Rambus (RMBS)

[Threejack]

More AT Trial Anecdotes


Thanks to RFP OF-LOL

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Tag Team Judges; What does it mean?
I had been concerned that this would be a problem somehow. Certainly with the wrong guys on the team, it could be a problem.

But yesterday we saw the first look at how this will work, and I think it is going to work great. The context was whether THJK had ruled on the federal aspect of criminality of having ever thrown away something that might be discoverable in the far future, which might establish something about CE or crime/fraud ACP piercing or ? Defs said he didn't rule, Bus said his ruling came after weeks of discussion of it.

THJMcB said "I'll ask THJK" .He had some humorous banter content here, but I am skipping over it to make my point.

The point is that they can just confer and make a decision, without any need to go on the record or schedule anything. He said (in the morning) he would have 'the answer' by Thursday, and mentioned (in the afternoon) that he had already posed the question to THJK and hadn't heard back yet.

It seems pretty clear to me that when THJMcB can check with THJK offline and 'deliver' the decisions in the way he sees fit, there isn't going to be much room for lawyer-guided lengthy sidetrips into ~'rat-holes' .

Note that with THJMcB handling of Hyni's Special Instruction 1, he is free to not do something Kramer decided after much deliberation. He thought it was very odd to have so much text from the DOJ, but which had so little clarity for lay jurors about the definitions of conspiracy and price fixing. He made a strong point that anything for the jurors had to be completely free of legal jargon, and expressed in the very plainest English. (btw of the kind he speaks .)

About SI1, he said ' So, you'd like me to read this thing to them once, and we'd never touch it again?', and Nicely said a greasy version of 'yes'. THJMcB concluded that it was too wordy and that pre-opening was not the right place for it. He doesn't use the gavel, but the nail was fully home at that moment. His words are like a hammer; very blunt and unambiguous. Not much is vague with this guy. I wish I captured his terse wording of allowable jury instructions. I thought it was ~3 words, that 'only uncontested text' was acceptable. The big message was "I'm not allowing you to debate the content in front of me". A huge message to counsel, in the tersest possible form. Very heartening. I imagine that I see the lawyers reflexively starting to rise to re-debate something, and having great difficulty forcing themselves to remember that he only wants to hear about the things they agree upon.


So, the tag team provides great flexibility for prompt, non-negotiable judicial decisions. They can be tweaked on-the-fly, but not delayed indefinitely.

Note that the decisions could go against the plaintiffs just as quickly. My approach to this is to think about all the THJK actual decisions being played back at FastForward speed. As I recall, they were largely favorable to the plaintiff's case.

OF

http://www.investorvillage.com/smbd.asp?mb=3666&mn=604121&pt=msg&mid=10607760

Expeditiously

Sorry I didn't write it clearly enough. THJMcB was the one who said "we've got 117 copies" , and said it in the direction of his clerk, who brought over one of the completed juror forms (which had it on there.) The adroitness of Perry was to offer a timely solution to the court, which was embraced and which got the box checked off regarding the script for the judge. I wasn't present for the prior episode when Perry initially declined the court's suggestion of a Monday opening arguments, where his vague rationale of setup was mocked by the court. But here he was the first to speak, and said the perfect thing.

This seemed like he was thinking clearly and quicker than the other attorneys. Frankly, they all seem to be slightly flummoxed by a judge who is so eager to schedule things sooner than later, and is relentlessly expediting all aspects of the trial. At one point, the court said 'What's next?' and the uncomfortable silence was long enough that he then said "How about a break?" , followed by " Oh, btw, the workrules require one right about now, so, Let's be back by 11:10."

At 2pm, the court was already sitting at the bench as the lawyers filed in. Nicely seemed to be taken aback, when he finally realized that the court was waiting on the atty's, instead of the more traditional situation where the judge comes in after everyone is ready to go.

As I said earlier, I really like this judge.

