Overlawyered » Jonathan Lee Riches 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 October 11 roundup http://overlawyered.com/2010/10/october-11-roundup/ http://overlawyered.com/2010/10/october-11-roundup/#comments Mon, 11 Oct 2010 14:09:19 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=19630
  • “Feds seek to halt inmate’s frequent lawsuits” [AP; J.L. Riches]
  • “SeaWorld Blasts ‘Improper’ Suit Over Trainer’s Death” [OnPoint News, earlier]
  • Does new NY law serve as road map for charities that wish to defy donor intent? [CultureGrrl]
  • Cruise ship case an example of tensions that arise when defense lawyers jump fence to join plaintiffs’ side [Julie Kay, DBR]
  • More on Connecticut AG Richard Blumenthal’s “my lawsuits create jobs” stance [Bainbridge; related, New York Times Magazine (opponent MacMahon: "His business is suing people.")]
  • Australia: “Autistic student sues over test” [The Age]
  • “The most conservative court? Hardly” [Jacoby, Globe] And Justice Breyer, for one, has “rejected the notion that the U.S. Supreme Court has a pro-business slant and said the court doesn’t rule in favor of companies any more frequently than it has historically.” [Bloomberg via Adler, Volokh]
  • “Abducted by aliens? Call now for compensation” [four years ago on Overlawyered; Germany]
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    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2010/10/october-11-roundup/feed/ 0     Jonathan Lee Riches sues Guinness Book of World Records http://overlawyered.com/2009/05/jonathan-lee-riches-sues-guinness-book-of-world-records/ http://overlawyered.com/2009/05/jonathan-lee-riches-sues-guinness-book-of-world-records/#comments Mon, 25 May 2009 02:43:02 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=11350 The notoriously litigious inmate has sued the records book for calling him the world’s most litigious guy; he also “objects to the names Guinness intends to call him”, including: “Johnny Sue-nami,” “Sue-per-man” and the “Patrick Ewing of suing.” He is currently an inmate at a federal facility in Kentucky. [Spokane Spokesman-Review, KOMO] (& welcome ABA Journal readers).

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    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2009/05/jonathan-lee-riches-sues-guinness-book-of-world-records/feed/ 2     April 20 roundup http://overlawyered.com/2009/04/april-20-roundup/ http://overlawyered.com/2009/04/april-20-roundup/#comments Mon, 20 Apr 2009 04:10:49 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=10641
  • Boy fatally shoots stepbrother at home, mom sues school district as well as shooter’s family [Seattle Post-Intelligencer]
  • Problem gambler sues Ontario lottery for C$3.5 billion [Toronto Star]
  • Cop declines training in which he’d be given Taser shock, and sues [Indianapolis Star]
  • Ultra-litigious inmate Jonathan Lee Riches scrawls new complaint linking Bernard Madoff, Britney Spears [Kevin LaCroix]
  • Just to read this update feels like an invasion of privacy: “Judge to Hear Challenge to $6M Herpes Case Award” [On Point News, earlier]
  • “Best criminal strategy: join the Spokane police” [Coyote Blog] More: Greenfield, Brayton.
  • Will mommy-bloggers be held liable for freebie product reviews? [Emily Friedman, ABC News, earlier]
  • Update: “Fifth Circuit says no bail for Paul Minor” [Freeland]
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    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2009/04/april-20-roundup/feed/ 3     Names in the news http://overlawyered.com/2009/02/names-in-the-news/ http://overlawyered.com/2009/02/names-in-the-news/#comments Mon, 02 Feb 2009 21:37:40 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=8721 Ultralitigious inmate Jonathan Lee Riches has filed a motion attempting to insert himself into the Bernard Madoff legal quagmire, but a federal court has rebuffed his efforts. That may make Riches the only person in the country not to have a legitimate legal grievance against Madoff [NYT DealBook via Christopher Fountain]

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    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2009/02/names-in-the-news/feed/ 0     Microblog 2008-11-05 http://overlawyered.com/2008/11/microblog-2008-11-05/ http://overlawyered.com/2008/11/microblog-2008-11-05/#comments Thu, 06 Nov 2008 04:59:59 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/2008/11/microblog-2008-11-05/
  • “Friend named superlawyer five years after she quit practice” [@vpynchon] #
  • Unreality meets unreality: inmate Jonathan Lee Riches files third-party brief in World of Warcraft case [Duranske, Virtually Blind] #
  • Uh-oh: new White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel is on record as a supporter of “universal citizen service” [Lindgren @ Volokh] #
  • Ralph Nader is vile (but you knew that) [Weigel, Reason "Hit and Run"] #
  • U.K.: new pet welfare regs could mean jail for owners who fail to put obese dogs and cats on a diet [Daily Mail via Bookworm Room] #
  • Frum: GOP future should be in going after educated voters [National Post] #
  • Idea for re-use of McCain-Palin yard signs [Steve Hayward, NRO Corner] #
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    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2008/11/microblog-2008-11-05/feed/ 3     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     Losing patience with Jonathan Lee Riches http://overlawyered.com/2008/06/losing-patience-with-jonathan-lee-riches/ http://overlawyered.com/2008/06/losing-patience-with-jonathan-lee-riches/#comments Tue, 01 Jul 2008 01:56:14 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=7222 The federal judges in the Northern District of Georgia decided to place curbs on the famously litigious inmate who’s filed more than 1,000 lawsuits nationwide naming celebrities and politicians as members of hallucinatory cabals against him. In March the judges enjoined him from filing more suits without permission in the district, which he can do only if he agrees to be prosecuted for false statements. (Miami Daily Business Review, Jun. 12, also with some discussion of Jack Thompson and of a few other Florida litigants who’ve had their acts shut down after filing (e.g.) 18, 20 and 60+ meritless or inappropriate actions.)

