attorneybutler.net

AS GRADUATION SEASON BEGINS, TIME TO GET BACK TO BUSINESS

2012-05-09T20:46:11-04:00

As the Clay Bennett cartoon above indicates, the graduation season is upon us. As the sentiment expressed on the card indicates, in politics, stupidity is always in season. The Santorum "What a snob" remark, bizarre as it was, is old news. This week we have Mitt Romney taking credit for the recovery of the auto industry, most of the sentiments expressed in his November 18, 2008, anti-bailout "Let Detroit Go Bankrupt"op-ed piece in the New York Times notwithstanding. I don't remember Mr. Romney doing much of anything after that, one way or another. Whatever the auto bailout ultimately looked like (and it looked a lot different than the solution described in the four sentences devoted to that subject in the op-ed), Mitt Romney had little, if anything to do with it. Mr. Romney's "I'll take a lot of credit for the auto industry revival", is a remark breath-taking in its arrogance, its ignorance, its condescension, its stupidity and on and on. It is a statement that should make even his staunchest supporters wince.

On a related note, I am reminded of a friend of my son, who, in 2008, who wore the same lucky underwear throughout the Stanley Cup play-offs, (four rounds), to support the Detroit Red Wings. He took a lot of the credit for the Red Wings eventual championship that year. However, Nick's underwear selection had about as effect on the winning of the Stanley Cup as Mitt's op-ed has had on the auto industry recovery.

Fortunately for Mitt, voters may forget this particular gaffe, lost as it may become among the "endorsements" that will come from Mitt's former Republican rivals. I look forward to seeing how Mr. Santorum explains his support of Mitt, in the face of his March 25, 2012 statement, depicted in the Steve Benson cartoon below: "Romney is the worst Republican in the country to put up against Barack Obama." How will Rick Perry turn around his "vulture capitalist" moniker for Mitt. "He may be a vulture, but he's a capitalist vulture by God." From this it is but a short step to: "I know I said Romney was a nit wit, but he's our nit wit."

It is inevitable that a hard fought primary campaign will provide great material for any incumbent, but I can't remember an campaign quite like what the Republicans have put together. Let the good times roll.

For the past few months, I haven't posted much on this site. Most of my blogging has been to the www.bishopgallagher.org site, dedicated to the preservation of Detroit area Catholic school heritage. But, there remains much to do at www.attorneybutler.net. Stupidity continues to reign, at times, in the state's halls of justice. Some lawyers have been behaving badly. And there is the continuing crusade to stamp out frivolous advertising (tongue in cheek alert).

Back to work.

BC CARTOON-THE PERFECT CANDIDATE

2012-04-01T15:05:55-04:00

Mike Butler

HATS OFF TO THE REPUBLICANS OF ILLINOIS-STEVE BENSON CARTOON

2012-03-22T23:09:22-04:00

Mike Butler

GROVER CLEVELAND (HAPPY BIRTHDAY) ON TRICKLE DOWN ECONOMICS

2012-03-21T07:26:57-04:00

"He mocks the people who proposes that the government shall protect the rich and that they in turn will care for the laboring poor."

Some may dismiss such a comment coming from a US President, saying Grover was but a Democrat, you know, a dangerous liberal (or traitor, if you pay attention o Ann Coulter). On the other hand, he did say this:

"Sensible and responsible women do not want to vote. The relative positions to be assumed by man and woman in the working out of our civilization were assigned long ago by a higher intelligence than ours."

That statement would endear him to some of my conservative acquaintances, who really don't think anyone should have the vote who is not a male, owning a minimum of five acres, with an additional vote for every additional five acres owned. Special voting rules for Wall Street bankers whose wealth is measured in those lottery ticket financial instruments sold on various exchanges. Much like our state lotteries--few new jobs created other than those who sell the tickets. But, there are always new games.

Happy birthday, old fella.

TERTZAG TRIBUTE DINNER 2012-FEBRUARY 23

2012-02-14T07:20:49-05:00

JUDGE DAVID ALLEN TO RECEIVE PRESTIGIOUS KAYE TERTZAG PURPLE SPORT COAT AWARD AT THIRD ANNUAL HON. KAYE TERTZAG TRIBUTE DINNER- THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 2012, U.S. SENATOR CARL LEVIN- KEYNOTE SPEAKER.

The friends and family of the Honorable Kaye Tertzag will host the third annual Tertzag Tribute Dinner in his honor on Thursday, February 23, 2012. Judge Tertzag passed away on February 4, 2009, having established a great legacy of integrity and service to the State of Michigan, as well as a great example of love and devotion to his family and legion of friends.