OF

http://www.investorvillage.com/smbd.asp?mb=3666&mn=604141&pt=msg&mid=10607926

What if anything can delay next week's trial start?

AFAICT, Hx had much reliance on that SI1, and that their theme would be 'we never sold RDRAM, not guilty of AT crime.' (Didn't they take a license and quote prices and employ Tbreezy???). Similarly, Micron spent a lot of their court time on the CE lead balloon, and maybe was hoping for leakage of the 30 pierced-but-not-outed documents into evidence. These salients seem to be largely mooted, although THJMcB keeps deferring his final-final on many things such as Video, CE, etc., until Jun16 anyway.

One unhappy surprise for THJMcB was the status of the MILS for the Expert testimony, and the unresolved issue of what can be said in opening arguments. Can R mention Taylor's damage $? Nicely says that Taylor will never appear at this trial. The court is amazed by this claim, and asks about 'What's wrong with allowing unrestricted opening statements?' , where the penalty for unfulfilled promises of testimony, is an unpersuaded jury.

The court decided that the R damages expert was the place to start, and we need to get this done. He said that there are only three aspects of Expert MIL; 1, appropriate expertise, 2. bases for opinions, and 3. hearsay within bases. The court also said something like "It doesn't sound like I'm going to be slicing the prosciutto very thin here...", as if one can slice prosciutto with a hammer...

So, to me, these Expert MIL are the last chance for any substantial hiccup in the plaintiff's case and the court's schedule. At the end of the day, THJMcB said he had started looking at the Taylor question over the lunch break, but didn't have anything dipositive to say about it. Thursday looks to be the last stand for wishful thinking by the defendants. Given the court's frequent and zealous advocacy for the rights of the jurors and the propriety of the justice system, I very much doubt that he would throw away the trial at this point, over some triviality. At worst, IMHO he will revert to unrestricted opening statements, with the onus on counsel to deliver the promised testimony. i.e.,~ if you can't agree to limits,we're not waiting, just duke it out in court.

IF any of the expert resident naysayers have any insight to convey regarding Taylor and/or Rapp expert report fatal flaws, now would be the time to make the case. Too late after tomorrow...

OF

http://www.investorvillage.com/smbd.asp?mb=3666&mn=604163&pt=msg&mid=10608240

Revised name: What if anything can delay next week's trial start?

AFAICT, Taylor is R sole damages expert. Maybe I have the name wrong. Anyway, H intends to Eliminate the entire expert damages testimony, and thus his time in the witness chair. Perry seems bemused by the wild claims, but is non-reactive. THJMcB is ~surprised to hear that there is only one damages expert and he might be eliminated, and quips 'well, it'll be a very short trial' ...

And thus I repeat my question to 'expert-experts'; will R damages expert report be tossed, and on what basis? Decision is tomorrow... place your bets...
Stake out your position on the last pivotal pretrial issue before it gets nailed... The clock is running...

OF

http://www.investorvillage.com/smbd.asp?mb=3666&mn=604180&pt=msg&mid=10608442

And a hat tip to OF-LOL by Starduster:

OF-LOL is dead on - Starduster

I would like to welcome OF-LOL to the Rambus Free Press. Read his posts about yesterday the 14th. They are dead on. Please encourage him to continue to attend and report. He is a better observer and writer than I. I am thrilled to have him there.

Also I see that we have several new members join IV the last few weeks and the guest count is going up. The following information from NukeJohn will give these people some background information that will help sort out the history of this crime.

The final jury selection is going on as I write. Due to space limitations, not exclusion, I can not attend. I will go to the court this afternoon and inquire as to how it is proceeding. Also this is the day that Rambus must present to Micron/Hynix all of the witnesses for next week along with all exhibits that will be introduced. McBride rocks.

http://www.investorvillage.com/smbd.asp?mb=3666&mn=604149&pt=msg&mid=10607972

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RFP is one great team.

Threejack