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 http://overlawyered.com/2011/08/%e2%80%9ci-on-the-other-hand-will-not-let-people-push-me-around/ http://overlawyered.com/2011/08/%e2%80%9ci-on-the-other-hand-will-not-let-people-push-me-around/#comments Mon, 22 Aug 2011 14:01:54 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=24265 Says the Arkansas man who has sued Microsoft for $500 billion over his XBox Live contract. [Seattle Post-Intelligencer]

Tags: contracts of adhesion, Microsoft, serial litigants

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]]> http://overlawyered.com/2011/08/%e2%80%9ci-on-the-other-hand-will-not-let-people-push-me-around/feed/ 4 http://overlawyered.com/2011/08/august-11-roundup-2/ http://overlawyered.com/2011/08/august-11-roundup-2/#comments Thu, 11 Aug 2011 05:25:02 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=24221

Seattle’s best? Class action lawyer suing Apple, e-publishers has represented Microsoft [Seattle Times, earlier]

“Disabled” NYC firefighter/martial arts enthusiast can go on getting checks for life [NYPost; compare]

After the FDA enforcement action on drug manufacturing lapses come the tagalong liability claims by uninjured plaintiffs [Beck]

“What If Lower Court Judges Weren’t Bound by Supreme Court Precedent?” [Orin Kerr]

Fark.com settles a patent suit for $0 (rough language);

Canadian law society to pay $100K for asking prospective lawyers about mental illness [ABA Journal]

Self-help eviction? “Chinese Developers Accused Of Putting Scorpions In Apartments To Force Out Residents” [Business Insider]

Tags: Apple, China, disabled rights, FDA, firefighters, Microsoft, patent trolls, Steve Berman, Supreme Court, workers' compensation

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]]> http://overlawyered.com/2011/08/august-11-roundup-2/feed/ 1 http://overlawyered.com/2010/02/class-action-over-xbox-downloads-contd/ http://overlawyered.com/2010/02/class-action-over-xbox-downloads-contd/#comments Mon, 01 Feb 2010 13:58:11 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=15869 The actual content of the complaint isn’t quite as reported, per Siouxsie Law (earlier).

Tags: class actions, Microsoft, videogames

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]]> http://overlawyered.com/2010/02/class-action-over-xbox-downloads-contd/feed/ 2 http://overlawyered.com/2009/11/november-10-roundup-2/ http://overlawyered.com/2009/11/november-10-roundup-2/#comments Tue, 10 Nov 2009 19:32:17 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=14655

Judge vacates $1.2 billion default judgment against PepsiCo [Watertown, Wisc. Daily Times, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, earlier]

“Democrats’ first spokesman on medical malpractice: former head of the Iowa Trial Lawyers Association.” [Ponnuru, NRO, on Iowa Rep. Bruce Braley] Related: Carter Wood at Point of Law, Washington Times, David Frum, Fort Worth Star-Telegram (on provision in health bill discouraging states from adopting limits on lawyers’ fees or awards).

Doubts about “scent lineups” in which police dogs are supposed to sniff out perps [Schwartz, NYT]

Claimant in Staten Island Ferry crash ran into trouble when he couldn’t prove he was on the boat [NYLJ]

New York courts strike out baseball injury claims on assumption of risk grounds [Hochfelder first, second, third posts; NYLJ]

“Microsoft frowned on for smiley patent” [Slashdot via Coleman]

“Step out of the loop, do something unusual” and run into an army of drones “whose sole job is to prevent their bosses from being sued.” [Never Yet Melted quoting British TV presenter Jeremy Clarkson on the U.S.]

“A veterinarian’s view on ‘defensive medicine’” [Patty Khuly, USA Today]

Tags: assumption of risk, baseball, defensive medicine, medical malpractice, Microsoft

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]]> http://overlawyered.com/2009/11/november-10-roundup-2/feed/ 1 http://overlawyered.com/2009/10/october-22-roundup-2/ http://overlawyered.com/2009/10/october-22-roundup-2/#comments Thu, 22 Oct 2009 04:13:54 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=14335

Unsafe at any read: new Ralph Nader novel panned by Chris Hayes, Washington editor of The Nation [Barnes and Noble Review via Suderman, Reason]

Microsoft says “most, if not all” customer data from T-Mobile Sidekick smartphones has been recovered, but class action lawyers say they’re undeterred [Seattle P-I]

Sue them all and sort things out later? Lawsuit over Air France Airbus crash off coast of Brazil names long list of aerospace suppliers as defendants [Reuters]

“No cash for this clunker”: opposition mounts to proposal for Massachusetts public law school [Boston Herald editorial via Legal Blog Watch, earlier link roundup at Point of Law]

Ralph Lauren experiences Streisand Effect over skinny-model nastygram [Althouse, earlier]

High-profile L.A. plaintiff’s lawyer Walter Lack speaks under questioning about role in Nicaraguan banana-worker suit against Dole [Recorder, earlier, background] And: “Dole on a Roll: Court Declines to Enforce $97M Judgment” [WSJ Law Blog, Bloomberg]

Miller-Jenkins lesbian custody case, much meddled in by conservative religious groups, recalls the ways divorced dads get cut out of their kids’ lives [Glenn Sacks/Ned Holstein via Amy Alkon, background]

Daniel Kalder speculates on why the New York Times editorially “purred with approval” of the new FTC blogger regulations in such an “impressively superficial” way [Guardian Books Blog]. More on FTC’s semi-backtracking on the controversy: Media Bistro “Galleycat”, Publisher’s Weekly, Galleysmith. And having been hoping for ages to get a link some day from blogging legend Jason Kottke, this one will go in the souvenir file [Kottke.org]

