Judge Mehrtens

By John R. Byrne

Today we're featuring Judge William O. Mehrtens. Longtime district court judge (served 15 years). Double Gator. Served as a lieutenant commander in the Navy during World War II. Best remembered for his important opinion backing treasure hunter Mel Fischer in his dispute with the State of Florida over the wreck of a 17th-century Spanish galleon carrying hundreds of millions in treasure. Case went all the way to the Supreme Court, which mostly affirmed Mehrtens's ruling. Check out that opinion here. I like this quote: "As grave as the perils of sea are and were, the gravest perils to the treasure itself came not from the sea but from two unlikely sources. Agents of two governments, Florida and the United States, who have the highest responsibility to protect rights and property of citizens, claimed the treasure as belonging to the United States and Florida."

FBA write up below.

Judge William O. Mehrtens was nominated by President Lyndon B. Johnson and served on the district court from 1965-1980. Prior to his judicial service, Judge Mehrtens served in the U.S. Naval Reserve during World War II. In Treasure Salvors, Inc. v. Unidentified Wrecked & Abandoned Sailing Vessel, 459 F. Supp. 507 (S.D. Fla. 1978), Judge Mehrtens ruled that Treasure Salvors, Inc. retained exclusive rights to treasure, including “gold, silver, artifacts, and armament” salvaged from the sunken Spanish vessel Nuestra Señora de Atocha, rejecting Florida’s competing ownership claims.

Who do you think won the Megan Thee Stallion trial?

The jury found for Megan but only awarded her $75,000.  Meghann Cuniff, who has covered the whole trial, has the scoop here:

A jury in Miami, Florida, on Monday found an online commentator liable for defaming rapper Megan Thee Stallion and intentionally inflicting emotional distress on her by coordinating with the rapper who’s in prison for shooting her five years ago.

Milagro Cooper also was found liable for promoting a digitally altered sexual depiction of Megan.

Jurors awarded Megan $75,000 in damages, though that will drop to $59,000 if U.S. District Judge Cecilia M. Altonaga agrees with the jury Milagro qualifies as a media defendant and dismisses the defamation claim because Megan’s lawyers at Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, LLP, didn’t notify her before they sued her.

Milagro’s total amount due could increase substantially, however, because the sexual depiction claim allows Megan to recoup attorney fees.

If you are more interested in Megan Thee Stallion's courtroom outfits, she posted each of them at her IG page: 

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A post shared by Megan Thee Stallion (@theestallion)

Ghost Candidates and the $14 billion Drop

By John R. Byrne

Securities lawsuits can sometimes be dry. Not this one. In Jastram v. NextEra Energy, Inc., the plaintiffs' class action complaint contained some fairly unusual (and Pelican Brief-esque allegations)--a  utility company allegedly bankrolling ghost political candidates, surveilling reporters, and buying influence in local media. Though the utility company (NextEra Energy, Inc.) initially denied the allegations, its leadership later, according to the Eleventh Circuit, "began to backpedal." On Jan. 25, 2023, the company filed unscheduled disclosures and abruptly parted with its CEO. The same day? The company's stock plunged 8.7 percent, wiping out $14 billion-plus in market cap. Taken together, the Court said, the complaint's allegations were enough to plead loss causation.

If you handle securities cases, this is a must-read. Opinion here. 

A Tale of Two Voting Rights Act Cases

By John R. Byrne

Three-judge panels aren't just reserved for the courts of appeal. You can sometimes get them at the district court level. One common example is when plaintiffs challenge the constitutionality of congressional or statewide legislative maps as racial gerrymandered under the Equal Protection Clause. In such a case, the chief judge of the federal appellate court appoints two judges to sit on a panel with the district judge who originally drew the case (one of the two "added" judges must be a circuit court judge).

That’s how a three-judge panel consisting of Judge Becerra, Judge Ruiz, and Circuit Judge Britt Grant ended up deciding whether there was enough evidence to send a racial-gerrymandering challenge to trial in Cubanos Pa’lante v. Florida House of Representatives. Judge Becerra had the case first, and Chief Judge Pryor designated Judges Ruiz and Grant to join her. Ultimately, the panel held there was sufficient evidence for a factfinder to conclude that “race played a predominant role in the drawing of” four of the eight challenged district (seven state-house districts and one congressional district). Decision here.

