INSIDER: Judge pats lawyers on back for being Iowa nice
U.S. District Judge Mark Bennett took the time and ink to pat the lawyers in this case on the back for meeting as instructed to frame questions that could be submitted to the Iowa Supreme Court to help get past state-law questions.
Wrote Bennett: “On Dec. 7, 2015, by Order (docket no. 46), I instructed the parties to meet, confer and come to an agreement on the identification and description of state law issues that exist in this case that could be certified to the Iowa Supreme Court and for the parties to explain whether they believed these issues should be certified.
“On Dec. 14, 2015, the parties filed a Joint Report Respecting Certification of Issues to the Iowa Supreme Court (docket no. 47) (‘Joint Certification Report’).
“Ordering opposing attorneys to work together, especially with out-of-state firms, does not often end with such positive results. Here, with two highly regarded and respected Iowa law firms and lawyers, in the style of Iowa lawyers, extremely zealous advocates but dedicated to civility and professionalism, they met, conferred and did a wonderful job producing exactly what this important litigation needed: agreement of certified questions of state law.”
Among the lawyers working on the case are teams from Des Moines-based Dickinson, Mackaman, Tyler & Hagen P.C. for the utility, and Belin McCormick P.C. for the counties.
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