Hoosier Lawyer

Another Lesson About Need for Disaster Planning

Several law firms, and the Indiana State Bar Association itself, are learning the value of disaster planning this week.  The storms that hit the Regions Bank Building in downtown Indianapolis Sunday night have left the 35 story building uninhabitable, and several floors demolished.

"It looks like it was a bomb," one downtown attorney said, after seeing the damage on Monday morning.  People in Lockerbie Square just east of downtown Indianapolis, were reporting picking up legal papers from their front yards, trees and bushes.

At this point, the fate of the building itself is unclear, as are immediate plans for getting the 35 tennants of the building up and running again -- including law firms of Sommer & Barnard and Krieg DeVault, as well as the offices of the Indiana State Bar Association. 

The photo from the Indianapolis Star website shows a bookcase sitting in the open among broken glass and twisted metal in the Kreig DeVault firm on the 30th floor of the Regions Bank Building, formerly the Indiana National Bank tower.

On April 21, the Indiana State Bar Association is holding a session on disaster planning as part of the Spring Get-Away to New Orleans.  It will feature New Orleans lawyers sharing their experiences and suggestions concerning disaster preparedness.  The events of the past few days have brought this even closer to home. There is still time to sign up.  Even with the damage, the ISBA's servers are still up and running, and you can even sign up on line at www.inbar.org.

Keep Your Dog-Gone Cases Out of Federal Court

Seventh Circuit Judge Richard Posner, never one to be timid, has told litigants to keep their doggone cases out of Federal Courts.  Ruling that the plaintiff was "barking up the wrong tree," the 7th Circuit has issued an order to show cause why the Court should not "put the bite" on the plaintiff for bringing a frivolous federal lawsuit.

In the case of Sherry Wall v. City of Brookfield, Ms. Wall claimed here civil rights were violated when the City took possession of her Doberman and wouldn't give it back.  Instead, the City gave "custody" of the dog to the local humane society, which cared for the dog for 60 days until it was returned to Ms. Wall.

But there was more to the story.  In a "biting" opinion, Judge Posner pointed out that Ms. Wall's dog was picked up while running loose -- something which had occurred on NINE (!) other occasions.  Unpersuaded by aesthetic appeal of Dobermans and lawyers ("What's black and brown, and looks good on a lawyer? A Doberman), Judge Posner then "un-leashed" his wrath on Ms. Wall.

"It is impossible to discern a federal interest. There is no suggestion that the plaintiff belongs to a discriminated-against minority . . .that Brookfield intended to sell the Doberman in order to retire the town debt, (or) that leash laws challenge values embedded in the federal Constitution or federal laws . . . This is a neighborhood squabble over a dog, a squabble properly to be resolved at the neighborhood or local level rather than by federal judges sitting in Milwaukee and Chicago."

Heed the warning!   Make sure you "bone up" on the law before you take your puppy case to federal court. 

Thanks to Indianapolis lawyer Ronald Waicukauski for letting me know about this decision.