best of

• Homeless man wins $200K for exclusion from L.A. buses, and more legal complications ensue.
• LAPD: “Is there any way you or your crew could make a few arrests so we can avoid negative coverage?”
• Hemingway museum needs zoo license for cats.
• Do commercial property owners have a duty to keep defibrillator on site?
• “Do not taunt mat.” Funny doormat warning.
• “State of Kansas hits sperm donor for child support.”

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• “Lawyer who sued 90-year-old Greenbrae shooting victim calls social-media criticism unfair”
• “‘Legally Insane’ Judge Wins Re-Election in Chicago.”
• “I am not allowed moisturizer,” complains imprisoned Norwegian mass murderer.
• Does a U.N. treaty require the federal government to resist legalization of marijuana?
• Neighbors’ specimen trees block his skyline view, so retired Seattle baseball player wins ruling ordering them cut down.
• Ten-year-old kid is riding city bus in Rockville, Md. A case for Child Protective Services?

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• “Middle Schooler Forced To Take Drug Test To Join Scrapbooking Club.”
• Following uproar against anti-Islam video, various law professors propose shrinking scope of First Amendment to permit punishing speech that gives offense;
• Oglala Sioux lawsuit over nearby beer sales impresses NYT columnist Nicholas Kristof, but fails to impress federal judge.
• California hospital agrees to pay $975,000 to settle lawsuit over safety-related policy requiring employees to converse in English;
• Feds’ scheme: have cops enforce “distracted driving” laws by peering down into cars from overpasses.
• “The curb disrupted the motion of plaintiff’s foot.” Naughty curb!

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• Nook e-readers lack text-to-speech capabilities, and following a complaint from disability-rights lawyers, the Sacramento library system agrees not to give any more of them out to patrons, hearing or otherwise.
• Nanny’s next move? Concord, Mass., bans single-serving water bottles.
• Lawsuit: crossbow maker knew it was dangerous to get fingers in the way.
• Murder of U.S. ambassador in Benghazi fuels calls for hate-speech bans.
• “Arguing over answers in Scattergories is the closest thing on the planet to the experience of a law school class.”
• Injury lawyer: “primary responsibility” for Aurora, Colo. mass shooting rests with theater operator.

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• Suburban Chicago: “Deaf girl’s family sues Girl Scouts for disbanding troop.”
• Shelby County (Memphis) subpoenas identity of authors of 10,000 anonymous comments on website of city’s major newspaper.
• Zimmerman’s lawyer confirms that his client’s defense won’t be based on “Stand Your Ground,” and non-apologies follow from advocacy groups and pundits who’d misunderstood or misrepresented that issue.
• Detroit water and sewer department employs “horseshoer” but keeps no horses.
• Long-necked beer bottle maker not liable for barroom assault.
• Maker of metal baseball bat, as well as Little League and sporting goods retailer, reach $14.5 million settlement with family of New Jersey boy badly hurt by line drive.

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• “Bloomberg’s soda grab: reactions.”
• Iditarod musher sues knife maker.
• EEOC goes to bat for superannuated lifeguards.
• Judge: Netflix can be sued for streaming uncaptioned films.
• Dear town cops: thanks for saving my life. Now pay me $5 million.
• Cafe owner will pay $20,000 after EEOC complaint for not hiring speech and hearing-impaired applicant as cashier.

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• Indiana appeals court: 2%-liable motel must pay 100% of damages for murder.
• “It’s worth it,” says man who has spent $60,000 suing ex-girlfriend in custody battle over their dog.
• Motorist couldn’t prove the $22,000 he was carrying was legitimate, so the police department just took it.
• Judge: flashing headlights to warn of speed trap is protected speech.
• Reluctant to recant false rape accusation because she might have to give back the settlement money.
• Never use electric razor while sleeping, and other Wacky Warning winners.

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• How California is that? Killer collected $30,000 in unemployment while in jail, officials say.
• Spokane city council rejects disabled-rights settlement in which it would have paid $275,000 and rehired cop after DUI.
• Why was press coverage of the Martin/Zimmerman case so bad?
• Bank “structuring”: who can get away with it, and who can’t.
• Lawyer-dad: so what if my son cheated?
• Motorcyclist blames BMW for unsought excitement.