Tags: aviation, banana pesticide litigation fraud, cellphones, child custody, class actions, FTC endorsement rules, Microsoft, Miller-Jenkins case, Ralph Nader, shotgun defendant selection, Streisand effect

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]]> http://overlawyered.com/2009/10/october-22-roundup-2/feed/ 2 http://overlawyered.com/2009/10/judge-throws-out-patent-verdict-against-microsoft/ http://overlawyered.com/2009/10/judge-throws-out-patent-verdict-against-microsoft/#comments Tue, 06 Oct 2009 04:05:11 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=14028 U.S. District Judge William Smith in Providence vacated a $388 million award to Uniloc, a Singapore-based company, ruling that the jury “lacked a grasp of the issues before it and reached a finding without a legally sufficient basis.” [Bloomberg]

Tags: Microsoft, patent litigation

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]]> http://overlawyered.com/2009/10/judge-throws-out-patent-verdict-against-microsoft/feed/ 2 http://overlawyered.com/2009/09/september-9-roundup/ http://overlawyered.com/2009/09/september-9-roundup/#comments Wed, 09 Sep 2009 04:04:01 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=13551

Pants litigation still not over; Roy Pearson takes wrongful termination suit to D.C. Circuit [NLJ, FindLaw "Injured", my WSJ piece two years ago]

Microsoft wins stay of “alter Word or stop selling it” ruling [Bloomberg, earlier] More: WSJ Law Blog, Legal Ethics Forum, American Lawyer]

Masry & Vititoe, law firm of Erin Brockovich fame, files for bankruptcy (she’s no longer with them) [NLJ, background]

One blogger turns thumbs down on Google Books settlement [Patrick at Popehat] “Laundering orphan works legislation through a class action lawsuit”? [James Grimmelmann, ACS Blog via Mass Tort Lit] Much more: Lynn Chu/Writer’s Reps (who, I should note, has represented my literary interests on matters unrelated to this); WSJ Law Blog; Pasquale/ConcurOp; Kennerly.

Dire lesson for lawyers in how not to do social media marketing [Mark Bennett/Defending People, Scott Greenfield, Patrick at Popehat, Carolyn Elefant/Legal Blog Watch]

Tab-divider scam? For a million bucks? Against a big, sophisticated law firm? [ABA Journal, WSJ Law Blog]

Lawyer who filed “splashy-dolphin” slip-fall action against Chicago-area zoo is heard from [On Point News, earlier]

Turnabout fair play? “A Doctor’s Plan for Legal Industry Reform” [Richard Rafal, WSJ]

Tags: chasing clients, Erin Brockovich, Google, Microsoft, Roy Pearson, social media

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]]> http://overlawyered.com/2009/09/september-9-roundup/feed/ 2 http://overlawyered.com/2009/08/texas-judge-bans-microsoft-from-selling-word-in-the-u-s/ http://overlawyered.com/2009/08/texas-judge-bans-microsoft-from-selling-word-in-the-u-s/#comments Fri, 14 Aug 2009 13:06:11 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=13155 The Eastern District of Texas strikes again. [DailyTech, Concurring Opinions, Legal BlogWatch, WSJ Law Blog, earlier]

Tags: Eastern District of Texas, Microsoft, patent litigation

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]]> http://overlawyered.com/2009/08/texas-judge-bans-microsoft-from-selling-word-in-the-u-s/feed/ 9 http://overlawyered.com/2009/06/xml-editing-software-worth-98/ http://overlawyered.com/2009/06/xml-editing-software-worth-98/#comments Tue, 02 Jun 2009 04:32:18 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=11479 Or so readers infer from a $200 million patent infringement verdict against Microsoft [TechDirt, Slashdot]

Tags: Microsoft, patent litigation

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]]> http://overlawyered.com/2009/06/xml-editing-software-worth-98/feed/ 0 http://overlawyered.com/2009/02/february-27-roundup-2/ http://overlawyered.com/2009/02/february-27-roundup-2/#comments Fri, 27 Feb 2009 14:04:58 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=9429

Long Island man fails badly in bid to make his estranged wife compensate him for kidney he gave her [NYLJ, earlier]

McDonald’s denies negligence in case of nude photos on customer’s left-behind cellphone [Heller/OnPoint News, earlier]

Role of union corruption in NYC crane collapses. Best tidbit: strippers offered apprenticeships [New York Times]

Because the Big Three need another millstone around their necks: states moving to entrench auto dealers’ nontermination/buyout rights yet further [Detroit Free Press via Mataconis, background]

Microsoft claims former employee “applied for a job at the company under false pretenses and then used his role at Microsoft to gain access to confidential data related to patent litigation he is now waging” [Seattle P-I, Andrew Nusca/ZDNet]

Settlement ends lawsuit by Cooper Tire & Rubber Co. against Mississippi’s Farese law firm and Ocala, Fla. attorney Bruce Kaster arising from leak of disparaging employee affidavit to press [Patsy Brumfield, NEMDJ, ABA Journal]

Mule drivers at historic tourism park must register for antiterror biometrics as transportation workers [Ken @ Popehat]

Lawyers advise defendant on trial for murder to go off his antipsychotic medication so he’ll come off as madder to the jury [nine years ago on Overlawyered]

Tags: auto dealership protection laws, Long Island, McDonald's, Microsoft, Mississippi

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