Goldman Opinions; What are the Top Ten Sports Cities in America?

Every city's fans always think that they have the best teams, best attendance , best arenas, best stadiums, best fans and even the best owners....Well, ok let's not get carried away with the best owners.
So after drinking several "Jose Cuervo pre-mixed margaritas" over the weekend , I came up with "The Goldman Top Ten " :
1. New York-no ifs, ands or butts. New York is "the Noah's Ark of Professional Sports "....It's got two of everything.
2. Chicago-5 major pro sports franchises(2 baseball teams), plus the whole Big Ten thing as well.
3. Boston(just edges out Phila due to the recent success of it's teams)-with Pats, Celts, Red Sox and Bruins;
4. Philadelphia (The City of Brotherly Love)-Sorry, but Boston deservedly edged you by a nose for the number three slot!
5. Los Angeles-Lakers, Clippers, Dodgers, Kings plus USC football and UCLA basketball (I know no NFL);
6. San Francisco-Giants, 49ers, San Jose Sharks and Warriors(I know they're technically in Oakland);
7. Dallas- great sports town...pro and college.
8.Minnesota-what else do you do but root sports out there?
9. Washington D.C-Great pro sports town(teams have been down of late), plus throw in Georgetown hoops!
10. Miami- will definitely move up if Heat win it all!
Let me know your thoughts... Sorry Houston, Pheonix, Cleveland and San Diego... ...not enough W's!

Insider Trading on Wall Street; Defendants Dropping Like Flies ...!

Boy oh boy! When I was in law school I took " securities law " one semester . It was taught by Profesor Jacobs... I liked it but never thought too much about Section 10b(5) of The Securities Act . The Law was originally passed to curtail amongst other things, market manipulation, corruption and trading on "inside(non-public ) information" .
Since the big scandal of the 1980's involving Ivan Boesky and others , there has not really been a huge emphasis on these criminal prosecutions....Until now! Wow.
Indictments , prosecutions , convictions and now a string of guilty pleases. " Everybody is doing it"! M &A attorneys, analysts, consultants, accountants, traders, Hedge Fund managers,...You name it!
But now, we have a new one. Donald L. Johnson, a Senior Executive , at NASDAQ, at the market intelligence desk just plead guilty in District Court in Alexandria Va. Unbelievable.
You must know that this conduct (wink, wink) has been going on forever, but in my opinion all the advances in technology[plus the Justice department's willingness] have facilitated the number and effectiveness of prosecutions and pleas.
Who's next? Your thoughts.

Yikes, Before I Forget...Let Me Take this Opportunity to Wish My Customers, Friends and Family a Safe, and Relaxing Memorial Day!

On behalf of myself and my family , I'd like to wish you "ALL " a safe, enjoyable and relaxing Memorial Day Weekend.
I'm now celebrating my sixth year in the funding business...and you know what? I couldn't have done it without customers and supporters like you!
Thank you. P.S. Praying for some sun!

Bulls and Thunder Had Nice Runs...But they're Facing Teams Playing at a Very High Level!

The NBA Playoffs as usual have been awesome! Two young teams, the Thunder and Bulls have had excellent seasons, been exciting to watch and have made impressive runs deep into the playoffs. Unfortunately for each team, they ran into buzzsaws otherwise known as Dallas and Miami. It's all over but the crying.
Both conference finals will probably "play out " in 5 or six games....Then we get ready for the "big dance"; Mavs-Heat Final.
Could be one for the ages....My prediction....Heat in 7! Sorry Mark Cuban. Let's get ready to "rock n roll"!

Jacoby and Meyer's Lawsuits; Should Non-Lawyers Be Permitted to Have an Ownership Interest in Law Firms? Why Not?

