Posts on ‘February 4th, 2010’

Chief Justice John Roberts Jr. has said that he’s never read a Supreme Court brief that was so good that he wished it were longer. New rules set to take effect Feb. 16 will guarantee that the justices won’t get longer briefs, at least in one category. Lawyers will be required to keep their reply briefs at the merits stage to 6,000 words instead of the previous limit of 7,500. But some practitioners say the new limit will be difficult to meet, in part because of the proliferation of amicus curiae briefs in recent years.

A disbarred lawyer who has stayed out of New York state for fear of being arrested to serve a 30-day contempt sentence has been sanctioned by the Southern District’s chief bankruptcy judge for raising a “vexatious” motion with “an improper purpose.” The judge ordered the former lawyer to pay more than $4,800 to cover one of his opponent’s legal costs for making a third attempt to collaterally attack a $3.7 million settlement negotiated for one of his former clients by Jacoby & Meyers.

Applying a liberal reading of the stream-of-commerce doctrine, a divided New Jersey Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that a product liability suit can be pursued against a foreign manufacturer whose only contact with the state is that one of its products was sold in New Jersey through an independent distributor. Judge Helen Hoens called the majority’s decision a “radical departure” from established principles of due process, and Judge Rivera-Soto invited the U.S. Supreme Court to accept an appeal and overturn the majority’s ruling.