Read thisarticle, if only for the photograph of Sgt. Schultz, and the "I knew nothing" tag.

"The case of Consolidated Sports Media Group v. Godwin Gruber, which is scheduled to go to trial next month, reads at times like a John Grisham novel, complete with allegations of malpractice, the aforementioned pump-and-dump stock scams, the destruction of documents, forgery, securities fraud, unauthorized “blast faxes,” insider trading, NASCAR lawsuits, breaches of fiduciary duty, conflicts of interest, perjury and, of course, fraudulent billing.

In its original petition, CSMG, distributor of sports instructional videos with Priest Holmes and Mia Hamm and a Racetrack Girls Go Nutz series similar to the popular Girls Gone Wild franchise, seeks unspecified damages, exemplary damages and disgorgement of profits. Most of the alleged improprieties center on Godwin Gruber attorney Phil Offill, though Jordan is implicated by his association, position and, ultimately, inaction.

Jordan spent the majority of his three-hour-and-33-minute deposition shrugging, in short: I dunno. The good news: Jordan is not a yes man. The bad news: He’s a No-It-All.

Over the course of his extremely hazy 167-page deposition, Jordan managed to utter “I don’t know” 86 times, “I don’t remember” 20 times, “I don’t think so” 17 times, “I don’t recall” 16 times, “I’m not sure” 11 times, “I guess” 11 more times, “Not to my knowledge” 11 more times, “I’m not aware” seven times, “I have no idea” three times, “I don’t have a real understanding” three more times, “I forgot” twice, “I’m not familiar” twice, “I don’t have any information” two more times and, once apiece, “I don’t believe so,” “I can’t remember,” “I knew nothing,” “I don’t have a specific recollection,” “I honestly don’t remember” and “I honestly don’t know.” It’s better than Hogan’s Heroes.

In some cases, Jordan’s selective memory would be understandable, even acceptable. After all, when you tell someone you don’t know something, they can’t hold anything against you. But he served as the managing partner of the firm during the alleged wrongful activities by Offill, and he was also executive committee liaison during the investigation into the incident at the heart of the lawsuit.

Jordan has been a trial lawyer in Dallas since 1964, and in ’95 he lost the mayoral election to Ron Kirk. Becoming managing partner for Godwin Gruber in the fall of ’04, he reduced his role and responsibility with the firm in December ’05 in order to accommodate his rekindled desire to seek political office. "

Print:
Email this postTweet this postLike this postShare this post on LinkedIn
Andrew Lavoott Bluestone

Andrew Lavoott Bluestone has been an attorney for 40 years, with a career that spans criminal prosecution, civil litigation and appellate litigation. Mr. Bluestone became an Assistant District Attorney in Kings County in 1978, entered private practice in 1984 and in 1989 opened…

Andrew Lavoott Bluestone has been an attorney for 40 years, with a career that spans criminal prosecution, civil litigation and appellate litigation. Mr. Bluestone became an Assistant District Attorney in Kings County in 1978, entered private practice in 1984 and in 1989 opened his private law office and took his first legal malpractice case.

Since 1989, Bluestone has become a leader in the New York Plaintiff’s Legal Malpractice bar, handling a wide array of plaintiff’s legal malpractice cases arising from catastrophic personal injury, contracts, patents, commercial litigation, securities, matrimonial and custody issues, medical malpractice, insurance, product liability, real estate, landlord-tenant, foreclosures and has defended attorneys in a limited number of legal malpractice cases.

Bluestone also took an academic role in field, publishing the New York Attorney Malpractice Report from 2002-2004.  He started the “New York Attorney Malpractice Blog” in 2004, where he has published more than 4500 entries.

Mr. Bluestone has written 38 scholarly peer-reviewed articles concerning legal malpractice, many in the Outside Counsel column of the New York Law Journal. He has appeared as an Expert witness in multiple legal malpractice litigations.

Mr. Bluestone is an adjunct professor of law at St. John’s University College of Law, teaching Legal Malpractice.  Mr. Bluestone has argued legal malpractice cases in the Second Circuit, in the New York State Court of Appeals, each of the four New York Appellate Divisions, in all four of  the U.S. District Courts of New York and in Supreme Courts all over the state.  He has also been admitted pro haec vice in the states of Connecticut, New Jersey and Florida and was formally admitted to the US District Court of Connecticut and to its Bankruptcy Court all for legal malpractice matters. He has been retained by U.S. Trustees in legal malpractice cases from Bankruptcy Courts, and has represented municipalities, insurance companies, hedge funds, communications companies and international manufacturing firms. Mr. Bluestone regularly lectures in CLEs on legal malpractice.

Based upon his professional experience Bluestone was named a Diplomate and was Board Certified by the American Board of Professional Liability Attorneys in 2008 in Legal Malpractice. He remains Board Certified.  He was admitted to The Best Lawyers in America from 2012-2019.  He has been featured in Who’s Who in Law since 1993.

In the last years, Mr. Bluestone has been featured for two particularly noteworthy legal malpractice cases.  The first was a settlement of an $11.9 million dollar default legal malpractice case of Yeo v. Kasowitz, Benson, Torres & Friedman which was reported in the NYLJ on August 15, 2016. Most recently, Mr. Bluestone obtained a rare plaintiff’s verdict in a legal malpractice case on behalf of the City of White Plains v. Joseph Maria, reported in the NYLJ on February 14, 2017. It was the sole legal malpractice jury verdict in the State of New York for 2017.

Bluestone has been at the forefront of the development of legal malpractice principles and has contributed case law decisions, writing and lecturing which have been recognized by his peers.  He is regularly mentioned in academic writing, and his past cases are often cited in current legal malpractice decisions. He is recognized for his ample writings on Judiciary Law § 487, a 850 year old statute deriving from England which relates to attorney deceit.