- Florida man and attorney file multiple ADA complaints against businesses in Seminole-Largo area [Tampa Bay Newspapers]
- “The growing ambitions of the food police”:
dietary paternalism in Bloomberg’s NYC and Washington, D.C. doesn’t go over well with writers at Slate [William Saletan, Jacob Weisberg, Katherine Mangu-Ward, Glenn Reynolds]
- Assumption of risk is alive and well in New York cases over sports and spectator injuries [Hochfelder first, second, third posts, NYLJ]
- Favorable review of William Patry, “Moral Panics and the Copyright Laws” [BoingBoing]
- Kentucky high school case: “Coach Acquitted in Player’s Heatstroke Death” [ABA Journal]
- Olivia Judson on the Singh case and the many problems with British libel law [NYT; earlier here, here, etc.]
- Kids behave stupidly with girlfriends/boyfriends or dates, then the law ruins their lives [Alkon, Balko, Sullivan]
- “Report a bad doctor to the authorities, go to jail?” [Orac/Respectful Insolence, Texas; disclosure of patient and official information alleged against nurses]
Tagged as:
ADA filing mills,
assumption of risk,
baseball,
crime and punishment,
nanny state,
New York,
obesity,
privacy,
sports,
United Kingdom
- High-profile Pennsylvania attorney John P. Karoly Jr. pleads guilty to tax evasion, faces possible prison term [Allentown Morning Call, Legal Intelligencer, Lehigh Valley Live, WFMZ, his website; earlier]
- Tennessee congressman pushes to overturn NBA age limit [Fanhouse, Sports Law Blog]
- $262 million in bankruptcy fees to date for Lehman, ultimate figure could approach $1 billion [Hartley]
- Complaint by gay altar server to Ontario Human Rights Tribunal menaces church’s autonomy [National Post via Box Turtle Bulletin]
- Lawsuit seeks shutdown of Domelights.com, private message board for Philadelphia cops that has had “racially offensive” posts and comments [CNN, Post @ Volokh] 2002 Sotomayor decision in Pappas v. Giuliani may be on point [Popehat, Kennerly]
- New Jersey organ scandal should come as little surprise given our failed policies on kidney donation [Satel, WSJ]
- Deputy D.A. arrested for drunk driving lands on her feet, hired by local DWI Resource Center [KRQE, Albuquerque]
- “San Diego Judge Denies Class Action Motions in 2007 Wildfires” [California Civil Justice]
Tagged as:
bankruptcy,
online speech,
Pennsylvania,
Philadelphia,
police,
San Diego,
sports,
wildfires
“A hearing-impaired Ohio State University football fan has sued the school, arguing that the university should offer captioning on the scoreboard and stadium televisions because he can’t hear the announcers.” [Akron Beacon-Journal]
Tagged as:
disabled rights,
Ohio,
sports
Newark Star-Ledger:
The mother of an East Orange man killed when Denver Nuggets guard J.R. Smith ran a stop sign in Millstone told authorities she didn’t want the NBA player to be prosecuted because she wants closure for her family.
But [she] is continuing a civil suit against the basketball star because Smith has not reformed his dangerous driving habits, which she contends caused the death of her 21-year-old son, Andre Bell, on June 9, 2007, her attorney said. …
Tagged as:
New Jersey,
sports
The Columbus Dispatch (national, local angles; via WSJ Law Blog) claims universities are using the federal student-privacy law, FERPA, to evade disclosure of information about league violations and other embarrassments in college sports programs. Others say given the law’s incentives it’s natural for administrators to err on the side of not sharing information of possible benefit to the public, as notoriously happened in the case of student/mass murderer Seung-Hui Cho.
