Overlawyered » finger in the chili 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 Shouldn’t have microwaved the rat http://overlawyered.com/2010/04/shouldnt-have-microwaved-the-rat/ http://overlawyered.com/2010/04/shouldnt-have-microwaved-the-rat/#comments Thu, 29 Apr 2010 05:17:47 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=17151 Police say her scheme of planting a cooked rat in her lunch was miscalculated because the restaurant doesn’t use microwaves. She’s facing nine months in jail. [Appleton Post-Crescent via Obscure Store]

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]]> http://overlawyered.com/2010/04/shouldnt-have-microwaved-the-rat/feed/ 5 April 22 roundup http://overlawyered.com/2010/04/april-22-roundup/ http://overlawyered.com/2010/04/april-22-roundup/#comments Thu, 22 Apr 2010 05:03:53 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=17052
  • Liquor commissioner of New Hampshire nabbed on DWI rap, refuses breathalyzer test [WMUR]
  • Slumber party liability waivers are something we’ve reported on before. But home trampoline disclaimers? [Free-Range Kids]
  • Website’s terms and conditions include giving up your immortal soul [Popehat]
  • Scottish jury says charges “not proven” against lawyers in case of monetary demand for return of stolen Leonardo da Vinci painting [Guardian, earlier]
  • If you’re going to shake down food makers with false claims of contaminants in their wares, it’s best to vary your story patterns [Tacoma News-Tribune, Seattle Times]
  • “My task is simple: spew foundationless tripe that turns itself into a pre-trial settlement demand.” [The Namby Pamby, a lawyer blog I really should have linked before now] More: Daniel Fisher, Forbes.
  • Why plaintiffs lawyers aren’t so thrilled about recent Toyota revelations: most are invested in blaming electronics, not stuck pedals or mats [WSJ Law Blog]
  • Duck hunters sue guide over disappointing trip [Fred Hartman, Fort Bend, Texas, Herald]
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    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2010/04/april-22-roundup/feed/ 4     Finger-in-the-chili lady out of jail http://overlawyered.com/2010/03/finger-in-the-chili-lady-out-of-jail/ http://overlawyered.com/2010/03/finger-in-the-chili-lady-out-of-jail/#comments Fri, 12 Mar 2010 01:13:33 +0000 Ted Frank http://overlawyered.com/?p=16469 Speaking of national media hoaxes, today’s San Jose Mercury News profiles the post-incarceration life of Anna Ayala. The digital pioneer is divorced from co-conspirator Jaime Plascencia, who is still in prison. Ayala’s greatest trauma from her four years in prison (out of her nine-year sentence) seems to be that everyone called her the Finger Lady. She’s permanently banned from Wendy’s, so she’ll miss out on the Baconator.

