A Sacramento jury has told a radio station to pay $16.6M in the “Hold your wee for a Wii” contest death [Radio Online, earlier here; via Bill Childs, TortsProf].
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Posts tagged as:
broadcasters
When jurors ask for and receive a ten-digit adding machine to assist in their deliberations [Sacramento Bee, on the "Hold Your Wee for a Wii" trial, via Miller]
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You might think such a lawsuit, filed against radio host Marc Bernier in Bristol, Va. two years ago, would not detain the legal system for long or inflict heavy costs. But you’d be wrong about that. [Daniel Gilbert, Bristol Herald-Courier, May 19]
- Judge in Van Buren County, Michigan won’t approve adoptions unless one parent promises to stay home [Ken at Popehat]
- Critical view of proposed Performance Rights Act, under which radio would pay new fees to artists and copyright owners [Jesse Walker, Reason]
- Student threatens to sue school district: “You can say she was an exotic dancer and she was 18, but it was not an equal relationship.” [Boston Herald, columnist Margery Eagan, Worcester Telegram]
- More attention for U.S. Chamber’s movie trailers promoting awareness of lawsuit abuse [NY Times]
- Train didn’t actually strike her car at dicey RR crossing after gate closed behind her, but New York woman’s suing Metro-North anyway for the bad scare [Westchester, N.Y. Journal-News]
- Uh-oh: Defamation-and-privacy section of American Association of Law Schools keeps electing as leaders feminist lawprofs known for speech-restrictionist views [Greenfield, earlier]
- Cows and vows don’t mix: Oregon county says weddings may not be held on farm-zoned land [KTVZ]
- Paul Offit, author of noteworthy book Autism’s False Prophets, sued by anti-vaccine blogger [Confutata (scroll), Alyric, link to complaint (PDF) at Courthouse News]
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Administrations of both political parties shamelessly exploited the unlamented “Fairness Doctrine” to harass their critics in the broadcast world, and there’s every reason to believe that proposed “local content” mandates would be open to the same abuse. [John Samples, "Broadcast Localism and the Lessons of the Fairness Doctrine", Cato Institute Policy Analysis #639, May 27 (PDF)]
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According to descriptions of a forthcoming Fox reality TV show, “actual, struggling companies with about 15 to 20 employees will let their staffs decide who gets laid off. The employee-judges will use confidential information — salaries, job evaluations — to make that final call on the show.” If that’s really the show’s format, the employers are setting themselves up for lawsuits under discrimination, retaliation, and other employment laws, not all of which can be fended off by having the employees sign waivers. [National Law Journal] More: Evil HR Lady.
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Marc Randazza (Dec. 12; source link he cites is NSFW):
A Rhode Island family filed a lawsuit in Kent Superior Court claiming that Verizon Communications caused “great pain, anxiety, nervousness and mental anguish,” by providing access to the Playboy Channel. Plaintiffs Robert Bourne, Denise Roy and daughters Elice Roy and Danielle Bourne are seeking compensation for “current and future medical bills.”
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- Lawyers and other professionals who blog should read new Kevin LaCroix post “On Blogging” [D&O Diary h/t @SecuritiesD] #
- Daily H.L. Mencken quotes [courtesy @ahndymac] #
- Funny, earthy blog by urban emergency room nurse [Crass-Pollination] # @danimari Odd how ERs generate so many of the best medblogs e.g. WhiteCoatRants, ER Stories, Movin’ Meat, SymTym, GruntDoc etc. #
- Calm down, conservatives, Dems aren’t planning to revive Fairness Doctrine [James Rainey, L.A. Times] # Or are we sure about that? [Ed Morrissey, Patterico]
- Advice on jury selection: “don’t continue to poke a bee hive with a stick” [Texas Country Trial Lawyer, h/t @HouCrimLaw] #
- Video humor for font geeks [College Humor, h/t @sekimori] #
- Do you blog, tweet, send saucy emails or IMs? You may not be well suited for a job in the new admin [Caron, TaxProf] #
- @rebeccawatson of possible interest regarding litigious diploma mills [this site, Oct. 27, 2003] #
- Beautiful photos of New York in the 1930s [Flickr h/t @CoolPics] #
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- Chemerinsky, other critics should apologize to Second Circuit chief judge Dennis Jacobs over bogus “he doesn’t believe in pro bono!” outcry [Point of Law and update]
- New York high court skeptical of ultra-high contingency fee in Alice Lawrence v. Graubard Miller case [NYLJ; earlier here and here]
- Panel of legal journalists: press let itself be used in attack on Judge Kozinski [Above the Law]
- Unfree campaign speech, cont’d: South Dakota anti-abortion group sues to suppress opponents’ ads as “patently false and misleading” [Feral Child]
- Even if you’re tired of reading about Roy Pearson’s pants, you might still enjoy Carter Wood’s headlines on the case at ShopFloor ["Pandora's Zipper", "Suit Alors!"]
