- Central Falls, R.I. lands in bankruptcy court [NYT; my Cato take]
- Less efficient patdowns? Man with one arm files complaint after being turned down as TSA inspector [MSNBC via Hyman]
- Don’t join the Mommy Mob [Ken at Popehat]
- Montana high court upholds failure-to-warn verdict against maker of aluminum baseball bat [PoL link roundup, Russell Jackson; earlier here and here]
- Finally some good news from Connecticut: state enacts law protecting municipalities from lawsuits over recreational land use [BikeRag; earlier here, etc.]
- Claim: climate-change tort suits will require radical changes in tort law and that’s a good thing [Douglas Kysar (Yale), SSRN]
- Attorney keen to go on TV, will take any case, either side [Balko]
Tagged as:
baseball bats,
climate change,
Connecticut,
recreation,
Rhode Island
The once-envied Connecticut economy may be headed in that direction should its lawmakers continue to pile new burdens onto the state’s employers, or so I argue in my new Cato post.
Tagged as:
Connecticut,
workplace
Per a Connecticut appeals court, looking at an employee and saying “Bang bang” does not, even when added to some other impolite conduct, rise to the level of “extreme and outrageous” behavior required to trigger a claim of intentional infliction of emotional distress [Daniel Schwartz]
Tagged as:
Connecticut,
emotional distress,
workplace
- “Law Prof Threatens Suit over University’s Plan to Reinstitute Single-Sex Dorms” [ABA Journal, WSJ Law Blog; John Banzhaf vs. Catholic U. in Washington, D.C.]
- Mississippi: Dickie Scruggs files motion to vacate conviction in Scruggs II (DeLaughter case) [Freeland, YallPolitics] Before defending Paul Minor’s conduct in cash-for-judges scandal, review the evidence [Lange, YallPolitics and more]
- Woman who filmed cop from own yard charged with obstructing his administration of governmen [BoingBoing]
- East St. Louis, Ill. jury awards $95 million in sexual harassment, assault case against Aaron’s rental chain [ABA Journal]
- Connecticut unions demand investigation of conservative Yankee Institute think tank [Public Sector Inc.]
- “Court Upends $1.75M Award, Finding Plaintiff Lawyer’s Remarks Prejudicial” [NJLJ]
- Hold it! San Francisco debates bathroom rights for schoolkids [C.W. Nevius, SF Chronicle]
Tagged as:
colleges and universities,
Connecticut,
Dickie Scruggs,
Paul Minor,
San Francisco,
Washington D.C.
We’ve traced the cases in which the Connecticut courts, reversing longstanding law, have thrown open lawsuits against towns over recreation injuries on public land. Bob Dorigo Jones records some of the results, as well as the public pressure that’s been building for legislative reform in Hartford:
As usually happens in a case like this, the collateral damage quickly spread across the state. A group of mountain bikers preparing new trails for a Livestrong charity project was forced to abruptly stop their work because of the lawsuit. …
[A new bill filed in the Connecticut House and slated for an April 4 hearing] would provide local governments and quasi-municipal entities like the water authority with protection from personal injury lawsuits if they open their property to the public for free recreation.
The legislation has drawn support from thousands of citizens and a broad coalition of groups including the Connecticut Forest & Park Association.
More: Rick Green, Hartford Courant.
Tagged as:
Connecticut,
recreation
“Connecticut’s second-highest court ruled Monday that a man facing charges of arson of his East Lyme beach house can sue the home’s insurer for emotional distress because of the way the insurer investigated the fire.” [Hartford Courant]
Tagged as:
Connecticut,
insurance
Connecticut state representative Patricia Dillon, seeking to protect the job market for U.S. lawyers’ services, has introduced a bill that would ban as “unauthorized practice of law” various types of outsourced legal work (such as document review, which some law firms now farm out to workers in India). Some don’t think the idea will fly: Westport-based law firm consultant Peter Giuliani “said the doc review-type tasks being done overseas is more like paralegal work. ‘You don’t need a license anywhere in the U.S. to do what they’re doing,’ he said.” [Connecticut Law Tribune via ABA Journal]
Tagged as:
Connecticut,
free trade,
lawyers
Waterbury, Ct.: “A driver who’s serving a manslaughter sentence for striking and killing a 14-year-old boy is suing the victim’s parents, blaming them for their son’s death because they allowed him to ride his bike in the street without a helmet.” The hand-penned countersuit comes in response to the parents’ suit; it’s unlikely to help the inmate’s case that prosecutors say he was driving 83 in a 45 mph zone, a claim he denies, or that he had a history of drunk driving convictions. [Hartford Courant]