Tagged as:
colleges and universities,
privacy,
sports
- The wages of addiction: former basketball star Roy Tarpley settles his $6.5 million ADA lawsuit against NBA and Dallas Mavericks [Randy Galloway, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Sports Law Blog]
- One result of litigation-fed “vaccines cause autism” scare: parents turn to dangerous quack treatments [Arthur Allen, Slate; in-depth coverage at Kathleen Seidel's and Orac's sites]
- Julie Hilden on First Circuit “true statements can be defamatory” ruling [FindLaw, earlier here and here]
- More coverage of conviction of Kentucky lawyers for grabbing much of fen-phen settlement [Louisville Courier-Journal, earlier]
- Judge dismisses most counts in lawsuit against Richard Laminack of Texas’s O’Quinn law firm [Texas Lawyer, earlier; FLSA overtime claims remain]
- All but three of the outstanding 9/11 airline suits due to settle for $500 million [AP/NorthJersey.com]
- One needn’t make the Community Reinvestment Act a scapegoat for unrelated credit woes to recognize it as an ill-conceived law [Bank Lawyer's Blog]
- U.K.: Woman who plays classical music to soothe horses told she must pay for public performance license [Telegraph]
Tagged as:
autism,
aviation,
banks,
copyright,
Dallas,
disabled rights,
Kentucky fen-phen settlement fraud,
September 11,
sports,
vaccines
- Those enviro-hazard warnings plastered all over because of Prop 65? They may be not merely pointless but untrue [California Civil Justice; a still-timely 2000 piece]
- Is it somehow wrong for a public medical examiner to testify against cops — even when it’s in another county? [Radley Balko, Reason]
- UCLA research scientists fight back against animal rights fanatics’ violence and intimidation [Orac/Respectful Insolence, "Pro-Test"]
- Ezra Levant, himself a target of Canada’s official speech tribunals, has written a new book denouncing them, buy before they ban it [Amazon; Andrew Coyne, Maclean's] Has odious censorship-complaint-filer Richard Warman finally gotten his comeuppance? [Ken @ Popehat] More: another Warman case [Cit Media Law]
- Roundup of recent sports/assumption of risk cases [John Hochfelder]
- Already in trouble on charges of faking a will, Allentown, Pa. police-brutality attorney John Karoly now faces tax charges including alleged failure to report $5 million in income for 2002, 2004 and 2005 [TaxGirl]
- Lawprof’s “Reparations, Reconciliation and Restorative Justice” seminar led to introduction of Maryland bill requiring insurers to disclose antebellum slaveholder policies [DelmarvaNow]
- Judge tosses suit by Clarksville, Tennessee officials against activists who called them cozy with developers [Sullum, Reason "Hit and Run"]
Tagged as:
animal rights,
assumption of risk,
California,
expert witnesses,
free speech in Canada,
insurers,
Maryland,
Prop 65,
reparations,
Richard Warman,
sports,
Tennessee
Self-described as “America’s Lifestyle Coach For Health And Wellness” and “the quintessential, cutting edge fitness advocate leader”, Michael Torchia says he intends to sue Nintendo over the fitness claims it explicitly or implicitly has made for its wildly popular Wii game system, which, as Patrick at Popehat notes, is a bit of a competitor to his own services. The main success of the strained action will predictably be in drawing public attention to Mr. Torchia, a process to which, alas, we appear to be contributing with this very post.
Tagged as:
publicity,
sports,
videogames
“Loss of consortium” claims are familiar when the underlying claim of injury is physical in nature. But for defamation and other verbal entanglements? The wife of Ole Miss basketball coach Andy Kennedy is advancing those claims in a suit against a Cincinnati taxi driver who charged Kennedy with assault, and a valet driver who backed up his claims. [Deadspin, NMC @ Folo]
Tagged as:
loss of consortium,
Mississippi,
sports
Gary Slapper does an annual roundup for the Times Online (U.K.). This one includes the case of a bodybuilder whose loud grunts while working out became intolerable to his neighbors, and a man in Macedonia who sued a bear for stealing honey. (Dec. 5).
Tagged as:
animals,
sports,
United Kingdom
One reason of many it’s a bad idea:
[Illinois Gov. Rod] Blagojevich, Harris and others are also alleged [in the federal indictment] to have withheld state assistance to the Tribune Company in connection with the sale of Wrigley Field. The statement says this was done to induce the firing of Chicago Tribune editorial board members who were critical of Blagojevich.
More: Eugene Volokh. Similarly: Patterico.
P.S.: “When the Tribune-owned Chicago Cubs wanted permission to install lights at Wrigley Field, Ald. Ed Vrdolyak let it be known it would require an end to editorial criticism of him. An editorial responded that the Cubs would ‘be playing morning games on a sandlot in Gary first.’ Vrdolyak — this will surprise you — is now headed for prison, another victim of Fitzgerald.” (Steve Chapman, Reason, Dec. 11).
Tagged as:
Chicago,
First Amendment,
Illinois,
newspapers,
sports
Medford, Mass.: 14-year-old Ashley Burns was performing an airborne role in a cheerleading routine when she fell and fatally ruptured her spleen. Now her mother is suing the gym where it happened, two accrediting organizations (the U.S. All Star Federation for Cheer and Dance Teams, and the American Association of Cheerleading Coaches and Administrators) and other defendants. (Donna Goodison, “Mom files lawsuit in cheerleader’s ’05 death”, Boston Herald, Oct. 21).
Tagged as:
cheerleading,
Massachusetts,
shotgun defendant selection,
sports
The (genuine) International Olympic Committee and other defendants should be made to pay, according to Texas-based class-action lawyer, Jim Moriarty, who wants “millions of dollars” for 400 victims worldwide. “The lawyer alleges the IOC was aware beijingticketing.com was operating with trademarked Olympic symbols emblazoned on the site,” but failed to act speedily enough or effectively in getting the impostor site shut down. (”Olympic ticket scam: class action”, Sydney Morning Herald, Sept. 23).
Tagged as:
Australia,
class actions,
shotgun defendant selection,
sports,
trademarks
