“Never forget all the people who in the aftermath of Benghazi were writing things like ‘When Censorship Makes Sense’” [Matt Welch on Twitter, referring to lawprof Tim Wu's New Republic piece; BuzzFeed (blasphemous video was "non-event" in Libya and never seriously mistaken for cause of attack); Nick Gillespie]
Nevada: political contributions and federal judgeships [ATL]
In Louisiana, Orleans Parish pays its lawyers about $1.7 million a year. Are they worth it? [Lee Zurik, WVUE]
“I brought the big soda back to my desk, and then the terminal said ‘You really shouldn’t have so much sugar.’” [@ledbetreuters via @jackshafer] “I Know When You Logged In Last Summer: The Bloomberg Spying Scandal” [ChartGirl]
Some locals are “stunned” that Justice would drop the River Birch case after four years of vigorous prosecution, and wonder whether there is any link to recent resignations and misconduct charges among high-level figures in the U.S. attorney’s office. [New Orleans Times-Picayune, more, earlier]
If you’re high-ranking figures in a federal prosecutor’s office, don’t resort to pseudonymous rants on comment boards to settle scores, especially not if it means commenting on open cases that your office is handling [three now-resigned officials from the U.S. Attorney's office in New Orleans; WWL, Gambit, Daily Mail]
“A New Orleans Saints fan named David Mancina has filed a putative class action against Roger Goodell and the NFL, alleging that Goodell and the league’s suspension of Saints players entitles Mancina and other Saints fans to damages from (I am not making this up) ‘the diminishment in the value of their tickets; their personal emotional reaction to the unwarranted penalties inflicted on their beloved team, players, coaches, and executives; and the deliberate reduction of the competitive capability of the Saints due to the selective gutting of the critical components needed to justify the loyalty of Plaintiff and the class.’” [Howard Wasserman, Prawfs, who does not think much of the suit, headlining it "Today in Sanctionable Lawsuits"]
Another highlight of new “jobs” bill: financial institution customers would help pay for auto bailouts [John Berlau]
Key New Orleans Police Department officer in charge of integrity of traffic-cam program accused of altering own plates [WWL] Red light cameras defended [Noah Kristula-Green, FrumForum] Why Massachusetts won’t raise the speed limit on Route 3 north of Burlington (NMA blog via @radleybalko)
Fellow federal agency FERC worried that EPA’s power-plant crackdown could lead to outages [WSJ] EPA’s plan to regulate dust from farmers’ fields led to public opinion blowback for President Obama [Diane Katz/Heritage, Environmental Legal Blogs, Radley Balko] Shutting down EPA isn’t likely under GOP reign, but reforming EPA might be [Adler, NYT "Room for Debate"]
Left rallies around New York attorney general Eric Schneiderman [Ben Smith, Politico]
Just a reminder for those in the area: on Monday afternoon at 5:30 I’ll be speaking at Tulane Law School, debating Prof. George Strickler on the role of the legal profession with Prof. Michael Pappas moderating, and a reception to follow. The next day, Tues. Oct. 19, I’ll give a lunchtime talk at Loyola-New Orleans on employment law and the ADA, with Prof. Craig Senn commenting (update: video). Both events are sponsored by student chapters of the Federalist Society and are open to the public.
I’ll be speaking at Tulane law school late in the afternoon of Mon., Oct. 18, and then at Loyola-New Orleans at lunchtime on Tues., Oct. 19. Both events are sponsored by student Federalist Society chapters; my topics will be legal ethics/lawyer unpopularity and employment law/ADA litigation, respectively. To bring me to your campus, convention or group, drop me a line at editor – at – thisdomainname – dot – com or, if you prefer, work through the Cato Institute’s speaker service (202-789-5226) or the national office of the Federalist Society. And don’t forget that early next year I’ll start touring to speak on my new book on law schools, Schools for Misrule.
Wouldn’t it be nice if Congress lifted the ban on Internet gambling [Steve Chapman]
Design of New Orleans shotgun houses is an adaptation to tax laws [Candy Chang]
Lawyer-enriching Costco class action settlement draws an objection from a blogger often linked in this space [Amy Alkon]
“Fourth Circuit slaps down N.C. attorney general’s suit against TVA” [Wood/PoL, Jackson]
South Carolina jury’s $2.375 million award based on premise that Nissan should have followed European, not U.S. crashworthiness standards [Abnormal Use]
City of Cleveland won’t take no for answer in dumb lawsuit against mortgage lenders [Funnell]
On a vial of anesthetic: “One patient use only.” Nevada jury finds that warning inadequate to prevent multiple patient use and awards $500 million in punitives [Carter at Point of Law, Abnormal Use] More: Ted at PoL.
Floodgates to litigation? “Parent Can Sue Ex for Turning Children Against Him” [NJLJ]
Lawyer who isn’t honest is a threat to the social order: noted Allentown, Pa. attorney gets 6 1/2 years for fraud [Legal Intelligencer, earlier]
“Another European Prosecution for Insulting Religion” [Volokh; pop star Dorota Rabczewska, Poland]
A lawyer’s advice: try to get those Rand Paul types off your jury [Turkewitz]
One for the hardball-campaign-ad Hall of Fame. Background: Times-Picayune (incumbent Minyard says ad is so over-the-top that it may actually be helping him), ProPublica.