So, those three judges were on the same page. Now let me introduce you to another recent Voting Rights Act. This one's from Texas, LULAC v. Abbott, and also dealt with racial gerrymandering claims. No such harmony here. The circuit judge appointed to sit on that panel, Judge Jerry E. Smith, issued a blistering dissent from the panel's issuing of a preliminary injunction. That decision here. 

Hard to really describe the intensity of this dissent. Here are a few quotes:

"In my 37 years on the federal bench, this is the most outrageous conduct by a judge that I have ever encountered in a case in which I have been involved."

"The main winners from Judge Brown’s opinion are George Soros and Gavin Newsom. The obvious losers are the People of Texas and the Rule of Law."

"When I was a newer on the bench, a friend asked me, 'Now that you’ve been a judge for a few years, do you have any particular advice?' I replied, 'Always sit with your back to the wall.'"

Whoa. 

Curious whether the Chief Judge of the Fifth Circuit should have foreseen that combustible panel mix coming. 

More Megan Thee Stallion

Meghann Cuniff has everything Megan Thee Stallion, the defamation trial before Judge Altonaga.  Closing arguments will be tomorrow (Monday).

Here's the latest -- Megan is on the stand and Miami's Jeremy McLymont is crossing (John O'Sullivan from Quinn put her on):

Jeremy McLymont, an attorney in Miami, Florida, focused on Megan’s testimony that she was not drunk and that she had nerve damage in her left foot, despite a doctor’s report that said there was no “nerve involvement” in her left foot.

He also emphasized eyewitness Sean Kelly’s testimony about two women fighting as he implies Megan lied when she testified Lanez shot her and implies that the gunfire came from her now-former friend Kelsey Harris as Milagro has contended.

McLymont also implied Megan is wrongly accusing Milagro when Megan says Lanez told Milagro to say Megan is an alcoholic.

“That’s your opinion?” McLymont asked.

“Yes,” Megan answered.

“It’s not a proven fact, right?” McLymont asked.

“It can’t be proven because we can’t see the messages,” Megan said, referring to the thousands of texts deleted by Milagro in violation of a legal notice.

“It’s not a proven fact, but you’re stating it as though it’s a fact?” McLymont asked.

“Just like Milagro stated that it’s a fact that I lied about Tory shooting me,” Megan answered.

“So are you defaming Tory Lanez and Milagro Cooper when you say that it’s your opinion that Milagro Cooper is getting information from Tory Lanez?” McLymont asked.

“No, I’m not defaming her or him,” Megan answered.

“Alright. But Ms. Cooper is defaming you when she gives her opinion?” McLymont asked.

“Yes, and presents it as facts,” Megan answered.

Megan’s lawyers from Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, LLP didn’t object to her being asked to give a legal conclusion.

McLymont, a licensed attorney in Florida since 2018, took a slow and conversational approach to his cross-examination of Megan. At one point, he implied Megan is suing Milagro out of jealousy, emphasizing that Milagro “has some sort of relationship with Tory Lanez.”

“You do not like that?” McLymont asked.

“I don’t care about whatever you’re trying to ask me. What I care about is Tory giving this woman information to say about me, to lie about me, about the trial. That’s what I care about,” Megan answered.

McLymont at one point told Megan, “So I’m asking questions. All I need is just simple answers” when Megan asked what he was getting at, but he mostly didn’t push back when Megan responded with her own questions. He said rappers Meek Mill and Drake support Lanez and Megan asked, “Are you saying that make it OK” for Milagro to harass her.

“No, I just want to make sure that we’re actually pinpointing the cause of any emotional distress” and not blaming it on Milagro, McLymont told Megan.

McLymont described Milagro as someone who “has the least amount of influence,” and Megan asked why he thinks that.

“Is it because she’s a woman and the rest of everybody is a man?” Megan asked.

“Well, she’s not famous, right?” McLymont answered.

Megan said Milagro is famous “for talking crap about me online.”

McLymont and Megan were discussing Milagro’s level of fame when U.S. District Judge Cecilia M. Altonaga said, “Mr. McLymont, you’re an attorney” and told him to stop speaking when the witness speaks.

“I’ve never heard of that, judge,” McLymont said.

The judge chuckled and said, “I’m telling you that.”