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    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2010/03/finger-in-the-chili-lady-out-of-jail/feed/ 4     February 6 roundup http://overlawyered.com/2010/02/february-6-roundup-2/ http://overlawyered.com/2010/02/february-6-roundup-2/#comments Sat, 06 Feb 2010 14:33:34 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=15971
  • Wronged wife loses suit under California “Drug Dealer Liability Act” (DDLA) against mistress who supplied crack cocaine to husband [OnPoint News]
  • “D.C. Circuit to Former Judge in Pants Lawsuit: Follow the Rules” [NLJ, more, earlier]
  • “Law firm demands retailer destroy all copies of Olivia Munn comic, retailer refuses” [BoingBoing, HeavyInk, earlier on TJIC]
  • Can’t find jury for tobacco trial: “Lawyers excused a woman who said people have no right to sue over diseases that are disclosed on the warning label of a package.” [Russell Jackson, Chamber-backed W.V. Record]
  • Despite widespread misconception to the contrary, editing comments generally does not open blogger to liability over what remains [Citizen Media Law]
  • To heck with HIPAA, introduce your patients to each other if you think they’ll get along [Musings of a Dinosaur]
  • Devoted daughter vs. RSPCA: epic will contest in Britain over family farm bequest [Times Online]
  • Woman found guilty after planting dead rat in meal at upscale restaurant [Appleton Post-Crescent via Lowering the Bar and Obscure Store]
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    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2010/02/february-6-roundup-2/feed/ 0     Keep my finger, vote Labour http://overlawyered.com/2008/09/keep-my-finger-vote-labour/ http://overlawyered.com/2008/09/keep-my-finger-vote-labour/#comments Mon, 22 Sep 2008 18:08:46 +0000 Baylen Linnekin http://overlawyered.com/?p=7573 Newcastle, England leaflet distributor (and former Labour Party council member) Mark Hunter is suing a dog owner whose Jack Russell terrier, the imaginatively named Jack, allegedly bit off the tip of the leafleteer’s finger as he pushed election paraphernalia through a front-door letterbox. While both Hunter and dog owner Mark Monroe seem to agree that part of Hunter’s bloody finger did indeed end up on the floor of Monroe’s home, it’s unclear how Jack could have bitten Monroe through the letterbox–which boasts a contraption known as a “letterbox guard”. Also unclear: why Monroe put Hunter’s finger in his freezer (keeping it for several months before ultimately tossing it in the rubbish), and why neither Hunter nor Monroe immediately reported the incident to police. Hunter is seeking about $25,000.

    Though Monroe froze the finger, he was kind enough not to toss it in the chili. (”Labour campaigner’s ‘finger bitten off by dog’ as he pushed leaflet through letterbox”, The Daily Mail, Sept. 22).

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    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2008/09/keep-my-finger-vote-labour/feed/ 1     September 3 roundup http://overlawyered.com/2008/09/september-3-roundup/ http://overlawyered.com/2008/09/september-3-roundup/#comments Wed, 03 Sep 2008 04:05:21 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=7492
  • Eeeeeeuw: House of Meats employees show reporter “they have all ten of their fingers” after customer reports human digit in her dish of oxtails [BayNews 9 Tampa]
  • Press keeps digging into Joe Biden ties to asbestos bar [American Lawyer, more links in PoL roundup]
  • Black eye for big law site FindLaw with reports that it’s been selling law firms links in editorial material, a practice sure to raise Google wrath [Oilman, Kevin O'Keefe/Real Lawyers Have Blogs, ABA Journal, Search Engine Land, National Post] More: WSJ on FindLaw’s denial; O’Keefe.
  • Overlawyered favorite Fred Baron, of Rielle Hunter generosity, much in evidence at Democratic convention [Dallas Morning News, ABC News] Texas trial lawyer Steve Susman is only individual lawyer listed as convention sponsor [AmLaw Daily, scroll]
  • As if legislative expansion of the Americans with Disabilities Act weren’t worry enough, 1,000 pages of new DoJ regulations will add billions in costs, as by requiring that 50 percent of miniature golf holes be wheelchair-accessible [Las Vegas Review-Journal via ABA Journal]
  • “Bond reduced for two fen-phen attorneys” in Kentucky [Lexington Herald-Leader, more]
  • Cozen O’Connor and insurers dealt big setback as Second Circuit’s Judge Jacobs rules they can’t sue Saudi government over 9/11 [Philadelphia Inquirer, more; related on FOIA, Legal Intelligencer; earlier here and here]
  • Jury awards $500,000 in malpractice suit against D.C.-based plaintiffs’ firm Cohen Milstein Hausfeld & Toll [Legal Times]
  • Australia: “A serial protester who injured a policewoman during the G20 riots wants her conviction overturned so she can still practise as a lawyer.” [Melbourne Herald Sun, Julia Dehm]
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    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2008/09/september-3-roundup/feed/ 2     February 12 roundup http://overlawyered.com/2007/02/february-12-roundup/ http://overlawyered.com/2007/02/february-12-roundup/#comments Mon, 12 Feb 2007 00:09:19 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/wpblog/?p=4517
    • Divorcing Brooklyn couple has put up sheetrock wall dividing house into his and hers [L.A. Times, AP/Newsday]

