Eye of "El Tigre"

Turns out that you can't skirt the rules of professional responsibility by advertising in another language. Who knew?

Anthony "Tony the Tiger" Lopez Jr. ran a 10-second Spanish advertisement on two radio stations in Las Vegas and one in Reno which stated: "If you have had an auto accident, by law you have the right to receive at least $15,000 for your case."

Yeah, that's NRS 15,000(4)(b)(S), right?

Tony the Tiger argued that the commercial was intended to inform the public of the minimum insurance requirements for automobile drivers. Seriously. That's the best he could come up with. As an attorney.

The State Bar's disciplinary panel got a little creative with Mr. the Tiger's "punishment." The panel decided that since Tony spent $19,500 promoting the misleading ad, he must now spend the same amount on a public service announcement that actually does inform the public of the $15,000 minimum auto insurance limits in Nevada.

While we're proud of the panel for thinking outside the box, we don't really see how the punishment helps remedy the violation, and no suspension was imposed despite Mr. the Tiger having a previous public reprimand on his record from 2003. Maybe the panel was all punished-out after Ms. Winkler's lifetime disbarment.

(LVRJ; Thanks, Tipsters!)

Friday Open Thread

Happy Friday everyone!

See you all at 5:30 for the Class of '97 BarBri reunion at Double Down Saloon!

Nye County Spelling Bee

http://www.pahrumpvalleytimes.com/2010/Apr-07-Wed-2010/news/35201826.html

Gibbons Bypasses Masto

After his current counsel refused to follow his instructions, Governor Gibbons decided to find somebody who would.

Mark Hutchison of Hutchison & Steffen (approximately one year after he won the largest plaintiff's verdict in Nevada history) will take the reigns from the AG and sue to stop the recently passed health care legislation on behalf of the State of Nevada.

Hutchison and Governor Gibbons appeared on "On the Record with Greta Van Susteren" last night, where Hutchinson said that he would be handling the suit pro bono. Hutch had this to say regarding challenging the law under the commerce clause:

The commerce clause is the basis that Congress passed this legislation, particularly the individual mandate, which for the first time in United States history requires U.S. citizens to purchase a service or good in order to maintain their good standing with the United States government. Otherwise, they're going to get chased down by one of these 16,000 IRS agents, and that's unprecedented. And the justification is the commerce clause. So the court will decide whether or not the commerce clause can be stretched that far.

Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto is reportedly looking at options to stop the suit, possibly seeking an injunction against the Governor pursuing the suit without her approval. Masto's concerns are solely legal in nature. You know, Rule 11 and such. Absolutely no politics going on here. Nope.

*Thanks to the helpful Tipster who politely pointed out that we have been spelling Mr. Hutchison's name incorrectly.

(Fox News)

Winkler Disbarred For Life

Let this be a lesson to you young attorneys - if you steal more than $260,000 from your client trust account, you will be disbarred for life. Less than $260,000? Well, that remains to be seen.

The State Bar disciplinary panel took less than one hour to deliberate Jeanne Winkler's fate, and unanimously recommended that she be disbarred for life. The panel consisted of attorneys Tom Ryan, Robert Schumacher, and Lary Lamoreux and "lay member" Carrie Taylor.

During his closing argument, bar counsel Rob Bare had this to say about the responsibilities of attorneys:

"A law license is a license of trust. We as attorneys have to be held to a higher standard or else the public loses faith in us. We are the guardians of the justice system."

Well said, Mr. Bare. Now let's tattoo that quote on the forearm of every member of the disciplinary committee and maybe we can start to earn back a little more of the public's faith.

The Supremes have to sign off on the panel's decision before it becomes final.

(LVRJ)

Villani Declares Mistrial in UMC Case

After two weeks and 16 testifying witnesses, Judge Michael Villani declared a mistrial in the case of former UMC chief Lacy Thomas (pictured) because Las Vegas police failed to turn over hundreds of pages of potential evidence.

Judge Villani ruled that Thomas' defense was harmed when detectives withheld 577 pages of documents, most of which were minutes from weekly meetings that ACS Healthcare Services employees held with UMC department heads and executives. Villani felt that the documents could lead to other witnesses or evidence to help Thomas defend himself.

One of the prosecutors on the case, Scott Mitchell, argued that the documents were irrelevant because the criminal charges related only to the ACS contract terms, such as a lack of a termination clause, being unfavorable to UMC, not whether ACS did any work toward improving patient bill collections.

Villani said he found no wrongdoing by police or prosecutors in the incident, but that the potential damage to Thomas' defense could not be ignored. Thomas is represented by Attorney Dan Albregts.

Villani will meet with Albregts and prosecutors next week to reschedule the trial for later this year.

(LVRJ)

Friday Open Thread

Happy Friday everyone!

Here are a some updates to recent posts:

Hottie McCandidate gets her appeal fast-tracked.

Masto to Gibbons: You can't make me!

No luck for Señior Psychopath in separating his running over a transsexual prostitute charge from his chopping his girlfriend into little bits charge.

Fake Tea Party candidate avoids arrest, but his financial troubles are just beginning.