What is the Difference Between the Default Judgment against Pepsico and the One that is about to Happen to You? Plus or Minus 1.2 Billion Dollars. Otherwise, They are About the Same.

SUMMARY: If somebody takes default judgment against you, move quickly to open it, if you can.

Pepsico had a billion-plus dollar judgment entered against it in Wisconsin last month.

The way it happened sounds familiar enough. As a North Carolina Corporation, it has a registered agent there whose job it is to accept service of the complaint and forward it to the corporate legal department. This it did, although only after a considerable delay. Then the complaint ended up on the desk of the secretary of one of the top in-house lawyers who was very busy getting ready for a board meeting. Of course, the registered agent was responsible for the complaint arriving on the eve of default judgment, but you know who caught the blame.

This is the kind of thing that has happened in one way or another to everybody who has been around for a while. Often, with prompt action, the default judgment can be opened. As a matter of fact, the Wisconsin court recently opened the Pepsico default judgment. You can probably have yours opened, too, provided you look sharp and do a few things right.

I posted on the subject of how to open a default judgment earlier this year. If you’d like to read the post, send me a comment and I’ll tell you how to find it. But don’t wait too long. You only have 10 days to open judgment.

CLT

Category: Uncategorized

Anonymous Lawyer on Bonuses

Posted by Cliff Tuttle

Courtesy of the WSJ Law Blog, the Anonymous Lawyer teaches you a dozen creative ways to give a bonus without giving anything.

If you haven’t been reading The AA lately, there are a few new ones that you can catch up on in our blog roll.

CLT

Category: Uncategorized

What is the Meaning of the GOP Sweep of Statewide Judicial Offices?

SUMMARY: The populist wave that created the anti-midnight pay grab movement is alive and deciding elections.

The Republican Party in this Commonwealth has been pronounced dead — a suicide by some accounts. And there is a lot to be said for this viewpoint. Suddenly falling far behind the Dems in registration, lacking leadership, short on winning issues, the party didn’t seem to have much of a future, at least in the short run.

And then, out of the blue, with no warning, Republican statewide judicial candidates win just about everything. So what gives?

For starters, the fabled Obama-Rendell machine that produced astounding youth/minority/first-time voter turnout numbers last year was out to lunch. Those voters didn’t show this year, leaving the field to the older and far more conservative steady voters. But there had to be more involved. After all, the registration gap was so wide and the Republicans campaign effort was pretty ordinary. And yet, undeniably, it happened. Why?

Judge Joan Orie Melvin, that’s why. A few years ago, she made a savvy political move. Unlike virtually every sitting judge, she very publicly refused to accept the much-vilified midnight pay grab, sending a check for the difference back to the State Treasury every payday. This became her trademark and despite a barrage of negative-campaign brickbats from the opposition, she managed to keep that message before the voters. That’s what the electorate, the ones that voted this year, remembered. Ask them if you don’t believe me.

Judicial candidates have so many restrictions to observe while campaigning, most have a hard time getting noticed, let alone remembered. Having a lucky name and a good ballot position are usually the best they can do. But not this year.

Judge Robert J. Colville, a Democrat with a storied name and a position at the top of a crowded ballot, is currently in fifth place in the race for the Superior Court — behind three Republicans and a much lesser known Democrat. In normal times, he would have been the top vote getter for the office. But these are not normal times. Orie Melvin, the judge who turned down the pay raise, managed to drag three Republicans to victory in the Superior Court race and two Republicans onto the Commonwealth Court on her coat tails.

Next year, with well-known names appearing on the ballot for Governor, US Senator and a full complement of Congress people, whoever can seize the banner of the populist cause that the pay raise issue exemplified, will probably win. Big.

CLT

Category: Uncategorized

Guantanamo Hit Parade

SUMMARY: Rock musicians should forget about finding out whether they can sue the USA for playing their work to torture Guantanamo detainees.

The news item that interrogators of suspected terrorists at the Guantanamo Bay interment camp played certain rock music CD’s to their interrogatees to wear them down has lead to the inevitable question whether the United States owes play royalties. Lawyers for certain “artists” are thinking about initiating pre-complaint discovery to determine whether their offerings were used at Guantanamo.

