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Best of 2012: November

by Walter Olson on December 31, 2012

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Best of 2012: August

by Walter Olson on December 27, 2012

In Clyde Hill, Wash., a retired Seattle Mariners baseball player has won a ruling from the town that his neighbors must remove two trees that block what would otherwise be an “amazing view of Seattle’s skyline” from his property. “An appraiser hired by John and Kelly Olerud said their $4 million home would be worth $255,000 more if the rare Chinese pine and the Colorado spruce across the street were cut down and replaced with smaller plants. The Chinese pine’s value is estimated at more than $18,000.” [Seattle Times, Ilya Somin] In other tree removal news, an Ontario mother “is fighting to have oak trees removed near her child’s school, fearing that acorns could pose a deadly threat to students with severe allergies.” Local officials say it is unlikely the acorns would prove allergenic to a child unless eaten, which rarely happens given their extreme bitterness. The mother also says acorns “can also be used to bully and torment children.” [Toronto Star via Lenore Skenazy]

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Don’t

by Walter Olson on November 9, 2012

Errant West Virginia attorney: “Mr. Robinson committed a criminal offense by beating Mr. Gump, his client, with a baseball bat” [Charleston Gazette]

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Product liability roundup

by Walter Olson on October 1, 2012

  • “Oklahoma Court Tosses Jury Verdict Over ‘Defective’ Louisville Slugger” [Daniel Fisher/Forbes, Abnormal Use] “In contrast, a New Jersey case against the same defendant resulted in a multi-million-dollar settlement divorced from any showing of culpability.” [PoL]
  • An expert witness wore two hats [Chamber-backed Madison County Record]
  • 5-4 Washington Supreme Court decision in asbestos case bodes ill for makers of safety devices [Pacific Legal Foundation]
  • “Defective design and the Costa Concordia” [Rob Green, Abnormal Use; Rick Spilman, The Old Salt]
  • Calif. appeals court says man shot by 3 year old son can sue Glock [SFGate]
  • “Evidence of Drug Use May Be Relevant in Product Liability Litigation” [Farr, Abnormal Use]
  • “What used to be in chemistry sets that are not in there anymore are actual chemicals” [BBC, earlier here, here]

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Goodbye to metal bats?

by Walter Olson on August 24, 2012

The family of a New Jersey boy severely injured by a line drive has reached a $14.5 million settlement with the maker of the metal baseball bat and other defendants that include Little League and a sporting goods retailer. Plaintiff’s lawyers have argued that metal bats raise the risk of injury on the diamond by imparting too much force to the ball. [New York Post, Point of Law (CPSC failed to find metal bats any riskier than wood), earlier here, etc.]

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“A New Jersey woman who was struck in the face with a baseball at a Little League game is suing the young catcher who threw it. … Catcher Matthew Migliaccio was 11 years old at the time and was warming up a pitcher” when his wild throw hit Elizabeth Lloyd, who was seated at a nearby picnic table. [AP] More Little League suits here.

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June 25 roundup

by Walter Olson on June 25, 2012

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Story at USA Today and CBS News. Among those who had questions about the prosecution from the start: Tom Kirkendall. Also see: Ron Coleman.

More: What jurors might have disliked about both the Clemens and the John Edwards prosecutions; a New York Sun editorial on the Clemens acquittal; Sally Jenkins, WaPo, via Fran Smith.

August 3 roundup

by Walter Olson on August 3, 2011

  • Central Falls, R.I. lands in bankruptcy court [NYT; my Cato take]
  • Less efficient patdowns? Man with one arm files complaint after being turned down as TSA inspector [MSNBC via Hyman]
  • Don’t join the Mommy Mob [Ken at Popehat]
  • Montana high court upholds failure-to-warn verdict against maker of aluminum baseball bat [PoL link roundup, Russell Jackson; earlier here and here]
  • Finally some good news from Connecticut: state enacts law protecting municipalities from lawsuits over recreational land use [BikeRag; earlier here, etc.]
  • Claim: climate-change tort suits will require radical changes in tort law and that’s a good thing [Douglas Kysar (Yale), SSRN]
  • Attorney keen to go on TV, will take any case, either side [Balko]

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Bad sports

by Ron Coleman on July 6, 2011

If there is one universal banality about the perjury trial of Roger Clemens available on the sports pages and talk radio stations today, it’s the following, which is a composite of actual quotes and for which I am providing no link, because the sentiment is ubiquitous:

Did Clemens lie?  A trial will never really answer that question.  Everyone has already formed his opinion on whether Clemens is telling the truth.

