It's a slow legal news day, and I'm bored. What, you want to discuss Judge Gold's opinion on that stupid "enhanced" Cuban travel agency fee? Like you have to be Justice Cardozo to know the State of Florida can't have its own foreign policy.

(psst, someone tell Representative David Rivera....)

So let's discuss teabagging.

Personally I've never been teabagged in public before, but you all know I'm willing to pretty much try anything once.

So meet me at the Doral Post Office tomorrow afternoon for a group teabagging party, and bring your friends.

It takes (at least) two to do it right. Right, David?

See you there, fellow teabaggers.

Steven sure has generated a lot of news recently.

First, there's the $22.5 billion Bank of New York Russian customs case, which settled for $14 million (prior coverage here).

Then there was Judge Huck's ruling in the Dole matter, which has a number of facts that aren't too hot, as noted by CNNMoney's Roger Parloff:

The broad terms of Huck's ruling make its reasoning virtually certain to control the outcome of a companion DBCP case known as Herrera Rios v. Standard Fruit Co., in which U.S. Lawyers were expected to seek enforcement of another $800 million in Nicaraguan court judgments.

While Judge Huck did not reach the question of fraud, he did note, as relevant to the due process issues, that the Nicaraguan judge in the Osorio case had prevented Dole from introducing into evidence 151 birth certificates indicating that at least 32 of the 150 prevailing claimants in the Osorio case (representing $21 million of the $97 million judgment) had fathered at least one child after his last alleged exposure to DBCP.

One plaintiff, for instance -- who had been awarded $574,880 for sterility and related mental distress -- had, by his own admission, fathered at least four children after his last DBCP exposure. (Dole's evidence suggested that this plaintiff had actually fathered nine children in all, including eight after his last exposure.)

Huck also found that, even assuming the plaintiffs' medical claims were accurate -- the Nicaraguan procedures had not permitted Dole to test the plaintiffs independently -- more than half of them (78 of the 150) "suffered from injuries for which, according to the unrefuted medical testimony presented to the Court, there is no medical evidence that DBCP is capable of causing."

The average recovery in both the Osorio and Herrera Rios cases was about $650,000 per plaintiff, which is a lot of money in a country where most of the population earns less than $2 a day. According to Judge Huck's ruling, Nicaraguan labor law ordinarily requires employers to pay no more than $1,240 to compensate the family of a worker who has died or become totally disabled due to occupational hazards.

So let's see -- no forum nons to Ecuador, now Nicaragua, the list keeps growing.....

Finally, Steven just filed this interpleader action before Judge Gold involving disputed fees arising from the Siber Air settlement.

Boy, I sure hope he checked the redaction box, we don't need any more issues coming up this week.

Boy oh boy what a disaster is unfolding in Judge Gold's courtroom, in the aftermath of the acquital of Dr. Ali Shaygan by uber-trial mensch David O. Markus:

U.S. District Judge Alan S. Gold, who held two days of hearings this week on the matter, said there were "flagrant violations" of basic rules by prosecutors and indicated he would likely order the U.S. government to pay the defense lawyers thousands of dollars in fees and costs.

"It's more than just mistakes. Important safeguards were not met," Gold said. "It doesn't seem like any facts were verified."

U.S. Attorney R. Alexander Acosta on Wednesday called the situation "regrettable" and said the allegations have been referred to the U.S. Justice Department for possible disciplinary action.

The misconduct claims arose earlier this month during the trial of Dr. Ali Shaygan, 36, who was accused in a 141-count indictment of writing illegal prescriptions including one that led to a patient's death from a methadone overdose. Shaygan, acquitted last week of all charges, had faced a minimum of 20 years in prison because of that person's death.

During the trial, Shaygan attorney David O. Markus found out by chance during questioning of a witness that his prior telephone conversation with that witness had been recorded. It later turned out that prosecutors authorized two witnesses - Carlos Vento and Trinity Clendening - to secretly record their phone calls with Markus and his investigator, Michael Graff.

At least one witness seemed to ask Markus to pay a bribe for testimony, according to the recordings. But Markus wouldn't go along.

"I am not paying any money for anything," the attorney said in one recording, according to a transcript.

In addition, Vento and Clendening had agreed to become confidential informants for the Drug Enforcement Administration - a critical fact never disclosed to the defense. Such information is important in criminal trials because a jury could otherwise never learn that the witnesses might have a bias in favor of prosecutors.

Of course David did the right thing -- no one would expect anything different. Can the same be said of the other actors involved in this tawdry drama?

David, always so serious.

Now me, if I had suspected the feds were recording me without my knowledge, I would have sang old Dr. Demento songs, Tom Lehrer, probably would have done a little Allan Sherman, you know, the classics.....hey my singing voice is quite good.