And the congregation waited, and they prayed for some word from God. And the ravaged people looked skyward. Surely the Gods that sit on high would not forsake their people, looking as they were for guidance and relief…surely they will speak…..but how has the Dark Side responded? What have they offered in defense? There is no defense, but there is this, our voice speaking through the Superstars of Justice at Ice Legal in Palm Beach:
But BNY Mellon has studiously avoided a discussion of policy, presumably because there could be no rational basis for elevating an individual party’s privilege to dismiss its case over the judicial system’s inherent power””even obligation””to police abuses of that system. Nowhere does BNY Mellon tell this Court why failed attempts to defraud should be immunized. Given that this Court is the ultimate authority to promulgate and interpret the Rules of Civil Procedure, it was incumbent on BNY Mellon to explain how it would benefit Florida to allow litigants to attempt fraud upon the court with impunity. It did not do so.
BNY Mellon argues that allowing trial courts to address fraud hidden behind a voluntary dismissal ” opens a wide door” and is a ” sea change” for which the industry would need advance warning by way of a prospective application. By advancing this argument, BNY Mellon appears to concede what previously would be unthinkable””that the financial industry has routinely used voluntary dismissals to conceal fraud and that the number of such cases is so staggering, attacks on their finality would bring the overburdened court system to a halt. The argument also exposes a tangible contempt for the judicial process to ask this Court to choose ” efficiency” over the court system’s mandate to deliver truth and justice.
