How the Contested Chancery Judge Races Turned Out
November 6, 2014 § 11 Comments
The following is what I have pieced together from news reports. If anyone can add anything, please feel free to comment.
Eighth District (Hancock, Harrison and Stone), Place 2
- C. Stephen Benvenutti
- Jennifer Schloegel (incumbent) W
Eighth District, Place 3
- Ronnie Cochran
- Sanford R. “Sandy” Steckler (Incumbent) W
Eleventh District (Holmes, Leake, Madison and Yazoo)
- Barbara Ann Blunston
- Robert G. Clark, III W
To fill the seat being vacated by Chancellor Janace Harvey-Goree
Thirteenth District (Covington, Jefferson Davis, Lawrence, Simpson and Smith), Place 1
- J. Larry Buffington
- David Shoemake (Incumbent) W
Thirteenth District, Place 2
- Mary K. Burnham
- Deborah Kennedy
- Gerald M. Martin
To fill the seat being vacated by Chancellor Joe Dale Walker
Sixteenth District (George, Greene and Jackson), Place 1
- D. Neil Harris (incumbent)
- Paula S. Yancey
Last report was that the unofficial total had Harris ahead by 38 votes.
Sixteenth District, Place 3
- Michael L. Fondren W
- Gary L. Roberts
Incumbent G. Charles “Chuck” Bordis withdrew from the race
Eighteenth District (Benton, Calhoun, Lafayette, Marshall and Tippah), Place 1
- Glenn Alderson (incumbent) W
- Carnelia Pettis Fondren
- Tina Duggard Scott
Eighteenth District, Place 2
- Helen Kennedy Robinson
- Robert Q. Whitwell (incumbent) W
Reprise: Show Me the Money!
September 25, 2014 § Leave a comment
Reprise replays posts from the past that you might find useful today …
SHOW ME THE MONEY!
March 10, 2011 § 1 Comment
As a judge I can tell you it’s hard to capture every detail in my trial notes. Sometimes the witness just speaks so fast that I stay three sentences behind, trying to catch up, and just can’t get it all. Sometimes the significance isn’t clear until much later in the trial or even when the judge is writing the opinion, and then it’s too late. Sometimes a verbose witness will bury the critical info under an avalanche of mostly meaningless words.
Next time you have an equitable distribution case, why don’t you sit down with your client during your trial preparation and work up a spreadsheet that shows how she wants the marital estate divided. You already have it in part with the joint property list that is included in the pre-trial order. Why not just rearrange all those assets into the manner that your client wants them divided. Once she identifies it, offer it into evidence, and the judge has the graphic depiction of how your client wants the case to go rather than just a gob of words. Instead of devoting your time (and the judge’s wayward attention) to a painstaking item-by-item approach, you can zero in on how your client justifies a greater share of the marital estate, and concentrate on the several important items she just has to have. With the preparation of a simple document you will have sharpened the focus of your case and made it more efficiently compact at the same time.
Or, if your client wants the financial assets divided a certain way, you can show the division he wants AND add a column with reduced values for tax penalties, etc., assuming you have that proof in the record.
Or, if your client has a claim for reimbursement of medical bills, why not create a table or spreadsheet itemizing all the charges, showing dates, providers, amounts charged, amount paid by insurance, and balance, with totals.
Or, if your client wants specific visitation, why not spell it all out in a proposed schedule.
Here’s how you get them in:
You: Let me show you a document and ask you what it is.
Witness: It’s a table showing [my proposal to divide the marital estate/the financial assets and how I want them divided/a summary of the medical bills/my visitation proposal].
You: Does this table accurately reflect the [marital assets/financial assets] that are already in evidence? Or: Is this the schedule you wish the judge to adopt?
Witness: Yes.
You: Now, let me ask you a few questions about this …
When you put all those words into an exhibit, you are saving the judge all the work of trying to make notes of them at trial, and you are making sure that everything you want to say won’t be missed by the judge. The judge will have a document to look at rather than having to ferret that information out of his sheaf of notes.
In other words, the easier you make it on the judge, the more probable it is that your client will be very happy with the outcome of the case and the job you did.
Point of Personal Privilege
September 23, 2014 § 7 Comments
Having reached what I consider to be a personal milestone on this date, I am taking a point of personal privilege to set out a few conclusions that I have reached:
- Life is complicated. It makes me laugh to hear the talking heads, pols, and other simpletons who claim to have the answer in a platitude or two.
- Rigid, inflexible, judgmental, dogmatic people tire me out.
- Needed in much more abundance: Joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, self-control, faithfulness, and goodness. Gal. 5:22
- Needed in much less abundance: cynicism, egotism, hatred, dishonesty, self-gratification at the expense of others, unwillingness to empathize, cruelty, willful ignorance, and self-righteousness.
- We need less religion, and much more of God.
- The devil does not come as a creature with horns, dressed in a ridiculous red suit, carrying a pitchfork. The devil comes in the fulfillment of our deepest cravings and irresistible urges.
- As my time on this divot of the universe winds down, I am less and less willing to devote any of my personal time to what I find unpleasant, hurtful, or meaninglessly confrontational.
- If we could look truly dispassionately at most of the everyday concerns about which we are most passionate – things such as sports, possessions, politics, competitions – we would realize that they are really trifles, lighter than a feather, compared to what should really capture our passion.
- Do not trust people who are harsh and punitive.
Check back in fifteen or so years, and if I’m still around, these may have changed, and I may have more or fewer.
You may now return to your usual activities.
For Lawyers Reading this Blog
September 12, 2014 § 9 Comments
A few chancellors have told me that lawyers have been citing my blog posts as authority in their arguments. One judge told me (laughingly, thank goodness) that she had stated her understanding of the law, and the lawyer responded, “No, judge, that’s not right; Judge Primeaux says …”
Well, as flattering as that is, let me set things straight.
I am not the authority here. I am merely pointing you to the authority. And what I am posting is my opinion of the authority. You should read the case or statute or rule for yourself, understand how it fits your particular case, and cast your net out for any other authority you can find to help your case. Your opinion may vary from mine.
I am not a legal scholar like Professor Bell, nor is my blog a hornbook. It’s a starting place. A place where you can go to be reminded of something you might have forgotten, or to have something called to your attention that you didn’t know about. From that basic point it’s up to you to turn that into something of benefit to your practice.
My ruminations here are no substitute for the exercise of your own legal skills. Take what I have written and let it lead you in a productive direction, keeping in mind that it will take you only so far until your own legal ability and talent must kick in to formulate the best approach and presentation for your client.
Don’t cite me or my blog as the authority. Cite the authority.
