Brain-harvesting lawsuit against Washington State proceeds… is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

But with the price of chicken feed skyrocketing due to the cost of fuel and the diversion of corn from feed to ethanol, and previous lawsuits by animal rights groups resulting in fewer laying hens occupying more space per hen, it’s no surprise that a carton of eggs–like nearly every other food–costs consumers more money these days.

Plaintiffs scrambling to sue egg producers over alleged price fixing is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

As reported here earlier this year, CSPI whined for months about caffeinated alcohol beverages–which it labels “alcospeed”–before eventually pressuring Budweiser to drop its offering and then suing Miller to stop it from selling Sparks Red. CSPI, which got support from few if any drinkers but a host of apparently underworked attorneys generals who can’t wrap their pointy heads around the notion that caffeine/alcohol combos like the Irish coffee, rum and Coke, or Red Bull and vodka are hardly a new concept, is (with the AGs) blindly claiming the company’s ATF-approved Sparks drink is bad hooch. Just last week, under pressure from the AGs, Miller agreed to postpone the launch of its Sparks Red.

At least for now, Miller’s ‘Sparks Red’ won’t fly is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Interesting notes about the case include 1) a filing showing a training manual created by Busch Gardens, which had hired the traveling zoo, sensibly suggesting animal handlers “[b]ook a room near an ice machine when on the road with penguins”; and 2) plaintiff Arlin Valdez-Castillo’s claim to have been kidnapped and driven to a cemetery by two men who pressured her to drop the lawsuit. (Douglas Hanks, “Traveling zoo at hotel made me sick, maid says”, Miami Herald, Sept. 24).

Smells like a zoo in here is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

I have often wondered if, were courts to fully embrace contract marriage, they might also recognize a status short of it: something akin to a relationship contract. That’s the issue facing an Illinois court right now, as Nicole Basarich is suing Robert Lane, with whom she cohabitated for more than sixteen years, for “violating the[ir] agreement for an exclusive relationship” and for failing to pay his portion of the mortgage. Forget the latter claim: I’m fascinated by the former.

If Basarich and Lane drafted and signed a procedurally legitimate exclusivity contract, is such document a nudum pactum or merely unenforceable on public policy grounds, or is it instead a valid contract with teeth? Interestingly, the attorney representing Basarich practices contract law but does not list family law among his areas of practice. (Kelly Holleran, “Live-in sued for violating ‘exclusive’ relationship and not paying mortgage,” Madison County Record, Sept. 22“).

Couple’s contract for ‘exclusive relationship’ goes to court is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

I’m a big fan of Overlawyered and will be guestblogging here for the remainder of the week. (You may have noticed my first posts yesterday.) I’m particularly interested in food law–foie gras and bacon dogs are under legal attack, you know–and will likely be offering a few thoughts in that area in the coming days.

Guestblogging is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Bankruptcy clouds judgment is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Though Monroe froze the finger, he was kind enough not to toss it in the chili. (“Labour campaigner’s ‘finger bitten off by dog’ as he pushed leaflet through letterbox”, The Daily Mail, Sept. 22).

Keep my finger, vote Labour is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system