{"id":4408,"date":"2006-02-28T20:23:23","date_gmt":"2006-03-01T00:23:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.law.harvard.edu\/formerlyknownas\/2006\/02\/28\/get-that-lawyer-out-of-my-sho"},"modified":"2011-08-05T14:54:07","modified_gmt":"2011-08-05T18:54:07","slug":"get-that-lawyer-out-of-my-shower","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/2006\/02\/28\/get-that-lawyer-out-of-my-shower\/","title":{"rendered":"get that lawyer out of my shower"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

Is “My Mommy made me do it<\/em>,” a defense for bringing <\/font>a frivolous claim?\u00a0 How about, “Plaintiffs threatened to disown <\/font>me”?\u00a0 I have a feeling that Colorado lawyer <\/font>Sheldon H. Smith<\/font><\/a> <\/font>may find out in a few weeks (March 22), when his Noisy Bather<\/em> <\/font>lawsuit comes before Denver District Court Judge Ronald Mullins<\/font><\/a>. <\/font>(Denver Post<\/font><\/em><\/a>, “Lawsuit: Baths swamp sleep”,\u00a0by Mike McPhee,\u00a0 <\/font>Feb. 21, 2006; <\/font>Overlawyered.com<\/font><\/em><\/a>, “Early Bather Lawsuit,” Feb. 27, <\/font>2006)<\/font><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

As usual, <\/font>Walter Olson<\/font><\/a> has summed up the case pithily:\u00a0 \"WOlson\"<\/font><\/div>\n
\n
“Shannon Peterson, a special education teacher in the Arvada, <\/font>Colo. public schools, “can’t believe she’s being sued for bathing <\/font>before leaving for work.” But the elderly couple who lives upstairs <\/font>from her Denver condo unit have been complaining about noisy <\/font>pipes, and unfortunately for Ms. Peterson they happen to have a <\/font>son, Sheldon Smith, who’s an attorney at the large law firm of <\/font>Holland and Hart<\/font><\/a>. <\/font><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0 \"SheldonHSmith\" <\/font><\/font><\/div>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Sheldon Smith<\/font><\/a>, Esq.\u00a0 <\/em><\/font><\/font>“Represented by their son, the Smiths ‘sued Peterson just before <\/font>Christmas, citing the ‘reckless and negligent use of her bathtub.”’\u00a0 <\/font>Before that, the younger Smith had fired off a letter to Peterson, <\/font>saying her ‘intransigence … and tortuous conduct have resulted <\/font>in incredible sleep deprivation for Mr. and Mrs. Smith. Your obstin<\/font>acy has ruled the day. That will now cease.’\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/font>According to the Denver Post<\/em>, his demand letter insisted that <\/font>that Peterson not run water in her bathtub before 8 a.m.”\u00a0\u00a0<\/font><\/p>\n

<\/font><\/p>\n

<\/div>\n
\"showerTubF\"\u00a0 <\/font><\/p>\n
Peterson told the Denver<\/em>\u00a0Post<\/em>:\u00a0\u00a0 <\/font><\/div>\n
\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

“I’ve done everything I can think of to work this out,” she said. <\/font>“I’ve had maintenance men remove all my tile and insulate the <\/font>pipes. I’ve had sound engineers measure my unit and others in <\/font>the building. Nothing’s abnormal. Even the homeowners’ board <\/font>investigated and told the Smiths they should install sound barriers <\/font>in their unit.”<\/font>\u00a0<\/font>\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Post<\/em> reported that “the homeowners’ association stepped into the fray <\/font>and wrote Smith a letter that his request didn’t comply with the building’s rules.” <\/font>Fortunately, Peterson is getting help from a friend, lawyer<\/font><\/a> J. Michael Dowling<\/a>,\u00a0 <\/font>From what I’ve read, I have to agree with Dowling’s assessment: <\/font>“This is the most frivolous lawsuit I’ve seen in 30 years of <\/font>practicing law.”\u00a0<\/font>\u00a0<\/font><\/div>\n
\n