Of course, this is exactly the kind of stuff that fuels the perennial public resentment of lawyers. Nevertheless, please note that behind every greedy lawyer is a greedy client. The bar wouldn’t spend ten minutes speculating on the subject if they didn’t have clients who hope to benefit.

The Volokh Conspiracy, a professorial blog written by a law professor, addresses the subject. While he is not the first to do so, the professor provides a lucid discussion — in contrast to the hit and run commentary of most.

Eugene Volokh says that the issue turns on whether these were public or private performances. Royalties can be claimed for a public performance but not a private one. He suggests that playing music to one detainee is a private performance, while allowing that playing it to the whole prison might be public. Thus, he does not see a pot of gold at the end of this rainbow.

I’ll let the intellectual property guys fight that one out. However, something more fundamental occurs to me. If you are a successful (and presumably rich) performer, why do you want your public to know that your music is being played to torture people? Doesn’t this guarantee that the net outcome will be negative? Unless, of course, you subscribe to the theory that all publicity is good publicity.

Potential litigants sometimes fail to weigh the negative impact of going on the public record. Some secrets are better left that way.

CLT

Category: Uncategorized

Pittsburgh Legal Newslog:Hate Crime Legislation Enacted.

Summary: The Matthew Shepard James Byrd Hate Crimes Prevention Act has been enacted by Congress and will be signed by the President. It expands the definition of a hate crime to include sexual orientation, gender, gender identity or disability.

The Senate has passed the Matthew Shepard James Byrd Hate Crimes Prevention Act which expands the scope of federal hate crime prosecution assistance to state prosecutors. If the state is unwilling or unable to prosecute, the federal prosecutors may prosecute directly. Under the legislation, hate crime prosecutions are expanded to include sexual orientation, gender, gender identity or disability. The legislation, which was previously passed by the House, was enacted as a rider to a defense appropriations bill. It will be signed by the President, who has expressed support.

The legislation was named for the victims of hate crimes in two infamous cases. Shepard was tortured and murdered in 1998 while attending college in Wyoming because of his sexual orientation. The Matthew Shepard Foundation was formed by his parents and the passage of this legislation has been a major goal of the Foundation. Byrd was a black man dragged around the streets of a Texas town while chained to a truck.

CLT

Category: Uncategorized

What is a Hobson’s Choice? Go Look It Up While You Still Can.

SUMMARY: Authorizing table gaming in Pennsylvania casinos should be a difficult question. Instead, it involves life or death for many public libraries that cannot survive without state funding.

I don’t know what Andrew Carnegie thought about gambling. However, I doubt if he would be pleased to hear that the continued funding of some of the very public libraries that he paid to build a century ago is riding on the passage of legislation authorizing table games at casinos in Pennsylvania. More than likely, he would have a classic Scottish fit of temper and would tell us off.

And we would have nothing to say. We deserve the lecture.

That is why the table gaming legislation presents the legislature with a Hobson’s Choice. The jump from slot machines to a full service casino is a serious issue. Under less stressful circumstances, the proposal might well be turned down or postponed indefinately. But with the rest of the budget approved, how can anyone oppose the table gaming legislation when our libraries are being held hostage? State aid to higher education is also in the package. How did we ever get in this quandry?

Why are we closing libraries in this age of exploding wealth and knowledge? We should be expanding them to take advantage of the exponential opportunities afforded by the internet and electronic media. Libraries should be leaders in this trend, not meek followers.

Investing in libraries during the last century and a half has brought us endless cultural dividends. For example, the great Pittsburgh playwright August Wilson learned the language while reading books he borrowed from a Carnegie Library as a boy. So have countless others. But there are financial revenues, too. A few moments reflection should confirm that. Investing in libraries brings prosperity just as surely as investing in highways.

CLT

Category: Uncategorized

CFPA Bill Advances. But What Will Be Its Final Form?

Summary: The jurisdiction of the proposed Consumer Financial Protection Agency is being reduced as the bill for its creation works its way through Congress. The dilemmas created by dual regulation are driving this process.

The Consumer Financial Protection Agency Act has been reported out of committee in the House, but the likely impact of such a new federal agency is unknown. The bill was amended in committee to remove it as a regulator of community banks. Insurance companies are also exempt and there will probably be other reductions in its jurisdiction before final passage.

