ATLA and its surrogates would have you believe that the McDonald’s coffee case reflected the unique circumstances of one chain that sold coffee hotter than anyone else. We’ve been telling you for a while that that’s not true, and there’s now another datapoint in Oklahoma. Donna Aslanis purchased two cups of coffee from a Rolla, Missouri, Burger King drive-thru in 1998, but burned herself severely when she spilled the coffee while pouring it into a plastic container in her lap, and sued in 2002, complaining that the employee failed to tell her that the coffee was hot. The case went into mediation and settled; the amount (if any) of settlement was not disclosed. Her lawyer was Steven Paulus. (Ryan Slight, “Woman settles in hot coffee lawsuit”, News-Leader, Mar. 7). (More on Stella Liebeck.)
Archive for 2006
Deep pocket files: You can always move the hotel, right?
Ryan Taboada was shot eight times in the process of a carjacking in a Roanoke, Virginia, Holiday Inn Express parking lot; his assailant, Derrick Wakie Smith, has since pleaded guilty to attempted capital murder and many other felonies. But Taboada’s lawsuit blames the hotel owners, claiming “that police officials warned the business… that the property’s location posed certain dangers to its customers.” (Christina Rogers, “Virginia Supreme Court rules shooting victim can sue motel”, Roanoke Times, Mar. 7; Ryan Taboada v. Daly Seven, Inc. (Va. Mar. 3, 2006)). Previous Virginia law only imposed a duty when the danger was “imminent.”
“Man Charged In Prostitution Ring Sues Clients”
Partners in crime dept.: “A Dutch man who served time in jail and was deported for running one of the largest escort services in the Southeast has sued six former customers.” Arthur Vanmoor, 46, who used aliases such as “Big Pimpin’ Pappy” and whose South Florida enterprise “accounted for up to 90 percent of the escort service listings in Broward County’s 2002 Yellow Pages”, claims his customers got him in trouble by breaking the law and violating their contracts with him. “To pay the $245-per-hour escort fee, the men signed a credit card slip that said, ‘Cardholder states that this transaction is not for illegal activity,’ said Vanmoor’s attorney, Montgomery Sibley.” (AP/NBC6.net, Feb. 27).
Montgomery Sibley, attorney for Vanmoor, appeared on Tucker Carlson’s “The Situation” Mar. 1 to explain his client’s case; see this amusing account with video. A Google search reveals that a Florida attorney named Montgomery Blair Sibley, proceeding pro se, sued federal judicial officials including the nine members of the U.S. Supreme Court (including “Steven” Breyer) demanding a million dollars in damages from the Justices individually for various purported offenses which included not granting certiorari review to a domestic dispute Sibley was involved in. Sibley took his case up to the Eleventh Circuit (PDF), but did not prevail.
According to the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, “Vanmoor is known for his litigious nature. In the past decade, he has been a plaintiff or defendant in 29 lawsuits in Broward County alone. He has sued businesses that challenged him, police departments that investigated him, an assistant state attorney who prosecuted him and journalists who reported on him.” (Sean Gardiner, “Man charged in Broward prostitution ring sues his clients”, Feb. 27). The alleged johns have not been named in the latest round of news coverage, so far as a cursory search of coverage reveals. One wonders whether the possibility of such publicity might be one factor influencing the prospective settlement value, if any, of the new round of suits.
Drug companies sue generic competitors
Ron Bailey at Reason “Hit and Run” says it’s the sort of thing that gives the pharmaceutical industry a bad name (Feb. 24).
Bill Cosby lawyers: take that parody down
The comedian’s attorneys have sent nastygrams demanding that “House of Cosby” be removed. (Lea Miller, “Cosby’s Lawyers See No Flattery in an Imitation”, New York Times, Mar. 6).
Paul Harris show on food nannyism
Yesterday I was a guest on Paul Harris’s radio program (KMOX St. Louis) to discuss the latest push for government regulation and courtroom action over tempting and calorie-laden items found in the refrigerator, in particular sodas. We talked about a new Associated Press article reporting favorably on some nutritionists’ plans to “make the case for higher taxes on soda, restrictions on how and where it is sold and maybe a surgeon general’s warning on labels”. (Marilynn Marchione, “A hard stance against soft drinks”, AP/Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Mar. 5). More on our Eat, Drink and Be Merry page.