Tagged as:
Connecticut,
criminals who sue
Election edition:
- On Oklahoma ballot: grossly overbroad measure to ban use of foreign law [Atlantic Wire, Transplanted Lawyer, earlier Volokh]
- Michigan race: “Dems cross the line with bigoted Supreme Court ad” [Stephen Henderson, Freep; earlier on attacks on Justice Robert Young]
- Jacob Sullum is another non-fan of Andrew Cuomo’s record;
- What was the exact nature of that Vancouver fundraiser so many Senate hopefuls attended? Carter Wood wishes he could add a footnote to an already strong column by George Will on the Linda McMahon-Richard Blumenthal Senate race in Connecticut;
- Speaking of which, Will’s latest election roundup column is just out, while Nate Silver at the NYT’s Five Thirty Eight blog offers an outstanding hour-by-hour election-night guide;
- Iowa poll shows former AAJ/ATLA president Roxanne Conlin, of SomePeopleJustNeedToBeSued.com fame, trailing far behind in bid to unseat Sen. Chuck Grassley [WHO-TV via Carter Wood's PoL election roundup;
- Trial lawyers pour cash into California insurance commissioner race [CJAC]
- Latest effort by New York Times to lionize activist AGs as “next Eliot Spitzers” recalls earlier Times pieces written to same formula, in the most amusing of which it lionized as the next Spitzer Ohio’s since-disgraced Marc Dann. Yet (the shaky electoral performance of such Times favorites as Massachusetts’ Martha Coakley aside) there’s reason to suspect voters this year will return a roster of AGs that’s less inclined toward business-bashing, not more [Jack Fowler at NRO].
- Government a threat to liberty? Doesn’t just depend on whether “our” team’s in charge [Gene Healy, Examiner]
Tagged as:
Andrew Cuomo,
attorneys general,
California,
Connecticut,
Iowa,
judicial elections,
Michigan,
Oklahoma,
politics
- Update: “Tax Panel Rejects Lawyer’s Bid to Deduct Spending for Sex” [NYLJ, William Barrett/Forbes, earlier] And: “Musings on laws affecting adult entertainment, alcoholic beverages and other ‘vice’ industries” [Meeting the Sin Laws blog]
- Mississippi: judge jails lawyer for not saying Pledge of Allegiance [Freeland]
- More on much-written-about Israeli “rape by fraud” case [Volokh, more, earlier here and here]
- “Tribune bankruptcy talks complicated by emergence of pugnacious hedge fund” [Romenesko; earlier on involvement of hedge funds in bankruptcies]
- More disturbing tales from Connecticut probate court [Rick Green, Hartford Courant, earlier]
- Marc Williams of the Defense Research Institute responds to Ted Frank’s criticism of many defense lawyers [PoL]
- Advice for Australians: to fix your litigation system, look to Germany’s success [Ackland, Sydney Morning Herald]
- Rep. John Hall (D-N.Y.) & ’70s band Orleans threaten suit against GOP remix ["Orleans Reunion Tour"]
Tagged as:
Australia,
bankruptcy,
Connecticut,
defense lawyers,
Germany,
Mississippi,
music and musicians,
strippers and exotic dancers,
taxes,
U.S. House of Representatives,
wills and trusts
In New Haven, federal judge Janet Bond Arterton has granted sanctions against two leading plaintiff’s securities firms, Labaton Sucharow and Barroway Topaz Kessler Meltzer & Check, in an unsuccessful class action against Star Gas. “Arterton agreed with Star’s counsel from Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom that the class’ claims were almost entirely without merit, and that Labaton and Barroway knew as much early in the litigation. She ordered the plaintiffs firms to pay all of Star’s attorney fees and costs.” [Frankel, American Lawyer, ruling, PDF, courtesy American Lawyer]
Tagged as:
class actions,
Connecticut,
sanctions,
securities litigation
- “Bullying Busybody for Senate: How Connecticut’s attorney general beat Craigslist into submission” [Sullum, Harper] Blumenthal’s Senate campaign sputtering despite huge advantages [Jack Fowler, NRO] Lloyd Grove interview with challenger Linda McMahon [Daily Beast]
- “How Much Does Defensive Medicine Cost? One Study Says $46 Billion” [WSJ Health Blog, NY Times] Plus: a cardiologist’s comment;
- “Man sues over parking ticket, says it disclosed too much info” [Obscure Store, suburban Chicago Daily Herald]
- New allegations emerge in much-discussed “rape by deception” case in Israel [FrumForum, earlier, an academic comments]
- A Connecticut village turns down money from Hartford and tackles a historic preservation project on its own [me at Cato]
- NY Governor signs bill giving housekeepers, nannies new powers to sue employers for overtime, vacations [Workplace Prof] Plus: Hans in comments wonders whether the duty to avoid “hostile environment” harassment will collide with the right of free speech on sexual matters taken for granted (heretofore, at least) in a home environment.
