November 26 roundup

  • Businesswoman takes to her blog to criticize the business practices of a video-production firm, and then the lawsuit arrives [Inc. magazine via MediaBloggers; Vision Media Television v. Leslie Richard/Oko Box]
  • Litigious Minneapolis strip club owner “sued a one-time housemate for, among other things, not returning some pillows and a coat rack.” [Star-Tribune via Obscure Store]
  • Really now, says judge to Coughlin Stoia class-actioneers, $1,365.95/night in travel expenses is a bit rich in this Coke settlement [Krauss, PoL]
  • L.A. attorney Terry Christensen sentenced to three years in Pellicano wiretap scandal [AP/Variety] Did L.A. Times skew coverage toward Pellicano defense? [Patterico, more]
  • New Louisiana lawyer-ad rules: would they restrain lawyers from blogging or posting on Facebook/Twitter? [Coleman, Ribstein vs. O’Keefe vs. Greenfield]
  • Electing public defenders is bad idea to start with, and things get particularly dicey when the local cops throw their support to one candidate [Balko, Reason “Hit and Run”; Jacksonville, Fla.]
  • Online carpooling service? Great idea until the bus authorities get you closed down [Save PickUpPal in Ontario via Coyote; Canada]
  • Horizon Blue Cross agrees to settle suit over coverage of eating disorders, will pay $1.18 million to some policyholders to cover extended bulimia and anorexia treatments, and $2.45 million to class action lawyers led by Bruce Nagel of Roseland, N.J. [NJLJ]

6 Comments

  • […] UPDATE:  Kevin O’Keefe thinks it’s a tempest in a teapot:  “Lawyers get paid to be creative”!  (Via Overlawyered.) […]

  • The blogger vs. media company suit could have been easily avoided if the defendant had simply said, “Twenty five grand? Sorry, not interested.” From reading the Inc. story, the defendant was asking for trouble. Though I’m sure she thought she was really doing her industry peers a favor with the public service announcement.

  • Re: the NJ Blue Cross Case

    You gotta love it – $2.45 million in fees to the attorneys and only $1.18 to the plaintiffs. Now, can someone explain to me how class actions benefit the alleged aggrieved plaintiffs? In most class actions, the plaintiff attorneys make out like bandits and the plaintiffs themselves get screwed (such as the H&R Block action, where the plaintiffs got (worthless) coupons and the attorneys got millions.)

  • “public defender” Shirk looks like he’s just asking for disbarment for failure to zealously represent his clients.

  • […] — we [lawyers] can’t agree on them, charge them, or collect them”. With discussion of the Coughlin Stoia/Coke, Lawrence v. Miller, and certain lawyers’ willingness to bill two clients full freight for […]

  • […] Fight erupts over fee split in Blue Cross eating-disorder class action settlement [NJLJ, earlier] […]