2 responses needed | Quick Homework Help
Im working on a Law exercise and need support.
I need two responses to two individual students, Mrs Topic is the professor, please do not respond or reply to her comments. 100 – 150 word min
Courtney Keller
Sep 20, 2020 at 4:59 PM
Hello Professor and Class,
Rule 11 (b) is when you file papers with the court or with a law firm. First you need to get legal representation with the court in order to pursue an investigation. I believe that the sixth amendment states that everyone has the right to an attorney, which is also part of our Miranda rights. I believe it is you have the right to an attorney and if you cannot afford an attorney one will be provided for you. Every motion and pleading needs to make sure it is signed by an attorney, if you provide legal representation you are required to have their signature, if you do not hold an attorney’s signature, you can in fact get sanctioned and even disbarred. Rule 11 (b) can be violated if an attorney or a law firm does not provide the essential information when dealing with Rule 11 (b). The example that I am going to provide is personal. Recently, I witnessed an ongoing court case and I personally witnessed the fact that the attorney of the law firm was actually sending out motions and papers to the defendant without the plaintiffs permission. The attorney would send out subpoenas to the defendants family actually requesting to be in court at a specific day and time. The person that was receiving the subpoenas actually had to take off of work and go to court only to find out that the court trial never even existed, because the attorney never signed the legal documents to bring the defendants father to court. The attorney who was violating the Rule 11 (b) was reported to the district ethics secretary and an attorney grievance form was submitted on behalf of the attorney.
-Courtney Keller
Word Count: 324
Resources:
Rule 11. Signing Pleadings, Motions, and Other Papers; Representations to the Court; Sanctions. (n.d.). Retrieved September 20, 2020, from https://www.law.cornell.edu/rules/frcp/rule_11
Sixth Amendment. (n.d.). Retrieved September 20, 2020, from https://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/sixth_ame…
Briana Diaz
Sep 23, 2020 at 7:54 AM
Hi Courtney,
Great post. Very detailed. I specifically like how you chose to use the attorneys as an example, it is important to know what an attorney should do in order to represent a client and a case. For my response I chose to do how the client can misrepresent themselves and/ or a case. Also, great example you used. Do you know what happened to the attorney afterwards?
Good job
Courtney Keller
Sep 23, 2020 at 10:08 AM
Hi Briana,
Thank you! I do not know what happened to the attorney afterwards, however, I do know that the ethics secretary sends the grievance to disciplinary attorney which is in the office of Counsel. If a letter of notice is issued from the Office of Counsel then the Bar counsel is required to question the attorney that the grievance was filed about. If they find her guilty of any of the reasons that were listed on the original grievance then she will be disciplined. She will most likely be reprimanded. Reprimanded is basically a slap on the wrist from the Grievance committee. If they have to do a thorough investigation then she may be disbarred or suspended for his misconduct.
-Courtney Keller
Resource:
Rule 10. (n.d.). Retrieved September 23, 2020, from https://www.americanbar.org/groups/professional_re…
Courtney Topic
Sep 23, 2020 at 12:50 PM
Courtney,
Great points. The right to an attorney extends to criminal cases, but not civil cases. The example you gave is very interesting. Rule 11 certainly requires that you cannot issue subpoenas etc. to harass another party. That would be a very big problem. The purpose of the rule is to ensure that an attorney has to engage in some sort of factual investigation – some baseline – before making allegations. The court doesn’t want to waste anyone’s time with frivolous pleadings.
Rule 11 used to be a very little known or used rule. If anyone has seen “A Civil Action” it’s actually raised in that case. See: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tcxy1cJA1V8 If you have not had a chance to read the book or watch the movie – please do! It gives great descriptions of the discovery process and is a wonderful example of how difficult toxic tort cases can be.
Over recent years the use of Rule 11 has risen, but it can still be a bit hard to win those motions (apart from the really egregious scenarios, similar to what you described above).
