At the end of last week, Judge Moreno sent the plaintiffs in the latest Joe Carollo/City of Miami lawsuit back to the complaint drawing board, dismissing their First Amended Complaint without prejudice. Though Carollo is already proclaiming victory in the media, it’s clear that the order was focused on pleading deficiencies. In short, use your rifle not your shotgun when drafting complaints (and proofread!). Order below. A good one to read before you file a multi-count complaint against multiple defendants in any civil case.
Order (J. Moreno) by John Byrne on Scribd
Civil lawyer here. Although I have a mix of hourly and contingent fee cases, the hourly cases keep the lights on but the contingency cases pay the college tuition. I would bet my mortgage that Plaintiffs' counsels are on a contingency. If so, it makes zero sense to write a 124 page 671 paragraph complaint. Locate your best 3 or 4 causes of action, print out the jury instructions for each, and then plug in the minimal facts that support each element.
ReplyDeleteI don’t practice civil law but really how hard can this be ? And this is the SECOND time Moreno told them to do this ? And that is all he said in his order? He’s getting soft in old age. The judge I know wouldn’t have been so nice especially the second time around. He’s one of my all time fav judges and we have had our differences but things like showing up early and following orders to the T are the ways you get a judge to listen to you.
ReplyDeleteYou should sell tickets to the OA - please post when it’s set. Too bad they don’t allow popcorn into the courtroom.
I don't think they're ever going to make it to oral argument, unfortunately.
ReplyDeleteThese people need a day job.
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