“Once profiled in The New York Times as a former Harvard student who had his own claim as being the true genius behind Facebook, [Aaron] Greenspan is now involved in a dispute with Columbia Pictures that alleges [among other counts] he was defamed by being left out of the award-winning film about Facebook’s origins ['The Social Network'].” [Hollywood Reporter]
Tagged as:
Facebook,
libel slander and defamation,
movies film and videos
- Yikes! “House Committee Approves Bill Mandating That Internet Companies Spy on Their Users” [EFF; Julian Sanchez, New York Post/Cato and podcast]
- Australia courts skeptical about claim that sex injury is covered under workers’ comp [Herald Sun]
- Well-off community doesn’t need annual HUD grant, seeks to sell it [Dan Mitchell]
- Report: playful City Museum in St. Louis has taken down signs criticizing lawyers [Bill Childs/TortsProf, earlier]
- Chicago neurosurgeons pay $4500 a week in med-mal premiums, blame lawless Illinois Supreme Court [Medill Reports] Supreme Court declines to review Feres doctrine, which shields military doctors (among others) from suits [Stars and Stripes] Why is the most widely cited number of medical-misadventure deaths such an outlier? [White Coat; more here, here, etc.]
- After “Facebook broken heart” suit, will pre-nups for Mafia Wars relationships be next? [Tri-Cities Herald]
- Another horrific report of poppy seed positive drug test followed by child-grabbing [Radley Balko]
Tagged as:
Australia,
Chicago,
Child Protective Services,
Facebook,
illegal drugs,
medical malpractice,
workers' compensation
- Wild hypotheticals were grist for complaint: “Widener law professor cleared of harassment charges” [NLJ, earlier here, here, here]
- Ninth Circuit: Facebook didn’t breach user’s right to accommodation of mental disability [Volokh]
- House Judiciary hearing on litigation and economic prosperity [Wajert]
- “University of Michigan to stop worrying about lawsuits, start releasing orphan works” [Cory Doctorow, BoingBoing]
- PBS airs “The Story Behind Wacky Warning Labels” [Bob Dorigo Jones]
- Fifth Circuit “candy cane” religion-in-schools case controversial among conservatives [David Upham, NR Bench Memos]
- Great moments in public records law [Cleveland Plain Dealer, earlier related]
Tagged as:
churches,
Cleveland,
disabled rights,
Facebook,
law schools,
wacky warnings
Just out: one of the most serious and wide-ranging podcasts yet on my new book, Schools for Misrule: Legal Academia and an Overlawyered America. I’m interviewed by James Haynes of the Society’s Professional Responsibility & Legal Education Practice Group Executive Committee and Baltimore Federalist Society Lawyers Chapter. It’s 53:25 minutes in length and you can listen here. Thanks also to the 100+ Facebook users so far who’ve “liked” the podcast.
Tagged as:
Facebook,
Federalist Society,
law schools,
on TV and radio,
Schools for Misrule
But suing a variety of “nontraditional defendants,” including the City of New York and the owners of the apartment building where the victim’s body was found, may not be a sure-fire formula for doing that. Among the defendants is Facebook, on which a paramedic improperly posted pictures of the victim’s body; while the pics were quickly taken down, the suit demands that Facebook take further remedial steps such as identifying who may have “downloaded” (i.e. viewed?) the images. [CNN]
Tagged as:
Facebook,
NYC,
third party liability for crime
One judge found it “unrealistic to expect that such disclosures [of personal and private information on Facebook] would be considered confidential.” But does a litigant’s use of smiley faces in online communication really contradict her claims to have suffered loss of enjoyment of life? [Reuters/MSNBC]
Tagged as:
Facebook,
social media
According to FIRE, the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, an “anti-bullying” bill lately introduced in Congress would alter the definition of harassment in such a way as to give university administrations a strong incentive to punish many forms of controversial student speech, and also press those administrations to monitor students’ use of Facebook and other social media in intrusive ways. I’ve got a new post at Cato at Liberty relaying some of the warnings (welcome Instapundit and Fark readers).
Tagged as:
bullying,
colleges and universities,
Facebook,
harassment law,
social media
- “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
- “If someone wants to sue you, they can. Easily, too.” Amy Wallace on being sued over her vaccine story [Reporting on Health, earlier]
- Jury tells Ford to pay $131 million after minor league ballplayer crashes Explorer at 80 mph+ [WaPo]
- Winnipeg judge scandal has sex, race, coercion and most riveting of all a legal ethics angle [Alice Woolley, LEF]
- “$667M Nursing Home Verdict Surprised Even the Plaintiffs’ Lawyers” [ABA Journal, earlier]
- “Maryland Woman Sues After Being Banned by Facebook” [Kashmir Hill/Forbes, MSNBC "Technolog"]
- The trouble with (some) defense-side trial lawyers [Ted Frank, CCAF] And: defense bar briefing prosecutorial agencies on ins and outs of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. Ethics/loyalty problem in that, or no? [Koehler]
- Bow-tied troll? Patent-marking suits hit the big time [WSJ Law Blog and more, ABA Journal, Glenn Lammi/Forbes]
- “A girl named Sue who sues and sues and sues” [SE Tex Record]
Tagged as:
autos,
damages,
defense lawyers,
Facebook,
libel slander and defamation,
nursing homes,
patent marking,
serial litigants
