On the case in the Sixth Circuit

In the case I argued for a Title VII plaintiff last month in Cincinnati, the Sixth Circuit has now issued its decision, reversing the District Court and sending the case back for trial.

The opinion by Judge Clay is here.

Someone asked me which did I prefer, the Sixth Circuit or the Fourth Circuit. And, the answer at least for this week is the Sixth Circuit, but that will wear off.

On representing plaintiffs

Here's an opinion by Judge Turk in a Title VII case denying in part the defendants' summary judgment motion, where we represent a fellow from Pulaski who has become a good friend of mine.

Oh, well

I talked to my mom this morning and she said they were going to what I understood her to say was an "Artesian center" wherever it is they are this week, but she seemed pretty cheerful about it.

I thought, hmm, maybe Dad is carrying his long-time hobby of getting water to the farm at Jonesville a bit too far, if he has found some kind of hydrology museum.

Mom went on to say, however, it's a crafts place, like Tamarack in West Virginia. Ah, that kind of artesian.

Fun items

Liberty's law school is bragging on its 90+% bar passage rate from this summer, as shown here.

The Episcopal Church vows here to endeavor to persevere, meaning more church law for the rest of us.

This post describes an ERISA case that went to the Fourth Circuit over a $40 dispute.

This post says John Fishwick is talking up a run for Attorney General; imagine a race between Fishwick and Brownlee, Roanoke v. Roanoke. I met John Fishwick just the other day in Charlottesville.

This article on Jim Gilmore says that when he was in high school, all he cared about was music. It is well-known that band geeks make better Senators.

On biking in the Shenandoah National Park

This piece says - don't ride two abreast in the Park.

No problem, I'm sure there's no one I could keep up with anyway.

On the J. Dickson Phillips Distinguished Professor of Law

Here the UNC Law School makes an announcement of the new J. Dickson Phillips Distinguished Professor of Law. Judge Phillips chaired the panel in my first federal appeal, fifteen years ago or more, and made me a fan.

More on the timber case

Here is the Bristol paper's report on the opinion from Magistrate Judge Sargent in our Wise County timber harvest case, including what strikes me as absurd statements from a Sierra Club lawyer.

In this case, the state agency was bypassed, and suit was filed to get the federal court to second-guess the federal agency's determination, and then plaintiffs' counsel accuses the defendants of taking advantage of a loophole in the law? I mean, really.

The Sierra Club case

Here is the latest recommendation and report from Magistrate Judge Sargent, in our timber-cutting case out of Wise County.

It begins dramatically:

"To a child of Appalachia, to see the mountains laid waste, whether by clear–cutting or strip mining, is to witness a dagger plunged into the very bosom from which you sprang and which has sustained you. Nonetheless, this court’s role in this case is not to pass judgment upon the policy decisions which allow such activities. Instead, its role is to decide the issue presented in this case – whether the court should issue a permanent injunction preventing continued logging activities on this property without a valid surface mining permit. For the reasons outlined below, I find that it should not, and I further recommend that the court vacate the preliminary injunction entered on August 4, 2008."

On being a "Leader in the Law"

Here the announcement was made that Virginia Lawyers Weekly has included me on a list of Leaders in the Law, with many distinguished people - because of this blog.

This kind of makes me wish I'd written something more interesting lately.

I thank the readers, old and new, including those at VLW.

That LA Times article on Obama and race in Southwest Virginia

I forgot to post here this LA Times story from October 5, titled "Frank talk of Obama and race in Virginia." The dateline is Whitewood, in Buchanan County, and the story begins:

"The isolated towns of Virginia's Appalachian coal region are home to strong labor unions and Democratic political machines that date back generations. Yet voters here who eagerly pushed Democrats into the Senate and the governor's office are resisting Barack Obama."

Back in May, Obama got less than 10% of the primary vote in Buchanan County.

On that cheesy guy from the Times winning the Nobel Prize

Here is Luskin's post on the announcement that Paul Krugman will get the prize.

That seems so wrong, to give a distinguished prize to a political shill, who looks so horrible on television.

On setting books free

According to this press release, an author from Bristol has a new book, called Murder Takes The Cake, and has set free one volume of it at the Bristol Starbucks, in the manner of BookCrossing.com.

On the late Judge Matney

Via Nancy and VLW, I saw this article in the Bluefield paper on the memorial for Greg Matney, a district court judge. I never knew him except as a voice on the telephone in a couple of cases.

If you wanted to be a judge and only got to be one for a short time, would that be better than not at all? I think so. I have reached similar conclusions about other life goals - even a little of the real whatever is better than none.

On having another birthday

It means that from yesterday until next February, I have the same years as Sarah Palin.

UPDATE: And, just as my birthday was October 6, the next day was the birthday of NOLA's own Ray Ward, of Minor Wisdom and the (new) legal writer.

"It's . . the bar exam!"

Here is the LA Times article on the passing of law professor and bar review lecturer extraordinaire, Charles Whitehead.

The article says in part:

"Evidence of the professor's popularity can be found in a Facebook group called 'Charlie Whitebread Rocks My World.' It has more than 1,600 members, some of whom discovered him through lectures he often gave for a popular bar-exam preparation course."

Another voice heard from

"The Virginia Supreme Court’s recent declaration that the state's anti-spam law is unconstitutional was flat-out wrong."

Ken Magill, in this commentary - which is somewhat at odds with the net neutrality principles usually espoused here.

Two more mostly negative takes on the opinion in the spam case can be found here and here.

Judge Goodwin denies class certification in DuPont case

Yesterday, in Rhodes v. DuPont, Judge Goodwin of the S.D.W.Va. denied class certification to a claim about an alleged contamination of the public water supply.

The Court observed: "The fact that a public health risk may exist is more than enough to raise concern in the community and call government agencies to action, but it does not show the common individual injuries needed to certify a class action."

Another W.D. Va. opinion on causation

In Boysaw v. Purdue Pharma, Chief Judge Jones granted summary judgment on claim against the manufacturer of OxyContin, because the plaintiff could not prove causation. The opinion cites the earlier ruling in McCauley v. Purdue Pharma L.P., 331 F. Supp. 2d 449 (W.D. Va. 2004).

They said it

"To do a decent job, the president of the United States needs to be vastly more educated and knowledgeable than the average American."

Paul Campos, here in the Rocky Mountain News.

"Our leaders are making up their responses from day to day because old ideas of how the economy works have failed them."

Robert Samuelson, on Real Clear Markets.

So, perhaps being "vastly more educated and knowledgeable" - isn't everything?

Ouch

The Bristol paper has this account of the post-trial rulings taking away the verdict in favor of Buchanan County in the Big Coon Dog case, with various philosophical quotes from me.

Not too long ago, Chief Judge Jones took away a verdict on my motion, in another case. Such is the ebb and flow of this profession.