Judge's Legal Opinion Compares Attorney to Ostrich
These photos were included in Judge Richard Posner's opinion.
Today’s nugget of wisdom: “The ostrich is a noble animal, but not a proper model for an appellate advocate.”
That was the advice of federal appellate Judge Richard Posner to attorneys he said failed to cite key precedents highly relevant to their cases. Presumably for legal clarity, the well-known Chicago judge included in his opinion photos of an ostrich burying its head in the sand, and a lawyer following suit.
Talk about a dismissal with prejudice.
The court's opinion, published last week and included below, consolidated two appeals — one about Bridgestone tire defects in Latin America, the other a suit against the manufacturer of HIV-contaminated blood products in Israel— that hinged on whether such cases could be tried in the U.S.
Houston lawyer David “Mac” McKeand bore the brunt of Posner’s harsh judgment. The judge said McKeand’s failure to cite a 2009 case that offered nearly identical circumstances, Abad v. Bayer Corp., amounted to “ostrich-like tactics.”
McKeand did not take the ostrich comparison sitting down. He told the Wall Street Journal Law Blog that Abad wasn’t even relevant to his case:
“In light of all the facts, I can only wonder who really is the ostrich.”
