Judge Robin Rosenberg sworn in

Congratulations!

Photog credit: Adam Rabin

Monster 11th Circuit opinion decided by no active 11th Circuit judges

Judges Sentelle (from the DC Circuit) and Fay (senior) are in the majority, reversing Judge Marra on the big Chiquita banana case. The only active judge, Martin, dissents. Here's the opinion. The AP has the background on the case:

A panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled 2-1 that federal courts have no jurisdiction over the Colombian claims. The lawsuits accused Chiquita of assisting in the killings by paying $1.7 million to a violent right-wing paramilitary group known as the AUC, the Spanish acronym for United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia.

Chiquita, based in Charlotte, North Carolina, formerly operated large banana plantations in Colombia through its Banadex subsidiary. Chiquita insists it was the victim of extortion and was forced to pay the AUC or face violence directed at its employees and assets in Colombia.

The majority cited a 2013 U.S. Supreme Court ruling known as Kiobel vs. Royal Dutch Petroleum that imposed limits on attempts by foreigners to use U.S. courts to seek damages against corporations for human rights abuses abroad. Chiquita had insisted that ruling meant the Colombians' lawsuit had to be tossed out.

"We are gratified that the U.S. Court of Appeals has now agreed with us and the claims have been dismissed," said Chiquita spokesman Ed Loyd in an email statement. "The decision reinforces what Chiquita has maintained from the beginning - that Chiquita is not responsible for the tragic violence that has plagued Colombia."

Attorneys for the estimated 4,000 Colombians could still ask the full 11th Circuit or the Supreme Court to review the case, but otherwise their only option would be to an uphill effort to seek damages through Colombian courts.

"It's another tragedy for the victims of the war, who have already been through so much," said Washington attorney Paul Wolf, who represents a large number of Colombian plaintiffs. "There is nowhere else they can go for justice."

The AUC was formed in 1997 to unite several right-wing militias to battle the leftist guerrilla group known as FARC, Spanish for Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia. The resulting campaign killed some 50,000 people, mostly civilians, according to Colombian prosecutors. Both the AUC and FARC are listed as terrorist organizations by the U.S.

Chiquita in 2007 pleaded guilty to U.S. criminal charges stemming from the payments and paid a $25 million fine to the Justice Department.

The Colombian lawsuits followed and were consolidated in 2008 before a West Palm Beach federal judge, who in 2011 rejected Chiquita's attempt to get them dismissed. But U.S. Judge Kenneth Marra also agreed to let the company take the cases to the appeals court before they went any further.

Writing for the majority, U.S. Circuit Judge David Sentelle said Congress would have to update a law dating to 1789 - known as the Alien Tort Statute, or ATS - for the Colombians to sue Chiquita in the U.S.

"There is no other statute. There is no jurisdiction," Sentelle wrote.

U.S. Circuit Judge Beverly Martin dissented, noting that Chiquita's decisions to pay the AUC were made at company headquarters on U.S. soil - enough to make the company liable.

Prosecutors reading lawyer-client emails

The New York Times had this front page article today about prosecutors reading emails between lawyers and their clients without a warrant or any judicial oversight.  For the past few years now, inmates have had access to an email system called Corrlinks. If they don't violate prison rules, they can email with family and friends, and also importantly, their lawyers.  There is a general warning that the email isn't private and may be monitored, but it's just outrageous that prosecutors are snooping on attorney-client privileged emails without even getting a warrant.

From the article:

While prosecutors say there are other ways for defense lawyers to communicate with clients, defense lawyers say those are absurdly inefficient.

A scheduled visit to see Syed Imran Ahmed, a surgeon accused of Medicare fraud who is being held at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, took lawyers five hours, according to court documents filed by one of Dr. Ahmed’s lawyers, Morris J. Fodeman. The trip included travel time from Manhattan and waiting for jail personnel to retrieve Dr. Ahmed.

Getting confidential postal mail to inmates takes up to two weeks, Mr. Fodeman wrote. The detention center, like all federal jails is supposed to allow inmates or lawyers to arrange unmonitored phone calls. But a paralegal spent four days and left eight messages requesting such a call and got nowhere, Mr. Fodeman wrote.

