“A Russian court has ruled that an astrologer can sue NASA over plans to bombard a comet whose destruction would ‘disrupt the natural balance of the universe’.” Reversing a lower court, the panel ruled that it was appropriate for Russia to take jurisdiction over Marina Bai’s lawsuit, which demands $310 million. According to her lawyer, Alexandra Molokhova, Ms. Bai “believes that the project infringes upon her spiritual and life values, as well as the natural life of the cosmos”. (“Astrologer courts trouble for NASA”, Melbourne Age, May 8; Anna Arutunyan, “Russian Astrologist Plans to Crash NASA’s Independence Day”, MosNews, Apr. 19; “Russian astrologer seeks $310 million of moral damage compensation from NASA”, Pravda, May 6).
Archive for May, 2005
Like a John Steinbeck novel
“The Las Vegas man whose severed fingertip ended up in a cup of Wendy’s chili gave his mangled digit to a co-worker to settle a $50 debt — but had no idea it would be used in an alleged scheme to swindle the fast-food chain, the man’s mother said Tuesday.” (Alan Gathright and Meredith May, “Worker gave his finger to settle $50 debt”, San Francisco Chronicle, May 18)(see May 16, etc.).
Preschool expulsions
Researchers at the Yale Child Study Center led by Walter S. Gilliam have found that a surprisingly large number of 3 and 4 year olds are expelled from community and private preschools, perhaps 5,000 or more annually. Zero tolerance and liability fears may be among the factors at work: “The study did not gather information on why the children were expelled. But Dr. Gilliam said a wide range of behavior could lead to expulsion: aggression toward the teacher or other children; actions that violate a zero-tolerance policy, like taking a toy gun to school; or anything that might cause a teacher to worry about injury and liability, like running out of the classroom to the parking lot.” (emphasis added) (Tamar Lewin, “Research Finds a High Rate of Expulsions in Preschool”, New York Times, May 17). Last December the Times reported (Dec. 7) on how liability fears sometimes drive colleges’ decisions to impose involuntary leave on students; colleges, like preschools, generally enjoy greater flexibility in expulsion and discipline than do conventional K-12 public schools.
Coleman v. Morgan Stanley
Financier Ronald Perelman wins $604 million, with a request for punitive damages still to come, against Morgan Stanley on claims that the Wall Street firm defrauded him seven years ago when he sold camping equipment maker Coleman to Sunbeam Corp., a Morgan client. (Bloomberg/New York Times/AP). The unexpectedly large verdict came after the Florida state judge presiding over the case blasted Morgan and its law firm for not responding in a forthcoming way to requests for discovery of electronically stored records, and instructed the jury to infer that the withheld documents demonstrated fraud. Blog commentary: Monica Bay, Francis Pileggi, Lisa Stone (and earlier), Litigation Support Guy (and again), Tom Kirkendall (and earlier), Really Think. More: jury votes $850 million in punitive damages (Jill Barton, “Perelman Wins $1.4 Billion Total in Suit Against Morgan Stanley”, AP/Law.com, May 19); Tom Kirkendall comments (May 18). Updates Dec. 17: Morgan Stanley files appeal; Mar. 22, 2007: appeals court overturns verdict.
Negligent sex
Eugene Volokh and Christine Hurt (both May 17) analyze the Massachusetts case everyone is talking about, in which a man sued his girlfriend after suffering a particularly intimate (and awful-sounding) trauma in bed. The court decided that the standard for liability over sexually inflicted injury should be wantonness and recklessness, rather than mere lack of reasonable care.
“Spanish bosses must reveal ‘sleeping partners'”
This time it’s securities regulation, rather than sexual harassment law, that’s at odds with privacy: “In an attempt to crack down on insider trading, the directors of companies quoted on Spain’s stock exchange will have to come clean, on a twice-yearly basis, about anyone with whom they are having an ‘affectionate relationship’. … Company directors must also provide information about their wives or husbands and family, but it is the idea of a ‘lovers’ register’ — in which bosses could have to admit to having affairs or out themselves as gay — which has sparked reactions ranging from disbelief to fury among businessmen.” (Tony Jefferies, The Scotsman, May 12; Giles Tremlett, “Bosses told: list assets — including lovers”, The Guardian (UK), May 11; Amaya Iribar, “When love is a conflict of interest”, El Pais/INA Daily, May 16).
“Please disregard this mail if you received it without this disclaimer”
Ernie the Attorney has more (May 11) on boilerplate legal disclaimers, including the gem quoted above, which calls to mind for him the country song lyric, “if the phone don’t ring you’ll know it’s me”. (via Blawg Review #6)(see May 9).
Philly judges bearing checks
Just business as usual in Philadelphia:
Candidates for judge paraded before a gaggle of ward leaders assembled by consultant Pete Truman last Friday at the Airport Sheraton.
They entered one at a time. Each candidate handed each ward leader an envelope. Each envelope contained a check, $1,000 or $2,000, depending on the size of the ward.
If the ward leader planned to support the candidate in Tuesday’s Democratic primary, the check was accepted. If not, it was returned.
(Gar Joseph, “Like sheep being led to slaughter”, Philadelphia Daily News, May 13). And various Philadelphia political figures convicted of crimes have emerged after serving their sentences as practitioners of a largely unregulated trade, serving as campaign consultants to judges (Tom Ferrick Jr., “Judicial process isn’t all negative”, Philadelphia Inquirer, May 13).
Hospital infections, a real crime
How is Britain’s new Health Secretary, Patricia Hewitt, addressing public alarm about “superbug” infections in hospitals? In part by floating the idea of criminally prosecuting hospital personnel after infections break out. And of course prosecutors will never for a moment consider bringing such charges without strong evidence of culpable mens rea on the part of the hospital personnel. Right? (Andrew Sparrow, “Warning to hospitals over MRSA”, Daily Telegraph, May 16). Hat tip and thanks for the link: Michelle Malkin, May 16.