Jacoby and Meyers has made quite a splash filing lawsuits in New York(Federal Court), New Jersey and Connecticut challenging each State's prohibition of non-attorney investment in law firms. The New York case filed in the Southern District of New York is assigned to none other than Judge Lewis A. Kaplan . Judge Kaplan , currently involved in the Ecuadorian Chevron case has a reputation for being tough-minded and not afraid to make a difficult or unpopular decision.
So what are Jacoby and Meyers' lawsuits really about? Are they looking for outside investors to pump money into their firm via equity ownership? I doubt it, since they probably have access to millions via credit lines, etc. Do they want to have the ability to sell part of their law firms to outside investors to "cash out" ? Maybe.
Do they want to be able to sell parts of the firm come retirement time? Do they want to take the firm public? Who knows.....
I fully support the ownership /investment by non-lawyers in law practices. The days of considering a law practice "a profession " and " not a business " are long gone. As long as the "attorney owners " are bound by the canons and Code of Ethics , I don't see any problem with this concept . You may want to limit non-attorney ownership to 49 %; What do you think?
It's about time that attorneys who are treated as business people by the whole world , are treated accordingly by their own Appellate Divisions!

NBA Playoffs; Both Series Still Up for Grabs.

Heat vs. Bulls ; Wade and Lebron vs. Rose! OKC vs. Dallas. Durant and Westbrook vs. Nowitski.
Who do you like ? Both series tied 1 all, with the Heat series shifting back to South Beach and the Mavs series heading to Oklahoma City .
While I love the conference finals, I got spoiled by the coverage of the earlier rounds where you could watch two, three and sometimes(early rounds)four games every night . Now , we get one game a night and the "off nights " like last night we were forced to actually watch baseball in May !
In any event , hoops resume tonight with the Thunder-Mavs game in OKC. I know the place will be rocking...What do you think Durant and Nowitski both get 40, 35 tonight ? These guys are friggin machines!
Heat game tommorrow in Miami will be an intense, fight for every inch on the floor ,defensive struggle. Low scoring again?
Anyway, here's my predictions. Heat in six. Wade and Lebron too good, too strong, too quick, too fast, too athletic, too good defensively and want it too much!
Dallas in seven. Mavs too, too deep and more experienced. I think both series have the potential to be classics.
Enjoy!

IMF Chief Strauss-Kahn granted Bail...A little Manhattan Luxury Apartment Home Confinement Deal.

So Dominique Strauss-Kahn has been granted bail by the assigned(and very experienced) Supreme Court Justice on his case. Apparently this is the reported "bail deal"; Bail granted, ankle monitor, home confinement in a luxury Manhattan apartment, guard outside the door at his cost, a $1 million cash bail and a $5 million bail bond . Of course it beats Rikers .
So for the next year he'll be eating takein from some of Manhattan's best restaurants(unless he hires a French chef to prepare meals), drinking the finest French wines, exercising on an elliptical machine, watching " movies on demand" and quite possibly living as a "semi-free man" for the last time for a while. Of course he'll be dealing with the case...I'm sure the private investigators(plural) are working 24/7 trying to dig up "dirt" on the "alleged victim". Ah yes, the rights of an accused!
Just one last thought...May be quite difficult to actually find a maid who will be willing to clean his apartment.
My prediction....A deal will be made(maid).

NFL Lockout Back in Place; Frankly, at this Point I Couldn't Give Two Sh__s!

So did you hear? The Federal Appeals Court issued interim relief to the NFL, so the "lockout " is now back in place. Does anyone really care? The situation has gone from the ridiculous to the sublime at this point.
Lockout/ no lockout, which is it? It reminds me of the great "Mel Brooks line" in "History of the World Part One "; Hump-Death, Hump -Death ! You may have noticed that this latest victory for the NFL Owners got very little media play. Fans are losing interest.
Now they have basketball, but once the NBA Playoffs finish, and we're stuck with only baseball, tennis and golf...will the fans start to care again? I hope not .
Honestly, I'm ready to boycott the entire NFL season this year just to send the NFL this message; ...."You've gone too far this time "! I'm not watching.
You know what? Once upon a time there was no NFL.....Life goes on!

Chevron Case Revisited; Second Circuit Panel Sends a Message.

