Posts tagged as:

Connecticut

And now police have charged mom with a felony. [AP/Hartford Courant]

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New at Point of Law

by Walter Olson on October 16, 2009

Things you’re missing if you’re not keeping up with my other site:

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The Yale law professor, a longtime advocate of probate-court reform, says the Nutmeg State’s recent legislation falls well short of what’s needed; he’s particularly critical of lawmakers’ decision to let probate judges go on carrying on their own law practices on the side. [Hartford Courant via Estate of Denial]

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October 10 roundup

by Walter Olson on October 10, 2009

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Updating our August 21 item: The Health Department in Middletown, Connecticut issued a “citation against St. Vincent DePaul Place on Tuesday for accepting some donated food from unlicensed kitchens. LatticePieThe department has asked the nonprofit group, which runs a soup kitchen, to comply with the health code by accepting food that comes only from licensed kitchens.” [Middletown Eye] The state’s attorney general, Richard Blumenthal, is asking the legislature to loosen rules for charitable kitchens. [Hartford Courant] We covered the Connecticut pie menace nearly ten years ago [Dec. 13, 1999] and have since noted legal crimps put on cookies for troops, church potlucks, and much more.

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Westport’s wall woes

by Walter Olson on September 10, 2009

$150,000 in legal costs to defend challenges to a newly constructed stone wall is admittedly on the high side, but it points up a wider problem that besets the much-envied Connecticut community:

…the dispute opens a window into life in a wealthy suburb, where neighbors have enough money to fight for years over an issue that may have been quickly resolved in a less well-off town. In fact, Westport officials say such cases are not all that unusual.

“More than 50 percent of my day is dealing with these disputes,” said Gordon Joseloff, the first selectman. “In Westport, the people are very wealthy, and at the first indication of anything, they’ll threaten or file a lawsuit.”

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August 31 roundup

by Walter Olson on August 31, 2009

  • California: “Feds Say Lawyer Took Bribe to Encourage Client to Lie in Immigration Case” [NLJ]
  • “Before you celebrate [the] seemingly wise anti-litigation statement [of the "Skanks in New York" blogger], take note that she’s suing Google…” [Althouse, earlier here, here, etc.] Dispute is female-vs.-female, but feminist lawprofs inevitably spot gender discrimination [Citron, ConcurOp; Greenfield]
  • “Ousted members of Florida chess board sue to reclaim their volunteer positions” [St. Petersburg Times]
  • Man freed after serving 22 years on dubious child abuse charges, but prosecutor who went after him is doing fine [Radley Balko, Reason "Hit and Run", Bernard Baran case, Massachusetts]
  • Khalid bin Mahfouz, plaintiff in celebrated “libel tourism” case against Rachel Ehrenfeld in England, is dead at 60 [Wasserman/Prawfsblawg]
  • Colorful University of Connecticut law professor lands in a spot of bother again after girlfriend’s arrest [Above the Law]
  • Federal judge says prosecutor in Chicago U.S. Attorney’s office allowed witness to testify falsely [WSJ Law Blog]
  • Deja vu? “‘Seinfeld’ joke gets man canned for harassment” [Des Moines Register, earlier Wisconsin case; & see Ted's caveat in comments]

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August 21 roundup

by Walter Olson on August 21, 2009

  • NYC criminal defense lawyer and TV commentator Robert Simels convicted of witness tampering in closely watched case [NY Daily News and more, NYLJ, Greenfield, Simon/Legal Ethics Forum]
  • Title IX suit says harassment by other students pushed school girl into anorexia, school should pay [Pittsburgh Post-Gazette]
  • Federal judge upholds some Louisiana restrictions on lawyer advertising, but says rules on Internet communication unconstitutionally restrict speech [WAFB, Ron Coleman]
  • “Woman Claims Display Was So Distracting, She Fell Over It” [Lowering the Bar; Santa Clara County, Calif. Dollar Tree]
  • Associated Press now putting out softer line on blogger use of its copy, but is it a trap? [Felix Salmon, earlier]
  • Update: Google ordered to identify person who set up nasty “skank” blog to attack NYC model [Fashionista, earlier here and here]
  • Some speak as if lawsuits over “alienation of affections” a thing of the past, alas not so [Eugene Volokh, more, yet more; earlier]
  • Connecticut: “State Holds Hearing On Whether Group Can Hand Out Food To The Poor” [Hartford Courant; "Food Not Bombs" group at Wesleyan]

Note: post was mistakenly titled as “August 22 roundup” at first, now fixed; thanks to reader Jonathan B. for catching.

