Author: TSA Press

Well, that didn’t take long. On Friday afternoon, Donald Trump’s lawyers filed a motion to dismiss E. Jean Carroll’s defamation suit against him based on a claim that New York courts lack personal jurisdiction over their client. Inviting the court to “take judicial notice that the President of the United States has resided in the White House for the past three years,” they requested her to make this whole unpleasant case disappear before the discovery phase. Because faced with the prospect of putting President P-Grabber under oath to talk about sexual assault, Trump’s lawyers were willing to try just about anything.

Yesterday, they got their answer. Surprising exactly no one, Justice Doris Ling-Cohan declined the offer to “take judicial notice” of Mister Trump’s residency, saying, “Although defendant Trump, through his counsel, claims lack of personal jurisdiction, notably, there is not even a tweet, much less an affidavit by defendant Trump in support of his motion.”

Shaaaaaaaade.

Seems like Her Honor noticed that, while the defendant was happy to have his attorneys to make conclusory attestations on his behalf, he was unwilling to swear out an affidavit himself claiming that he was not actually a resident of the state where he maintains a residence, is registered to vote, owns a business, and presumably filed his taxes.

The Court notes that that not only was no affidavit from defendant Trump supplied in support of this application, but even the defendant’s attorney’s application does not assert a basis (evidentiary or otherwise) for dismissal; rather, the affirmation acts as a mere conduit to provide documents relating to the procedural posture of the case.

Then Justice Ling-Cohan delivered a mini-lesson on New York civil procedure and standards for filing an Order to Show Cause in Manhattan Supreme Court. It was ice cold.

“We are pleased, and unsurprised, that the Court refused to tolerate Donald Trump’s latest attempt to avoid discovery in our client’s case,” said Carroll’s counsel Roberta Kaplan, a partner at Kaplan Hecker & Fink. “We look forward to moving ahead in this case and proving that Donald Trump lied when he told the world that he did not rape our client and had not even met her.”

Trump’s motion to stay discovery was also denied.

“WE MOVE AHEAD!!” tweeted a jubilant Carroll.

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Elizabeth Dye lives in Baltimore where she writes about law and politics.

Last week we announced our latest Gaming Like It’s 1924: Public Domain Game Jam, and among the newly public domain works first released in 1924 is George Gershwin’s classic Rhapsody in Blue, which you might better know as the United Airlines theme song.

This is extremely noteworthy, because during the debate over the Mickey Mouse Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act fight in 1998, the Gershwin Estate was among the most vocal supporters and lobbyists in seeking an extension for the copyright. Indeed, the head of the Gershwin Estate, George’s nephew Marc was particularly worried about losing artistic control over his uncle’s work. Indeed, he seemed particularly worried that someone might make rap music out of his uncle’s work:

Marc G. Gershwin, a nephew of George and Ira Gershwin and a co-trustee of the Gershwin Family Trust, said: ”The monetary part is important, but if works of art are in the public domain, you can take them and do whatever you want with them. For instance, we’ve always licensed ‘Porgy and Bess’ for stage performance only with a black cast and chorus. That could be debased. Or someone could turn ‘Porgy and Bess’ into rap music.”

Oh, the horror. That same article noted that Gershwin seemed to be ramping up the licensing fees for his uncle’s work in the meantime:

Fifteen years ago, the license fee for using a Gershwin song in a television commercial for one year could be $45,000 to $75,000. The same song might now go for $200,000 to $250,000.

But, sure, it’s not about the money (though I’ll note that Marc recently sold his $5.4 million apartment in Manhattan). Of course, this is even more ridiculous when you realize that Gershwin frequently drew on influences of various other artists, including for Rhapsody in Blue (as for Porgy & Bess, we still have a few more years until that hits the public domain). George Gershwin himself admitted that Rhapsody in Blue was inspired by a variety of other music:

I heard it as a sort of musical kaleidoscope of America, of our vast melting pot, of our unduplicated national pep, of our metropolitan madness.