As you may recall Judge Lewis A. Kaplan of the Southern District of New York previously issued a injunction barring worldwide enforcement of a multi-billion dollar judgment obtained against Chevron in Ecuador. Plaintiff appealed and a three Judge Panel from the Second Circuit Court of Appeals just issued an interim decision staying that part of Judge Kaplan's injunction which bars enforcement(plaintiffs can seek to enforce) but kept in place that part of the injunction which enjoins the raising of funds to mount an enforcement action.
My opinion; Huge victory for plaintiffs, huge blow to defendant Chevron!
I believe the Panel is sending a message to the litigants...The message being, maybe the US Courts will not get involved in each and every international dispute.
Will keep you posted.

Dominique Strauss-Kahn; You're a Skunk, Salamander and Leech.

There is nothing worse in my opinion than a person "of power " who utilizes his or her position to abuse, demean, take advantage of, bully or " God forbid " sexually assault an individual in a less "powerful position ". Despicable is not even a strong enough word!
Well, let's see....what do we have here ? Dominique Strauss-Kahn , lawyer, internationally respected economist, head of the IMF and possible candidate to run France . Look , I understand there are different social mores in Europe and I while I fully and strongly support the "presumption of innocence ", the allegations of attempting to rape a chamber maid and then forcing her to perform oral sex in a lavish hotel suite is pretty hard to swallow. How do you even put yourself in the position to be " one on one" in a hotel room with a chamber maid if you're Strauss-Kahn. You don't unless you plan it that way. Rumors indicate it may not have been the first time.
Look, I'm not even going to get into the whole extra-marital affair stuff or the stories of similar acts now surfacing from nine years ago. Although a New York Criminal Court Judge who denied bail to Strauss-Kahn is obviously taking things quite seriously!
As in any case, this must wind through the process, and yes it may be his word against hers. How much money will it take to hush her and make this go away? Who knows. We shall see.
But in the meantime , enjoy your stay Mr. Strauss-Kahn in a slightly less lavish setting...."Protective custody" at Rikers! Enjoy the room service !

Burlyce Logan; You go Girl!

The news today is 90 % bad, horrifying, distressing or sad! So when those feel good stories occur , I think we should really get up and cheer.
One such story involves Burlyce Logan. In 1956 she attended North Texas State College in Denton Texas(Now The University of North Texas).Ms. Logan is African -American. As a student there in 1956 she was taunted, made to feel unwelcome by the administration, pushed in front of a moving car and had a cross burned on the lawn of the home where she lived while attending college. All because of one thing; Yes she was African-American .
Well 55 years have passed. She married, had kids, divorced , moved away and remarried her first husband whose family is from Denton , Texas. Now at the "ripe , young age of 73 ", Ms. Logan has returned to The University of North Texas and will receive her bachelor's degree this spring. Wow, what an accomplishment ! She came "full-circle " and will be the proudest graduate I'm sure at Commencement ceremonies.
Burlyce Logan.....We're all proud of you!
Oh, and I almost forgot. She's starting the master's program in the fall.
You go girl!

Nazi Death Camp Guard gets Five Years from German Court; Are you f__kin Kidding Me?

John Demajanjuk , the Ukranian prision guard at Sobibor concentration camp in Nazi -occupied Poland in 1943 was involved in "the deaths " of 28,000 Jews during World War 2. That's 28,000 murders he participated in!
After years of legal wrangling , extraditions, convictions and appeals in Israel, Demajanjuk finally was deported to Germany to face trial, almost 50 years after Eichmann's trial . The former Ohio autoworker is 91 and in poor health.
So after hearing the case and convicting him, the German Court sentenced him...to guess what? Five measley years. I get the fact that he's 91 and all....but the Nazi's never took pity on any human being, 91 years of age or otherwise !
The German Government and Judiciary had a clear opportunity to send a message and close out the most despicable chapter in their history. But they couldn't and didn't!
Shame on you.

Wire-Tap Evidence the Difference;Raj Rajaratnam Convicted on Insider Trading Counts.

