Honigman Miller's top-notch First Amendment lawyer, Herschel Fink, seems to get all the great cases; at least in my humble opinion.  Today, Fink argued on behalf of Rapper Dr. Dre before the Michigan Supreme Court while Dre's high-powered Los Angeles legal counsel was listening to Mr. Fink from the Court's well-appointed counsel's table.

This case has been up and down the court system here in Michigan for ten-years.

The dispute goes back to Dre's last Detroit concert in July 2000 at the Joe Louis Arena.  Dennis Archer was the Mayor, but was out of town.  Dre was on his infamous "Up in Smoke" tour along with Eminem and Snoop Dog.  The boys had cooked up a racy video deemed inappropriate by the Detroit Police for the youngsters expected to attend the show.

Police commander (and later City Council President) Gary Brown and other police officials met with Dre's concert promoters backstage prior to the show and advised that power to the show would be cut if the explicit video was shown.  After some haggling, and perhaps some arm twisting, the promoters talked the performers to go on with the show, sans intro. The exchanges were openly recorded by a tour film crew.

When the tour moved North the next day to the Palace of Auburn Hills, word had leaked to authorities in that community that the Detroit Police successfully canned the objectionable video intro by threatening to cut power to the event.  The tour went to federal court, that day, and obtained an injunction from U.S. District Court Judge Nancy Edmunds to prevent any interference with the show on behalf of the police.  The show at the Palace featured the explicit video introduction.

The tour left Michigan, and the promoters sued Detroit and settled for their attorney fees.  Former Mayor Archer issued a public statement that conceded the possibility of an unconstitutional "prior restraint" on behalf of the Detroit Police officers, and recognized the federal court injunction that was subsequently issued.

Six months later, Dre and his producers released a DVD of the tour with some bonus tracks which included a 10-minute segment titled, "Detroit Controversy".  This segment depicted some of the heated exchanges between Commander Brown, the DPD, City officials, and the tour promoters at the Joe.

The officers sued on eavesdropping and other tort theories and saw their case summarily tossed-out by the Wayne County Circuit Court.  The officers' first appeal to the Michigan Court of Appeals resulted in an affirmance of the summary disposition, except on the eavesdropping claim.  The intermediate appellate court said dismissal of that claim was premature as discovery had not been completed.

The case was sent back to the Wayne Circuit Court to complete the discovery process.  The additional evidence simply showed the Detroit government officials and police conducting the meeting in "public" areas backstage; doors open and hangers-on gawking.

Even after this so-called "additional evidence" was adduced and discovery finally closed, the Wayne Circuit Court again granted summary disposition in favor of Dr. Dre and the concert promoters; the case again was appealed by the officers to the Court of Appeals.

In a 2-1 decision, the Court of Appeals voted to again remand the eavesdropping claim back to the trial court.  Before the case could go back to the trial court for the second remand, however, the Michigan Supreme Court granted the promoters' application for leave to appeal.  Briefs were filed, and oral argument was conducted today.

The issue to be decided by the High Court is whether law enforcement officials have an expectation of privacy in carrying out their public duties.  Plaintiffs, the government officials and police officer, claim there was an agreement the meeting would be private and that the cameras were "hidden".  Also in-play in this case is the role of the ubiquitous video recorder and the instantaneous world-wide transmission potential of it's digitized content.

For those interested in drilling further into this case, Attorney Fink's appellate brief, complete with several instructive backstage photos, is reproduced here; the police officers' brief is attached here.  Warning:  although well-written, these briefs are not light reading.

We cannot help but wonder what the former Detroit Police commander and other public officials want out of this case.  Money damages from a deep-pocket gangsta rapper?  Exposure from such a high-profile case?

It sure seems to us from the photos in the Appellants' brief, and from the facts set forth by the Court of Appeals, that the core-incident in this case involved a very public meeting about the government's exercise of a "prior restraint".

We will follow this case as it grinds to a conclusion over a decade in the making.  Stay tuned.

Judge Brian Zahra

Justice Maura Corrigan’s resignation last week left an important vacancy at the Michigan Supreme Court at the outset of Governor Rick Snyder’s tenure.  Justice Corrigan's seat was replaced today with the appointment of long-serving Court of Appeals Judge Brian Zahra.

