or screenplay – technically, when that work is fixed in a tangible medium, such as on paper or saved on a drive – the copyright law protects unauthorized copying of the expressions in that work, but does not prevent independent creation of similar expressions. read more
Are Internet Service Providers Liable for Unlawful Conduct by their Customers?
The Internet has afforded astonishing new channels to engage in lawful commerce as well as unlawful activities. Previously in order to engage in widespread libel one needed access to print media. Now, with a press of a button, a libelous communication can be uploaded to the Internet and instantly published worldwide. Search sites such as Google and auction sites such as eBay have created new channels for ordinary citizens to search for, purchase and sell millions of goods, including those that may infringe the rights of third parties.
Aggrieved parties who want to assert legal claims for wrongs perpetrated through the Internet may be unable to identify the wrongdoer, or s/he may have no locatable assets. read more
Online Privacy Issues Stretch Parameters of Existing Law
A fresh story about the privacy of electronic data appears in the news each week. People are justifiably concerned that online and mobile device companies not surreptitiously collect or use, without their knowledge and consent, personal information they voluntarily disclose to social media sites. See “Customers Stay Despite High-Profile Data Breaches,” https://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory?id=13503565
Not surprisingly, these concerns and stories are spawning lawsuits. The challenge faced by attorneys filing or defending electronic privacy cases is to determine what legal principles will apply, and indeed whether the behavior complained of is actionable under existing law. Congress and state legislatures have only begun to consider legislation governing management of electronic personal data in the modern world of social media and mobile devices. read more