But the Court of Appeal's opinion concludes with a separate section that chastises the winning lawyers -- from Frost LLP in Los Angeles -- for their "incivility" and their appellate briefs' use of "inappropriately
harsh terms to launch needless and unsubstantiated attacks on the decisions
made by the trial judge, as well as against the opposing party and its
lawyers."
The lawyers at Frost luckily get off without being sanctioned -- and, again, they win the appeal on the merits -- with only a concluding warning from the Court of Appeal that "Appellant’s counsel would be well advised to
refrain from incivility in the future."
Which is definitely a suggestion best taken to heart. Particularly if you expect to potentially file appeals in the future before the same -- or even a different -- panel.
I'll admit that I didn't read the underlying briefs, but I'll add that at least with respect to the quotes in the briefs cited by the Court of Appeal . . . well, they're not great, but I've definitely read worse. The lawyers at Frost called the ruling below "transparently erroneous,” “egregious,” [and] a “truly
perverse miscarriage of justice.” Those phrases are surely overwrought. Ditto for arguing that "the overreach by the trial court here is nothing short of shocking, effectively
blessing Athens’ business threats . . . and immunizing them.”
Yeah. Definitely tone that down.
Though, again, I've read worse.
Regardless, a sound warning from the Court of Appeal for everyone. The justices definitely prefer understatement to overstatement. Keep the adverbs to a minimum if you can.
P.S. - I wonder whether Frost's self-description affected the Court of Appeal in any manner, or even if the justices were aware of it. The law firm's website leads with a description that labels the firm (with emphasis) "unapologetically aggressive", and the first line proclaims (in 72-point type) "We are fighters." With professional MMA-type photographs of the various attorneys. Oh, and when you click on the photographs, the heading for each photo is "Our Warriors."
That's a theme, for sure.