The third annual Tertzag Tribute Dinner will be at the Park Place Banquet Hall in Dearborn from 5:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. Park Place is located at the corner of Park and Outer Drive, just south of Michigan Avenue. Tickets are $35.00, and include dinner and an open bar. Checks should be made payable to: Tertzag Tribute Dinner, LLC, and sent to 26815 Winslow Drive, Flat Rock, MI 48134. Spouses and/or significant others are welcome.

The Hon. Kaye Tertzag Tribute Dinner Committee is pleased to announce that the 2012 recipient of the Purple Sport Coat Award is Judge David Allen. Past honorees Hon. James Rashid and attorney Joseph Lujan will present the sport coat to Judge Allen.

Judge Allen was mentored for many years by Judge Tertzag. Judge Allen inspires others in the finest tradition of Kaye. Judge Allen is a Wayne County Third Circuit Court Criminal Division judge, where he has presided over thousands of felony cases. He is a 1993 summa cum laude graduate of the Detroit College of Law, after receiving Bachelor and Master’s of Arts Degrees from University of Michigan.

The committee is truly honored to have Senator Carl Levin as our keynote speaker. Sen. Levin will continue the tradition of high profile keynote speakers at this event. Past speakers include Norm Tucker and former Governor James Blanchard, both giving a great message in 2010 and 2011, respectively.

Please direct questions to Kara Tertzag Lividini at 313.645.9511, or ktertzag@gmail.com. Please feel free to send this message to anyone you think would be interested in attending the event. Please note- this is not a solicitation for support or a political fundraiser.

HAPPY SUPER BOWL FROM MITT ROMNEY

2012-02-05T16:12:03-05:00

Mike Butler

AMERICAN BILLBOARD 2-FRIVOLOUS ADS

2012-01-02T10:57:31-05:00

Following the lead of our tort reform brethren, this website will continue its crusade to reduce the cost of products to the American consumer by stamping out expensive, frivolous advertising. The cost of such advertising is a direct add on to the cost of goods and services paid for by the American public. These frivolous ads tell us nothing about the inherent value of a product. Why should you and I subsidize greedy advertising executives? Why should manufacturers of good products be forced to compete with the makers of the cheap and the shoddy, just because the makers of junk have hired hot shot ad execs? Why should a venerable old insurance company have to develop its own talking reptile (with comic accent) to merely to compete with GEICO? How much does GEICO spend on the talking lizard? Don't we all pay higher premiums as a result. Huh? HUH??!!

Today we have a magzine ad. Can you guess what is being sold?

Bowling balls?

Tooth whitener?

Low cut, gravity-defying women's tops?

Breast implants?

No, no, no and no. Now here is the original ad, with the product information included:

Men's shoe polish, of course, because the shine on your shoes will really "bowl them over". Not that the young lady is looking at your shoes. Frankly, no reader is either.

Contact your Congressperson immediately. This frivolous advertising must be stamped out. I am sure even the Tea Party can get behind government intervention on this.

I'll have to stop this rant now, so I can watch the Capital One Bowl. Those Viking, Vandal, Barbarian or whatever ads just "slay" me.

POLITICS AND POKER-ELECTION YEAR 2012 BEGINS

2012-01-01T22:44:34-05:00

Here is one of my all time favorite Broadway songs, from the musical "Fiorello", based on the life of New York mayor Fiorello LaGuardia. "Politics and Poker" puts party politics in an appropriate perspective.

As the election year begins, I'd like to paraphrase Margo Channing from All About Eve: Fasten your safety belts, it's going to be a bumpy 2012.

Heaven help us.

WHO WAS THE AMERICAN JUSTICE PARTNERSHIP'S 2011 "GUARDIAN OF JUSTICE"? WHO WILL IT BE IN 2012?

2012-01-01T14:44:15-05:00

The American Justice Partnership is a lobbying group formed to promote tort reform through its various "hardball" (the AJP's word, not mine) tactics. From its website: "AJP has nearly a decade of experience in beating the trial bar on major issues." Not so sure about that.

One of the founders of the group is former Michigan Governor John Engler who reigned from 1991-2003, during which time he appointed many tort reform judges and justices to Michigan courts. Current Michigan Supreme Court Chief Justice Robert Young was first appointed to judicial office by Governor Engler in 1995 to the Michigan Court of Appeals. Governor Engler than promoted him to the Michigan Supreme Court by appointing him to that particular bench in 1999. Information from Justice Young's website.

The president of the American Justice Partnership is Dan Pero, who was described in a 1991 profile as "Longtime ally, close friend, best man, and chief of staff for Governor Engler." Though the AJP has a strong Michigan flavor, it bills itself as a national organization.

