Interesting ruling by a judge - he was punished for it....

[The Straight Story]

Ex-judge punished for gift card ruling

LOS ANGELES, Feb. 3 (UPI) -- A retired California judge was banned from presiding over cases for issuing an order for a lawyer to be paid in gift cards to a women's clothing store.

Brett Klein, a Los Angeles County judge who retired in November, was censured Tuesday by the Commission on Judicial Performance and banned from presiding over court cases after commission members accused him of abusing his authority and "grandstanding to the press" while presiding over the final hearing of a class-action lawsuit last year, the Los Angeles Times reported Wednesday.

Klein, who took over the final hearing after a colleague fell ill, changed the terms of a settlement given preliminary approval by the original judge in the case, which accused clothing store chain Windsor Fashions of privacy law violations for requiring personal information from customers using credit cards to make purchases.

The original settlement called for the chain to pay $2,500 to the customer who brought the suit and $125,000 to her attorney. Other customers involved in the suit would receive $10 gift cards from the store.

However, Klein altered the settlement to require the store to pay the agreed-upon amount to the customer and her lawyer, but the total was to be paid in $10 gift cards.

"I thought that the settlement would only be fair if the lawyer was paid the same way," Klein said after the commission's decision.

http://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2010/02/03/Ex-judge-punished-for-gift-card-ruling/UPI-42041265231232/

[izquierdista]

1. Somebody needs to change the Commission's paychecks....

....to gift cards.

[Sanity Claws]

2. Judge was a jerk

Fair would be paying the plaintiff's counsel the same as defense counsel. I assure you the defense counsel would not accept payment in gift cards, even though the store was its client.

[DJ13]

3. So the person wronged got $2,500 and the lawyer got $125,000?

I can see why that judge was acting that way, thats outrageous.

[Sanity Claws]

4. It was a class action

There was more than the named plaintiff.