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Two performers have fallen flat in an effort to get a Connecticut federal court to reinstate their suit. Daniel Schwartz has more; earlier here and here.

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Greenwich, Connecticut, has forbidden clotheslines — in an elderly-housing complex — as a purported safety hazard. Its director not very convincingly cited “liability issues – someone running around in the backyard in the dark”. [Christopher Fountain, For What It's Worth]

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Gov. Jodi Rell has signed legislation reorganizing the long-criticized system, which handles child custody matters and conservatorships as well as wills and estates; Hartford Courant columnist Rick Green had made the cause a crusade with horror stories. More: Connecticut Law Tribune (cross-posted from Point of Law).

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“Throwing orange peels, coffee grounds and grease-stained pizza boxes in the trash will be against the law in San Francisco, and could even lead to a fine.” [San Francisco Chronicle and "Thin Green Line" blog via Coyote] And a Coyote commenter reports from a Connecticut town where

they force us to separate everything. They pick up cans, glass, plastic and newspaper. However, all the other [mandatory recycling including catalogues] must be driven to the dump/recycling center – which conveniently closes by 3pm on weekdays and by noon on Saturday. We spend at least 1.5 hours every week sorting and delivering our recycling. EVERY week.

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A house for sale in Greenwich, Ct. for about $7.5 million is decorated in a eye-grabbing way that might intrigue some home-hunters while putting off others. Real estate bloggers start to notice, the tone of discussion turns snarky (especially in comments), and the nastygrams duly follow.

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“Inventor of Vibrating Toilet Seat Sues Google Over Allegedly Defamatory Search Results” [Citizen Media Law]

P.S. Also in the news this morning, a less colorful lawsuit against Google over search results: the principals of the New Haven, Connecticut personal injury law firm of Stratton Faxon are incensed that when you search on their firm’s name in Google, you get along with the results an auto-generated ad from a competitive firm.

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Via Daniel Schwartz: in Connecticut, S.B. 114, a bill introduced into the legislature this year by labor committee chair Sen. Edith Prague (D-Norwich) would protect the right of learning-disabled workers not to be fired by their employers “for taking long meal periods and losing track of time”.

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Noting that a litigant’s choice of counsel is to be given weight in such matters, a court in Stamford, Ct. has ruled against a husband’s request to disqualify the opposing attorney on the grounds that that attorney “simultaneously represents the defendant’s first and second wives”. ["Motion To Disqualify Lawyer Representing Both Wives Denied," Connecticut Law Tribune, May 11 (pay section of site)(Voruganti v. Voruganti, Malone, J.)]

Connecticut probate mess

by Walter Olson on April 17, 2009

It’s deeply entrenched, yet political pressure for a change continues to build (earlier).

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April 7 roundup

by Walter Olson on April 7, 2009

  • Wisconsin lawyer pressing bill to allow punitive damages against home resellers over claimed defects [Wisconsin State Journal] More: Dad29.
  • Longer than her will? NY Times posts ten-page jury questionnaire in Brooke Astor inheritance case ["City Room"] “Supreme Court: No Constitutional Right to Peremptory Challenge” [Anne Reed]
  • Georgia’s sex offender law, like Illinois’s, covers persons who never committed a sex crime [Balko]
  • “The lawsuits over TVA’s coal ash spill have come from all over Roane County – except the spots closest to home.” [Knoxville News]
  • Bootleg soap: residents smuggle detergents after enactment of Spokane phosphate ban [AP/Yahoo]
  • UK: Elderly Hindu man in religious-accommodation bid for approval of open-air funeral pyre [Telegraph]
  • No DUI, no one hurt, but harsh consequences anyway when Connecticut 18 year old is caught buying six-pack of beer [Fountain]
  • Only one or two not covered previously at this site ["12 Most Ridiculous Lawsuits", Oddee]

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