Talk about adding insult to injury. In this opinion, Justice Boland not only sanctions two attorneys -- Caroline Malloy and Solange Ritchie -- over $24,000 for filing a frivolous appeal, but then subequently changes the opinion from unpublished to published. Ouch. That's gotta hurt.
Justice Boland somewhat lessens the blow by imposing the sanctions against the law firm (Callahan & Blaine) rather than the individual attorneys, and also by not mentioning the names of the lawyers. Which I actually was fairly happy to see. While I'm generally pretty harsh on lawyers who file frivolous appeals, and also agree that the appeal here was likely frivolous, I noticed -- and perhaps Paul did as well -- that both of the lawyers on the brief appear to be associates (not partners) at the firm. Which makes a difference to me. Plus, the appeal was sufficiently close to being non-frivolous that I really didn't want the individual lawyers dragged through the mud. (Though you'll notice that I nonetheless mention their names here. Sorry about that, Caroline & Solange.)
Parting words before I put my sick and coughing three-year old back to bed: I bet you won't see this case listed the "Reported Decisions," "News and Articles," or (especially) "Judicial Victories" sections of Callahan & Blaine's web site! (P.S. - You can also click through Callahan & Blaine's site to get a more detailed background on both the firm and Malloy & Ritchie. No individual hyperlinks, though; sorry.)
