Microblog 2008-12-19

  • Newest “Trial Lawyers Inc.” report is on Louisiana [Manhattan Institute, Point of Law]
  • Mel Weiss disbarred automatically w/strong language from judges [Matter of Weiss h/t @erwiest]
  • Pro se claimant: I wrote down cure for cancer and then the darn hospital stole it! [Above the Law]
  • “California Supreme Court Ruling May Deter Good Samaritans” [The Recorder; SF Chronicle with copious reader comments, GruntDoc, our coverage last year]
  • Due diligence on dodgy funds? Sometimes it seems everyone’s relying on someone else to do that [Bronte Capital] Madoff fraud may date to 1970s, maybe “recent laxity” angle has been overdone [Securities Docket] “Ponzi crawl” = pub crawl whereby new person is added at each location and has to buy a round [Re Risk]
  • Radley Balko on Julie Amero malware-prosecution story [Reason, earlier]
  • Join Paul Ehrlich in some of the world’s most famously refuted predictions, and you too may get to be Obama’s science adviser [John Tierney/NYT, John Holdren]
  • Wisconsin Minnesota pig-sitter trial set for March, claim is that defendant let star porker overfeed and gain a hundred pounds [LaCrosse Tribune h/t @kevinokeefe]
  • More on the Patent and Trademark Office “acceptable error” employment case [Venture Chronicles, Jeff Nolan; earlier]
  • Procter & Gamble “Satanism” case finally settles, soap giant got $19 million verdict against four Amway distributors who spread rumor [OnPoint News]
  • Once filing of a suit severs the channels of communication, attorneys and clients alike begin to make up “what really happened” narratives [Settle It Now]
  • Sometimes lawyers need to be formal. Don’t IM “Court denied your appeal u will b executed saturday thx” [Beck & Herrmann]
  • Bangladesh hoping to build replica of Taj Mahal despite copyright claims [Times Online h/t @mglickman]
  • Midnight regulations? “OMB Watch” vigilant (and with reason) during this R-2-D transition but sang different tune in 2000’s D-2-R [Gillespie, Reason]

4 Comments

  • […] Dec. 19, 2008: Calif. high court rules for […]

  • Being incorrect on one’s predictions in the futures market for metals decades ago has little bearing on whether or not Hodren should have been chosen as science advisor. I can think of persons much better qualified than Holdren for the post, but I don’t base my opinions on a stupid bet on the price of tungsten 10 years in the future. [If anyone definitively now knows the future price of any commodity (s)he could be very wealthy].

  • It is not losing the bet that is troublesome VMS, but his crackpot ideas. In particular look at his publications with Paul Ehrlich on population growth and sustainability. He is a true believer in doomsday scenarios. In the past he has written about “catastrophic” population growth. Now he is worried about “catastrophic” climate change. Anyone with these beliefs should be kept far from the reins of power.

    http://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=john-holdren

  • […] mentioned yesterday, California’s Supreme Court has ruled 4-3 that the state’s “Good Samaritan” […]