Activist and his attorney could pay $48,000 for suing Duggan without good reason

[Vic01]

Highland Park activist Robert Davis and his attorney could face a bill of close to $48,000 after a judge ruled they improperly filed a lawsuit against Detroit Mayor-elect Mike Duggan and other defendants on the eve of the Nov. 5 Detroit mayoral election.Ingham County Circuit Judge James Jamo agreed to impose the costs as sanctions Dec. 12 after ruling that the Davis lawsuit — which alleged Duggan was part of a conspiracy to appoint Detroit emergency manager Kevyn Orr — did not have a factual or legal basis.
Now, attorneys for the three defendants Jamo dismissed from the case have submitted their bills, which Jamo will consider along with any objections.

http://www.freep.com/article/2013123...suit-sanctions

[trotwood]

I wanted to believe Robert Davis has good intentions[[perhaps he does)but him suing Mike Duggan every three minutes caused me to look at him in a new light.
It might not be a bad thing if he&his council are fined.

[MikeyinBrooklyn]

I am torn about this. While I hate the waste of resources frivolous lawsuits are, I also would not like to create a situation where people don't file lawsuits that might seem to have merit for fear of getting hit with a bill. I hope the parameters for improper lawsuits are very clearly defined.

[Zacha341]

^^^ Well stated. I agree.

[rb336]

The difference in this case is that there was/may have been malicious intent in the filing of the law suits, and that is something in which society has a vested interest in actively discouraging.

[Gistok]

I don't know why you two feel ANY pity for this guy.... this was the reason for the potential assessing of fees... and it seems pretty cut and dry to me....

"Both Pirich and Gordon told Jamo that to allege a conspiracy, Davis had to detail an underlying tort or wrongful act associated with the conspiracy and he never did so."

When you waste a courts time, or force an innocent party to cough up legal defense fees... you deserve what you get....

[MikeyinBrooklyn]

I would never defend people who are reckless and wasteful with the courts. I just hope that the defined law for being reckless and wasteful is clear and fair; it is possible to have a legitimate reason to think you have a case, but ultimately turn out to be wrong. Such a person would deserve their day in court, even if they ultimately lose. I cannot imagine very many situations at all in which you could prove someone was aware that their claim had no merit, and was suing just to harass someone. I am not saying that this situation was or wasn't such a case [[I truly know very little about it). I just would not want a legal system in which people feared using the legal system for fear of losing and having to fork over a lot of money. The need to pay your own attorney's fees I suspect already prevents a lot of frivolous litigation. I would prefer that people who are wrongly sued have the ability to sue for damages [[akin to a slander suit), rather than have a judge have the ability to decide that you didn't have a just cause to sue.

[Bham1982]

Moral of the story- don't F with the machine. This activist is lucky he isn't "sleeping" in the Detroit River.

[aj3647]

I am torn about this. While I hate the waste of resources frivolous lawsuits are, I also would not like to create a situation where people don't file lawsuits that might seem to have merit for fear of getting hit with a bill. I hope the parameters for improper lawsuits are very clearly defined.

How many lawsuits has Davis filed in recent years that have been tossed out of court? At least half a dozen?

I don't think it will discourage the average Joe who wants to file a lawsuit for a good reason. The point is to punish "frequent fliers" who make it their life's work to file one frivolous lawsuit after another after another.

Davis will continue to abuse the justice system and tie up valuable judicial resources unless he is punished.

Moral of the story- don't F with the machine. This activist is lucky he isn't "sleeping" in the Detroit River.

Oh please, like anybody's actually scared of this clown? The moral of the story is: stop abusing the justice system with dozens of frivolous lawsuits. Robert Davis only cares about getting his name in the paper. Davis isn't a threat to those in power, he's a joke. A minor nuisance. A mosquito.

[Wesley Mouch]

I would never defend people who are reckless and wasteful with the courts. I just hope that the defined law for being reckless and wasteful is clear and fair; it is possible to have a legitimate reason to think you have a case, but ultimately turn out to be wrong. Such a person would deserve their day in court, even if they ultimately lose. I cannot imagine very many situations at all in which you could prove someone was aware that their claim had no merit, and was suing just to harass someone. I am not saying that this situation was or wasn't such a case [[I truly know very little about it). I just would not want a legal system in which people feared using the legal system for fear of losing and having to fork over a lot of money. The need to pay your own attorney's fees I suspect already prevents a lot of frivolous litigation. I would prefer that people who are wrongly sued have the ability to sue for damages [[akin to a slander suit), rather than have a judge have the ability to decide that you didn't have a just cause to sue.

The question is whether they 'deserve their day in court'. I agree that we don't want a system where challenges to the status quo are discouraged. But we also don't want a system where anyone who upsets the status quo is attacked by 100% frivolous lawsuits.

It is very important that 'reckless and wasteful' be well defined and hard to establish.

Based on what I've heard from this man, I suspect the court has it right. He files lawsuits without any reasonable basis -- solely in the interest of self-aggrandizement. That is a harm to society, too.

[rjlj]

Davis is a thief and will only be paying the fine with money that he stole.

[compn]

wasnt this lawsuit filed right around the time the wayne county couldnt certify the vote?

did the wayne county vote certification thing ever get fixed?

or was that a different lawsuit?

