Judge Blasts IndyMac Phrase Turner

A federal judge in Los Angeles doesn’t think much of the literary abilities of a defense lawyer for two former IndyMac officials being sued by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.

Judge Dale S. Fischer of the U.S. District Court in Los Angeles blasted what she called Paul Hastings lawyer Kirby Behre’s overzealous and “somewhat annoying” legal filings.

“I don’t know whether you stay up nights trying to think of clever phrases, but trust me, no judge that I’ve ever spoken to has ever said, ‘Boy, can that guy turn a phrase.’ They only say, ‘Boy, why didn’t he get to the point.’ So, please, in future pleadings, remember that,” Fischer said at a hearing Monday.

You can read the entire transcript here (h/t dandodiary.com).

Behre represents IndyMac executives Kenneth Shellem and Richard Koon, who say the FDIC failed to collect and preserve documents and emails after taking receivership of IndyMac following the bank’s 2008 collapse, leaving the pair handicapped in mounting their defense.

He had called the FDIC’s alleged failure to preserve documents after it took over the bank “staggering” and a “stunning display of incompetence.”

The FDIC says it’s “done everything reasonably possible” to make available to defendants all of the pertinent documents. Still, the defense lawyer was seeking sanctions against the FDIC for spoliation of evidence.

Fischer rejected the defendants’ request, saying it was “premature.”

“That said, I’ll turn to the government and tell you that I don’t think the government was nearly as diligent as its counsel argues,” Fischer said, addressing FDIC lawyer Thomas D. Long. “It certainly could have done more than it did.”

The judge said she “would certainly consider a jury instruction targeted to certain evidence or certain issues” if given more information.

In fact, Fischer seemed annoyed by the entire matter, wondering aloud “why anyone would actually want this job, I don’t know,” at one point in the transcript.

Behre and FDIC spokesman Andrew Gray declined to comment.

The FDIC, the federal agency that manages the receiverships of failed banking institutions, sued Shellem, Koon and two other former executives at IndyMac’s home builders’ division for $300 million. The civil suit, filed about two years after the FDIC took over as receiver, accused the executives of negligence by signing off on commercial loans to home builders that had little chance of being repaid.