Overlawyered » third party liability for crime

“Provoke bar fight; get beat up in parking lot; sue bar — and maybe win”

Walter Olson — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 10:30:41 +0000

Ryan Koopmans summarizes a baffling Iowa Supreme Court case in which a 4-3 majority of justices decided a bowling alley owner could be sued for having thrown a customer out for insulting a second customer, who — after reacting calmly at the time — then went out to the parking lot and committed violence on his provoker:

So what are the takeaways from the Hoyt decision? For bar and restaurant owners: It’s not enough to kick out an aggressive bar patron; unless you want to pay the cost of litigation and a full trial, your employees should call the police every time one patron taunts another, or, at the very least, they should personally escort every trash-talker to his car.

The takeaway for police departments: You’re going to need more officers.

Tags: Iowa, restaurants, third party liability for crime

“Provoke bar fight; get beat up in parking lot; sue bar — and maybe win” is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Teen throws concrete onto highway, truck driver gravely injured

Walter Olson — Mon, 15 Apr 2013 10:44:56 +0000

Now guess who gets sued? [Ted Frank/PoL; Collins v. Navistar, California]

Tags: autos, California, deep pocket, roads and streets, third party liability for crime

Teen throws concrete onto highway, truck driver gravely injured is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

“Idaho inmates: The beer made us do it”

Walter Olson — Thu, 03 Jan 2013 04:06:49 +0000

“[Keith Allen] Brown and four other inmates at Idaho’s Kuna facility are suing major beer companies, blaming their crimes on alcoholism and claiming that the companies are responsible because they don’t warn consumers that their products are addictive.” The laudatory Nicholas Kristof column practically writes itself, though one should note that the inmates “do not have attorneys and drafted the lawsuit themselves.” [Idaho Statesman]

Tags: alcohol, Idaho, prisoners, third party liability for crime

“Idaho inmates: The beer made us do it” is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Washington: “high court allows lawsuit over 911 response”

Walter Olson — Sun, 02 Dec 2012 16:22:44 +0000

“The family of a man shot and killed by his neighbor in Skagit County can proceed to trial on claims that the county’s emergency communications center mishandled its response to his panicked 911 call, Washington’s Supreme Court ruled.” According to his family, a 911 operator told William Munich that help was on the way but did not code the call as an emergency; a sheriff’s deputy showed up 18 minutes later, by which time Munich had been shot by the irate neighbor. “I am concerned the majority’s decision will put unwarranted pressure on every statement made by 911 operators, straining communications that depend on the free flow of information,” wrote dissenting Justice James Johnson. [KOMO; Munich (Gayle) v. Skagit Emergency Communications Center, holding, dissent (wrong link fixed now); background on Washington's unusual approach to sovereign immunity]

P.S. Another Washington sovereign liability case of interest: Robb v. City of Seattle, “Whether the city of Seattle may be liable in an action for wrongful death brought by the survivor of a murder victim based on the failure of police to confiscate ammunition while detaining the murderer for questioning just before the murder occurred.” [Temple of Justice]

Tags: emergency services, police, sovereign immunity, third party liability for crime, Washington state

Washington: “high court allows lawsuit over 911 response” is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Torts roundup

Walter Olson — Tue, 27 Nov 2012 04:05:42 +0000

Adventures in causation: Per $19 million Mississippi verdict, fumes from leftover gasoline caused birth defects, asthma [Insurance Journal]
Legal academia watch: lawprof proposes massive expansion of liability for parents [TortsProf]
University of Virginia’s torts giant: “A Tribute To Jeffrey O’Connell” [U.Va. Dean Paul Mahoney, Virginia Law Review (PDF) via TortsProf]
“Proposed civil justice reform in Canada” [Ted Frank]
“Town Owes $10M To Pupil Paralyzed In School Beating” [New Jersey Law Journal; Irvington, N.J.]
Businesses steer clear of Philadelphia litigation climate [Jim Copland, Inquirer; Trial Lawyers Inc. update]
Longtime West Virginia attorney general Darrell McGraw, disliked by business, toppled in re-election bid [Charleston Gazette-Mail]