A separate regulator for financial institutions in the consumer protection arena appeared to make sense. Bank regulators give consumer protection a subordinate role to safety and soundness, as they probably should. But when the two missions come into conflict, the agencies have a problem. Splitting the functions between two separate regulators would seem to present the opportunity for a resolution.

On the other hand, multiple agencies sometimes fail to cooperate, putting the regulated institution in a no-win situation. This has happened when federal and state bank regulators have made conflicting findings in their examination reports on state chartered institutions. The opportunity for this dilemma to emerge is probably going to increase in areas where the CFPA’s jurisdiction overlaps that of other regulators.

So, what will be the impact of CFPA? Perhaps not much. Who will it ultimately regulate? Perhaps not many.

CLT

Category: Uncategorized

The Old 24/7 Can Get Old.

The Anonymous Lawyer hasn’t written anything lately, but that will change quickly. He reads Above the Law, where one of those partner memos to associates appeared recently. You know the style — preachy.

The AL has the preachy style down so well, that you might suspect that the Quinn Emanuel partner didn’t write the memo at all.

The memo reminds associates to check email around the clock, just in case an urgent assignment turns up. He does, however, suggest that it is not necessary to check email while sleeping. What! Eight whole hours in a row without checking your Blackberry? For shame! You probably have to get up at least once every night for a bathroom trip. What better time could there be for reading email?

Clients aren’t nearly as demanding, you know. Generally, they will be happy to have their calls and email returned by the end of the day. If you run into one that demands the kind of service Biglaw expects from associates, you can fire him.

CLT

Category: Uncategorized

Pittsburgh Legal Newslog: Supreme Court hears argument on whether warrantless state seizure of property violates due process.

Posted by Cliff Tuttle

Jurist, October 14, 2009.

Category: Uncategorized

Guest Post: Jeffrey Gitomer, Salesman Extraordinaire, on How David Slays Goliath in the World of Business.

Posted by Cliff Tuttle with permission of the author.

If you have never heard of Jeffrey Gitomer, you are in for treat and a revelation. Every Tuesday, JG serves his readers, primarily sales professionals, with a cup of freshly-brewed high octane motivation in the form of a free (yes, free) email newsletter. [He calls it an ezine.] Here’s a sample that contains something for everyone who must get and hold on to customers or clients — and that includes, especially, lawyers. If you are one of those little guys who must compete with the giants against the odds, Jeffrey tells you exactly what you must do.
************************************************************
FRESH BREW FOR YOUR BRAIN
by: Jeffrey Gitomer
Now is the time to rise up, be counted, and kick butt.

For years big corporations ruled the world, and the business world – not any more. Most of them are hurting – wounded – dying – or dead.

Big banks, big homebuilders, big auto makers, big newspapers, big stockbrokerages, and other “big” companies are under water or treading fast. The only thing sinking faster is the price of their stock.
Business is so bad at big hotels that in Las Vegas, hotel people are actually becoming friendly. Before President Obama put the hex on Las Vegas, I traveled there once a month doing corporate events and seminars. During the past ten years I can report that Las Vegas did not have the worst service in America – they had the worst service in the WORLD. Times have changed. Drastically. Have you heard?

GREAT NEWS: This economic situation has created the greatest opportunity for small business in the past 100 years. You have the opportunity to topple, or at least outsell and outserve, the giant of your choice. While they’re busy cutting everything, guarding “shareholder value,” and their employees are guarding their desk and their job, NO ONE is guarding their customers (AKA: the lifeblood of their (and your) business). Is that cool, or what?