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• Northern California scandal: with cops’ connivance, underhanded divorce lawyers employ elaborate schemes to entrap adversary hubby into DUI arrests.
• N.J.: Passes out drunk in snowbank, bar said to be liable.
• Citing possible fat and salt content, NYC’s Bloomberg bans food donations to homeless shelters.
• Paul Krugman and “Stand Your Ground” laws.
• NYC nonprofit that’s gotten $240,000 from taxpayers teaches followers how to squat in city buildings.
• “Woman Blames McDonald’s for Prostitution”

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• Relieved to hear this: “The Village Voice is giving up on a scheme to force rivals to pay for permission to use the phrase ‘best of.’“
• UN official: evicting homeless could violate international human rights.
• Class actions on behalf of men who hoped pheromones in soap would attract women.
• Because the best way to show that it’s Not About the Money is to ask for $200 million.
• Recent rehab history no bar to school-bus-driver employment.
• In Des Moines, the high cost of vindication: Acquitted, but homeless.

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• N.J.: Overdoses on Xanax, collects $4.1 million.
• Dressing psychiatrists like wizards on the witness stand.
• Some reviews of my book on legal education, Schools for Misrule.
• Scammers falsely claim to have been aboard the cruise ship Costa Concordia.
• State inspector to preschool: that treehouse has to go.
• Drunk drivers who sue over their accidents: we must consider their point of view.

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Welcome back from the July 4 weekend. Here are some popular stories you might have missed from a busy last month:

• Milberg settles; Weiss sentenced; Bill Lerach gloats. Scruggs also sentenced, but Fieger beats the rap.
• Yeah, my client’s son jumped two fences labeled with a “danger” warning, but Six Flags over Georgia should have done more to keep him from being decapitated by a Batman roller coaster.
• Another lawyer blames the lawn mower manufacturer for the fact that his client was backed over with it by his father.
• My client’s 18-year-old daughter got drunk and fell off a stranger’s hotel balcony; this is the chaperone’s fault.
• I briefed and argued an objection to a bogus class action settlement–and got New York Times press coverage in the process. I also filed an amicus brief on behalf of economists in Wyeth v. Levine.
• Most-read post: Judge Kozinski’s web site and Cyrus Sanai. A gift that kept on giving.
• Employment lawyer sued by former client and former employee for sexual harassment.
• Jack Thompson finally faces legal discipline. But Stan Chesley gets immunity to testify.
• Two more parts of Jim Copland’s excellent series on asbestos.
• Sued for dangerous workplace if you allow loose-fitting clothing, sued for religious discrimination if you don’t.
• The case against Civil Gideon.
• Judge claims never to have heard of an attorney working a 15-hour day.
• Jackpot justice in Tennessee: $105 million verdict reduced to “only” $5 million on appeal as Chrysler blamed for death caused by car being hit at 70 mph. And, in Texas, forum-shopping plus failure to wear seat-belt leads to $29 million verdict against Ford over tires where car owner ignored recall of ten-year-old tire.
  
• New York court: just because you have proof of insurance fraud doesn’t mean you’re entitled to summary judgment.
• Trial Lawyers Inc.: Michigan.
• Former West Virginia Justice Richard Neely makes implausible claims about his earlier forthright statements about judicial bias in favor of wealth-redistribution.
• Spineless sycophants of the world, unite!

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• Judge Sykes criticized a lawsuit over a Halloween display.

• Does the ADA prohibit wi-fi? The plaintiff is an anti-microwave activist.
  
• DC Circuit: paper money violates the law.
  
• NY attorney: my vacation plans are worth $1 million.
• Overlawyered favorite Montgomery Blair Sibley suspended in Florida and DC.

• Ted objected to the proposed Grand Theft Auto class action settlement.
• FACTA declared unconstitutional by Alabama federal judge.
  
• Merck vindicated in Texas appeal; Mark Lanier throws tantrum.
• Barack Obama and tort reform.
• Waddah Mustafa‘s fly in a water bottle not worth hundreds of thousands.
• Jim Copland guest-blogged on asbestos: 1, 2, 3, 4.

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• John Edwards’s support for wacky warnings.
• Author’s suit: Penguin labeled my book “black interest.”
• Kentucky fen-phen litigation heats up—or, at least, the critical fee documentation did when the attorneys burned it.
• Not a huge surprise: environmental lawsuits hurt environment.
• I wasn’t impressed by a trial lawyer’s claim of “forgiveness” at the punitive damages stage.
• Best or worst? Miscellaneous time-wasting spats with Bizarro-Overlawyered: medical malpractice; constitutional history; affluence, accidents and ad hominems; rollover economics.

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