<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

<\/font><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\"bathtubG\"\u00a0So far, coverage by Overlawyered<\/em> has provoked a chorus of webloggers\u00a0<\/font>rightly decrying the lawsuit.\u00a0 It will be interesting to see if this negative publicity <\/font>gets all of the Smiths to back down.\u00a0 Of course, only Lawyer Smith has to worry <\/font>about violating professional ethics rules against bringing frivolous claims — claims <\/font>that have no colorable basis in fact or law.\u00a0 <\/font><\/font><\/div>\n
<\/p>\n
\"showerHead\"\u00a0At first, I thought Sheldon Smith might be a tenderfoot, too young to say “no” <\/font>to his parents’ request for legal assistance.\u00a0 But, his firm <\/font>bio page<\/font><\/a> suggests <\/font>that he’s in his mid-50s, and is a respected lawyer in his specialty of employee <\/font>and executive benefits.\u00a0 (He’s worked as an adjunct faculty member at Denver Law <\/font>School and as a CLE presenter.)\u00a0 What I don’t understand is how his partners at the <\/font>Rocky Mountain mega-firm of <\/font>Holland & Hart<\/font><\/a>\u00a0could have let this matter get out of hand.<\/font>\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"showerHead\"\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Certainly, someone in H&H’s <\/font>Real Estate Litigation<\/font><\/a> practice group could have told <\/font>him how lame his claims are.\u00a0 Also, H&H has an Alternative Dispute Resolution<\/font><\/a>\u00a0<\/font><\/font>section that could have come up with\u00a0options <\/font>short of litigation and national infamy.\u00a0\u00a0 <\/font>More to the point, however, H&H’s\u00a0<\/font>Water Rights<\/font><\/a>\u00a0<\/font>practice group boasts: “Our water <\/font>law practice involves commercial and other transac<\/font>tions that routinely require skilled <\/font>negotiations and first-rate administrative experience.”\u00a0\u00a0<\/font>Couldn’t they, or someone,<\/em> at H&H have stopped this silly lawsuit?\u00a0 I have a feeling <\/font>that somebody there just might be leaning on Sheldon Smith right now.\u00a0 I sure <\/font>hope so.<\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/p>\n
\n

\"tiny Once again, I’m learning legal practice tips too late.\u00a0 Forget about\u00a0<\/font>noisy showers.\u00a0 When I moved into my first condo, in Alexandria, <\/font>VA, two years out of law school, I could hear love-making from three <\/em><\/font><\/font>other condo units (above, below, and on the otherside of my bedroom <\/font>wall).\u00a0 Talk about keeping a lonely guy up.\u00a0 I wonder if H&H had a D.C. <\/font>office back in 1978.<\/font><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\n
\"donkey\"\u00a0<\/strong><\/em><\/font><\/div>\n
update<\/strong><\/em>:\u00a0\u00a0Thanks to\u00a0Suz-at-Large<\/font><\/a><\/em> for pointing<\/a> (March 11, 2006) to this post.\u00a0<\/font>Suz\u00a0had\u00a0<\/font><\/font>an earlier piece<\/a> <\/font><\/font>on the case (Feb. 22, 2006), with the sub-<\/font>headline: “The Law is Not <\/em><\/font><\/font>An Ass, But No <\/em><\/font><\/font>Thanks to Some Lawyers.”<\/em><\/font>\u00a0\u00a0 Suz points out that the\u00a0new weblog <\/font><\/font>Leadership for Lawyers<\/font><\/a> is written by Mark Beese, the <\/font>marketing director for Smith’s <\/font><\/font>firm, Holland & Hart. <\/font><\/font><\/p>\n
update<\/font><\/em><\/strong> (April 26, 2006) see our\u00a0water-torture bathtub suit still afloat<\/font><\/a>\u00a0 \"bathtubG\"\u00a0 <\/font><\/font><\/div>\n
\n
\nin the shower
\nan economy size bar of soap
\nlands on my toe<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n
. . .. by Tom Clausen from Homework<\/em> (Snapshot Press 2000)<\/div>\n
\n
\nmeteor shower
\na gentle wave
\nwets our sandals\u00a0<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n
\n. .. by michael dylan welch,\u00a0 HSA Henderson Contest; a glimpse of red:rma 2000<\/em>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/div>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/div>\n
\n
from the shower
\na sad love song –
\nbathtub cricket<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n
the shower massage
\nfinds her navel —
\nbuddha smile<\/div>\n
\n
\"showerHead\"<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

headful of suds
\nthe shower
\nturns cold.<\/p>\n

\n
\n. . . . .. . . . .\u00a0 . by\u00a0 dagosan<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n

<\/font><\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n

<\/font><\/font><\/font><\/div>\n

<\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/div>\n

<\/font><\/font><\/div>\n

<\/font><\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n

<\/font><\/div>\n

<\/font><\/font><\/div>\n

<\/font><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

<\/font><\/font><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Is “My Mommy made me do it,” a defense for bringing a frivolous claim?\u00a0 How about, “Plaintiffs threatened to disown me”?\u00a0 I have a feeling that Colorado lawyer Sheldon H. Smith may find out in a few weeks (March 22), when his Noisy Bather lawsuit comes before Denver District Court Judge Ronald Mullins. (Denver Post, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":94,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[2926,900],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4408","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-pre-06-2006","category-viewpoint"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6kP1R-196","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4408","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/94"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4408"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4408\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12755,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4408\/revisions\/12755"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4408"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4408"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4408"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}