Archive for November, 2005

Not about the money, cont’d

In our continuing series (see Jul. 5): the family of 58-year-old Gerald Glover, who became ill following the recent Toronto outbreak of Legionnaire’s Disease, is suing. “It’s never been about the money,” said his daughter Cheryl. The suit seeks class action status and asks C$600 million. (“Legionnaires’ class action suit seeks $600M”, CTV, Oct. 26) (via KevinMD). Other suits that were not about the money: Apr. 30, Jun. 15, Jun. 30, and Jul. 5, 2005; Aug. 16, 2004; Mar. 27-28 and Sept. 3-4, 2002; Apr. 24 and May 9, 2001; Jul. 26-27, 2000. And one that was: Jun. 14, 2001.

Update: Jamie Olis wins resentencing

Last year, as has been mentioned in this space (May 18, 2004, Oct. 19, 2005) a Texas judge handed down a sentence of 24 years in prison to Dynegy executive Jamie Olis, convicted by a jury of committing accounting fraud which advanced his employer’s aims but from which he did not benefit personally. Now Fifth Circuit Judge Edith Jones has handed down a ruling (PDF) finding that Olis is entitled to resentencing and laying down guidance which likely will result in a shorter sentence. Tom Kirkendall is covering the story as usual (Nov. 1, Nov. 4) as is Larry Ribstein (Nov. 1).

Outdoor smoking bans

Advancing toward prohibition, 25 feet at a time:

On Tuesday, Washington state voters will consider the first statewide ban on smoking within 25 feet of buildings that prohibit smoking….

Limits on smoking outdoors have taken off in the past two years, says Maggie Hopkins of the American Non-smokers’ Rights Foundation.

Among the examples: many beaches in California (see Jun. 24, 2004), and hospital grounds in Iowa: “Patients and visitors will have to trek off hospital grounds — one campus is 44 acres — to smoke.” (Dennis Cauchon, “Smoke-free zones extend outdoors”, USA Today, Nov. 1). See Jul. 27 (smoking while driving); Aug. 15 (prison terms proposed for smoking too close to buildings).

Flimsy numbers behind Canadian gun suit

Prime Minister Paul Martin incorrectly blamed the United States for gun crime in Canada by using an unsubstantiated figure to assert that 50 per cent of this country’s gun crimes involve smuggled firearms, U.S. Ambassador David Wilkins said yesterday.

Mr. Wilkins said that Canadian officials admitted in meetings with U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice this week “that that figure was just grabbed out of thin air.”…

The figure, which others have used previously, is not based on any statistical study that could be traced by The Globe and Mail, and police forces and other authorities said yesterday it is not verifiable.

“I know that figure of 50 per cent has been bandied about, but no one can substantiate that figure,” said Staff Sergeant Paul Marsh, a spokesman for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.

As noted Oct. 24, Martin’s government says it is considering suing American gun manufacturers for failing to prevent the smuggling of their products across the border. (Campbell Clark, “Don’t blame U.S. for gun crime, Canada told”, Globe and Mail, Oct. 27).

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“Grandpa is sued over grandson’s downloads”

“A 67-year-old man who says he doesn’t even like watching movies has been sued by the film industry for copyright infringement after a grandson of his downloaded four movies on their home computer.” The Motion Picture Association of America earlier demanded $4,000 from Fred Lawrence of Racine, Wisc. and is now suing him for as much as $600,000 in damages. Lawrence says the grandson, who was 12 at the time, downloaded the files out of curiosity and deleted them immediately; the family already owned three of the four films on DVD. (AP/Business Week, Nov. 2).

“Gripe site” protected as opinion

Continuing a trend toward the protection of “gripe sites” as free speech, a Manhattan judge has ruled that a New Jersey man’s website assailing an auto warranty company did not constitute actionable defamation. Penn Warranty Corp. sued Ronald DiGiovanni over eight allegedly libelous statements posted on his site, including assertions that it is a “blatantly dishonest company” that has been “running scams,” “committing fraud on a grand scale,” and “ripping off its contract holders for quite a while.” The judge granted DiGiovanni’s request for a summary judgment dismissing the action, however, ruling that “the web site, when viewed in its full context, reveals that defendant is a disgruntled consumer and that his statements reflect his personal opinion based upon his personal dealings with plaintiff. They are subjective expressions of consumer dissatisfaction [and] are not actionable because they are defendant’s personal opinion.” (Mark Fass, “Court Finds ‘Gripe Site’ Is Protected Free Speech, Not Defamation”, New York Law Journal, Nov. 1).