October 17 roundup

  • Anyone suing over anything dept.: Kansas City attorney Mary Kay Green sues McCain, Palin, for supposed hate speech against Obama [KC Star, Feral Child, Above the Law; related, my article the other day for City Journal]
  • Got $331K from victim fund claiming severe injuries from Pentagon 9/11 attack, yet “kept playing basketball and lacrosse and ran [NYC] marathon in under four hours two months after the attacks” [Maryland Daily Record]
  • Krugman claims Fannie/Freddie not big culprits in mortgage meltdown, but Calomiris and Wallison show him wrong [Stuart Taylor, Jr., National Journal; also note this Goldstein/Hall unlabeled opinion piece from McClatchy pushing the Krugman line]
  • Government bailout of newspapers? Who’s trying to float this idea, anyway? [Bercovici/Portfolio via Romenesko] Update: maybe this?
  • Colluded with chiropractor to generate bills for imaginary treatment, then pocketed clients’ insurance settlements without telling them [Quincy, Mass., Patriot-Ledger; Bruce Namenson sentenced to 5 years and “cannot practice law for at least 10 years after he gets out of jail”]
  • Ontario: “Killer awarded $6K over wrong shoes in prison” [National Post]
  • “Is there any doubt that Lucy grew up to be a lawyer?” [Above the Law on Doyle Reports, Judge Robertson ruling in patent case]
  • Jury hits Jersey City, N.J. rheumatologist with $400K verdict (including $200K punitives) for not hiring sign language interpreter at his own expense for deaf patient [NJLJ, Krauss @ PoL]

7 Comments

  • Ernie Chambers should consider hiring Mary Kay Green to assist with his appeal on his God suit.

  • “As a result, his pair of New Balance shoes was 18 months old and severely worn out …”
    Man that’s harsh. That prison must be tougher than Abu Ghraib and Gitmo put together.

  • 1) This lawsuit doesn’t have a chance of succeding, but even if it did, it might not be to her benefit. The law works both ways; McCain supporters could sue for emotional distress as well from some of the language from Obama and his supporters. Sarah Palin could sue for sexual harassment since people have shown up at her rallies with “Sarah Palin is a c*nt” t-shirts. Or anti-war protestors could be sued for their threats against the president (including burning him in effigy). Do they really want to go there?

    2) Since the Secret Service has already found the charges of people crying “kill him” to be baseless, that makes it far more difficult for Ms. Green to prove her allegations.

    3) One wonders what her standing is to file this lawsuit anyway, since the “threats” were not against her. She also has no close relationship with Obama and there’s no evidence that she even met him. The phrase “publicity stunt” immediately comes to mind.

  • I am currently wearing a pair of New Balance sneakers that I’ve worn just about everyday for the last 2 years. They still look pretty good.

    After ruling that killers are entitled to $125 sneakers every 1.5 yrs., I’d love to see this judge explain himself to a poor law abiding citizen who is not able to afford cheap sneakers.

  • […] Hat tip- Overlawyered […]

  • The shoes case:

    1) Happened in Canada it is worth pointing out.

    2) Guy had crazy wide feet. The real point is that he needs shoes wide enough for him. Forgetting what he is in jail for and everything else, we probably should find a way to accomodate people in this situation, right? Shoes that fit is not exactly a luxury for a civilized society to provide to its guests who are on an involuntary vacation with them. I’ve never understood the whole idea of making prisoners lives miserable as being some sort of noble thing.

    3) I think this law should keep these kind of claims out of the court system by setting up an administrative scheme that provides for hearing for complaints of this kind.

  • […] we reported a while back, a New Jersey rheumatologist has been required to pay $400,000 to a deaf patient for refusing to […]