From the monthly archives:

August 2010

How litigious can insurance companies be when they find themselves in the plaintiff’s seat during the process known as subrogation? This litigious, per Patrick at Popehat.

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August 16 roundup

by Walter Olson on August 16, 2010

  • Former producer at “Oprah” show — yearning for the simpler life? — takes job at rough blue-collar outfit. One $500K harassment settlement later… [Des Moines Register]
  • “Insurer writing ‘loser pays’ policies to defendants” [LNL]
  • “$1.4 Million Award Reversed due to Attorney’s ‘Inflammatory’ Comments” [DBR]
  • New book examines shaky evidentiary basis of international criminal law convictions [Nancy Combs]
  • Litigation slush funds, cont’d: new Department of Justice rules steer public settlement money to private advocacy groups [York, Examiner]
  • Second Circuit upholds Judge Weinstein’s steps to curb conspiracy to evade protective order in Zyprexa case [Drug and Device Law, Dan Popeo, NYLJ] More from the busy Dr. David Egilman: “Plaintiff’s Expert Files Appeal in ‘Popcorn Lung’ Lawsuit” [On Point News and more] Also: “Being an Expert Expert Doesn’t Make You an Expert” [Zacher, Abnormal Use]
  • “FTC Seeks to Clarify — and Justify — Its Blogger Endorsement Guidelines” [Citizen Media Law]
  • “Winnebago cruise control” and suchlike urban legends are purposely devised and spread by sinister interests, or so claim L.A. Times and Prof. Turley [five years ago on Overlawyered]

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New York lawmakers have now withdrawn a bill creating a new cause of action against employers for “bullying” in the workplace; Scott Greenfield, Victoria Pynchon, Jim Copland/E.J. McMahon, and Jon Hyman have some critical observations about the proposal. More coverage of the bill: Point of Law, McCormick/Workplace Prof, Employer’s Lawyer, and NLJRA (would apply to organizations of all sizes including small businesses).

They’ve resulted in a Connecticut man’s being banned from a grocery store, and now an ADA lawsuit looms [New Haven Register]

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Bruce Nye at Cal Biz Lit finds the notion of requiring companies to assess, explain and quantify their litigation exposures, and then put the results up on the internet for opponents to peruse, “not helpful. Not helpful at all.” [earlier at Point of Law] Much more from Beck at Drug and Device Law.

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A little food stand in scenic Damariscotta, Maine calls itself Grill Zilla BBQ, and recently received a letter from trademark lawyers. Even if its owners hadn’t made the mistake of using a green reptile mascot, they would probably have heard from the Japanese conglomerate Toho, which is quite vigorous about policing verbal and visual echoes of its “Godzilla” mark. [Kennebec Journal]

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The home improvement chain says it never sold drywall from China at all, let alone the contaminated kind that has generated problems for thousands of homeowners. But it’s still agreed to a gift-card deal that includes $2.2 million in fees for plaintiff’s attorneys. [WSJ; ProPublica ("Proposed Lowe’s Drywall Settlement Offers Small Payouts to Victims, Big Fees for Attorneys")] More: Fulton County Daily Report.

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Ocean Spray sues a competitor over its alleged involvement in a social media campaign. [Charlie Mead, AmLaw Daily]

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William Saletan investigates a curious genre of harassment case [Slate; more at Atlantic Wire]

August 13 roundup

by Walter Olson on August 13, 2010

  • Lawyer sued for sexual harassment countersues, wins $1.55 million in damages [The Recorder]
  • Court rejects another challenge to tobacco multistate settlement agreement [Sullum, Reason]
  • European human rights claim: “Fury as German doctor seeks injunction against victim’s sons” [Daily Mail]
  • New CPSC rulemakings on CPSIA testing frequency and component testing could sink many small businesses [Woldenberg]
  • Connecticut AG Blumenthal picks fight with life insurers [Hartford Courant, with comments]
  • Undies moral: “Excess litigiousness is part of the whole shebang of dangerizing everything.” [Skenazy, Free-Range Kids]
  • “False-Marking Suits Head for a Showdown” [Robbins, Texas Lawyer]
  • “I think my years in the [adult film] industry will make me a great lawyer.” [Above the Law]

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Matt Welch scrutinizes a San Francisco “predatory pricing” antitrust verdict that you’d really think would be raising more alarm in publishing, and other, circles. [Reason]

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In 2008 a one-car accident killed a Mansfield, Mass. 19-year-old and her 20-year-old friend; their car hit a tree. Now a lawyer for the passenger’s family has sued the town of Foxboro and the Kraft Group, saying the operators of the New England Country Music Festival did not do enough to deter underage drinking in the parking lot outside Gillette Stadium. [Boston Globe]

“The city of Seattle is seeking to overturn a $12.8 million judgment awarded to a former firefighter, who claimed he was permanently disabled by an on-duty fall, after investigators secretly shot video of the man chopping wood, playing horseshoes and bocce ball, and even breaking into a victory dance.” [Jennifer Sullivan, Seattle Times]

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August 12 roundup

by Walter Olson on August 12, 2010

  • “Father demands $7.5 million because school officials read daughter’s text message” [KDAF via CALA Houston]
  • How many different defendants can injured spectator sue in Shea Stadium broken-bat case? [Melprophet]
  • Prominent trial lawyer Russell Budd of Baron & Budd hosts Obama at Texas fundraiser [PoL]
  • DNA be damned: when actual nonpaternity doesn’t suffice to get out from under a child support order [Alkon, more]
  • “Sean Coffey, a plaintiffs’ lawyer-turned-candidate for New York Attorney General, made more than $150,000 in state-level campaign contributions nationwide over 10 years.” [WSJ Law Blog] “Days before announcing a shareholder lawsuit against Bank of America, state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli accepted $14,000 in campaign donations from a law firm hired to help litigate the case.” [WSJ]
  • Big new RAND Corp. study on asbestos bankruptcy trusts may spur reform [Lloyd Dixon, Geoffrey McGovern & Amy Coombe, PDF, via Hartley, more, Daniel Fisher/Forbes, background here and here] Update: Stier.
  • Public contingency suits? Of course the elected officials are in control (wink, wink) [The Recorder via Cal Civil Justice]
  • Copyright enforcement mill appears to have copied its competitor’s website [TechDirt via Eric Goldman]

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Joe Sharkey is said to have written with disrespect toward the sovereign state of Brazil and some of its institutions, and how much he’ll wind up paying as a consequence of that remains unknown [Blake Fleetwood, HuffPo, earlier]

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After criticism for not releasing the results of its probe, the administration concedes that NHTSA has found little or no support for the trial lawyers’ electronic-gremlins theory. [USA Today, WSJ, L.A. Times, earlier here, here, etc.]

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The airline’s legal department is almost certainly insisting on a sober demeanor, and as a result JetBlue has to stay on the sidelines as the Steven Slater episode becomes the internet story of the week. [Parekh/Bush, AdAge via Balasubramani]

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Ben Adler at Newsweek (Aug. 5) rounds up the recent controversy over the Americans with Disabilities Act after twenty years, and cites my own contribution, as well as quoting a number of disabled-rights advocates who take a differing view.