    • Boston Herald appeals $2 million libel award to Judge Ernest Murphy, whom the paper had portrayed as soft on criminals (earlier: Dec. 8 and Dec. 23, 2005) [Globe via Romenesko]

    • Updating Jul. 8 story: Georgia man admits he put poison in his kids’ soup in hopes of getting money from Campbell Soup Co. [AP/AccessNorthGeorgia]

    • Witness talks back to lawyer at deposition [YouTube via Bainbridge, %&*#)!* language]

    • Prominent UK business figure says overprotective schools producing generation of “cotton wool kids” [Telegraph]

    • State agents swoop down on Montana antique store and seize roulette wheel from 1880s among other “unlicensed gambling equipment” [AP/The Missoulian]

    • “You, gentlemen, are no barristers. You are just two litigators. On Long Island.” [Lat and commenter]

    • Some Dutch municipalities exclude dads from town-sponsored kids’ playgroups, so as not to offend devout Muslim moms [Crooked Timber]

    • As mayor, Rudy Giuliani didn’t hesitate to stand up to the greens when he thought they were wrong [Berlau @ CEI]

    • Australia: funeral homes, fearing back injury claims, now discouraging the tradition of family members and friends being pallbearers [Sydney Morning Herald]

    • Asserting 200-year-old defect in title, Philly’s Cozen & O’Connor represents Indian tribe in failed lawsuit laying claim to land under Binney & Smith Crayola factory [three years ago on Overlawyered]

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    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2007/02/february-12-roundup/feed/ 2     One year for mouse-in-soup scam http://overlawyered.com/2006/09/one-year-for-mouse-in-soup-scam/ http://overlawyered.com/2006/09/one-year-for-mouse-in-soup-scam/#comments Fri, 15 Sep 2006 14:29:39 +0000 Ted Frank http://overlawyered.com/wpblog/?p=3948 Ricky Lee Patterson had been seeking a $500,000 settlement from Cracker Barrel restaurant. “Prosecutors brought charges after an examination of the mouse found that it died of a fractured skull, had no soup in its lungs and had not been cooked – all of which suggested the rodent was dropped into the customer’s soup after it had died.” (AP, Sep. 14).

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    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2006/09/one-year-for-mouse-in-soup-scam/feed/ 3     Bunco burrito http://overlawyered.com/2006/06/bunco-burrito/ http://overlawyered.com/2006/06/bunco-burrito/#comments Tue, 06 Jun 2006 00:21:37 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/wpblog/?p=3541 Headline of this Traverse City, Mich. tale says it all: “Man Who Put Dead Mouse in Burrito at Taco Bell Given Prison Time” (AP/FoxNews.com, Jun. 2). One word of advice: if you’re going to pull this kind of stunt, don’t use the kind of frozen mice that pet stores sell as food for snakes, at least not if anyone can testify to your having bought them.

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    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2006/06/bunco-burrito/feed/ 0     Chili finger duo sentenced http://overlawyered.com/2006/01/chili-finger-duo-sentenced/ http://overlawyered.com/2006/01/chili-finger-duo-sentenced/#comments Thu, 19 Jan 2006 04:07:51 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/wpblog/?p=3002 Fickle finger of fate, cont’d: dissatisfied Wendy’s customer Anna Ayala drew a nine-year sentence while Jaime Plascencia, her boyfriend and the procurer of the severed digit, drew twelve years. “The two pleaded guilty in September to conspiracy to file a false insurance claim and attempted grand theft with damages exceeding $2.5 million.” (”Chili Finger Couple Get Stiff Sentences”, AP/NBC San Diego, Jan. 18). Our previous coverage: Apr. 8, Apr. 9, Apr. 13, Apr. 20, Apr. 22, Apr. 27, May 16, Sept. 10.

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