I predicted about a month or so ago that The Galleon Hedge Fund founder would be convicted on all counts. Well guess what ? I was right for once.
In my opinion the "wire-tap recordings were the case, the coffin and the nails in the coffin! The jury (both before alternate and after the alternate deliberated) was fixated on replays of the wiretaps....You can't blame them! Mr. R's brazeness , arrogance and greed must have come through loud and clear within the four walls of the Courtroom. Too much for the defense to overcome.
The jury didn't buy the argument that he didn't trade on illegally obtained info, but only on legally obtained info. Raj only has himself to blame. He wanted to be the old "master of the universe ". And he was for a while! Now he'll be "master of the cellblock "!
Oh Wall Street.,...watch out someone may be listening!

History's Great Trials/Cases; The Dred Scott Case.

One of the most misunderstood , unjust and significant decisions of all-time is the Dred Scott decision decided by our U.S. Supreme Court in 1857. Yes, there were actually Courts, juries and judges 150-200 years ago. Amazing!
I had totally forgotten about this case since graduating law school 27 years ago, but after seeing a reference in the National Law Journal recently I went back and did a little checking.
Some things you probably didn't know about the "Dred Scott Case" or forgot or didn't care about.
1. The final decision by the U.S. Supreme Court went against Dred Scott in his lawsuit seeking freedom against his owner;
2. He initially won a jury trial in Missouri granting him freedom, which was reversed on appeal by the Missouri Supreme Court;
3. At the time his lawsuit was instituted The Missouri Compromise (An Act of Congress) outlawed slavery in Missouri;
4. Dred Scott reinstituted his lawsuit in Federal Court(based on diversity) , which worked it's way up to the US Supreme Court where the Court led by infamous Chief Judge Taney(believe me he was no Judge Ginsburg) dismissed the case holding that a slave was not a "citizen" and therefore could not create diversity. The Court further went on and said even if there was diversity we're striking down the provisions of Missouri Compromise giving freedom to a former slave. That was only the second time the Court had struck down an act of Congress(Marbury vs. Madison being the other). The panic of 1857 ensued, then Lincoln, then the Civil War and the Emancipation Proclamation. Scott was emancipated but died 18 months later of illness.
Amazing what the perseverence of a one time slave set in motion. Dred Scott, you were the man!

Adolf Eichmann Nazi Trial; 50 Years Ago.

Karl "Adolf " Eichmann, a Nazi, was one of the " worst monsters " known to mankind. He served under Hitler during World War 2 and was personally responsible for sending millions of Jews to "Nazi Death Camps". At the end of the War he was arrested by the Americans and confined to an internment camp. Somehow, some way he escaped from the Camp unrecognized.
He was able to flee to Argentina and assume the name Ricardo Klement where he lived until 1960. In 1960 Israeli Mossad agents abducted him(much has been written about Post-war Germany knowing his whereabouts) and brought to Israel where he was tried ,convicted and executed. Too much "due process " for an animal!
Interestingly enough, full transcripts of that trial are available. As I've read and learned that was the most highly publicized and controversial trial of it's time. It was watched and followed worldwide. Something every Jewish person should know about and never forget!
What tremendous efforts by the Israeli trackers.

Clemens' Lawyers on the Attack; Seeking Investigative Materials...

Roger Clemens, baseball icon, 6 or 7 Cy Young awards(I forgot already) , sure-fire future first ballot Hall of Famer...all true until he was indicted on perjury charges. Unfortunately for him , he is another athlete who believed his "sh_t didn't stink"! Arrogant , nasty, a chip on his shoulder...All great attributes on the mound , but not necessarily in a thing called"life ". "What comes around goes around"!
Well, of course Clemens has dug his own ditch; Question is whether his high-paid attorney Rusty Hardin and his legal team can extricate Clemens from his legal nightmare. Hardin has the cash-cow of his lifetime in Clemens , and I am certain he has been instructed by Roger not to leave one stone unturned.
His latest legal tact (which I applaud) has been to seek via subpoena the investigative files, worksheets, notes, etc from the Congressional Committee and it's law firm who investigated steroids on behalf of Major League Baseball. Hardin's subpoenas were met with motions to quash.
The committee cited a constitutional privilige while the law firm DLA Piper cited attorney work product among other arguments. Interesting little "sidebar " to spruce up " an otherwise stagnant proceeding". The motions are currently before the Court.
Two questions come to mind; Will the motions be granted or denied...And is there really anything helpful in the materials being sought. Or is this a classic fishing expedition?
Well Clemens on this application alone will spend about a million dollars to find out!

