Overlawyered » not about the money

January 4 roundup

Walter Olson — Tue, 04 Jan 2011 05:08:38 +0000

Report: dead woman’s name robo-signed onto thousands of collection documents [Business Insider] Or was it? [comment, Fredrickson/Collections and Credit Risk (alleging that living daughter shares name of deceased mother)] “Are faked attorney signatures the ‘next huge issue’ in the foreclosure scandal?” [Renee Knake, Legal Ethics Forum]
“Major Verdict Threatens to Bankrupt Maker of Exercise Equipment” [Laura Simons, Abnormal Use]
Decline in competitiveness of U.S. capital markets owes much to legal and regulatory developments [Bainbridge, related]
Deadly Choices, The Panic Virus: Dr. Paul Offit and Seth Mnookin have new books out on vaccine controversy [Orac]
“No one’s trying to get rich off this,” says lawyer planning suit on behalf of A train subway riders stranded during NYC blizzard [NY Daily News]
Washington Attorney General Rob McKenna continues to seek solutions to state’s uniquely exposed litigation position, including fix of joint and several liability [Seattle Times, background here and here]
ABA Blawg 100 picks — and a critique;
Alabama bar orders lawyer’s law license suspended, but in the mean time he’s been elected judge [four years ago on Overlawyered]

Tags: debtor-creditor law, legal blogs, mortgages, not about the money, NYC, product liability, recreation, sovereign immunity, transit, vaccines, Washington state

“Phrases that announce ‘I’m lying’”

Walter Olson — Mon, 29 Nov 2010 05:22:17 +0000

One of the examples given: “It’s not about the money, but…” [Erin McKean, Boston Globe]

Tags: not about the money

Around the web, September 16

Walter Olson — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 13:18:45 +0000

Online game purveyor Evony threatens to sue UK critic in Australian court [GameSetWatch, Ken at Popehat, Patrick at Popehat]
106: number of (counted) cases filed since 2005 that blame errant grapes for slip-fall injuries [ABA Journal]
Bayonne, N.J.: “Connolly suing county for $1M over job switch” [Jersey Journal; background (city councilman took six months off from job as coordinator of 9/11 emergency call center; "doctors won't let him go back because it's too stressful.")]
“Lessons from Andrew Sullivan’s pot bust” [Sullum, Reason] More: Patrick at Popehat.
“The Appraisal Debacle: How Not to Regulate” [Jack Guttentag, Yahoo Finance, via Fountain]
Bizarre: “Paralegal Guilty in Fake-Libel-Suit Scam That Briefly Won $3M” [ABA Journal]
Idea for immigration reform: “Let the smart people in”. [Farhad Manjoo, Slate, via Alkon] More: “Free the H-1Bs, free the economy” [Vivek Wadhwa, TechCrunch]
Academic finds that depending on whom you ask, “It’s not about the money” or maybe it is [Relis, SSRN/Pittsburgh 2007, via Burch, Mass Tort Lit]

Tags: Australia, food safety, forum shopping, immigration law, libel slander and defamation, mortgages, New Jersey, not about the money, public employment, slip and fall, videogames

Update: lawprof drops suit against students

Walter Olson — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 05:19:25 +0000

Updating our Apr. 29 item: “A law professor who sued two former students for defamation has dropped his suit after the school’s interim dean said there is no evidence he is a racist. Law professor Richard Peltz of the University of Arkansas at Little Rock told Inside Higher Ed that he sued to get his reputation back. ‘This suit was never about money,’ he said. ‘I feel that now with the university’s support, I am on the road to repairing my reputation.’” (Debra Cassens Weiss, ABA Journal, Nov. 17).

