Greedy Trial Lawyer
Scorched Earth Does Not A Good Defense Make
Category: Desperate Defendants
It may not make national headlines. Or have the familiar ring of frivolous lawsuit. But, trial lawyers know that when giant corporations or other mega-rich defendants have a lot to lose and want to win badly enough they deploy the scorched earth defense. If it sounds like a military term that is because it is a military tactic. And, that is all it should be. Recently, a judge had the opportunity to see it deployed in her courtroom and did not like what she saw.
In the classic scorched earth defense the defense lawyers set out to delay, harass, confuse, conceal, destroy - you probably get the idea. Sherman's March To The Sea across Georgia during the Civil War is the field manual for the practitioners of this despicable tactic.
An Associated Press article describes how a US District Court judge reacted to what she called "scorched earth" tactics:
Sterling must pay $5M settlementA judge ordered Los Angeles Clippers owner and real estate mogul Donald T. Sterling to pay nearly $5 million in fees to plaintiffs' attorneys in a lawsuit accusing him of discriminating against black and Latino tenants.
The case was resolved with a financial settlement that the judge described as "one of the largest ever obtained in this type of case," though the terms were not disclosed.
U.S. District Judge Dale Fisher's order, dated Wednesday, ordered Sterling to compensate plaintiffs' attorneys in a 2003 lawsuit alleging Sterling tried to drive out non-Korean tenants, particularly blacks and Latinos, at apartments he owned in the city's Koreatown neighborhood.
After the suit was filed, Fischer banned Sterling from using the word "Korean" on his buildings and from collecting information about tenants' birthplaces.
The judge chided the defense for what she described as "scorched earth" legal tactics, calling the defense's conduct "often unacceptable, and sometimes outrageous."
Unfortunately, the news article does not list the particular tactics deployed in her courtroom. And, it does appear that the defense was acceptable to the judge some of the time. This probably was not a full-blown deployment. Perhaps, it should be called a seared earth defense.
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