It would appear U.S. District Judge Robert Blackburn has reached the end of his patience with attorney Mark E. Brennan, and then some. Throwing out a $1.2 million verdict obtained by Brennan against the city of Denver on a claim of age discrimination against a firefighter, Judge Blackburn condemned Brennan’s courtroom antics as “disgraceful” as well as “boorish and unprofessional”:
“In over 19 years on the bench, I have seen nothing comparable,” the judge wrote. “Such disrespectful cockalorum, grandstanding, bombast, bullying and hyperbole as Mr. Brennan exhibited throughout the trial are quite beyond my experience as a jurist, and, I fervently hope, will remain an aberration during the remainder of my time on the bench.”
(Daniel J. Chacon, “Judge points to lawyer’s antics in junking $1.2 million ruling”, Rocky Mountain News, Oct. 6). No response from Mr. Brennan is recorded yet in the news coverage assembled by Google. The dictionary, incidentally, defines “cockalorum” as “boastful talk; crowing”. P.S. Brennan’s response, as reported in the Rocky Mountain News (via ABA Journal); also more details at On Point News.
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Readers, note: the cockalorum went over well with the jury. More often than not, it does.
Does this give his client grounds for a legal malpractice suit?
You know, that’s an interesting question, Mark.
Leaving aside the issue that the case will be retried (thus no real harm to the client – yet), does counsel’s overly-dramatic and offensive theatrics rise to the level of malpractice?
On the one hand, he’s being zealous in his representation of his client. On the other, his zeal led to a reversal of a favorable jury verdict.
Did he violate the standard of care? Or did he go above and beyond the call of duty?
No harm yet? How much more will the client have to pay this or another lawyer to handle the retrial.
Mark,
Probably nothing, though he’ll probably have to shell out some more money for litigation costs.
The article notes that it’s an age-discrimination suit. I may be wrong, but he may be entitled to recover attorneys’ fees.
If not, his attorneys are likely working on contingency.
So, no, I don’t think the plaintiff has suffered any harm yet, at least until the case is retried.
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