Overlawyered » pro se

Life lessons in cross-examination

Walter Olson — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 18:23:39 +0000

Do not ask a question that the adverse witness may answer in a way you will not like (”How did robber sound? ‘He sounded like you’”). [Allentown, Pa. Morning Call]

Tags: pro se

Suit: quality complaint over escort resulted in trauma

Walter Olson — Fri, 21 Jan 2011 05:25:23 +0000

A college student is suing a stripper-referral service, saying the assigned dancer engaged in an illegal act of prostitution with him but did not stay the full hour as promised. Proceeding pro se without a lawyer, the student “said he now needs medical treatment for a mental condition related to the incident.” When he complained to Las Vegas police about the incident, he says, they threatened to arrest him. He “said he also told the company he was incapable of making an informed agreement with the stripper because he was drunk at the time.” [Las Vegas Sun]

Man wounded in bar gunfight

Walter Olson — Mon, 03 Jan 2011 14:20:30 +0000

He loses a suit arguing that the bar should have checked patrons for weapons. [Point of Law]

Tags: criminals who sue, personal responsibility, pro se

“Rent Too High” candidate sues New York election board

Walter Olson — Tue, 23 Nov 2010 16:08:16 +0000

“The founder of ‘The Rent is Too Damn High Party’ is outraged that in 2006, when he ran for governor, and three years later, when he ran for mayor, the board took the world ‘Damn’ off his ballot line.” Officials say it was a matter of lack of space; in the last election they were able to accommodate his imprecation in the ballot heading by shortening the party title to, “Rent is 2 Damn High Party.” He’s representing himself and wants $350 million. [New York Post]

Tags: campaign regulation, NYC, pro se

October 25 roundup

Walter Olson — Mon, 25 Oct 2010 12:48:07 +0000

And she’s a psychology professor too: “Pro se litigant of the day” [ATL]
“Access to justice” makes handy slogan, but has its limits re: appeal bonds [Ted at PoL]
New Federalist Society white papers on Michigan, Illinois, California and Alabama supreme courts;
Per her opponent this year, CPSIA proponent and perennial Overlawyered bete noire Jan Schakowsky ranks as most left-wing member of Congress [ExtremeJan.com]
Naming opportunity at Faulkner U.’s Jones School of Law falls to Greg Jones of Beasley Allen [BA press release]
Lockyer pushes divestment of firms for taking wrong stance on ballot controversy [Coyote]
“Patent marking” suits continue to proliferate as Reps. Latta, Issa propose measures to curb opportunistic filings [Gray on Claims]
“South Carolina tobacco fees: how to farm money” [ten years ago on Overlawyered]

Tags: access to justice, Alabama, Bill Lockyer, California, Federalist Society, Illinois, Jan Schakowsky, Michigan, patent marking, pro se, South Carolina, state high courts

Lawyer’s suit against lawyer-rating service Avvo

Walter Olson — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 05:03:46 +0000

A Florida complainant might wind up digging himself a deeper hole, reputation-wise. [Above the Law]

Tags: pro se, watch what you say about lawyers

The story of Emery Joe Yost

Walter Olson — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 10:21:48 +0000

A Chicago parks supervisor, Mr. Yost reported a man behaving strangely, and wound up facing a decade’s worth of pro se suits that he says have cost him “well in excess of six figures.” [The Provocateur and related documents; CBS2Chicago; more from law firm representing Yost]

Tags: Chicago, pro se

January 27 roundup

Walter Olson — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 12:52:03 +0000

U.K.: Recruitment firm told ad for “reliable workers” would discriminate against the unreliable [Telegraph]
“Against Civil Gideon (and for Pro Se Court Reform)” [Benjamin Barton (Tennessee), SSRN, via Legal Ethics Forum]
Sewn-in “Made in USA” suit-label figures in tell-all book by John Edwards aide [WSJ "Washington Wire", Hotline On Call] Did Edwards, great denouncer of M.D.s’ errors, propose getting a doc to fake DNA results? [Charles Hurt/N.Y. Post]
Lucky cops! There just happened to be $672K in the car they stopped and they plan to keep it [Freeland] “The Forfeiture Racket: Police and prosecutors won’t give up their license to steal” [Radley Balko, Reason]
Family and Medical Leave Act doesn’t cover faith-healing trips that include a vacation aspect [Michael Maslanka, Texas Lawyer]
“Dangerism” — how society constructs what’s supposedly dangerous for kids [Free-Range Kids]
This is one of those links buried deep in a roundup that hardly any readers will actually get around to clicking [Chris Clarke]
Update: Landlord’s suit over critical Twitter post dismissed [Cit Media Law, AP/Chicago Tribune, Business Insider (court sides with defense argument that so much of it's just "pointless babble"); earlier here and here]
And: Did the press jump the gun with its report that it’s now lawful to import haggis into the U.S.? A letter to Andrew Sullivan says nothing has been decided yet, though the ban seems to be under review.

Tags: advertising, civil gideon, forfeiture, John Edwards, libel slander and defamation, pro se, Twitter, United Kingdom, workplace

Buys house near SFO, sues many parties over jet noise

Walter Olson — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 14:47:37 +0000

California: “Stanley Hilton, 60, of Hillsborough, said in unique court papers that his wife of 13 years divorced him and took their young triplets with her last year because of ‘around-the-clock’ jet noise at SFO. …Hilton last week sued (PDF) SFO, Hillsborough, the counties of San Mateo and San Francisco, dozens of airlines and jet manufacturers, and the real estate agents and couple that sold him his home on Darrell Road for $1.475 million in April 2003.” Hilton, who is representing himself pro se, “is a former civil litigation attorney with a law degree from Duke University and was an active member of the State Bar of California for most of the past three decades, records show. However, the Bar said courts deemed Hilton ineligible to practice law in August.” [San Mateo County Times, SF Chronicle "The Scavenger", Lowering the Bar.]

Tags: airlines, aviation, pro se, San Francisco, shotgun defendant selection

“Bank of America Sued for 1.784 Sextillion Dollars”

Walter Olson — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 04:07:55 +0000

Because a quadrillion just doesn’t sound like real money any more [Reuters via Lowering the Bar]. “If [complainant Chiscolm] thinks Bank of America has branches on every planet in the cosmos, then it might start to make some sense.”

Tags: damages, pro se

Overlawyered » pro se

Life lessons in cross-examination

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