[aj3647]

I wanted to believe Robert Davis has good intentions[[perhaps he does)

Here, read up on Robert Davis. He's a piece of shit and a crook.

http://www.freep.com/article/2012050...ols-indictment

He deserves worse than a fine. He belongs in prison and he'll likely end up there one day because I doubt he know how to make money except through hustling somebody.

[trotwood]

Here, read up on Robert Davis.

http://www.freep.com/article/2012050...ols-indictment

Yes I read this when it was first published but I thank you.

[Vic01]

It is very important that 'reckless and wasteful' be well defined and hard to establish.

Can it be "well defined and hard to establish", or did you mean "well defined and easy to establish"??

[Zacha341]

Hah! He seems rather teflon though and continues to present cases withstanding his own pending court date... What's up with that?

Here, read up on Robert Davis. He's a piece of shit and a crook.

[Huggybear]

Hah! He seems rather teflon though and continues to present cases withstanding his own pending court date... What's up with that?

Obviously taking a line from the Billy Preston playbook - he's "a soldier in the war on poverty." I'm sure that even if convicted, he'd file prisoner cases from jail. This guy knows he's going down, and he's trying to taint the jury pool.

HB

[Zacha341]

^^^ You know your music for sure. Good points!

[ridgeabilly]

^^^ You know your music for sure. Good points!

"At the bankruptcy hearing on Friday, January 3, 2014, Emergency
Manager Orr admitted that the City of Detroit could have pursued
claims for fraud, unjust enrichment, and breach of contract against
Bank of America and UBS to potentially recover the $300 million these
banks have already netted from their interest rate swap swindle.

However, instead of going after these banks for their predatory
lending practices which caused Detroit’s financial crisis by
foreclosing on 100,000 homes and then putting the city in bankruptcy
through interest rate swaps which continued the banks’ fraudulent
lending practices against the city itself — Orr is asking Judge
Rhodes to approve a termination fee of an additional $165 payment to
these banks, funded by a loan by Barclays Bank at up to 8.5% interest
with $4.2 million in “breakage fees”.

If this deal is approved, the people of Detroit will be paying 20% of
city income tax revenues, $48 million a year, to these banks for the
next four years, at the expense of city pensions & jobs."
[[thanks MECAWI)

[SWMAP]

Orr provided a very reasonable, arguable, rationale for his decision in this matter which was published in the report. Why did you neglect his side of the story? One-sided reporting, as you have provided, leads to public misperception and misplaced anger.
Ridgeabilly, you can certainly disagree with Orr's evaluation and decision, but you should at least provide the background that makes clear that he thought it through - that it wasn't knee-jerk.

[Zacha341]

http://www.detroityes.com/mb/showthr...est-rate-swaps

I posted a Reuters article thread that talks about decision...[[Orr)

[Scottathew]

Robert Davis is a professional obstructionist that adds no value to society. This isn't the first time he's been facing a fine for frivolous lawsuits. He should go get a job and do something productive.

[Vic01]

"At the bankruptcy hearing on Friday, January 3, 2014, Emergency
Manager Orr admitted that the City of Detroit could have pursued
claims for fraud, unjust enrichment, and breach of contract against
Bank of America and UBS to potentially recover the $300 million these
banks have already netted from their interest rate swap swindle.

However, instead of going after these banks for their predatory
lending practices which caused Detroit’s financial crisis by
foreclosing on 100,000 homes and then putting the city in bankruptcy
through interest rate swaps which continued the banks’ fraudulent
lending practices against the city itself — Orr is asking Judge
Rhodes to approve a termination fee of an additional $165 payment to
these banks, funded by a loan by Barclays Bank at up to 8.5% interest
with $4.2 million in “breakage fees”.

If this deal is approved, the people of Detroit will be paying 20% of
city income tax revenues, $48 million a year, to these banks for the
next four years, at the expense of city pensions & jobs."
[[thanks MECAWI)

Might want to take it over to the right thread...
Detroit EFM sought SEC probe of banks over interest rate swaps


http://www.detroityes.com/mb/showthr...est-rate-swaps

[Wesley Mouch]

"At the bankruptcy hearing on Friday, January 3, 2014, Emergency
Manager Orr admitted that the City of Detroit could have pursued
claims for fraud, unjust enrichment, and breach of contract against
Bank of America and UBS to potentially recover the $300 million these
banks have already netted from their interest rate swap swindle.

However, instead of going after these banks for their predatory
lending practices which caused Detroit’s financial crisis by
foreclosing on 100,000 homes and then putting the city in bankruptcy
through interest rate swaps which continued the banks’ fraudulent
lending practices against the city itself — Orr is asking Judge
Rhodes to approve a termination fee of an additional $165 payment to
these banks, funded by a loan by Barclays Bank at up to 8.5% interest
with $4.2 million in “breakage fees”.

If this deal is approved, the people of Detroit will be paying 20% of
city income tax revenues, $48 million a year, to these banks for the
next four years, at the expense of city pensions & jobs."
[[thanks MECAWI)

Consider reserving some judgement for those who actually took out the loans with "breakage fees", and take comfort in the 'Local Control'.

[jackie5275]

Davis is a thief and will only be paying the fine with money that he stole.

I think AFSCME Council 25 will help kick in with some funding.