Either way, we all know a huge chunk of players took PEDs in the 1990s. That era of the game is forever stained regardless of the outcome of this trial. What is this trial going to accomplish?  Is this really the best use of taxpayer money?

I just hope this trial is a short one, because I’d rather focus on the games being played now.

This being Overlawyered, one might suppose the appropriate point of view here would be along those lines.  Certainly, from a libertarian point of view (when in Rome…), it’s hard to be sympathetic to any investigation or prosecution whose roots are in substance abuse.  If taking steroids was or is a violation of a contractual obligation running from players to Major League Baseball, that would be an entirely private matter.  Evidently it wasn’t, or to the extent that it was, MLB would rather not pick at that scab.  Major League Baseball keeps lawyers busy with other things.

But we all acknowledge that prosecutors do and should, to some extent anyway, concern themselves with the laws that are “on the books,” which brings us back to that Sports Guy trope:  ”What difference does it make?  Who cares?  Why are you distracting me with those shiny objects?”

Dumb, dumb, dumb, Sports Guy!

Point One:  It isn’t overlawyering to prosecute people who mislead law enforcement officials or lie under oath.  Yes, people mislead police and prosecutors every day and aren’t prosecuted for it — but famous people often are, because civil disobedience by them can make for a very bad example.  What better example of an example-setter is Bill Clinton, a one-man Chief Executive as sexual revolutionary, who had to turn in his law license to avoid a perjury conviction?

Clemens’s main problem was that he was put, rather unavoidably as Scott Greenfield explained at the time, in a perjury trap: [click to continue…]

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Assigned counsel

by Ron Coleman on July 5, 2011

Like Marc Randazza, I’m a little too close to the Righthaven litigation in Nevada — being co-counsel with him on a couple of Righthaven cases — to say much beyond what I have said about that issue here.  (Overlawyered in general suffers from no such limitation, of course.)  But as “Marco” notes, the following quote from a website called Righthaven Victims says plenty:

First it was a “clerical error” that caused Righthaven to sue an Ars Technica journalist for using an image that was part of a court filing, now Righthaven is blaming an undisclosed “Former In-House Counsel” for not disclosing Stephens Media as an interested party in hundreds of cases they have filed over copyright infringement.Righthaven submitted their answer to Judge Roger Hunt’s order to show cause why they should not be sanctioned for the omission. Their only answer was this unnamed rogue in-house counsel screwed up.

For the foregoing reasons, Righthaven respectfully requests that the Court find its failure to comply with Local Rule 7.1-1 through its former in house counsel does not rise to the level of sanctionable conduct given the circumstances described herein. Moreover, Righthaven has taken corrective action in response to the Court’s June 14th Order by filing amended disclosure statements in almost 120 pending cases in within this District and within the District of Colorado. Dated this 28th day of June, 2011.

See: Shawn Mangano’s response

Since so many lawyers have left Righthaven it is difficult to determine exactly who Righthaven is blaming which cannot go over well for any lawyer that has ever worked for Righthaven.

As Marc points out, Steve Green at Vegas Inc. has one possible answer to that question, which suggests one very big little problem with this throw-’em-under-the-bus strategy:

Ninety-eight. That’s the number of Righthaven LLC copyright infringement lawsuits in which Righthaven CEO Steven Gibson was one of the attorneys of record for his own company.

I’ve actually always said, in my professional life, that clients pay, in part, for the privilege of blaming you for no damned good reason.  It’s like being a baseball manager:  Can’t find a third starter or a decent third baseman?  Fire the manager.  Occupational hazard.