Following a huge outcry in Louisiana and elsewhere (see Oct. 28; Slashfood, Washington Times, Ryan Young/CEI), the agency will reconsider the rule. The uber-nannyish Center for Science in the Public Interest was dismayed at the delay [BayouBuzz], while the New Orleans publication Gambit, which calls the episode “a glaring example of bureaucratic overkill,” warns that after finishing further study the FDA “could still return with its faulty reasoning.” Nancy Leson at the Seattle Times passes on word from a Northwest shellfish official: “We were told by FDA officials that initially, they were planning to mandate post-harvest treatment of all oysters, and at the last minute they decided to just stick to Gulf oysters — for now.” And ubiquitous food-poisoning lawyer Bill Marler, whose publicity juggernaut rolls on* (recent Seattle Times profile — “I represent poisoned little children against giant corporations”), feels like he’s been wasting a fortune:
…let me make clear that I dumped a lot of “change” into the Democratic change wagon – I have given or raised millions of dollars for Democratic candidates over the last several years. My goal was to put people in office that did good public policy. Well, I guess I needed to wake up literally and figuratively. … Now, the FDA runs and hides from the Oyster industry. … Democratic candidates – do not bother calling, this “change” machine is out of order.
Is it OK if Boulder County prosecutor Tweets the murder trial while in progress? [Colorado Daily]
Pierce O’Donnell terms his gigantic Katrina/New Orleans lawsuit a “crapshoot” [Hiltzik, L.A. Times]
Massachusetts hospital not responsible for third-party injuries from just-released colonoscopy patient’s auto accident [Ronald Miller]
Controversial “citizen suit” provision was removed from environment bill as one of the compromises to obtain House passage [Global Climate Law Blog and more, earlier] More: Coyote.
“I was shocked at the number of cases the neurologist, radiologists, and especially the neurosurgeon had against them.” [ER Stories with a first-person lawsuit tale]
Virginia Postrel on kidney donation, altruism, and policy [The Atlantic]
Grown kids appear in court to exonerate dad who spent nearly 20 years in prison on false charges of abusing them [The Columbian, Wash., via Obscure Store] More: Coyote.
If it’s too much trouble to go through the prescribed channels to request information, you can just ask the city’s sanitation director:
At the same time New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin’s administration was citing storage problems as its reason for erasing all but about a dozen of the mayor’s e-mail messages from 2008, another administration official was providing an activist lawyer with thousands of electronic messages written by or sent to at least four City Council members and their staffers during the past three years.
The council said sanitation director Veronica White, without any involvement by the city attorney or the council itself, handed over emails that may have included materials falling under attorney-client privilege, personal correspondence and communications from constituents, and details on pending lawsuits and criminal investigations, as well as council members’ private opinions on pending ordinances. Lawyer Tracie Washington, who obtained the messages, has clashed with the council on various issues including its attempt to demolish some public housing projects. [Times-Picayune/NOLA.com]
And not a figurative brawl either: “fisticuffs broke out between attorneys Madro Bandaries and J. Robert Ates, who were pushing rival class-action suits about the late handling of insurance claims …[lead attorney Wiley] Beevers and Bandaries have traded hostile rhetoric in recent weeks as they try to gain advantage for their rival class-action suits against Louisiana Citizens Property Insurance Corp., which could produce $5 million in spoils for the victorious legal team.” (Rebecca Mowbray, “Brawl erupts between two lawyers at civil court”, New Orleans Times-Picayune, Dec. 16).
“A New Orleans attorney who pleaded guilty to stealing millions of dollars from one of the city’s most prominent law firms has dropped a racketeering lawsuit he filed against the firm after his indictment.” (AP/KATC, Dec. 4; James Perdigao, Adams & Reese).
Pajamas TV interviews me on Obama cabinet prospects (RFK Jr., Caroline Kennedy, Schwarzenegger, Gorelick, etc.) (Nov. 13, subscription-only)
Federal court in New Orleans hits attorney with five-year practice suspension after “intentionally contemptuous” filing and other misconduct [Times-Picayune, Ashton O'Dwyer]
Lawyer sues his straying wife for giving him herpes, but her lawyer says a test proves she doesn’t have the malady in the first place [Above the Law]
Doctors (e.g.) being put through hostile depositions are often tempted to talk back sharply to the lawyer. Bad move, says Ronald Miller [Maryland Injury]
It’s a shame most of the press remains incurious about that episode a fewdaysago in which talk of compulsory national service appeared, then vanished from the Obama site [K. Ryan James]
Batting cage pitching machine without prompting hits customer in most sensitive part of male anatomy, he collects $1.2 million [The Big Lead]
ACLU will defend preacher sent to prison on parole violation charge after writing “God will smite this judge” newspaper article (having earlier been convicted of election misconduct)[AP/FoxNews, western Michigan]
On appeal, Long Island attorney beats charges of coaching clients to fake injury and using “steerers” to gain business [NYLJ]
It was only natural for the professional organization of the civil defense bar, the Defense Research Institute, to include bulletproof disclaimer language when sponsoring a charity race for its own lawyer-members at its annual meeting, which took place earlier this month in New Orleans. As Robert Ambrogi points out, the waiver/disclaimer warned of the risks of high altitude (in a famously low-altitude city) and asked the signer to affirm that various horrific-sounding risks, such as those of terrorism, “contribute to my enjoyment and excitement and are a reason for my voluntary participation”.
Get your copy today!My new book tackles the question of why so many bad ideas come from the law schools. "Cutting-edge commentary, hard-hitting, witty, astute." -- Publisher's Weekly. "Excellent... A fine dissection of these strangely powerful institutions" -- Wall Street Journal.
wimps out on Mohammed cartoons [
