Gene Healy on discovering the topic of family law: “Here was an interesting area of law; and by interesting, I mean insane. … what really woke me up was the concept of ‘imputed income’ for alimony and child support. That means, not your actual income, but what you could make if you were really giving it your all and living up to your potential.” Thus in a Virginia case, a divorced man subject to heavy support obligations knowingly switched to a lower-pressure, lower-paying job. “Tough, said the judge. You’re liable for what you could make, not what you actually make. And that’s the law. Guys, if you want that wonderful pulse-racing, chest-tightening feeling you get from the kind of bad dreams where you show up late for an exam you didn’t know you were scheduled for — then click this link to a California divorce lawyer’s page.” (“The Marriage Strike”, AFF Brainwash, Aug. 31)(& letter to the editor, Sept. 18).
Archive for 2003
Monsanto vs. free speech
The giant chemical and agribusiness company is suing the Oakhurst Dairy in Maine “for promoting its products as containing milk from cows who are not treated with artificial growth hormones. Monsanto, which makes the leading artificial hormone for cows, said the marketing implies that there’s something wrong with milk from treated cows, even though studies show the milk is no different than milk from untreated cows.” (Edward D. Murphy, “On the front lines of free speech”, Portland Press Herald, Aug. 31; Kristen Philipkosky, “Sour Grapes over Milk Labeling”, Wired News, Sept. 16). As the Press-Herald’s Murphy suggests, this kind of suit can work very similarly to one like Nike v. Kasky in chilling controversial business speech, the difference being that in this case one business is doing it to another.
“Ten things your lawyer won’t tell you”
You may be shocked to find how little you’ll net from the proceeds of your lawsuit, how little experience your lawyer has, or how hard it is to proceed against him later if you think he has wronged you. Where are the consumer protectionists demanding advance disclosure? (Brigid McMenamin, Smart Money, Sept. 15)(for more on these issues, don’t miss EthicalEsq?’s “Informing Consumers” section)(its comments on this post).
“Man who claimed he fell down pothole must pay back ?238,000”
“Gary Prentice, 45, a former forklift truck driver, looks certain to lose the executive home, worth an estimated ?200,000, that he bought with the pay-out. … [As] news spread of the payment five years after the accident, neighbours began to question Mr Prentice’s version. They said he had not broken his ankle on a grassed area maintained by East Cambridgeshire district council but had done it while playing with his stepson.” Moral: watch out for those pesky neighbors (David Sapsted, Daily Telegraph, Sept. 11). “Speaking in Los Angeles on Monday, Lord Levene, Lloyd’s chairman, attacked America’s compensation culture as ‘pernicious, cancerous and ruinous’ and added that Britain was ‘falling into the same abyss’.” (“A litigious nation” (editorial), Daily Telegraph, Sept. 17).
“Man who claimed he fell down pothole must pay back ?238,000”
“Gary Prentice, 45, a former forklift truck driver, looks certain to lose the executive home, worth an estimated ?200,000, that he bought with the pay-out. … [As] news spread of the payment five years after the accident, neighbours began to question Mr Prentice’s version. They said he had not broken his ankle on a grassed area maintained by East Cambridgeshire district council but had done it while playing with his stepson.” Moral: watch out for those pesky neighbors (David Sapsted, Daily Telegraph, Sept. 11). “Speaking in Los Angeles on Monday, Lord Levene, Lloyd’s chairman, attacked America’s compensation culture as ‘pernicious, cancerous and ruinous’ and added that Britain was ‘falling into the same abyss’.” (“A litigious nation” (editorial), Daily Telegraph, Sept. 17).
“Man who claimed he fell down pothole must pay back ?238,000”
“Gary Prentice, 45, a former forklift truck driver, looks certain to lose the executive home, worth an estimated ?200,000, that he bought with the pay-out. … [As] news spread of the payment five years after the accident, neighbours began to question Mr Prentice’s version. They said he had not broken his ankle on a grassed area maintained by East Cambridgeshire district council but had done it while playing with his stepson.” Moral: watch out for those pesky neighbors (David Sapsted, Daily Telegraph, Sept. 11). “Speaking in Los Angeles on Monday, Lord Levene, Lloyd’s chairman, attacked America’s compensation culture as ‘pernicious, cancerous and ruinous’ and added that Britain was ‘falling into the same abyss’.” (“A litigious nation” (editorial), Daily Telegraph, Sept. 17).
“Man who claimed he fell down pothole must pay back ?238,000”
“Gary Prentice, 45, a former forklift truck driver, looks certain to lose the executive home, worth an estimated ?200,000, that he bought with the pay-out. … [As] news spread of the payment five years after the accident, neighbours began to question Mr Prentice’s version. They said he had not broken his ankle on a grassed area maintained by East Cambridgeshire district council but had done it while playing with his stepson.” Moral: watch out for those pesky neighbors (David Sapsted, Daily Telegraph, Sept. 11). “Speaking in Los Angeles on Monday, Lord Levene, Lloyd’s chairman, attacked America’s compensation culture as ‘pernicious, cancerous and ruinous’ and added that Britain was ‘falling into the same abyss’.” (“A litigious nation” (editorial), Daily Telegraph, Sept. 17).
“Man who claimed he fell down pothole must pay back ?238,000”
“Gary Prentice, 45, a former forklift truck driver, looks certain to lose the executive home, worth an estimated ?200,000, that he bought with the pay-out. … [As] news spread of the payment five years after the accident, neighbours began to question Mr Prentice’s version. They said he had not broken his ankle on a grassed area maintained by East Cambridgeshire district council but had done it while playing with his stepson.” Moral: watch out for those pesky neighbors (David Sapsted, Daily Telegraph, Sept. 11). “Speaking in Los Angeles on Monday, Lord Levene, Lloyd’s chairman, attacked America’s compensation culture as ‘pernicious, cancerous and ruinous’ and added that Britain was ‘falling into the same abyss’.” (“A litigious nation” (editorial), Daily Telegraph, Sept. 17).
“Man who claimed he fell down pothole must pay back ?238,000”
“Gary Prentice, 45, a former forklift truck driver, looks certain to lose the executive home, worth an estimated ?200,000, that he bought with the pay-out. … [As] news spread of the payment five years after the accident, neighbours began to question Mr Prentice’s version. They said he had not broken his ankle on a grassed area maintained by East Cambridgeshire district council but had done it while playing with his stepson.” Moral: watch out for those pesky neighbors (David Sapsted, Daily Telegraph, Sept. 11). “Speaking in Los Angeles on Monday, Lord Levene, Lloyd’s chairman, attacked America’s compensation culture as ‘pernicious, cancerous and ruinous’ and added that Britain was ‘falling into the same abyss’.” (“A litigious nation” (editorial), Daily Telegraph, Sept. 17).
“Man who claimed he fell down pothole must pay back ?238,000”
“Gary Prentice, 45, a former forklift truck driver, looks certain to lose the executive home, worth an estimated ?200,000, that he bought with the pay-out. … [As] news spread of the payment five years after the accident, neighbours began to question Mr Prentice’s version. They said he had not broken his ankle on a grassed area maintained by East Cambridgeshire district council but had done it while playing with his stepson.” Moral: watch out for those pesky neighbors (David Sapsted, Daily Telegraph, Sept. 11). “Speaking in Los Angeles on Monday, Lord Levene, Lloyd’s chairman, attacked America’s compensation culture as ‘pernicious, cancerous and ruinous’ and added that Britain was ‘falling into the same abyss’.” (“A litigious nation” (editorial), Daily Telegraph, Sept. 17).