As this blog has noted over the past 18-months, the dissention among the liberal and conservative justices on our High Court has become public, and nasty.  While Judge Zahra is certainly a conservative judge, he has a legal scholar’s temperament and strong work ethic.  He assumes Justice Corrigan’s seat, and the balance of her term, at a time when the Court has seen some embarrassing escapades and needs a rapprochement.

Judge Zahra was a law school classmate of this Blogger at the University of Detroit School of Law in the mid-1980s.  On Thursdays after class, Zahra would get us into the Polish Falcon Club in Detroit to play basketball.  Back then, he took the law very seriously, graduating at the top of our class as one of the editors of the law review.

 

Already well-known in Detroit’s tight GOP circles by the time he graduated  law school in 1987, Zahra was made partner during a brief stint at the downtown office of the Dickenson Wright law firm.  Almost as soon as he was promoted to partner, he accepted an appointment to the Wayne County Circuit Court; courtesy of then-Governor Engler.  Shortly thereafter, he was again-appointed by Engler in 1999 to the Court of Appeals where he won re-election.

Politics aside, Judge Zahra is an excellent selection for the Michigan Supreme Court.  Ideologically, he is not too different from departing Justice Corrigan.  Like her, Zahra has solid work habits and a strong sense of public service.  Former Detroit Mayor and Supreme Court Justice Dennis Archer describes Zahra as a "moderate" conservative, "not an idealogue".


Here is Justice Robert Young's official statement on Zahra's appointment to the bench.  Also, the Free Press editorialized the appointment.

  

We think the newest justice has an excellent opportunity to quell the public discord within the Hall of Justice that has received embarrassing national attention over the past year.  We are more accustomed to seeing such rancor down the street, where the two political branches attempt to govern the state.

 

Congratulations Justice Zahra.  May you long-serve the High Court in good health. 

www.clarkstonlegal.com

info@clarkstonlegal.com

  

Detroit personal injury lawyer Lawrence Charfoos has sued his former law firm, Charfoos & Christensen PC, in the Oakland County Circuit Court.

In his complaint against the firm he helped build, Charfoos seeks injunctive relief to prevent the continued use of his well-known name, as well as money damages for fees he claims are owed.  The case was filed on Friday and assigned to Judge Wendy Potts.

Since 1991, the personal injury firm has owned and occupied the historic Hecker-Smiley Mansion on Woodward Avenue, pictured above.  The law firm has represented personal injury clients since 1929, when Charfoos' father hung a shingle in Detroit.

In the 1970s, Charfoos, having followed his father's footsteps, gained prominence for winning a series of multi-million dollar jury verdicts in product liability and medical malpractice lawsuits.  According to pleadings filed in the case, Charfoos teamed-up in the late 1970s with his now-former partners, David Christensen, and Dennis Archer.  When Archer left the firm to accept an appointment to the Michigan Supreme Court in 1986, the official name became Charfoos & Christensen, PC.

Under this name, one of the firm's partners, J. Douglas Peters, co-authored a widely-used practice manual on birth trauma cases featured in monthly full-page advertisements in the Michigan Bar Journal over the past several decades.  Christensen's name is also associated with the book, along with the name of the firm.

Last fall, Charfoos announced to his partners that he was leaving the firm that he helped build in his own name. Crain's Detroit Business reported in October 2009 that the firm's name would not change despite their founder's sudden departure.

Apparently, the Detroit personal injury lawyer has now teamed-up with former Wayne County Circuit Court Chief Judge William Giovan and immigration attorney Robert Birach.  The problem arises now that the group of well-seasoned attorneys has announced the name of their new firm:  Charfoos, Giovan & Birach LLP.  Thus for the time being, two Detroit-area law firms bear Charfoos' good name; hence his lawsuit.

In addition to Charfoos' litigation, there are also ethical considerations for the Christensen firm to consider.  The name of the firm cannot mislead the public.  With two law firms bearing the Charfoos name, the public is understandably confused, if not misled.  Simply click on the links in this blog post to see for yourself.

What's in a name?  Stay tuned to find out how valuable a well-known name can be...