In a Clean Water Act case, where the court will first decide liability, Judge John Sedwick has excluded the testimony of numerous defense witnesses, relying on the defendants’ summary of proposed testimony. Sedwick ruled that most of the proposed testimony is relevant only in the penalty phase of the litigation.
Sedwick also held that Alaska DEC […]
The Supreme Court has unanimously reversed the 10th Circuit in the Sprint “Me, too” evidence case. Here’s commentary by Paul Mollica, and by Paul Secunda at Workplace Professor.
Wednesday ELS meeting: The December 5th ELS meeting is on Ethics. The materials may be found here.
All-purpose in limine order: In a pending FLSA matter, Judge Burgess has entered a detailed in limine Order, covering 17 different categories of evidence. Burgess granted the employer’s motion, without opposition from the plaintiff employee.
The Order is easily adaptable to almost any […]
The House of Representatives has passed the Attorney-Client Privilege Protection Act of 2007. It bars federal employees from pressuring an “organization or personal affiliated with an organization” to waive the attorney-client privilege or work product privilege.
The bill (HR 3013) provides:
In any Federal investigation or criminal or civil enforcement matter, an agent or attorney of the United […]
Ethics of multiple client representation: ABA Formal Opinion 06-438 on this subject (both as to initial representation and as to settlement negotiation) is here.
DAlaska on expert testimony: Judge Ralph Beistline has published his opinion on the admissibility of a surveyor’s report, in Kubanyi v. GVEA, 2007 WL 3002070 (D.Alaska Oct. 12, 2007).
FMLA research: Attorney Carl Bosland runs a helpful […]
The plaintiff in Johnson v. Fred Meyer Stores, Inc. claims that her supervisor replaced her with [CORRECTION] a woman toward whom he had romantic feelings. Her various statutory claims (age, FMLA, etc.) have been dismissed or withdrawn (Docket # 81, 02/09/07), leaving only a common law count for breach of the implied covenant of good […]
Court notes difference between FRE 403 and ARE 403
Judge Sedwick continues to publish his evidentiary rulings in U. S. v. Kott, 3:07-cr-056 JWS (D.Alaska).
In the first, he addresses the government’s motion regarding evidence of VECO’s campaign contributions and payments for candidate pollings; evidence how other legislators voted on PPT; and the scope of cross-examination of Bill […]
The feds prosecuted Patricia Paul for stealing funds that she claimed were due her for unpaid overtime compensation. She asserted that she was improperly classified as exempt. When she called an expert on the exemption issue, the trial judge excluded the evidence. The 9th Circuit, in an unpublished opinon, held:
The district court did not abuse its discretion […]
In U. S. v. Thomas Anderson, No. 03:06-cv-00099 JWS (D. Alaska), the government accuses Anderson of several felonies in a bribery scheme involving Cornell Corrections. The prosecution sought to introduce third party comments that VECO (not a party to the alleged scheme) paid Anderson $2,500/month for doing nothing. Judge Sedwick’s order excluding such comments, on the basis that […]
The U S Supreme Court has granted cert in an ADEA case on the role of the “same supervisor” rule when the plaintiff alleges company-wide age discrimination, here, involving a reduction in force. The 10th Circuit held that the trial judge abused his discretion in barring evidence that other older employees who worked under different supervisors […]