Tags: Arkansas, free speech, law schools, not about the money

October 15 roundup

Walter Olson — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 13:10:53 +0000

Litigants’ “not about the money” assertions: Mark Obbie has further thoughts on reporters’ uncritical deployment of this cliche, and kind words for our archive of posts on the subject [LawBeat]
Lawyer on the other side of that much-circulated “I’m sorry” deposition-dispute letter has his say [Markland and Hanley via Turkewitz and Above the Law]
Local authority in England tells gardener to remove barbed wire from wall surrounding his allotment, thieves might get hurt on it and sue [Never Yet Melted, Steyn/NRO Corner]
Same-sex marriage in Connecticut through judicial fiat? Jonathan Rauch says no thanks [IGF]
Lawyers are back suing despite reform of FACTA, the credit-card-receipt “gotcha” law, but insurance might just dry up [Randy Maniloff at Point of Law]
“Racing to the trough” — auto lenders latest to ask bailout though original TARP rationale of liquidity fix seems remote [Naked Capitalism]
“To be a green-certified property (pretty important in crunchy Portland) there must be an absolute prohibition on smoking, including outdoor spaces.” [Katherine Mangu-Ward, Reason "Hit and Run"]
(Failed) claim in trademark case: “the term ‘electric’ is not commonly used by the general public to describe a source of power for watches” [TTAB via Ron Coleman]

Tags: accolades, assumption of risk, Connecticut, criminals who sue, FACTA, not about the money, premises liability, same-sex marriage, smoking bans, trademarks, United Kingdom

Rin Tin Tin lawsuit “is not about money”

Walter Olson — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 18:44:13 +0000

Prof. Obbie (LawBeat) wonders (Oct. 7) whether an NPR interviewer could have been bolder in challenging the owner of Rin Tin Tin Inc. when she asserted that her trademark lawsuit against a Hollywood studio was not about the you-know-whats.

Tags: animals, movies film and videos, not about the money, trademarks

Emotional value of lost pets, cont’d

Walter Olson — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 18:23:12 +0000

A veterinary malpractice suit aims to overturn Georgia’s adherence to the traditional rule barring damage recovery for intangible pet companionship value. Not that it’s about you-know-what: “Money is not the object here,” says Kathryn Sutton about 13-year-old miniature Schnauzer Marshall. (D.L. Bennett, “Animal rights drive dog lawsuit”, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Sept. 15). Earlier here, here, here, here, here, etc.

Tags: damages for animal companionship, Georgia, not about the money

Police macing victim: sorry I sued for $5 million

Walter Olson — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 01:30:34 +0000

Championship bodybuilder Doug Burns, who sued the government of Redwood City, Calif. over an incident in which police scuffled with him not realizing that his erratic behavior was the result of insulin shock, defended his decision to file a suit but agreed that the dollar amount assigned was over the top. “The lawyers jacked up the amount, because they always expect to settle for less. ‘Something like this shouldn’t have a $5 million dollar price tag on it. I should have had a better look at the amount. It’s my fault,’ Doug told [blogger Amy Tenderich]“. (Diabetes Mine, Jun. 22).

Tags: California, not about the money, police

“Family of bus-slaying victim sues suspect, Greyhound, authorities”

Walter Olson — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 15:31:25 +0000

Canada: “The family of Tim McLean is suing Greyhound, the RCMP and the man suspected of committing the gruesome killing of the 22-year-old man aboard a bus in rural Manitoba in July.” (CBC, Sept. 2).

Tags: Canada, not about the money, third party liability for crime

College should have warned student not to run on street

Walter Olson — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 13:03:10 +0000

From the “Not About the Money” files; reader D.W. writes:

Seguin is about 35 miles east of downtown San Antonio. The deceased student/athlete was an adult, chose to run on a busy street despite ample on-campus facilities, and chose to run with traffic instead of facing it. The story doesn’t say, but the street in question is actually US90, possibly the heaviest traveled street in town aside from I-10. So naturally it’s the university’s fault she was struck and killed. Oh well, it could have been worse, at least they were only held 5% responsible.

(Ron Maloney, “Jury finds TLU partially responsible”, Seguin (Texas) Gazette-Enterprise, Aug. 29; more background here and here).

Tags: colleges and universities, not about the money, roads and streets, Texas

Overlawyered » not about the money

January 4 roundup

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