Norton
CooperBlogger
He's no Judge Ephriam, but..
Of the 24 judges--12 associate and 12 circuit-- in the St. Clair County Courthouse, Judge Bill Norton is the lonely Republican. So it goes that he’s relegated to the anything-but-glamorous Family Division, akin to latreen duty among those on the bench.
Perhaps most amongst legal eagles, those in the family trade—a.k.a divorce— like it when proceedings stretch longer than they should. More conflict, more court appearances, and more billable hours means more scratch for the counselors—so long as the judge has a similar work ethic.
A Sparta resident and March appointee to the 20th Circuit by GOP Supreme Court Justice Lloyd Karmeier, Norton’s style has been… well… uncooperative.
Sources tell Dicta that Judge Norton, much to the consternation of regulars in his divorce court, never got the memo that the docket was merely an aspiration. Or that he was supposed to lose the watch when he put on the robes.
We’ll be watching Norton’s November 2006 opponent—Associate Judge Patrick Young—to see whether he tries to butter up said malcontents with a whisper campaign that he’s one of theirs.
The 20th Judicial Circuit consists of St. Clair, Washington, Perry, Randolph and Monroe counties in southwestern Illinois.
File under: Insomnia Cures
If you missed it late last month, East Alton’s very own SimmonsCooper has found cyberspace.
The toxic tort specialists launched their very own blog, www.benzeneasbestos.com on October 24.
“There are mountains of disinformation out there. We need to tell the truth,” one post states. “It is in order to set the record straight – whenever necessary, and as often as necessary – that we are posting and will continue to update this page.”
Apparently, the record has been “straight” for the past three weeks at least. We’ve been monitoring the blog and note that SimmonsCooper hasn’t posted a single item since the day of their self-celebrated launch.
Here’s guessing their “blogger” went back to her day job writing instruction manuals for industrial equipment.
Not that we feel cheated.
“The asbestos calamity has been going on for decades. Untold thousands of people have died and are dying still. In too many instances, their grievances, and the grievances of their families, have still not been redressed…. We are the lawyers of SimmonsCooper LLC…."...zzzzz…
Paper cut
Brent Coon and Associates attorney Robert Ramsey Brooks is being forced to amend all 138 asbestos complaints he filed in Madison County on Sept. 27, as they included several errors.
So Brooks has to print new ones. That’s 138 complaints x 16 pages each or 2,208 pages.
The rub is with Brooks’ list of defendants—-80 strong. 60 of them appear in a list on the front page, then 20 more within the body of the complaint. The court—-it has its reasons—-wants them all in the same place.
Did we see defense counsel for paper maker Georgia-Pacific--one of those defendants--sneaking a grin?