Here’s a list of what you have to do in order to out-do in these times, and for all times:
Out think. Whatever big companies are thinking, it isn’t enough. You don’t have to go very far to beat them in this department. In most cases just think “for the customer” rather than yourself, your job, or your shareholders. Think “invest,” not “cut.” Think “value,” not “price.” Think “be your best.”
Out hustle. This is easy. Most big companies are about as agile as the Queen Mary. And their employees have a sense of urgency about them that’s somewhere between zero and minus zero. Employees of large companies typically have an attitude of “someone else will do it.” This is your game plan: Get up early. Stay up late. Talk to every customer you have ever had. Schedule breakfasts and lunches six weeks in advance. Let your customers know your new hours start before they get there and end after they leave.
Out sell. Be there for the business, and be there when your customer is ready to do business. This means you also have to be there when they are NOT ready to do business. You can’t just hang around for orders. You have to be a consistent value provider in order to be able to earn the business when the time is right and the time is ripe.
Out serve. Now is the time for all good companies to come to the aid of their customer. (With homage to typing teachers.)Now is the time to INCREASE service and service offerings, not cut back.
IDEA: Next time a customer calls and asks for help or a favor, before they can say a word, you interrupt and say, “Whatever you want, the answer is yes!” This will make them smile, and feel great about asking. Set the tone for positive action with your words, and follow it up with your deeds.
Out deliver. Cut your delivery times in half. No longer is the excuse “The trucks are already loaded” a valid one. Do whatever it takes to deliver what they need, when they need it.
Out humanize. Throw away your computerized answering service before and after hours. And throw away your voicemail. When the phone rings, answer it. This will put you ahead of 99% of all other businesses in the world. Big businesses answer their phones with a computer and say, “In order to serve you better…” Who the hell are they kidding? (Answer: themselves.)
Out communicate. Throw away the “policy manual” and your “corporate speak.” It’s no longer valid in these times. Any fool quoting “policy” or avoiding direct answers in times of economic chaos is certain to lose now and into the future.
Out truth. One day the bank says they’re in great shape. The next day they lay off 30,000 people. All truths are eventually revealed. Why not just start with it? The more truth you tell your customers BOTH external and internal, the more they will respect you, and remain loyal to you.
Out Google. This is the easiest one of all. When your customers go shopping for whatever it is you sell, make certain you’re number one in your name, and at or near the top in your product or service. This is solely dependent on your “Googlejuice” – not your size. When your customer needs an answer or a resource, they Google it – just like you do.
Out surprise. Even in these times you can still be memorable. Create a budget to surprise customers. Anything from a pizza, to lending an employee for a day or two, will be appreciated. And remembered.

Want to climb the Google ladder? Everyone does. I will share a list of things you can do to help raise your ranking, both in name and subject. Go to www.gitomer.com, register if you’re a first-time visitor, and enter the word GOOGLEJUICE in the GitBit box.

************************************************************
Jeffrey Gitomer is the author of The Little Red Book of Selling. President of Charlotte-based Buy Gitomer, he gives seminars, runs annual sales meetings, and conducts Internet training programs on selling and customer service at www.trainone.com. He can be reached at 704/333-1112 or e-mail to salesman@gitomer.com
© 2009 All Rights Reserved – Don’t even think about reproducing this document without written
permission from Jeffrey H. Gitomer and Buy Gitomer – 704/333-1112

Category: Uncategorized

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Welcome

CLIFF TUTTLE has been a Pennsylvania lawyer for over 45 years and (inter alia) is a real estate litigator and legal writer. The posts in this blog are intended to provide general information about legal topics of interest to lawyers and consumers with a Pittsburgh and Western Pennsylvania focus. However, this information does not constitute legal advice and there is no lawyer-client relationship created when you read this blog. You are encouraged to leave comments but be aware that posted comments can be read by others. If you wish to contact me in privacy, please use the Contact Form located immediately below this message. I will reply promptly and in strict confidence.

Pittsburgh Legal Back Talk

Legal topics of interest to lawyers and consumers with a Pittsburgh and Western Pennsylvania focus.

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What is the Difference Between the Default Judgment against Pepsico and the One that is about to Happen to You? Plus or Minus 1.2 Billion Dollars. Otherwise, They are About the Same.

Anonymous Lawyer on Bonuses

What is the Meaning of the GOP Sweep of Statewide Judicial Offices?

Guantanamo Hit Parade

Pittsburgh Legal Newslog:Hate Crime Legislation Enacted.

What is a Hobson’s Choice? Go Look It Up While You Still Can.

CFPA Bill Advances. But What Will Be Its Final Form?

The Old 24/7 Can Get Old.

Pittsburgh Legal Newslog: Supreme Court hears argument on whether warrantless state seizure of property violates due process.

Guest Post: Jeffrey Gitomer, Salesman Extraordinaire, on How David Slays Goliath in the World of Business.

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