As previously mentioned, I’ll be at the University of Colorado Apr. 5-9 participating in the 56th Conference on World Affairs and expect to do little if any posting until next weekend (schedule of panels I’ll be on).
Archive for April, 2004
Update: “compulsory chapel for lawyers” upheld
The Minnesota Supreme Court has ruled that it is constitutional to require lawyers to attend periodic classes on eliminating bias, rejecting the contention that such courses amount to a form of compulsory indoctrination. (“High court upholds required anti-bias classes for lawyers”, AP/Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Mar. 25; David L. Hudson, Jr., “Required Course on Bias Upheld”, ABA Journal eReportl, Apr. 2). See Nov. 21 and links from there. For a defense of the program, see David Giacalone, Mar. 25.
Tipsy totterer: I didn’t mean to sue airline
Curious update to our item of three days ago: Floyd Shuler, who slipped on an escalator after drinking on a flight, now says he “didn’t intend for the suit to be filed. ‘I learned about the filing of the lawsuit against US Airways … along with everyone else,’ Shuler said. ‘It was never my intent to take on the airline industry. I apologize for any inconvenience this has caused US Airways.’ Shuler’s attorney, Paul Kutcher, did not return a phone call from The Associated Press seeking comment.” (“Man Drops Suit Filed Against Airline After He Drank Booze, Fell”, AP/Tampa Bay Online, Apr. 1).
“The Great Car-Rental Wipeout”
William Tucker, writing in the New York Sun (Apr. 1), explores the ruinous consequences of the state’s vicarious-liability law for independent car rental agencies (via Spartacus). See our piece of last Jun. 9 as well as Jul. 14 and links from there. More: Chrysler has now joined GM and Ford in refusing to lease in New York, while Honda has resumed offering leases, but at special high prices intended to compensate for the state law. (“Chrysler to stop leasing in New York”, Bloomberg/Detroit Free Press, Mar. 26)
New batch of reader letters
We’ve posted four more entries from our still backed-up pipeline of reader letters, on our letters page. Among topics this time: the unsuccessful suit demanding that taller airline passengers get first dibs on roomy exit-row seating; big business’s enthusiasm (sometimes) for antitrust law; the now-defunct database which offered to track patients who sue doctors; and fear of volunteer plumbers.
Reparations: the British must pay
Three new reparations campaigns are aimed at perfidious Albion; if they succeed, we propose going after them for their burning of American towns during the Revolutionary War and War of 1812:
* In Buenos Aires, Argentina, Carlos Traboulsi, who is president of the local Christian Democrats, has filed a $67 billion (U.S.) claim against Britain in a local court, citing the unlawful occupation/exploitation of the Falklands/Malvinas islands since 1833 as well as “the theft of the River Plate Viceroy treasury in 1806”. What, didn’t any lawyers advise him to file in a U.S. court? (“67 billion dollars claim for ‘Malvinas usurpation'”, MercoPress, Mar. 10.)
* Ten plaintiffs are suing Lloyd’s of London in New York, demanding that it pay reparations for having written insurance on slave ships hundreds of years ago (“Slave descendants to sue Lloyd’s”, BBC, Mar. 29). Some in the British press are taking at face value the image attorney Edward Fagan would like to present of himself as the “feared New York lawyer who extracted huge Nazi gold settlements from German and Swiss companies” (“Slave descendants sue Lloyd’s for billions”, The Observer, Mar. 28); they should have read our Jun. 24-25, 2002 report (see also Aug. 8, 2003; Jan. 17-19, 2003; Nov. 17-19, 2001).
* “A half forgotten colonial expedition to subjugate a querulous African kingdom more than a century ago could bankrupt Britain if a Ugandan king succeeds in bringing a ?3.7 trillion suit against the Crown.” During a five-year war in the 1890s the British deposed King Kabalega II of the Bunyoro kingdom, and his descendant, named King Solomon, has now retained lawyers in both Uganda and London and plans a legal action in the latter city. “But the king’s compensation claims do not appear to enjoy much support from his subjects. ‘This is very wrong,’ said Aisha Kungozo, 24, a teacher who runs a tiny school for 16 children in the village of Mparo outside Bunyoro’s capital, Hoima, where the royal palace is situated. ‘The British built schools and houses for us. They gave us medicine. They did more to help us than any omukama [king] ever did.'” (Adrian Blomfield, “African king aims to bankrupt Britain”, Daily Telegraph, Mar. 13).
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U.K.: “New law threatens Punch and Judy shows”
“Punch and Judy, the puppets who have thrilled British children for almost 350 years, may disappear from Britain’s beaches because of a new law requiring puppeteers to apply for entertainment licences.” There are currently 300 Punch and Judy shows across Britain, typically roving from one spot to another where there are strolling families. The “booths are already liable to inspection from councils. The new rules will force them to apply for an additional entertainment licence each time they change pitch, which will not only be expensive but could take up to four weeks to process.” (Rajeev Syal and Graham Mole, “That’s not the way to do it: new law threatens Punch and Judy shows”, Daily Telegraph, Mar. 21). The law could also imperil other traditional English street entertainments such as strolling clowns and — yipes — Morris dancing (“Circus clowns say show must go on”, BBC, Mar. 24). Update Jan. 2, 2006: law took effect in November with only limited exemptions.
Update: rescuers can’t sue over shock of witnessing disaster scene
Sanity prevails in the Carlsbad, N.M. case we noted last Jul. 25: “A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit filed on behalf of 26 firefighters and emergency medical personnel seeking damages from El Paso Natural Gas Co. for emotional pain and suffering they say they suffered after an August 2000 pipeline explosion.” The emergency response personnel were physically uninjured themselves but wanted cash for the trauma of witnessing the disaster scene. U.S. District Judge William Lynch, however, cited a longstanding principle of law known as the firefighter’s rule, which “states that a firefighter or police officer is prohibited from recovering damages for injuries arising from the normal, inherent and foreseeable risks of his profession.” (Erin Green, “Firefighters’ lawsuit dismissed”, Carlsbad Current-Argus, Mar. 22).