As the good folks over at the Duke Center for the Study of the Public Domain note, Rhapsody in Blue did draw on a variety of other types of music and now you can too, no matter what Marc Gershwin and the Gershwin Estate think:

Indeed, Rhapsody is a musical melting pot: it draws on everything from African American blues, jazz, and ragtime styles, to French impressionists and European art music, to Jewish musical traditions, to Tin Pan Alley. Now that it is in the public domain, this wonderful composition can be part of your kaleidoscope, where you can draw upon it to create something new, just as Gershwin drew upon his influences.

Of course, it does seem notable that the Gershwin publishing catalog was sold off a few months ago to Downton Music Publishing, who, it seems likely, will try to squeeze the last bit of cash out of it before it drip, drip, drips into the public domain for everyone to use.

George Gershwin’s Rhapsody In Blue Is In The Public Domain And Gerswhin’s Nephew Is Worried Someone Might Turn It Into Hip Hop

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* Troutman Sanders and Pepper Hamilton have merged to form Troutman Pepper Hamilton Sanders. Congrats to all involved, but they could work on their name… [The American Lawyer]

* A Florida government lawyer has been fired after his arrest on child porn charges. [Tallahassee Democrat]

* The jury is out about whether Harvey Weinstein’s female lead defense lawyer might help him beat criminal charges. [Reuters]

* The lawyer for Covington Catholic families is also suing a former CNN host. Guess everyone’s getting in on the action. [Washington Examiner]

* A bizarre lawsuit alleges that Derek Jeter ruined the career of a minor league Yankees prospect. [NJ.com]

* Rudy Giuliani has suggested that the Supreme Court should step in and declare Trump’s impeachment unconstitutional. That’s not how the process works. [Fox News]

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Jordan Rothman is a partner of The Rothman Law Firm, a full-service New York and New Jersey law firm. He is also the founder of Student Debt Diaries, a website discussing how he paid off his student loans. You can reach Jordan through email at jordan@rothmanlawyer.com.

About half the country’s population, 7.7 million people, will need food assistance in 2020 as the country grapples with a severe drought and economic melt-down.

A report issued by WFP Thursday said Sub-Saharan Africa dominated its analysis of countries in need of emergency relief, with Zimbabwe, South Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo and the Central Sahel region (Mali, Burkina Faso and western Niger) needing immediate attention.

The report said while a new decade may have dawned, there was little cause for fresh optimism in countries and regions where conflict, political instability and climate disasters were threatening the food security of millions of people.

“The UN World Food Program (WFP) has identified 15 critical and complex emergencies at risk of descending further into crisis without a rapid response and greater investment. While WFP continues to provide extensive assistance to high-profile emergencies such as Yemen and Syria, Global Hotspots 2020 highlights the fastest-deteriorating emergencies requiring the world’s urgent attentionm,” the report said.

The situation in Zimbabwe has been described as “overheating” as the country experiences its worst drought in years with temperatures hitting more than 40 degrees Celsius.

“Food production has been severely affected. Driven by climate change, the drought is exacerbating Zimbabwe’s severe economic crisis and causing a humanitarian emergency characterized by hyper-inflation and rising food insecurity,” WFP said.

It said food insecurity levels were the highest in a decade with the 2019 cereal harvest falling more than 50 percent short of the needs for the 2019-20 lean season.

The world body pledged to nearly double its assistance to reach up to 4.1 million of the hardest hit Zimbabweans and said it would switch to distributing food in rural areas from January, due to concerns over hyper-inflation and reduced availability of commodities in rural markets.

It added that it was also supporting efforts to boost community resilience to crisis, including construction of small dams to conserve water and establishing vegetable gardens.

Overall, the prevailing drought will affect 45 million people across Southern Africa, WFP said.

Other countries needing emergency assistance are Afghanistan, Lebanon, Iraq, Central African Republic, Cameroon, Libya, Nigeria, Bolivia and Ethiopia.

Post published in: Featured

In an exclusive interview with VOA Zimbabwe Service, Mubaiwa’s lawyer, Taona Nyamakura, confirmed the development saying Marry Mubaiwa, who is out on bail and was ordered by the court to live at the matrimonial Borrowdale Brooke mansion in Harare, has been denied entry.

