By Mirror Contributor EVAN GAHR
Last Friday was not a good Friday for Fox News wannabe Ed Schultz.
Washington, D.C. Federal District Court Judge Beryl Howell, an Obama appointee and donor, rejected Schultz’s last ditch request to dismiss an explosive breach of partnership lawsuit against him.
Now the trial is all but certain to start on May 11 as scheduled.
NBC producer and sound engineer Michael Queen claims Schultz should have paid him for arranging his MSNBC gig. Schultz’s lawyers argued on March 12 that even if Schultz owes Queen money, it is below the $100,000 required for court jurisdiction.
In her April 3 ruling, Howell blacked out what Schultz claims he made for the first year of his show. But she said it sufficed for Queen to claim he legally deserved a fair share.
The case should proceed, she ruled, because it was “not clear to a legal certainty” that the “amount in dispute is less than required for diversity jurisdiction.
The decision was likely the most devastating news for Schultz since Roger Ailes rebuffed his request for a Fox News show. Schultz has tried to make the lawsuit go away for nearly four years.
But the latest effort seemed particularly desperate. Howell had already scheduled the lawsuit for trial at a rambunctious February 27 hearing where she openly mocked Schultz’s lawyers, John Hayes and Jeffrey Landa.
This dynamic duo asked Howell to seal the transcript of Ed Schultz’s embarrassing deposition. That would only be possible if Howell operated some kind of time machine.
The Mirror had already obtained and quoted from the deposition.
Instead, Howell, after hemming and hawing for nearly one year, abruptly set a trial date.
She did throw Hayes and Landa one bone. Howell said it was possible that longtime “Meet the Press” host Tim Russert helped get Schultz his show.
Sure, it was possible — if Russert was resurrected.
He died nearly one year before Schultz signed up with MSNBC.