Tags: family law, law schools, Mississippi, Philadelphia, third party liability for crime, tort reform, toxic torts, Virginia, West Virginia

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

October 31 roundup

Walter Olson — Wed, 31 Oct 2012 04:07:24 +0000

Not the norm yet, fortunately: “Playgroup suspended for lack of insurance” [Lenore Skenazy, Free-Range Kids]
Chicago pol’s idea for bullet tax may sound clever but isn’t [Steve Chapman]
UK: “Litigation culture draining billions from hospitals and schools” [Telegraph, Independent, Spiked Online; Center for Policy Studies]
Yielding to feds, Oakland will adopted “targeted reductions” in discipline for minority students [Bader]
Judge: Italian businesses should sue over Costa Concordia in Italy, not here [USA Today]
“Deep pockets files: Greensboro apartment complex murder” [Ted Frank, PoL]
Funniest Posner parody ever? [Kyle Graham, Non Curat Lex]

Tags: cruise ships, forum shopping, guns, humor, insurance, Italy, recreation, Richard Posner, school discipline, third party liability for crime, United Kingdom

October 31 roundup is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

“I believe that the primary responsibility at this point rests with Cinemark”

Walter Olson — Thu, 27 Sep 2012 11:15:37 +0000

Yes, it’s a lawyer — and from a reasonably well-known New York firm at that — blaming the theater operator for the Aurora, Colo. attack [Abnormal Use ("It is interesting that Mr. Bern chose to say the 'primary responsibility' for the shooting lies with Cinemark. I would have probably placed the primary responsibility on the guy with the gun who was actually doing the shooting"), earlier; BBC]

Tags: Colorado, third party liability for crime

“I believe that the primary responsibility at this point rests with Cinemark” is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Long-necked beer bottle maker not liable for barroom assault

Walter Olson — Fri, 24 Aug 2012 11:10:47 +0000

A Texas appeals court has affirmed the dismissal of a lawsuit seeking to hold Anheuser-Busch liable for an assault suffered by a bar patron. The suit alleged that the long-neck design of the bottle made it too attractive for assailants seeking a weapon; the court agreed with the brewer that the plaintiff had failed to make out a sufficient case to avoid summary judgment. [Wajert, Mass Tort Defense]

Tags: beer and brewers, product liability, Texas, third party liability for crime

Long-necked beer bottle maker not liable for barroom assault is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

By reader acclaim: first suit filed in Colorado theater shooting

Walter Olson — Wed, 25 Jul 2012 12:50:29 +0000

Attorney Donald Karpel, representing a theatergoer, plans to sue the theater in Aurora, Colo., the doctors who prescribed medications for the killer, and Warner Brothers, for “rampant violence” in its Batman movie. [TMZ] Suits against movie studios, at least, unlikely to prevail, so let’s be thankful for small sanities [Reuters] “That a cinema should prepare to repel a concerted paramilitary attack is only reasonable In Times Like These.” [George Wallace] More: Ken at Popehat.

Tags: Colorado, movies film and videos, third party liability for crime

By reader acclaim: first suit filed in Colorado theater shooting is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

“Thanks for saving my life. That’ll cost you $5 million.”

Walter Olson — Tue, 26 Jun 2012 04:24:51 +0000

Ellen Shane, 62, of Carteret, N.J., was taken hostage at knifepoint by a parolee at Woodbridge Center Mall and was freed only when a police officer shot the criminal dead. Now she “plans to sue the township for $5 million, claiming it failed to protect public safety and that she was injured as a result of the officer’s acts. Both Shane and her husband, Ronald Shane, ‘are suffering from post traumatic stress syndrome and both have been dramatized from this incident,’ according to the tort claim notice filed by their lawyer, David Corrigan of Eatontown’.” It alleges that the officer should “attempt[ed] to resolve the situation” by other means before shooting. [Tom Haydon, Newark Star-Ledger via AnnMarie McDonald, NJLRA, from which the headline is taken]

Tags: New Jersey, third party liability for crime

“Thanks for saving my life. That’ll cost you $5 million.” is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system