Overlawyered » compulsive gambling http://overlawyered.com Chronicling the high cost of our legal system Tue, 14 Feb 2012 16:11:47 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 en hourly 1 Canadian gambler: you let me lose C$330,000 http://overlawyered.com/2010/07/canadian-gambler-you-let-me-lose-c330000/ http://overlawyered.com/2010/07/canadian-gambler-you-let-me-lose-c330000/#comments Tue, 27 Jul 2010 11:51:43 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=18554 “An admitted gambling addict claims the British Columbia Lottery and two casino companies let her gamble away hundreds of thousands of dollars after she signed a voluntary self-exclusion program for problem gamblers.” [Courthouse News via Legal Blog Watch; similar] Meanwhile, another man is claiming the government-owned lottery did finally enforce its exclusion order — and, per its rules, refused to pay him — when he won a $42,000 jackpot. [Globe and Mail]

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]]> http://overlawyered.com/2010/07/canadian-gambler-you-let-me-lose-c330000/feed/ 5 July 13 roundup http://overlawyered.com/2010/07/july-13-roundup-2/ http://overlawyered.com/2010/07/july-13-roundup-2/#comments Tue, 13 Jul 2010 13:18:35 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=18172
  • Wal-Mart spending millions to fight $7,000 OSHA fine? Not so paradoxical when you think about it [Coyote]
  • Proliferation of product recalls, as with warnings, can result in consumer fatigue and inattention [WaPo via PoL]
  • Settlement said to be near between casino and gambler who lost $127 million [WSJ, UPI, earlier]
  • “Think Globally, Sue Locally: Out-of-Court Tactics Employed by Plaintiffs, Their Lawyers, and Their Advocates in Transnational Tort Cases” [study, PDF and press release; Jonathan Drimmer for US Chamber, related WSJ]
  • “End of an Era? Another Crunch Berries Case Dismissed” [Lowering the Bar, California Civil Justice, earlier on "froot" cases here, here, etc.]
  • New Jersey: “School legal costs are a killer” [Rayner, Daily Record]
  • ABA Journal profiles Ted Frank;
  • We’re the ones who write the laws around here, not you legislators: Washington Supreme Court strikes down med-mal notice law [SeattlePI.com]
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    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2010/07/july-13-roundup-2/feed/ 0     “Proposed Changes to Psychiatric Manual Stir Lawsuit Fears” http://overlawyered.com/2010/02/proposed-changes-to-psychiatric-manual-stir-lawsuit-fears/ http://overlawyered.com/2010/02/proposed-changes-to-psychiatric-manual-stir-lawsuit-fears/#comments Fri, 12 Feb 2010 05:04:27 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=16071 “The American Psychiatric Association wants binge eating and excess gambling to be considered psychiatric disorders. … Lawyers have plenty to say about the proposed disorders, which, some argue, could open up the door for yet more disability suits in the workplace.” [Tresa Baldas, NLJ]

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    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2010/02/proposed-changes-to-psychiatric-manual-stir-lawsuit-fears/feed/ 0     “Loto-Quebec reaches out-of-court settlement with thousands of addicted gamblers” http://overlawyered.com/2010/01/loto-quebec-reaches-out-of-court-settlement-with-thousands-of-addicted-gamblers/ http://overlawyered.com/2010/01/loto-quebec-reaches-out-of-court-settlement-with-thousands-of-addicted-gamblers/#comments Fri, 29 Jan 2010 05:03:26 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=15806 A boost from Canada for compulsive-gambling litigation: “Quebec’s lottery commission confirmed Thursday that it has reached a tentative multimillion-dollar agreement to compensate thousands of addicted gamblers, in a case with national implications. … Similar lawsuits are underway in Ontario, Nova Scotia and Newfoundland-Labrador.” [Canadian Press, CBC, CTV, earlier here and here]

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    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2010/01/loto-quebec-reaches-out-of-court-settlement-with-thousands-of-addicted-gamblers/feed/ 0     Casino allowed him to gamble away $127 million http://overlawyered.com/2009/12/casino-allowed-him-to-gamble-away-127-million/ http://overlawyered.com/2009/12/casino-allowed-him-to-gamble-away-127-million/#comments Mon, 07 Dec 2009 05:07:29 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=15048 And now the heir to a Nebraska party-favor fortune has a lawyer. [WSJ] More: Above the Law.

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    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2009/12/casino-allowed-him-to-gamble-away-127-million/feed/ 3     Update: “Gambler’s $20M lawsuit against casinos tossed” http://overlawyered.com/2008/09/update-gamblers-20m-lawsuit-against-casinos-tossed/ http://overlawyered.com/2008/09/update-gamblers-20m-lawsuit-against-casinos-tossed/#comments Tue, 23 Sep 2008 12:57:32 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=7577 Arelia Margarita Taveras, a lawyer who gambled away client funds at New Jersey tables and then proceeded to sue the casinos, was thrown out of court by a federal judge. We covered the case Mar. 9. (AP/PhillyBurbs, Sept. 22).