- “Lawyers sue Facebook for letting kids like advertisements” [Gryphon, PoL]
- Per his foes, Gilded Age NYC trial lawyer William Howe used onion-scented handkerchief to summon tears at command [five years ago at Overlawyered]
Tagged as:
Connecticut,
Craigslist,
defensive medicine,
Facebook,
Israel,
New York,
Richard Blumenthal,
workplace
His hometown newspaper, the Greenwich Time, profiles the Connecticut attorney general who’s now running for Senate against Republican nominee and televised wrestling impresario Linda McMahon. Jane Genova, previewing the race at Pajamas Media, quotes me on the competing forms of showmanship involved:
Walter Olson, senior fellow at the Cato Institute… puts it this way: “So now Blumenthal, known for years of legal posturing and grandstanding against business opponents, will face off against someone known for building the World Wrestling Entertainment empire. I’d say the two operations actually resemble each other in many ways, except the spectacles Blumenthal puts on have been more stagy and less dignified, and the opponents getting beaten up aren’t there of their own free will.”
Tagged as:
Connecticut,
Richard Blumenthal
- Kagan to senators: please don’t confuse my views with Mark Tushnet’s or Harold Koh’s [Constitutional Law Prof]
- Too much like a Star Wars lightsaber? Lucasfilm sends a cease-and-desist to a laser pointer maker [Mystal, AtL]
- Ottawa, Canada: family files complaint “against trendy wine bar that turned away dinner party because it included 3mo baby” [Drew Halfnight, National Post]
- “House left Class Action Fairness Act alone in SPILL Act” [Wood/PoL, earlier]
- Not so indie? Filmmaker doing anti-Dole documentary on Nicaraguan banana workers says he took cash from big plaintiff’s law firm Provost Umphrey [AP/WaPo, WSJLawBlog, Erik Gardner/THREsq., new plaintiffs' charges against Dole]
- Will liability ruling result in closure of popular Connecticut recreational area? [Rick Green, Hartford Courant; earlier]
- Class action lawyer Sean Coffey, running for New York attorney general, has many generous supporters [NYDN, more, WNYC (Sen. Al Franken headlines closed fundraiser at Yale Club)]
- “Judge Reduces Damages Award by 90% in Boston Music Downloading Trial” [NLJ, earlier on Tenenbaum case]
Tagged as:
age discrimination,
Al Franken,
attorneys general,
banana pesticide litigation fraud,
BP Transocean oil spill,
Canada,
Connecticut,
Elena Kagan,
New York,
politics,
Provost Umphrey,
recreation,
restaurants,
RIAA and file sharing
- Compensation awards to soldiers in the UK: £161,000 for losing leg and arm, but £186,896 for sex harassment? [Telegraph]
- Judge in banana pesticide fraud case says threats have been made against her and against witnesses [AP, L.A. Times]
- Teacher plans to sue religious school that fired her for having premarital sex [Orlando Sentinel]
- Now sprung from hoosegow, class-actioneer Lerach on progressive lecture circuit and “living in luxury” [Stoll, Carter Wood at PoL and ShopFloor (Campaign for America's Future conference), San Diego Reader via Pero]
- Connecticut law banning “racial ridicule” has palpable constitutional problems, you’d think, but has resulted in many prosecutions and some convictions [Volokh, Gideon]
- Gone with the readers: newsmagazines, metro newspapers facing fewer libel suits [NY Observer] More: Lyrissa Lidsky, Prawfs.
- Having Connecticut press comfortably in his pocket helped Blumenthal turn the tables against NY Times [Stein/HuffPo] Must not extend to the New Britain Herald News, though;
- Interview with editor Brian Anderson of City Journal [Friedersdorf, Atlantic] I well remember being there as part of the first issue twenty years ago.
Tagged as:
banana pesticide litigation fraud,
Bill Lerach,
Connecticut,
damages,
discrimination law,
hate speech,
libel slander and defamation,
Richard Blumenthal,
United Kingdom
“A Connecticut teenager and her mother have agreed to pay $1.1 million to the family of a toddler who drowned while the girl was baby-sitting.” No criminal charges were filed in the Cheshire, Ct. case. The family named the teenager’s mother as an additional defendant “because she allegedly recommended her daughter to baby-sit.” [WINS.com] Earlier, a 2009 New Haven Register story reported that the family also intended to sue the town of Cheshire because the teenager had taken a babysitting class under its auspices, and because the mother had gotten to know the family in her capacity as the children’s teacher. However, according to the Waterbury Republican-American, court records “do not indicate a lawsuit against the town has been filed.”
Tagged as:
Connecticut,
pools,
taxpayers