In 2010, Justice Young faced a particularly contentious re-election campaign (in my opinion). On September 29, 2010, in the midst of that campaign, the Guardian of Justice Award was bestowed on Justice Young by the American Justice Partnership, Justice Young was the first recipient of what was billed as an "annual" award, described on the web page thusly: "Each year we recognize an individual who fights to preserve the Constitution and defend the principles of justice and the courts as written by the Founders. We present that individual with the Guardian of Justice Award."

Justice Young won re-election, though he did not finish first.

Justice Young was described on the AJP web page as the "first annual recipient of our Guardian of Justice Award". Though the AJP appears to be well funded, there did not appear to be an awards banquet, or even a presentation event for which I could find a record. Now, the cynical among us might assume that the 2010 Guardian of Justice Award was just something made up by some of Justice Young's patrons to add to his resume to help him during a difficult re-election campaign. (though even the most cynical would further assume that there was probably a certificate or block of lucite evidencing the award somewhere).

For all you textualists out there, the word "annual"is defined as something done or occurring every year. I waited, with some trepidation, to learn the name of the 2011 recipient. Surely, there must be some other judge in the US that fights to preserve the principles of justice, as defined by the AJP. Well as of about 14 hours ago, 2011 ended, and I can find no reference to a 2011 award winner anywhere on the AJP site, or on the internet.

What do we learn from this? That our legal system in such disarray that, in the whole country, only Justice Robert Young fights to preserve the principles of justice? Yike. Or do we learn that no particular friend of John Engler or Dan Pero was facing a tough campaign in 2011. Personally, I believe the latter.

Well, the late Jeane Dixon, a "psychic, used to make predictions at the beginning of every calendar year. Jeane died in 1997. So in her honor, and in celebration of the New Year, let me make my own prediction. In 2012 the winner of the American Justice Guardian of Justice Award will be Justice Stephen Markman of the Michigan Supreme Court. By the way, Justice Markman was appointed to the Michigan Supreme Court by Michigan Governor John Engler in 1999 (the same year as Robert Young, by the way). He will be running for re-election this year. My alternate prediction is that, in order to make up for 2011, the AJP will name not one, but two Guardians of Justice in 2012. The awardees will be both of the Republican nominees for the Michigan Supreme Court election in November (there will be two Republican incumbents running).

Happy New Year.

BELATED END OF YEAR FOOLISHNESS-2010-LEGAL EDITION

2012-01-01T07:31:47-05:00

While cleaning my home office in preparation for another year of fun and frolic in the law business, I came upon a Michigan Court of Appeals decision rendered in December of 2010. I put the opinion aside to pursue other matters. I remember the case as it contained one of the most curious sentences I had ever come across in my career.

I have spent a good deal of time on this site commenting on how the principles underlying Michigan premises liability law have been ignored by those who believe that the elimination of responsibility for carelessness is somehow good for business. The insurance industry triumphantly waves a banner with the motto "Open and Obvious" over the denied and dismissed claims of innocent negligence victims (while cheerfully continuing to collect premiums from business policy holders).

The "Open and Obvious" doctrine basically blames the victim for whatever happens to him. Businesss invitees (customers) have an absolute duty to know know of, avoid, and/or deal with all hazards under all circumstances without injuring themselves.

In cases of snow and ice, business owners have no duty to shovel or salt their properties. If a customer, delivery person, postal worker, or supplier slips and falls at a snow covered place of business, Michigan law holds that it is the victim's fault for not have a better sense of balance. Our law says: "You live in Michigan. In winter there is snow. Don't fall, Clumsy."

Michigan law has had a little difficulty in dismissing claims of falls on transparent, clear or "black" ice. Hard for the customer to know about, and avoid what has been admitted to be an invisible condition.

But, no real problem for our Michigan courts. If the desired result is achieved, who cares about the reasoning. So, in dismissing the injured plaintiff's claim in the case of Hay v McKinley & Associates, Court of Appeals Case No. 291594, decided on December 16, 2010, our Michigan Court of Appeals could quote a prior decision which stated, "Black ice, by nature, is difficult to see because it is a thin layer of ice that can be transparent."

In the Hay case, not only was the ice on which Ms. Hay fell transparent, the area where she fell was shaded by a nearby building. Pretty hard for such a condition to be open and obvious, right? Obviously--not. In dismissing the case, the Court of Appeals made the following statement: "But, not being able to see black ice does not mean that the black ice was not an obvious danger." Really?

In Michigan, it is the citizens duty to guarantee his own safety, protecting himself from any and all hazards, visible and invisible, with liberty and justice for not so many.

So, happy 2012 to all. See you in June, when it may be safe to go outside again.