 

Keep Off the Beach

 By John R. Byrne

To me, the COVID-19 Pandemic feels like ages ago. But lawsuits arising from the pandemic are still making their way through the legal system. Just a few days ago, the Eleventh Circuit held that a county ordinance closing all public and private beaches during the early COVID-19 pandemic was a per se physical taking of beachfront owners’ property under the Fifth Amendment. Judge Lagoa's opinion is a refresher on takings law, including the differences between regulatory takings and physical takings (the line can be blurry). In short, there's "no COVID exception to the Takings Clause."

The opinion also has colorful details, including this sequence. A man is walking on his private beachfront property during the early days of the pandemic along with a family friend and their respective children. A lifeguard radios the Walton County Sheriff's Office to report them. Deputies arrive "almost immediately" and one tells the man and his party that, if they don't leave the beach, the deputies will arrest them. The man tells him he owns the property but the deputy says that doesn't matter. When the man and his friend turned to leave, the deputy asked for their names and told them that if police did "catch" them on his beach again, the police would take them "downtown."

"Downtown" doesn't get used enough as a stand-in for a police station. But as it turns out, the Walton County Sheriff's Office's main operations and jail are located at 10 Sheriff Circle in DeFuniak Springs, Florida, which is not a classic downtown business district. 

Full opinion here. 

Judge Fulton

By John R. Byrne

Below is the portrait of Judge Charles B. Fulton. He served as Chief Judge in our district for 11 years (from 1966-1977)! A 1982 statutory amendment limited Chief Judge terms to seven years. Sharing that in case the question comes up in your local pub trivia contest. FBA write up below.

Hon. Charles B. Fulton was nominated by President Kennedy and served on the district court from 1963-1996. In Lee v. Ridgdill, 444 F. Supp. 44 (S.D. Fla. 1977), Judge Fulton held that dismissing a police chief for consulting an attorney about a polygraph test request violated due process and ordered his reinstatement with back pay.

Megan Thee Stallion is here in the SDFLA

The Megan Thee Stallion case started before Judge Altonaga with opening statements yesterday. Some coverage by Meghann Cuniff here:

 

The jury of five men and four women saw the obscene video during Megan’s lawyer Marie Hayrapetian’s 20-minute opening statement.

Before she played it, Hayrapetian said she wanted “to acknowledge how disturbing this is.”

“Imagine having to sit in court and watch this play for a room full of strangers. That’s what we’re asking Megan to do today, but you need to see it to understand what Milagro Cooper promoted,” said Hayrapetian, an associate in Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, LLP’s Los Angeles office.

The approximately 45-second video included commentary from Milagro as she played it for viewers on her live stream. “Watch how this post jump … I just liked it and I tweeted ‘go to my likes.’”

“I apologize to everyone in this courtroom for having to see that, especially to Megan,” Hayrapetian said. “But Milagro Cooper made the choice to promote it.”

Hayrapetian began her opening by playing audio of the gunshots that Daystar “Tory Lanez” Peterson fired at Megan on July 12, 2020. She told jurors he was convicted in December 2022, and the California Court of Appeal affirmed his convictions last week. She played an excerpt of Milagro discussing Megan that begins, “At the end of the day, a bitch lying on somebody is low down. So believe what the fuck you want to believe.” Milagro goes on to say she wants to “slap” Megan.

“This case is about someone who wasn’t there that night, the defendant, Milagro Cooper. She didn’t see the fear or the blood or the gun, but she saw something else: Her shot had the spotlight,” Hayrapetian said. “This case is about what Milagro Cooper did with her shot at the spotlight.”

Hayrapetian said jurors will learn “how she turned attacking Megan into her brand, how she coordinated with Tory Lanez and his team, how she built her platform by tearing Megan down.”

She said the case “is not about whether Tory shot Megan. That has already been decided: He did. This case is about Milagro Cooper’s continued effort to undo what’s already been done, to free Tory.”

The first thing Milagro’s lawyer Nathacha Bien-Aime told jurors in her opening was, “Yes. Megan Pete was shot.” But she said “whether he did or not, that case, that tragedy, that happened in California.”

“The plaintiff desperately wants to drive a California criminal trial across the country, to replay it for you here in Miami, Florida,” Bien-Aime said.