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    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2008/09/update-gamblers-20m-lawsuit-against-casinos-tossed/feed/ 3     August 20 roundup http://overlawyered.com/2008/08/august-20-roundup/ http://overlawyered.com/2008/08/august-20-roundup/#comments Wed, 20 Aug 2008 10:32:48 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=7434
  • Lawyers’ contingency fee is temptation to ethical corner-cutting in consumer debt collection, too [Miami Daily Business Review, Popehat; Orlando's Palmer Reifler & Associates, mass mailing of demand letters to accused shoplifters]
  • Discussion continues on loser-pays with me and many others at NewTalk, and note comment from Ontario lawyer [through today]
  • Age bias suit by Hollywood writers gains traction. Next, actors? [Ink Slingers via Class Action Blawg weekly review]
  • Class action against Quebec lottery on behalf of problem gamblers finally set for trial [CP/Yahoo, Lee Distad via Class Action Blawg, earlier]
  • Should we and other commentators avoid mentioning litigants’ real names so as not to intrude on their Google legacy? [comments at Ron Miller/Md. Injury]
  • California lawmakers OK feel-good “Donda West Law” but it won’t do much to keep impulsive clients from rushing into plastic surgery [GruntDoc, Cameron Turner/EURWeb, Truth in Cosmetic Surgery Blog]
  • Probably not a swift career move for lawyer to tell bar disciplinary panel “Go to hell.” [ABA Journal]
  • Class action forces HUD to allocate more to some Indian recipients, so it cuts other programs, bad news for North Carolina’s Lumbee tribe [Fayetteville, N.C. Observer courtesy US Chamber]
  • Environmental authorities won’t press charges against man who shot protected rattlesnake that had just attacked and bitten him [eight years ago on Overlawyered]
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    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2008/08/august-20-roundup/feed/ 0     Mirapex jackpot justice – literally http://overlawyered.com/2008/08/mirapex-jackpot-justice-literally/ http://overlawyered.com/2008/08/mirapex-jackpot-justice-literally/#comments Tue, 19 Aug 2008 11:41:35 +0000 Ted Frank http://overlawyered.com/?p=7366 Gary Charbonneau had a gambling history, including substantial wins, which devolved into compulsive gambling in 2002. He blames this on his Parkinson’s disease medication, Mirapex, which he started taking in 1997. Mirapex changed its warning label to include reports of a correlation while Charbonneau was taking the drug; Charbonneau’s doctor kept prescribing the drug. Nevertheless, Charbonneau was able to persuade a jury that the failure to warn was what was responsible for his $200,000 gambling losses (much of which came from gambling illegally) and resulting marital troubles. The jury verdict even awarded $8 million in punitive damages, giving a whole new meaning to jackpot justice (though one would expect the trial court to reduce this substantially). The only press coverage of this lawsuit, aside from a handful of blogs (Pharmalot; TortsProf; InjuryBoard), is in an op-ed I wrote for today’s Examiner about the case and about how a Supreme Court case and Congressional legislation could affect it. (Theodore H. Frank, “Jackpot justice gets new meaning,” DC Examiner, Aug. 19).

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    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2008/08/mirapex-jackpot-justice-literally/feed/ 22     July 16 roundup http://overlawyered.com/2008/07/july-16-roundup/ http://overlawyered.com/2008/07/july-16-roundup/#comments Wed, 16 Jul 2008 21:54:07 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=7280
    • Another compilation of the hundred best law blogs, with a familiar name among the nine “general” picks, so thanks for that ["Criminal Justice Degrees Guide" via ABA Journal]

    • Europe has a transnational association of personal injury lawyers, funded by the EU, but with no wheeler-dealer, masters-of-the-universe vibe in evidence [PoL]

    • Delta wasn’t liable in Kentucky Comair crash, but some plaintiffs sued it anyway in what their lawyer describes as an “abundance of caution” — that’s a diplomatic way to put it [Aero-News Net; link fixed now]

    • U.K.: Mom told she’d need to pass criminal record check before being allowed to take her own son to school [Telegraph]

    • Regular coverage of the litigious exploits of delusional inmate Jonathan Lee Riches, if you’ve got the stomach for them [Dreadnaught blog]

    • Federal Circuit reverses $85 million infringement verdict won by Raymond Niro, blasted by critics as original “patent troll” [AmLaw Daily]

    • “Determined to defeat lawsuits over addiction, the casino industry is funding research at a Harvard-affiliated lab.” [Salon]

    • Hired through nepotism by in-laws, then fired after divorce, sues on grounds of “marital status discrimination” [eight years ago on Overlawyered]

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    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2008/07/july-16-roundup/feed/ 3     Canada: “Problem gamblers sue casinos for $3.5 bln” http://overlawyered.com/2008/06/canada-problem-gamblers-sue-casinos-for-35-bln/ http://overlawyered.com/2008/06/canada-problem-gamblers-sue-casinos-for-35-bln/#comments Thu, 12 Jun 2008 03:31:44 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=7142 “The provincial agency that regulates casinos in Ontario, Canada, is being sued by registered problem gamblers who claim they aren’t being refused entry. The Canadian Broadcasting Corp. said the $3.5 billion suit was filed Tuesday in Toronto against the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corp., on behalf of ‘thousands of addicted gamblers.’” Canadian litigation rules were historically highly restrictive of class actions, but have been liberalized lately. (UPI; Reuters; OGPaper). Similarly earlier here, here, here, etc.

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