“Cooley Sued for Malpractice After Representing Carbon IQ” —

• “Cooley LLP and several of its attorneys are being accused of committing legal malpractice and fraud in a suit filed in federal court Thursday.”
• “Jason Gould and Gould Ventures LLC are suing Cooley and its attorneys after investing in Carbon IQ Inc. and after Gould became a board member of the startup—both based on information Gould received from Cooley’s attorneys, who represented Carbon IQ at the time.”
• “Gould alleges that the attorneys knew that Carbon IQ and its chief executive officer, Benjamin Cantey, were being sued for fraud in Texas and didn’t reveal that information. “
• “The defendants ‘deliberately and/or recklessly concealed from Plaintiffs critical information regarding fraud allegations being asserted against Cantey,’ the complaint says. ‘These included both Cantey’s fraudulent activities related to Carbon IQ and an active investigation by the Texas State Securities Board into securities fraud violations tied to Cantey’s previous involvement with another company in Texas.'”
• “Because the defendants didn’t disclose the fraud allegation against Cantey, the plaintiffs invested another $140,000 in Carbon IQ, the complaint says.”
• “Gould further alleges that he asked the defendants if Carbon IQ had directors and officers insurance. ‘Although Cooley Defendants knew Mr. Gould’s acceptance of a Board position was contingent upon the existence’ of adequate insurance, they failed to disclose to Gould that they ‘never actually received any evidence confirming the existence of such insurance,’ the complaint says.”
• “Cooley eventually withdrew from representing Carbon IQ, according to the complaint. The plaintiffs allege securities fraud; common law fraud; legal malpractice; aiding and abetting fraud; negligent misrepresentation; and breach of fiduciary duty.”

Hat tip to Simon Chester at Gowlings for noting: “An ‘Utterly Bonkers’ Miscarriage of Justice in Texas” —

• “There are individual court cases that are perfect symbols of larger injustices, and this month a Black woman named Erma Wilson lost a Court of Appeals decision that highlighted decades of judicial distortion of American civil rights law.”
• “In 2001 a Texas jury convicted Wilson of cocaine possession. It was a nonviolent drug offense, and she was sentenced to eight years of community supervision. She appealed her conviction, but she lost. She never served jail time, but her conviction still had profound consequences on her life. Wilson was never able to achieve her dream of becoming a nurse.”
• “Then, 20 years after her trial, she learned that she had been subject to a monstrous injustice. To quote a Fifth Circuit panel that reviewed her case, something happened at her trial that was ‘utterly bonkers.’ A judge in the case called it a ‘DEFCON 1 legal scandal.’ A prosecutor in the case, Weldon ‘Ralph’ Petty Jr., was also working as a clerk for the judge during her trial — and hundreds of others.”
• “As Jessica Priest reported in USA Today in 2021, Petty ‘performed legal work for at least nine judges involving the convictions of at least 355 defendants whom he prosecuted.’ The defendants’ sentences in those cases ‘range from probation to the death penalty.’
• “The violation of Wilson’s rights was so egregious that no one believes she received a fair trial. The prosecutor lost his law license. The truth is that it’s hard to imagine a more obvious violation of her rights.”
• “In plain English, [42 USC Section 1983] means that government officials who violate your rights are liable for damages. There are very limited exceptions to this rule, but none of them apply to Wilson’s case.”
• “Petty violated Wilson’s rights. He destroyed her career dreams. She lost financial opportunities because of his brazen misconduct. So this is open and shut — she wins, and he loses, right?”
• “Wrong. She lost. After an en banc hearing (when all the judges on the court hear the case), the court ruled against Wilson. Twelve judges ruled against her, and six dissented.”
• “The reason was simple. The court held that she can’t receive damages for the constitutional violation until her conviction ‘has been set aside, expunged or otherwise favorably terminated.’ That requirement isn’t in the statute. It’s a judge-made rule that places a roadblock on the path to justice.”
• “The outcome is absurd, but it’s not entirely the Fifth Circuit’s fault. The real fault lies with the Supreme Court, whose long decades of jurisprudence have gutted Section 1983 to the point where it no longer means what it clearly says. Rather than granting citizens a right to compensation when state officials violate their rights, it’s astonishingly difficult to hold public officials accountable for constitutional violations, and this lack of accountability perpetuates injustice and undermines confidence in American criminal justice.”

“Judge Aileen Cannon Failed to Disclose a Right-Wing Junket” —

• “Federal Judge Aileen M. Cannon, the controversial jurist who tossed out the classified documents criminal case against Donald Trump in July, failed to disclose her attendance at a May 2023 banquet funded by a conservative law school.”
• “Cannon went to an event in Arlington, Virginia, honoring the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, according to documents obtained from the Law and Economics Center at George Mason University. At a lecture and private dinner, she sat among members of Scalia’s family, fellow Federalist Society members and more than 30 conservative federal judges. Organizers billed the event as ‘an excellent opportunity to connect with judicial colleagues.'”
• “A 2006 rule, intended to shine a light on judges’ attendance at paid seminars that could pose conflicts or influence decisions, requires them to file disclosure forms for such trips within 30 days and make them public on the court’s website.”
• “It’s not the first time she has failed to fully comply with the rule.”
• “In 2021 and 2022, Cannon took weeklong trips to the luxurious Sage Lodge in Pray, Montana, for legal colloquiums sponsored by George Mason, which named its law school for Scalia thanks to $30 million in gifts that conservative judicial kingmaker Leonard Leo helped organize.”
• “The rule for paid seminars is among the policies set by the Judicial Conference. Federal judges are also required by law to file annual financial disclosures, listing items such as assets, outside income and gifts. Cannon’s annual disclosure form for 2023, which was due in May and offers another chance to report gifts and reimbursements from outside parties, has yet to be posted.”