Recently in Court Rules Category

To recap the entirety of the procedural history of D.A. Osguthorpe Family Partner v. ASC Utah, Inc. would require a voluminous text comparable to Joyce’s Ulysses. We’ll spare your time, and ours, as many of us are billing by the hour.

A few parties decided to develop Utah land into a golf course, ski resort, and vacation destination. The project collapsed in development and litigation ensued. Counterclaims, third parties, and litigation consolidation added enough parties and confusion to lead the Tenth Circuit to refer to it as “metastasized.”

Rommie Woodard was convicted of possessing more than 100 kilograms of marijuana with the intent to distribute and sentenced to 60 months' imprisonment and 4 years' supervised release.

Last week, the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed Woodard's conviction, finding that the district court violated his Sixth Amendment confrontation rights when it refused to allow him to cross-examine a witness about a prior judicial determination that the witness was not credible.

If the definition of insanity is repeating the same action with the expectation of a different result, then the lawyer's definition of insanity is rehashing the same argument before a court with the expectation that you won't be threatened with sanctions.

Courts do not appreciate persistence. And they can back up their annoyance with fines and disbarment.

A notice of appeal isn't the only way to challenge an issue in the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals.

This week, the Denver-based court concluded that appellants who contested an attorney's fees award in their opening brief on a related issue satisfied the requirements of Federal Rule of Appellate Procedure (FRAP) 3(c)(1).

At the start of a trial, the judge administers an oath to the jury. The idea behind the oath is to impress upon jurors that they're dealing with a serious matter, and they need to pay attention.

It's kind of a big deal if the jurors aren't sworn in, but an attorney can't just sit on that error in case the trial doesn't go his way, according to a recent Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals ruling.

James Holmes, the alleged movie theatre gunman, is facing 142 charges stemming from the Aurora theatre shooting in July. The charges include 12 counts of first-degree murder, 12 counts of first-degree murder with extreme indifference, 116 counts of attempted murder, one count of committing a crime of violence, and one count of possession of explosives.

Details emerged this week indicating that the prosecution will characterize the shootings as a revenge plot, while the defense will plead insanity, reports the Huffington Post.

If Holmes decides to see the case through to trial, it could be one of the most talked-about cases in recent memory.

The Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals interprets the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure strictly.

For example, Rule 35 allows a court to “correct a sentence that resulted from arithmetical, technical, or other clear error” within 14 days after sentencing.

What happens after 14 days? According to the Tenth Circuit, the court loses subject matter jurisdiction for resentencing when the period lapses.

The Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals is accepting comments in response to five proposed changes to the Tenth Circuit rules until Sunday, October 23, 2011.

Comments on the proposed changes may be emailed to 10th_Circuit_Clerk@ca10.uscourts.gov. Interested parties are also invited to call the office of the Clerk with any questions they may have. That number is 303-844-3157.

The proposed changes are summarized below.

Here at FindLaw, we understand the pressures of being a legal professional - most of us are recovering lawyers - so we want to help by tossing you that preferred life preserver of the legal profession, the short list.

Today's topic: appellate mediation in the Tenth Circuit.

The Tenth Circuit Mediation Office, staffed by attorney-mediators, conducts mediation in civil appeals pursuant to Federal Rule of Appellate Procedure 33 and 10th Circuit Rule 33.1. The Court's mediation process provides confidential, risk-free opportunities for parties to resolve their disputes without the need of a further judicial decision. Here are a few things you should know about Tenth Circuit mediation.