In a ruling handed down this afternoon, Judge Baratta has denied Larry Otter's motion for $21,960 in attorney's fees from me. In fact, he has sua sponte dismissed a similar claim for $8,053.65 from County Exec John Stoffa. In his decision, Baratta offers this observation. "[T]here is no suggestion, let alone proof, of any conduct which could be considered vexatious, in bad faith or otherwise improper. The dispute before us was clearly a bona fide legal dispute. The issues raised by the Objectors, based on the quality of their pleadings and the record they presented during the February 4, 2011 hearing, were legitimate and brought in good faith. In fact, with regard to many of their objections, Mr. O'Hare and Mr. Angle were the prevailing party. They established that thousands of signatures were invalid, either because the signatures themselves did not meet the requirements of the Election Code or there were defects related to the circulators and/or the manner in which certain petitions were circulated."
For the legal eagles among you, Baratta's decision is below. Basically, he is saying Larry otter' know better.
Baratta Denial of Otter Request For Att'y Fees
25 comments:
No clams for the otter! Baratta finally makes a wise decision!
"No clams for the otter!"
That's good!
Congratulations to you and kudos to the judge for not succumbing to the wile and power of otter spraint.
MP
Att'y Perkins, We could not have done it without your insightful treatises.
Now the judge is a genius
funny
Some days the bear eats you...You know how it goes. Congrats.
How does otter taste? I saw the guy on the Travel channel eat one and he said it was swampy and grassy but in a good way? Congrats again.
This judge is far from being a genius. This decision he could have been dialed in. It was a frivelous law suit from a hungry otter.
This one was a gimme from the judge to O'Hare. One bloodsucker going after other bloodsuckers, the judge did well.
This will be the last victory for O'Hare and company(Angle, Stoffa gang) regarding Gracedale.
The people will get a say.
I agree. The people get to decide who represents them. They don't get to decide how many rolls of toilet paper the County should have on hand.
Congratulations !
Bernie , You only wish you were
an otter.
Dave & Brenda, Thank you. I would rather have won the first case and lost this one.
Now....aren't you ashamed of yourself for all the nasty things you said about a very good JUDGE. Congrats on your win. Enjoy it. Please stop trashing a very respectable Judge
I have not trashed Judge Baratta at all concerning this matter, although I have criticized his reasoning and opinions, especially on the Home Rule Charter issue.
If I thought he could not be fair, I would have objected to him deciding this case. If you look at my reaction to his opinion against me, I thought I was pretty fair, at least by my standards. His reasoning on the Charter question, however, is completely illogical, and I stated that as well.
Remember, I'm appealing him. I would not be doing that if I thought he was right about everything. But I have never trashed him personally over this matter.
I did trash him when he was running for retention a few years ago, but have seen enough of him to realize now that I would vote for him, even though he ruled against me. He's a bright guy who tries to be fair.
He understands the legality of the Home Rule Charter better than you or that crook Angle.
According to your standards?
I relation to the law?
Please fill free to comment about Bernies standards in relation to the law.
Finally won one
You were never really worried about losing this one, were you Bernie? After all, as the Judge points out, you were the prevailing party on some of your claims. I think the Otter should try and get more money from his own clients next time.
I wasn't worried about losing the first one. This time, I was worried.
Good for you Bernie... The otter is a fool and a money grabber
Awesome news, Bernie. Very glad for you!
Who gives a shit!
You do, enough to post a comment here claiming you don't.
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