“We are actually considering court action against General Chiwenga.”

Chiwenga’s wife was arrested late last year on allegations of attempting to murder her husband and for contravening the country’s exchange control laws by transferring more than a million United States Dollars abroad.

She was denied bail by the lower court before it was granted by the High Court. State prosecutors had opposed bail arguing that she was a flight risk as she is facing at least 25 years in prison if found guilty of attempted murder.

Human Rights lawyer, Dewa Mavhinga called the acting president’s actions unconstitutional and “abuse of state institutions and the army.”

VOA Studio 7 did not get comment from Chiwenga as his lawyer Wilson Manase was not responding to calls on his mobile phone.

This is not the first time Retired General Chiwenga has been accused of abusing the army in his domestic issues. In 2014, when he was divorcing another wife, Jocelyn Mauchaza, she accused him of using soldiers to deny her entry to their farm located 1,5 kilometers off the Shamva Road. The army stepped in only hours after the court had issued a divorce decree ordering her eviction.

Chiwenga masterminded the coup that led to the ouster of the late former President Robert Mugabe in 2017.

The office of the President and Cabinet announced recently that President Emmerson Mnangagwa is on leave until end of month.

“During this period, Honourable Vice Presidents, General (Rtd) Dr C. G. D. N Chiwenga and Colonel (Rtd) Cde KCD Mohadi will take turns to act in his place, starting with the Honorable Vice President Chiwenga,” read the statement from Acting Chief secretary of Cabinet George Charamba.

From 2010 to 2016, how much in annual revenue did law schools lose?

Hint: The study, Competitive Coping Strategies in the American Legal Academy: An Empirical Study, looked at the tuition and discounting data to arrive at the conclusion that law schools are doing a lot worse over that time period.

See the answer on the next page.

I’ve very rarely had a male candidate accept the offer terms as they were given. Men will negotiate every point of an offer, while women a lot of times will take whatever the offer is at face value.

—Shannan Rahman, managing partner at The Partners Group, told Law.com how negotiation effects the compensation of men versus women. She also noted that men tend to overstate the value of their book of business, while women tend to undervalue it, “It’s as if men are giving the number of what they want their book to be or what it could be, instead of what is actually there.”

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Kathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, and host of The Jabot podcast. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter (@Kathryn1).

The student loan industry is a wretched hive of scum and villainy and it’s spent the last couple of decades systematically molding a legal regime to protect the pound of flesh it extracts from students. While the Bankruptcy Code theoretically exists to allow people to rebuild from crushing financial pressures, one of the primary sources of debt in the country is functionally walled off from the bankruptcy process. “If student loan debt is the main reason you’re filing for bankruptcy, your lawyer should tell you not to expect it will be discharged,” Dan Austin points out in a quote that any impoverished law grad can easily find.

But while the hurdles have become so daunting that most debtors don’t even try to get student loans discharged, the fact of the matter is that the law does allow it under the 1987 Brunner test and Chief Bankruptcy Judge Cecelia Morris of the Southern District of New York just dusted off Brunner and discharged $220,000 in student loan debt for Cardozo Law School grad and Navy vet Jared Rosenberg.

The Chief offered harsh words for the powers-that-be that have whittled Brunner down to a long-forgotten myth of fair bankruptcy relief:

Morris said she was applying the so-called Brunner test for discharge of student debt as it was originally intended. Since the test was created in a 1987 decision, cases interpreting it have set out “punitive standards” and “retributive dicta,” she said. Those harsh cases “have become a quasi-standard of mythic proportions, so much so that most people (bankruptcy professionals, as well as lay individuals) believe it impossible to discharge student loans,” she said.

“This court will not participate in perpetuating these myths.”

One hopes this is the dawn of a new day that doesn’t afford student debt magical protections under bankruptcy law. But, if history is any guide, an appeal will swiftly follow. In a world where the Department of Education openly ignores court orders to keep student debt dollars following, the lenders will find a way to strike back.