-Prof. Topic
Courtney Keller
Sep 24, 2020 at 2:09 PM
Hi Professor Topic,
Yes this attorney harassed the defendants family and currently is destroying the defendants life on a daily basis and not a single person not even the judge sees this happening. The attorney who is doing this to people should not be allowed to be an attorney. I pray every single day that she gets disbarred for her unloyal/unethical misconduct. (wishful thinking)
As for the video link above, I have no read the book or watched the movie. I am going to try and find it now and watch it. I love watching movies that have to do with court cases, discovery, and motions. Thank you for sharing this with us.
-Courtney Keller
Celina Huaman
Sep 24, 2020 at 4:02 PM
Hello Professor,
First off I would like to thank you for posting that film clip to give us a better understanding of the rule 11(b). I would like to say thank you for stating ” The right to an attorney extends to criminal cases, but not civil cases. ” I remember hearing that but had completely put it in the back of my thoughts when looking at this rule. As you stated that is very important to make sure that a subpoena is not being used to harass a person. Also I have not gotten the chance to watch or read that film but will be watching it this weekend thank you for sharing that video with us. I think that will be very helpful. I am looking forward to watching the film. I hope you are doing well and have a wonderful rest of the week. Once I watch the film I know I will have a better understanding of different motions.
Word count: 165
Anna Cruz
Sep 23, 2020 at 11:22 PM
Hi Courtney,
Thank you for your detailed explanation. I was actually having some trouble understanding what Rule 11(b) was. I think my confusion was due to the other sections that comprise Rule 11.
Your example is quite unethical on behalf of that attorney. I mean what would be the point of sending out subpoenas if the attorney was not signing them and putting them through the proper legal channels.
It’s sad because the defendants or clients are paying and putting their faith in someone to resolve an issue for them, and they are getting swindled and now having a bigger issue.
Anna
Courtney Keller
Sep 24, 2020 at 2:15 PM
Hi Anna,
Thank you for your post. Yes the attorney is very unethical. I think this matter had a lot to do with money. The plaintiff was paying the retainer and fees that he/she didn’t even think to know what they were for. This goes to show you that after everything during the trial, the plaintiff is basically contempt of court because she/he is not following the agreement signed by the judge. So the defendant refuses to take the plaintiff back to court because they are afraid what the plaintiffs attorney will pull out of her sleeve to continue to destroy his/her life.
-Courtney Keller
Juniska Vallejo Pichardo
Sep 24, 2020 at 11:55 AM
Hi Courtney,
Briana Diaz
Sep 23, 2020 at 7:38 AM
Hi class,
(1) What do you think Rule 11(b) means (put the rule in your own words)?
Rule 11(b) is suppose to ensure that anything being presented to the court is doing so in the correct manner. Such as, proper reasoning, no ill intent, and abiding by any laws that are existent. Also, the contentions must have or will have evidentiary support.
(2) Provide an example of how Rule 11(b) can be violated. You may use a real world example (such as from a newspaper article) or provide a fictional example.
Example: Ashley is suing her neighbor Suzie for alledgedly abusing her dog. Suzie, of course is denying any of these allegations are true. As the motion goes on it turns out that Ashley ans Suzie went to the same breeder and asked for the same dog. Suzie ended up getting the dog and Ashley was upset. Throughout the time Suzie has had the dog Ashley has numerously offered to buy the dog and even snatched his leash from Suzie’s hand once. This is an example of harrasment or intent to harrass which is a violation of rule 11(b). This motion was wrongfully represented because the allegations were not true, there was no evidence, and there was no law being broken.
Works Cited
https://www.law.cornell.edu/rules/frcp/rule_11
Courtney Topic
Sep 23, 2020 at 12:53 PM
Ashley,
Interesting example! Bringing a suit for harassment purposes is a Rule 11 violation. If successful on a Rule 11 motion, the rule also details the sanctions that may occur. What are they?
-Prof. Topic
