More entrepreneurial lawyering in California:
A Los Angeles psychologist who was denied a tote bag during a Mother’s Day giveaway at an Angel game is suing the baseball team, alleging sex and age discrimination.
Michael Cohn’s class-action claim in Orange County Superior Court alleges that thousands of males and fans under 18 were “treated unequally” at a “Family Sunday” promotion last May and are entitled to $4,000 each in damages.
(Dave McKibben, “L.A. Psychologist Who Didn’t Get Tote Bag at Mother’s Day Angel Game Files Lawsuit”, Los Angeles Times, May 11). Cohn’s attorney is Alfred Rava, who (as the L.A. Times really should have found out by Googling Overlawyered, if not its own archives) was among the key figures in the 2003 spree by which owners of San Diego nightspots were hit up for handsome cash settlements for having held “Ladies’ Night” promotions. The Unruh Act, California’s distinctively liberal civil rights statute, allows complainants to demand $4,000 a pop for such misdeeds, and it’s no defense to suggest that the customer’s primary reason for getting involved in the underlying transaction may have been to set up the $4,000 entitlement. More: “Lex Icon” wishes to make clear that he’s not the kind of lawyer who files cases like this (May 13).
2 Comments
This would be a hilarious April Fools Day spoof.
Wait. Is it?
This is legit?
BWAAAHAHAHAH.
An “ageless tote bag,” the learned counsel calls it.
Hey hold the phone. According to the California Department of Fair Employment & Housing Fact Sheet, “Court-ordered damages may include a maximum of three times the amount of the victim’s actual damages.” They don’t even tell the public that the FLOOR is $4,000 (regardless of the absence of actual harm) plus attorney fees.
Maybe even they are embarrassed by the law.