British Petrolem Litigation; When it Rains, It Pours!

As mediation continues, states sue, Transocean files a Limitation of Liability Act case and more....All of a sudden the number of filed cases in Federal Court have mushroomed from 350 cases to 70,000. Yes, 70,000 you heard correctly. A lot of the filings were completed to beat an April 20th, 2011 deadline triggered by Transocean's filing.
The matter has turned into a "suing orgy"; Everybody is suing everybody, cross-claims and counterclaims are flying, British Petroleum has brought about $100 billion in claims as a plaintiff too, not to mention declaratory judgment actions and the like.
Florida intends to proceed under the Oil Pollution Act.....What a mess! No pun intended.....

Galleon Insider Trading Trial;" Oy Vey "

So after six days of deliberations, wiretap playbacks, a day off, foot surgery to the defendant during deliberations and plenty of waiting, a juror from the main panel was excused and an alternate was picked to replace the excused juror. The jury must now "start deliberations over again" due to a new juror coming into the mix.
Don't know the prosecution's and defense's take on the excused and alternate jurors...But certainly the prosecution cannot be overjoyed with these developments. Let's wait and see!

Goldman Opinions; The New "Infant Medical Malpractice Fund"...I Don't Especially Like It.

So many questions linger as to the mechanics, specifics and functioning of the recently enacted "fund " . I really don't think anyone knows how this will ultimately affect infant medical care as well as settlement and verdict size down the road. (see Public Health Law Section 2999-h[1]).
The first question I have to pose is " what would be worse for plaintiffs, the newly enacted fund or (God forbid) the defeated cap on pain and suffering at $250,000? Both are brutal? Interested in your thoughts on that.
While I clearly understand the thinking behind the statute(i.e. a no-fault type fund, readily available treatment and lowering of insurance claims/verdicts) I think the statute is flawed. First of all, all "brain-damaged infants" already receive care and treatment via medicaid or private coverage. Treatment, surgeries, therapy, special ed, meds, home care attendants and long-term care facilities are already paid for. So these poor kids are now getting ice in Alaska in the winter from the "fund". Secondly, parents and families will spend the next 30 years of their lives "begging for treatment, approvals etc...Will they have to use only medical providers on the "fund's approved list ? Don't like it , don't get it !
Lastly, the statute promises to have a "chilling effect " on settlements and verdicts . As a result the affected families and their children will be "short-changed" and will not get that lifetime nest-egg which they so badly need and deserve. The "financial independence " that a large verdict or settlement provides(not to mention peace of mind) will be a thing of the past. In essence , the litigation may never end for these victims.
Of course a lot will depend on the promulgation of the accompanying regulations and subsequent judicial interpretation of same.
Let me say it again...Right now I don't like it! Your thoughts?

Ecuadorian Case vs. Chevron; "The Beat Goes on "!

By now you must have read, seen or heard about the $18 billion verdict handed down against Chevron by an Ecuadorian Court. Since the verdict in Ecuador , Chevron has gone on the offensive , bringing their fight in front of a sympathetic Judge Lewis A. Kaplan in the Federal District Court in Manhattan. Judge Kaplan is hearing the racketeering suit filed against plaintiff's counsel and has preliminarily enjoined enforcement of the judgment against Chevron in the U.S. Motions are presently pending seeking Judge Kaplan's recusal.
Why a U.S. Court is getting involved in this fight is beyond me ? Playing world's policeman again, I guess. What makes Judge Kaplan's involvement even more glaring and more meddlesome is the fact that nine years ago Judge Rakoff of the same Court dismissed the underlying environmental plenary action against Chevron filed in New York on " forum non conveniens grounds ". That dismissal effectively forced plaintiffs to seek redress(which the did) in the Ecuadorian Courts. Now the case is back...Did someone say boomerang ?
Going to be fascinating to see how the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in New York perceives and views Judge Kaplan's involvement nine years after the same Court dismissed the underlying case.
As usual I will keep you posted.
This has been another segment of "Goldman Opinions"!