Overlawyered » Russia

October 14 roundup

Walter Olson — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 04:44:05 +0000

Uh-huh: new report from federal Legal Services program calls for gigantic new allocation of tax money to, well, legal services programs [ABA Journal]
“Judge: Man’s a ‘vexatious litigator’” [Cincinnati.com]
Wisconsin governor signs bill requiring prescription to buy mercury thermometer [Popehat]
“Injured by art?” Woman sues Museum of Fine Arts Houston after fall in artist-designed light tunnel [Mary Flood, Houston Chronicle "Legal Trade"]
On Carol Browner and the cry of “environmental racism” (a/k/a “green redlining”) [Coyote]
New York: “Lawyers implicated in $9 million mortgage fraud” [Business Insider]
In Canada, as in the U.S., medical privacy rules hamper police investigations [Calgary Herald]
Stalin’s grandson loses lawsuit in Russia against newspaper that supposedly defamed the dictator [WSJ Law Blog, Lowering the Bar, Volokh]

Tags: art and artists, Canada, Cincinnati, environment, HIPAA, Houston, legal services programs, mortgages, redlining, Russia, serial litigants, Wisconsin

October 14 roundup is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

“Grandson Claims Newspaper Libeled Josef Stalin”

Walter Olson — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 04:08:24 +0000

Sheldon Toplitt (Unruly of Law) and Ron Coleman discuss a legal action recently filed in Russia.

Tags: libel slander and defamation, Russia

“Grandson Claims Newspaper Libeled Josef Stalin” is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

“Russian Court Says U.S. Band Needs License to Play Its Own Songs”

Walter Olson — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 15:44:06 +0000

Lowering the Bar has the curious details.

Tags: copyright, music and musicians, Russia

“Russian Court Says U.S. Band Needs License to Play Its Own Songs” is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

June 5 roundup

Walter Olson — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 15:04:22 +0000

“I believe it’s frivolous; I believe it’s ridiculous, and I believe it’s asinine”: Little Rock police union votes lopsidedly not to join federal “don/doff” wage-hour lawsuit asking pay for time spent on uniform changes [Arkansas Democrat Gazette courtesy U.S. Chamber]
Must-read Roger Parloff piece on furor over law professors’ selling of ethics opinions [Fortune; background links @ PoL]
Too rough on judge-bribing Mississippi lawyers? Like Rep. Conyers at House Judiciary, but maybe not for same reasons, we welcome renewed attention to Paul Minor case [Clarion-Ledger]
American Airlines backs off its plan to put Logan skycaps on salary-only following loss in tip litigation [Boston Globe; earlier]
U.K.: Infamous Yorkshire Ripper makes legal bid for freedom, civil liberties lawyer says his human rights have been breached [Independent]
In long-running campaign to overturn Feres immunity for Army docs, latest claim is that military knowingly withholds needed therapy so as to return soldiers to front faster [New York Rep. Maurice Hinchey on CBS; a different view from Happy Hospitalist via KevinMD]
Profs. Alan Dershowitz and Robert Blakey hired to back claim that Russian government can invoke U.S. RICO law in its own courts to sue Bank of New York for $22 billion [WSJ law blog, earlier @ PoL]
Minnesota Supreme Court declines to ban spanking by parents [Star-Tribune, Pioneer Press]
Following that very odd $112 million award (knocked down from $1 billion) to Louisiana family in Exxon v. Grefer, it’s the oil firm’s turn to offer payouts to local neighbors suffering common ailments [Times-Picayune, UPI]
AG Jerry Brown “has been suing, or threatening to sue, just about anyone who doesn’t immediately adhere” to his vision of building California cities up rather than out [Dan Walters/syndicated]
Virginia high school principal ruled entitled to disability for his compulsion to sexually harass women [eight years ago on Overlawyered]

Tags: airlines, California, child protection, environment, ethics, Jerry Brown, labor unions, law schools, Louisiana, Minnesota, Paul Minor, prisoners, racketeering and RICO, Russia, United Kingdom, wage and hour suits

June 5 roundup is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Two more hot coffee lawsuit data points

Ted Frank — Thu, 02 Nov 2006 10:31:12 +0000

Add the Stony Brook University Hospital cafeteria to the list of servers unsuccessfully sued over burns caused by hot coffee. If you recall, the theory of the McDonald’s coffee case (and repeated by such trial lawyer defenders as congressional candidate Bruce Braley) was that McDonald’s, and only McDonald’s, served coffee so hot as to burn. For some reason, the reporter for the New York Law Journal tries to leave the reader with the impression that the original Stella Liebeck case was justifiable (though that opinion is irrelevant to the article itself) which shows how successful trial lawyer propaganda has been within the legal community and press. (John Caher, “N.Y. Judge Cool to Injury Claims Over Spilled Coffee”, New York Law Journal, Nov. 2). We earlier listed other hot coffee lawsuit defendants.

Speaking of which, you may recall the Russian McDonald’s coffee case litigation that we covered a year ago, with identical allegations from a woman who spilled coffee on herself; the press is reporting that the plaintiff has dropped her case. As in the Stella Liebeck case, the Russian McDonald’s had a warning on the coffee cup that the contents were hot. (“Moscow McDonald’s coffee-spill case closed”, RIA Novosti, 1 Nov.).

Tags: hospitals, hot coffee, McDonald's, Russia, Stella Liebeck

Two more hot coffee lawsuit data points is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Muscovite files McDonald’s coffee-spill case

Walter Olson — Fri, 19 Nov 2004 04:05:45 +0000

“The fashion to sue fast food enterprises has reached Russia. Thirty-seven-year-old Muscovite Olga Kuznetsova claimed a 100,000 ruble ($3,500) compensation from McDonald’s for the burn that a spilled cup of coffee had left on her body.” (Pravda, Nov. 15; Novosti, Nov. 12). For Ted’s take on the much-discussed Stella Liebeck case, see Dec. 10, 2003, Aug. 3, 2004, and Aug. 4, 2004.

Tags: hot coffee, McDonald's, Russia

Muscovite files McDonald’s coffee-spill case is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system