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Dr. Ahmed’s case includes 50,000 pages of documents so far, including “Medicare claim data and patient information that we need Dr. Ahmed’s assistance to understand,” Mr. Fodeman wrote. Especially since he is acting as a public defender in this case — meaning the government pays him at $125 per hour — Mr. Fodeman argued that having to arrange an in-person visit or unmonitored phone call for every small question on the case was a waste of money and time.

In Brooklyn and across the country, the issue is being decided case by case. A spokesman for the Bureau of Prisons declined to comment, citing the continuing litigation.

Robin Rosenberg confirmed

Congratulations to Judge Rosenberg who was unanimously confirmed today!

President Obama has really reshaped this District's bench:

Judges Williams, Scola, Gayles, Bloom and now Rosenberg.

Quick news and notes

1.  Julie Carnes was confirmed today to serve on the 11th Circuit.  The vote was 94-0.  We now have two Carneses on the 11th Circuit.  And when Jill Pryor gets confirmed, that will be two Pryors.

2.  But Robin Rosenberg is next up for a vote -- and this is for the District Bench here.  Robin Rosenbaum already got confirmed for the 11th Circuit and actually heard oral argument already a few weeks ago.  But this Robin (Rosenberg, not Rosenbaum) will likely be sitting in Ft. Pierce.

3,  Another 5 year sentence in the Rothstein case -- this time to former Broward Sherrif's Lt. David Benjamin.  Judge Cohn rejected his pleas for leniency and gave him the statutory max (from Paula McMahon's Sun-Sentinel article):

He was handcuffed behind his back and taken into custody in the courtroom — about three feet from Marcy Romeo, a woman whose illegal arrest on trumped-up drug charges he ordered in 2009.

"I think it's important that Ms. Romeo see the defendant taken into custody," U.S. District Judge James Cohn said as he ordered that Benjamin begin serving his prison term immediately.

"Mr. Benjamin, while wearing the cloak of BSO authority, engineered the arrest and incarceration of an innocent citizen," the judge said. "This was done purely for financial gain. This conduct is deplorable — it is unconscionable."

Romeo gave a powerful victim impact statement in federal court in Fort Lauderdale, turning and looking Benjamin in the eye as she spoke.

"I've never met you and I'm 'that bitch' you told [Jeff Poole] to arrest," Romeo told Benjamin, quoting former deputy Poole's account of what Benjamin told him to do.

"Well, my name's Marcy and I'm a mother and I'm a daughter and I'm an aunt and I'm a sister, I'm a cousin — I'm a human being," she said. Her voice shook a little with emotion, but she remained calm.

Benjamin, who was clearly flustered by her direct comments, attempted to apologize to her while she was speaking, but his lawyer, Mike Dutko, told him to let her speak.

Romeo said she has been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder because of what happened to her. She was arrested, strip-searched a number of times and detained at the Broward County Jail for about 18 hours.

"It felt good," Romeo said later about seeing Benjamin handcuffed and sent to prison.

He spent his first night behind bars at the Broward County Main Jail in downtown Fort Lauderdale, records show.

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Benjamin, who now has a thick beard and longer hair than when he worked at the Sheriff's Office, apologized personally to Romeo in court and expressed regrets to everyone he harmed.

"First of all, I'd like to apologize to Ms. Romeo," Benjamin said. "All I can do is apologize for my actions."

He denied that he ever called her "that bitch," but acknowledged the depth of his criminal conduct.

"My actions were absolutely horrible," Benjamin said. "I take full responsibility. I've taken full responsibility from day one. All I can do is apologize."

He said Benjamin has done everything in his power to cooperate with investigators who are still scrutinizing the enormous amount of misconduct by dozens of people linked to Rothstein.

Prosecutor Jeffrey Kaplan told the judge that Rothstein tried to corrupt and co-opt several law enforcement officers and "in the case of defendant Benjamin, he was successful."