News and notes

This may be the last post pending Katrina... All federal courthouses close today at 1PM, so until they reopen, check out these two interesting stories.

1. Fascinating article in the Business Review today about how e-mail is being used as a weapon against a corporate defendant in a contract dispute. John O'Sullivan and Jason Kellogg of Akerman Senterfitt are the lawyers for Quantum Communications and have dug up the e-mails that apparently sink defendant Ronald Hale. The case is in front of Judge Martinez. The DBR explained Judge Martinez's reaction when the defendant said he couldn't recall the e-mail: "Judge Martinez, a former prosecutor, did not buy that the dates of the negotiations slipped Hale’s memory. At the Aug. 3 hearing, he likened it to his days as a prosecutor, when he asked a witness if he was on an airplane that crashed in the Colombian jungle with 4,000 pounds of narcotics on it, and the witness said he could not remember. “That’s like telling me you’re asked have any of your children ever died a violent death, and you say, ‘I don’t really remember,’ ” Martinez said from the bench. Days later, Martinez granted the preliminary injunction for Qantum."

2. Eligio Perez, a former Customs Inspector at Miami International Airport, pled guilty yesterday before United States District Court Judge Federico Moreno in federal court in Miami to a criminal indictment charging him with disclosure of confidential government information, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1905. Under the terms of the plea agreement, Perez agreed to immediately resign from his federal employment and agreed not to seek any other federal or state law enforcement employment. Perez is scheduled to be sentenced on November 2, 2005. Case was prosecuted by Daniel Fridman.

3. Finally, the JNC is accepting applications for U.S. Attorney in this District. The deadline is October 3. Should I apply?