Justice = A Matter of Federal Court Shopping
Just like the bad, old Jim Crow days, "justice" in America is, in large part, a matter of where you happen to live. Or -- like my battle with Random House -- where you happen to get sued.
It's clear in my Petition for Certiorari, asking the Supreme Court to hear my appeal, Random House didn't "win" on the facts so much as they won by court shopping -- suing me in in a federal court where expert testimony is not allowed in cases like mine.
My petition clearly shows that federal court circuits are divided about 50-50 in this expert testimony issue. Thus, in half the U.S., Random House could get a case thrown out on this expert-witness technicality while in the other half of the U.S., I would have been allowed a trial on the facts.
The discussion of which federal court circuits are on which side, begins on page 13 of my petition (which is page 21 of the .pdf document).
It's clear in my Petition for Certiorari, asking the Supreme Court to hear my appeal, Random House didn't "win" on the facts so much as they won by court shopping -- suing me in in a federal court where expert testimony is not allowed in cases like mine.
My petition clearly shows that federal court circuits are divided about 50-50 in this expert testimony issue. Thus, in half the U.S., Random House could get a case thrown out on this expert-witness technicality while in the other half of the U.S., I would have been allowed a trial on the facts.
The discussion of which federal court circuits are on which side, begins on page 13 of my petition (which is page 21 of the .pdf document).
posted by Lewis Perdue at 7:03 AM
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