    The order in the Northern District of Georgia has not prevented Riches from continuing to file lawsuits against celebrities and public figures elsewhere, as in the federal District of South Carolina. (Rachel Barron, “Vinod Khosla Slapped With $43M Lawsuit”, Greentech Media, Jun. 20).

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    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2008/06/losing-patience-with-jonathan-lee-riches/feed/ 1     The Jonathan Lee Riches docket http://overlawyered.com/2008/03/the-jonathan-lee-riches-docket/ http://overlawyered.com/2008/03/the-jonathan-lee-riches-docket/#comments Mon, 31 Mar 2008 21:39:29 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/wpblog/?p=6043 We’ve covered the litigious inmate fantasist before, but this is still a striking statistic: “Thirty-nine percent of the 491 cases filed so far this month in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia have been filed by one man: Jonathan Lee Riches. …Some of Riches’ prior complaints have been dismissed, including a $662 trillion suit filed in the Northern District last summer against Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick. The suit alleged that Vick was attempting to ‘kidnap’ Riches’ mind and to force him to lose weight, and demanded that the $662 trillion be delivered — in ‘British gold’ shipped via truck — to the front gates of the prison where Riches is incarcerated.” (Janet L. Conley, “Inmate’s Frequent Filings Take On Targets Ranging From Spitzer to Van Halen”, Fulton County Daily Report, Mar. 25).

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    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2008/03/the-jonathan-lee-riches-docket/feed/ 1     January 30 roundup http://overlawyered.com/2008/01/january-30-roundup/ http://overlawyered.com/2008/01/january-30-roundup/#comments Wed, 30 Jan 2008 16:28:24 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/wpblog/?p=5801

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    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2008/01/january-30-roundup/feed/ 2     Stories that shouldn’t get away, part I http://overlawyered.com/2007/12/stories-that-shouldnt-get-away-part-i/ http://overlawyered.com/2007/12/stories-that-shouldnt-get-away-part-i/#comments Thu, 20 Dec 2007 00:05:37 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/wpblog/?p=5671 A guestblogger will be joining us momentarily, and I’ll be posting less over the holidays. Meanwhile, my pipeline is still backed up with items from the past year that deserve a more serious treatment than a hurried roundup mention permits. Here are four of them:
    • More docs moving to Texas? Watch out, they must be quacks! After the New York Times reported that doctors seemed to be showing fresh interest in practicing in Texas since its enactment of litigation reforms, our frequent sparring partner Eric Turkewitz of New York Personal Injury Law Blog quickly countered by noting that disciplinary actions in the state are way up, and — quite a jump here — concluded with a suggestion that the newly arriving docs must be causing quality problems. Among bloggers who took this idea and ran with it: Phillip Martin of Burnt Orange Report. Then Prof. Childs had to spoil the fun by asking whether the doctors being disciplined were in fact newcomers to the state and found that, to judge by an initial sampling, no, they’re not. And the medical blogs then knocked the remaining props out from under the reform-made-care-worse theory by linking to coverage documenting how the increase in disciplinary actions reflected the Texas medical board’s concerted recent effort to get tough on doctors — too tough, said many critics. In other words, the Texas medical profession was doing exactly what many skeptics demanded it do — submit to stricter oversight in exchange for liability reform — and now that very submission was being cited as if it proved that standards of care were slipping.

    • Uninjured car owners can sue GM over seatbacks. No class members claim to have been injured, but Maryland appeals court allows class action over cost of replacing allegedly weak seatbacks in GM cars. [DLA Piper; opinion, PDF; Maryland Courts Watcher]

    • The litigious stylings of Jonathan Lee Riches. We mostly ignore litigants who file handwritten pleadings from prison cells complaining of obviously hallucinated events, but there’s no getting around it: the South Carolina convict has become a pop culture phenomenon with his scores of lawsuits against sports figures, President Bush, Perez Hilton, William Lerach and Elvis Presley over a host of imagined legal injuries. Some of the coverage: The Smoking Gun, Dreadnaught, Deadspin, Justia, Above the Law. He even has several Facebook fan groups.

    • Taxpayers and vaccine-compensation lawyers. Under the federally enacted vaccine-compensation program, notes Kathleen Seidel, “a petitioner who brings a claim in good faith is entitled to reimbursement for reasonable attorneys’ fees and costs, regardless of whether the claim is successful.” (Forget about loser-pays; this ensures that taxpayer-defendants can win but pay the other side’s fees anyway.) What sorts of bills do you think attorneys file for reimbursement under those circumstances? Yep, very optimistic bills, in which they expect taxpayers to shell out for their attendance at “advocacy group meetings, and attendance at a conference of trial lawyers representing autism plaintiffs”. In this case, HHS successfully appealed (PDF) an order that it pay the fees. Seidel’s Neurodiversity blog offers a remarkable trove of insight into litigation relating to autism causation theories, vaccines and thimerosal, and this post is no exception. (Updated to include links.)
    More stories that shouldn’t get away in another post to come.

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