Thursday, May 04, 2006

Merrill Lynch v. ENC Corp. (9th Cir. - May 4, 2006)

The only opinion issued by the Ninth Circuit today is a civil procedure case. And an interesting one, about the intersection of interpleader, necessary and indispensable parties, sovereign immunity, and the way in which the seized assets of Ferdinand Marcos are to be distributed. So you think it'd be totally exciting.

Sadly, however, Judge Noonan's opinion is written really, really badly. I'm not talking about the substance or the holding, which involve extremely fact-dependent issues, and as to which I hold no particularly strong opinions. I'm referring instead to the structure, organization, and language of the opinion. It's just really not very good.

Sorry, Judge Noonan. This is far from your best work.