BP Lawyers Use Old-School Trick; Judge Not Amused
NPR – Sept. 17
Back in school, did you ever fudge the spacing on a report to meet the teacher’s page-length requirement? Lawyers representing oil company BP tried something similar in a recent court filing connected to the company’s 2010 drilling rig accident and oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. U.S. District Court Judge Carl Barbier was not amused. In his ruling Monday, Barbier issued an order and then reminded BP’s lawyers that their brief was supposed to be limited to 35 pages, double-spaced: “BP’s counsel filed a brief that, at first blush, appeared just within the 35-page limit. A closer study reveals that BP’s counsel abused the page limit by reducing the line spacing to slightly less than double-spaced … University of Alabama School of Law Professor Montré Carodine clerked for Judge Barbier 15 years ago and tells NPR this may not be the first time BP’s lawyers have used such tactics. “The subtext seems to be Judge Barbier saying, ‘Look, every time I give you an inch you take a mile, and I’m tired of it,’ ” Carodine says. She concludes that BP is lucky because some judges would have stricken the entire brief for not following the rules.
Lars Anderson speaks to 6th grade at Sipsey Valley Middle (gallery)
Tuscaloosa News – Sept. 18
Lars Anderson, a sports writer for Sports Illustrated and an adjunct instructor at the University of Alabama’s College of Communications, speaks to the sixth grade students at Sipsey Valley Middle School about his book “The Storm and the Tide” in Buhl, Ala. on Thursday Sept. 18, 2014. Anderson’s book portrays stories of those affected by the April 27 tornado that swept across Tuscaloosa in 2011.
Reception for art exhibit set Sunday at University of Alabama
Tuscaloosa News – Sept. 17
A reception for a retrospective exhibit of artwork and design by Beverly A. Kissinger, assistant professor of interior design in the University of Alabama’s College of Human Environmental Sciences, will be held from 2 to 4 p.m. Sunday in the second-floor gallery of Doster Hall. The reception is free and open to the public. The show, “Beverly A. Kissinger: A Creative Life,” features a variety of design and artwork created over Kissinger’s career as a teacher, interior designer and artist. Humor is the hallmark of many of the works. It will be on display through Sept. 27.
Huxford Symphony Orchesta opens season
Crimson White – Sept. 18
Thursday evening marks the season opening of one of The University of Alabama’s top performance groups, the Huxford Symphony Orchestra. The orchestra opens the 2014-2015 season with the first of six orchestral concerts, playing pieces by Brahms
and Sibelius. Skip Snead, director of the School of Music, said the Huxford Orchestra will demonstrate its superior status at Thursday’s performance. “It has grown substantially in recent years, becoming one of the most recognized university
orchestra programs in the Southeast and the only full-time student
university symphony in the state of Alabama,” he said. “Their opening concert Thursday evening features an outstanding repertoire and will serve as a wonderful beginning to what will be an outstanding season throughout this academic year.” The group is mainly composed of music majors ranging from freshmen to doctoral students.
UA Opera Theatre to hold Gustatory Gala
WVUA (Tuscaloosa) – Sept. 17
If you like music and food from around the world, we’ve got an event just for you. It’s the University of Alabama opera theatre’s “Music and Food from Around the World.” Paul Houghtaling: “There will be something to eat for everyone, delicious wine, delicious food. There will be music to represent all of those cultures throughout the evening as well including some jazz, some musical theater so it’s not just opera. So if you’re one of those out there who says ‘I don t like opera,’ you still like to eat, you might like a glass of wine, and there will be music that will indeed suit your taste.”