Time For A-PPEAL

Irwin Barkan plaintiff, ME, filed his appeal June 18, 2010 in the US First Circuit Court of Appeals in Barkan vs. Dunkin Donuts Inc., case # 10-1247. Check out the filing at http://www.dunk-d.com/

Here is the press release--spread it around! It should set up the last chapter of my upcoming book: Dunk'D My Odyssey Through Franchise Hell.

The appeal was prepared by Ronald Dunbar of Dunbar Law PC, 10 High Street, Boston, MA who also argued the case in trial.

The appeal resulted from an error-filled directed verdict and improper exclusion of testimony by Federal Judge Ronald Lagueux on January 20, 2010. There are four appeal issues stated in the document:
1.The District court erred as a matter of law granting defendant’s motion for a directed verdict without the required support in the record for that decision.

The District Court concluded that the expert’s opinion “must be based on facts contained in evidence.” This statement by Judge Lagueux is wrong and the law was improperly applied.

Judge Lagueux erred by ignoring evidence supporting the expert’s report and as a result erred by excluding the expert’s testimony.

Judge Lagueux erred when he concluded that the expert’s opinion was irrelevant and should be excluded from the Jury’s consideration; and the Judge erred by making findings that should have been decided by the Jury.

These serious errors combined with Judge Lagueux’s directed verdict interjecting his own incorrect interpretation of the facts, instead of letting the properly impaneled jury decide, should be reversed by the First Circuit of Appeals and remanded for a new trial.

Mr Barkan states, “Judge Lagueux’s actions seemed wrong as I listened to them in Court on January 20th, and reading these legal arguments confirms my belief that my complaint has not yet, after five years, been heard impartially. When that occurs and the Dunkin’ Donut witnesses are finally cross examined in light of what the documents say, rather than what their lawyers proclaim, we will win this case. It is unfortunate that this five year process added the cost of litigation to an already crippling investment loss.”

See also http://www.dunk-d.com for information on Barkan’s upcoming book: Dunk’D: My Odyssey Through Franchise Hell.

Please direct your inquiries to Irwin Barkan, 802-496-6766 or to Ronald Dunbar, 617-244-3550.