- Rare grant of fees in patent dispute, company had inflicted $2.5 million in cost on competitors and retailers by asserting rights over nursing mother garb [NJLJ]
- Time to be afraid? Sen. Bingaman (D-N.M.) keen on reintroducing talk-radio-squelching Fairness Doctrine [Radio Equalizer]
- “Yours, in litigious anticipation” — Frank McCourt as child in Angela’s Ashes drafted a nastygram with true literary flourish [Miriam Cherry, Concurring Opinions]
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- Did the Feds err in letting Lehman fail? [Salmon vs. Carney] #
- Oh, spare us, Newt: Gingrich says some of SNL’s Palin skits “were slander and were worthy of a lawsuit” [Van Susteren] #
- Signs of much economic distress in ocean shipping trade [Naked Capitalism] #
- Seattle municipal archives, tons of cool historical photos [Flickr] #
- “Journalism is not brain surgery; it’s more difficult than that,” sez (did you guess?) a journalism professor [Happy Hospitalist] #
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I was a guest this morning of the Texas-based radio broadcaster, discussing my recent City Journal article on supposed “criminal incitement” via campaign speech, as well as the danger of a straitjacket for broadcast opinion in the form of a revived Fairness Doctrine.
- Would single-payer fix malpractice woes? Not likely given trial bar political clout [KevinMD] #
- Prosecuting candidates for crowd-inciting campaign speeches? Now there’s a truly bad idea [Point of Law] #
- Her busy docket: “For people like Oprah, lawsuits are a part of life” [Roeper, Chicago Sun-Times] #
- Nebraska hospital sues patient for refusing to leave [Happy Hospitalist; related earlier] #
- Community covenant craziness: “Dad’s in prison because we can’t afford to sod the lawn” [St. Petersburg Times] #
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The office of New York attorney general Andrew Cuomo “said it planned to file a lawsuit this week against Arbitron, the company that compiles the data, because of concerns that minority listeners were not being adequately represented. … Recruiting and retaining enough respondents from these demographic groups [blacks and Hispanics] has proved difficult for Arbitron, leading some stations that cater to urban and ethnic audiences to claim that they are not being sufficiently counted.” (Brian Stelter, “Cuomo to Sue Radio Ratings Company, Claiming Minorities Are Underrepresented”, New York Times, Oct. 7).
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“While no one tracks the number of legal notices broadcasters receive on political ads, station managers and lawyers say attempts to block ads are growing both in number and intensity, particularly in states with closely contested elections. … While some stations buckle under the pressure and drop the ads, most refuse.” (Sarah McBride, “Campaigns Pressure Stations Over ‘527′ Ads”, Wall Street Journal, Sept. 26). More: Jesse Walker, Reason “Hit and Run” (NRA ads in Pennsylvania); Eugene Volokh (Missouri “truth squad” controversy).
Los Angeles: “David Birke and his attorney Johnny Birke filed a complaint Aug. 27 against seven talk show hosts of KRLA-AM (870), Salem Communications Corporation and its owner Edward Atsinger III, alleging that they use the public airwaves to push Republican beliefs. David and Johnny Birke would not say whether they were related, citing attorney-client privilege. … Radio hosts Laura Ingraham, Dennis Prager, Michael Medved, Hugh Hewitt, Dennis Miller, Mike Gallagher and Kevin James are named as defendants in the suit.” The various defendants have defrauded the public and violated FCC obligations “by using their radio license to discuss only Republican issues, Johnny Birke said Monday.” (Veronica Rocha, “KRLA sued over content”, Glendale News-Press, Sept. 8). Radio Equalizer (Sept. 9) notes one presumed irony: “KRLA has in the past featured a show on the subject of lawsuit abuse.”
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Members of the European Parliament “want TV regulators in the EU to set guidelines which would see the end of anything deemed to portray women as sex objects or reinforce gender stereotypes. This could potentially mean an end to attractive women advertising perfume, housewives in the kitchen or men doing DIY [do-it-yourself].” (Chris Irvine, Daily Telegraph, Sept. 5).
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