But this is a new one.  Can you actually throw yourself under the bus?  Now that would sure flatten you good.  And — again — it would be Mr. Gibson who would be doing the throwing:

In fact, Righthaven is half owned by Gibson and half owned by investors who are part of the family of Arkansas investment banking billionaire Warren Stephens. He and his family also own Stephens Media.

If that’s all true, and I don’t recall anyone denying it, it could be a long, flat summer in Nevada for Righthaven and its, uh, counsel.

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Gideon Kanner recalls how the forcible 1950s displacement of a modest Mexican community made way eventually (after the dropping of a public housing scheme) for the construction of L.A.’s baseball stadium. Some of the residents resisted: “Their principled fight became a footnote in the wretched history of eminent domain law which holds that once a condemnor acquires title to private property by eminent domain, it is not bound to put it to the ‘public’ uses for which it was taken.” ["The Curse of Chavez Ravine"]

In other eminent domain news, voters in the Indian state of West Bengal have ousted the long-ruling Communist party; a rival party “began to gain momentum when angry farmers erupted in protest against the Communist government in 2007 and 2008 after it seized farmland to set up an automobile factory.”

A spokeswoman for the baseball team said there was “no proof” of the woman’s claim. “This is a wonderful country,” said [Alice] McGillion, “where anybody can sue for anything, even when the allegations are over 70 years old.” [NY Post] More: Unbeige (on possible evidence for claim).

Also on sports logo law: “Can I legally get myself tattooed with a pro sports team’s logo?” [Cecil Adams, The Straight Dope]

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Attorney Michael Pines “admits to breaking into homes at least half a dozen times… leaving the clients [most famously baseball legend Lenny Dykstra] to squat in their homes while he defends their legal right to possession.” More in an L.A. Times profile:

Although Pines advises his clients not to pay their lenders, he wants to be paid.

“I tell my clients that if you’re living in a house for free, you should be able to afford to pay a lawyer,” Pines said, adding that he usually charges an hourly rate of $650.

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Some trial lawyers have been crusading for a while on the theory that aluminum baseball bats are unreasonably dangerous because they allow balls to be hit with more force. A lawsuit over a 11-year-old Little Leaguer’s injury may be the next to test that theory. [Chicago Sun-Times]

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December 4 roundup

by Walter Olson on December 4, 2010

  • Will they get group discounts on lawyers? Groupon vs. MobGob patent brawl [TechCrunch]
  • Why American courts should sometimes recognize Islamic law [series of Eugene Volokh posts]
  • No, it’s not a “public health issue”: “The Case Against Motorcycle Helmet Laws” [Steve Chapman, syndicated/RCP]
  • Failed system of justice on some Indian reservations [McClelland, Mother Jones]
  • Ten years ago: Morgan Lewis & Bockius handed mlb.com domain over to its client Major League Baseball [Ross Davies, SSRN]
  • City of Boston adds insult to injury after employee runs into building [TJIC, Popehat]
  • Citing fans’ drug use, feds seek forfeiture of farm used for Grateful Dead tribute concerts [Greenfield]
  • Johann Sebastian Bach, serial copyright violator [Cavanaugh, Reason]

October 23 roundup

by Walter Olson on October 23, 2010

  • Suffolk County, New York’s new animal abuse registry [Scott Greenfield and more vs. Elie Mystal]
  • Examining Dems’ “flood of outside campaign money” claims [Baseball Crank, Sullum]
  • “Reverse bill stuffer” turns tables on firms’ efforts to amend fine print [David Horton, Prawfs]
  • Occupational licensure and economic sclerosis in Greece [NYT]
  • Phoenix cops’ unsettling evidence-plant “joke” [Coyote]
  • Legal Left trying to set up argument for Thomas recusal on Obamacare challenge? [Steele, LEF]
  • “How Fannie and Freddie Became a $363 Billion Liability” [John Hudson, Atlantic Wire]
  • “Lawsuit of the Day: Kid Injured by ‘Deleterious’ Hot Sauce” [Legal Blog Watch]