Law grad wins discharge of his student debt in opinion criticizing ‘punitive standards’ [ABA Journal]

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Joe Patrice is a senior editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. Feel free to email any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on Twitter if you’re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news. Joe also serves as a Managing Director at RPN Executive Search.

Women’s health startup Advantia Health has landed a $45 million investment that it will use to expand its provider network, bolster its technology offerings and open a flagship clinic in the nation’s capital.

Based in Arlington, VA, the company also is gearing up to sign a value-based contract for pregnancy-related services, its co-founder and CEO, Sean Glass, said in a phone interview Wednesday.

“There’s a lot of opportunity for us to do lot better,” Glass said, noting the high costs of pregnancy and the high rate of C-sections in the U.S.

The funding is from BlueMountain Capital Management LLC. The firm, a subsidiary of insurer Assured Guaranty Ltd., has experience in moving companies to value-based contracting, Glass noted.

“That is one of the things that was attractive about BlueMountain,” he said.

For its part, BlueMountain was drawn to Advantia beacuse of its focus on integrating care and technology.

“The market for comprehensive women’s healthcare continues to grow, and we believe that Advantia is at the center of innovation and value that is defining the future of care,” said Ameya Agge, managing director at BlueMountain, in a statement. Agge is joining Advantia’s board.

Advantia was founded in 2014 by Glass and his father, an anesthesiologist. They wanted to design a customer-centric healthcare product focused on the doctor-patient relationship, explained Glass, whose background is in technology and venture capital. They settled on women’s health because women use a significant portion of care and often are a family’s medical decision-makers, whether it involves their children or their aging parents.

The company’s first move was to acquire an OB/GYN practice in Silver Spring, MD, Glass said. It has since grown to 50 offices in Illinois, Maryland, Missouri and Virginia, mostly through acquisitions but also through some organic growth. Advantia employs 200 physicians and allied health professionals and more than 200 lactation consultants, Glass said.

The acquired practices typically retain their names, Glass said, since patients often know them — and search for them online — by their doctors. But this year, Advantia plans to unveil its own branded clinic in Washington, DC. The retail-focused practice will offer OB/GYN care, primary care, behavioral health and wellness services, including nutrition and acupuncture, Glass said. The clinic’s opening is slated for the fourth quarter.

The company also has been incorporating technology into its approach. Last year the company bought the tech startup Pacify, which provides post-partum support via telemedicine. Many women call on the service for lactation consulting.

“We use it with our practices to improve experience and outcomes for our moms,” said Glass. But Pacify’s services also are available to other customers, including insurers and health systems, he added.

A partnership with a women’s health technology company also is in the works. Glass said he expects to announce the details in the next month or so.

Other companies also have targeted women’s health, a fast-growing segment of health care. The tech market alone for women-focused health products is expected to reach sales of $50 billion in the U.S. by 2025, according to Absolute Markets Insights.

Some firms are focused on specific areas, such as Genneve, which addresses menopause. A New York-based company, Progyny, offers employer-based fertility benefits. In the wearables space, there are companies like Willow, which makes connected, wearable breast pumps.

On the direct-care side, companies like Advantia are building out networks of women’s health clinics, ramping up the use of technology and promising a more comprehensive approach to care.

One of the largest such networks is Axia Women’s Health, which operates more than 100 clinics in Indiana, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Another firm, Women’s Health USA, backed by Sverica Capital Management offers practice management solutions for OB/GYNs who want to remain independent. Large health systems also have been consolidating OB/GYN and women’s health practices.

Providers in women’s health are not just competing for patients. They also are competing for practitioners. The country is facing a shortage of up to 9,000 obstetricians and gynecologists this year, according to the American Journal of Managed Care, citing figures from the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.

Glass believes Advantia can stand out based on its customer focus, its interest in value-based care and its proprietary technology. Those factors also help the company recruit OB/GYNs who might not be interested in joining a larger health system, Glass said.

“Our mission orientation is toward women’s health,” Glass said. “Hospitals can be mission-driven but it may not be women’s health.”

Advantia also has been investing in building relationships with residency programs and developing its recruiting platform, Glass added.

Photo: asnidamarwani, Getty Images