Don’t use sarcasm…
…in your public speaking or memos or e-mails, or a prosecutor or plaintiffs’ attorney (not to mention a major newspaper) might try to persuade others to take you literally.
SeaSponge SpellCheck
Yes, everyone else has already posted on this, but it is funny (Mike McKee, “Solo’s Errant Spell-Check Causes ‘Sea Sponge’ Invasion”, The Recorder/Law.com, Mar. 2).
Suing Craigslist — with your money
The federal taxpayer, by way of the Department of Housing and Urban Development, funnels substantial sums to private “fair housing” advocacy groups for purposes of suing landlords, newspapers, and other likely suspects over alleged housing discrimination; raising consciousness among potential claimants and others; and generally promoting expansive readings of housing-bias law. For example, in this listing of $20 million worth of fiscal 2002 grants, HUD boasts of bestowing $242,339 on the Chicago Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, Inc. for something called its Private Enforcement Initiative (PEI), described as follows:
While addressing the needs of minorities in the metropolitan Chicago area, the Chicago Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights will increase awareness of fair housing rights; empower victims to report incidents of discrimination; develop credible, legitimate evidence to support discrimination complaints; increase the number of complaints referred to HUD for enforcement; and provide relief to discrimination victims. Utilizing access to pro bono attorneys from Chicago’s most prominent law firms, as well as their resources, the Chicago Lawyers’ Committee will receive, document, and investigate individual complaints of discrimination.
If the Chicago Lawyers’ Committee sounds vaguely familiar, it’s probably because it’s the group that last month filed a widely criticized lawsuit against Craigslist (Feb. 9, Feb. 20) seeking to force the online service to pre-censor users’ postings of roommate and other housing classifieds (rather than just pull them off after complaints, as now).
Even if the Chicago Lawyers’ Committee suit fails in court — as is widely expected — the controversy is likely to continue. In yesterday’s New York Times, Adam Liptak says the activists are likely to push for federal legislation stripping website operators of their current protection against being held liable for users’ postings. (“The Ads Discriminate, but Does the Web?”, Mar. 5). Don’t assume that “fair housing” advocates are powerless on Capitol Hill these days, either: at one set of hearings last week, all the witnesses called (including this one (PDF), quoted in the Times piece) were there to speak up for expansive enforcement of the law, with nary a dissenting word about any possible competing values at stake. More: Maggie’s Farm.
Judge resigns in Ky. fen-phen scandal
Last May 10 we reported on the questions that were being asked about a sealed settlement of Kentucky fen-phen claims which had included (along with vast sums in legal fees) the quiet diversion of $20 million into a mysterious new charitable entity called the Kentucky Fund for Healthy Living. Now the mystery has turned to scandal: the judge who approved the settlement, Joseph F. (“Jay”) Bamberger has resigned after allegations surfaced that he was serving as a director of the fund, receiving $5,000 a month (three of the plaintiff’s lawyers were also paid directors). The state’s Judicial Conduct Commission said Bamberger’s actions “shock the conscience” and he faced possible removal had he not resigned. Particular attention is being focused on Bamberger’s close ties to Mark Modlin, a trial consultant in the fen-phen case who has had co-investments with the judge. The alleged closeness between Bamberger and Modlin had led to protests from litigants in a number of earlier cases, including a high-profile priest-abuse case against the Catholic Diocese of Covington.
The commission’s reprimand (PDF) revealed a startling fact. “The attorney fees approved were at least $86 million and perhaps as much as $104 million” — well exceeding the $74 million that was split among the 431 claimants in settlement. A lawsuit continues on behalf of some allegedly victimized clients against four plaintiff’s lawyers involved in the settlement, including big-league Cincinnati operator Stanley Chesley. (Beth Musgrave, “Fen-phen lawsuit judge resigns”, Lexington Herald-Leader, Feb. 28; Jim Hannah, “Judge quits amid allegations”, Cincinnati Enquirer, Feb. 28; “Investigation of Bamberger warranted” (editorial), Cincinnati Enquirer, Mar. 1; “A blistering rebuke” (editorial), Cincinnati Post, Mar. 1; Peter Bronson, “Hold this judge in contempt”, Cincinnati Enquirer, Mar. 2)(cross-posted from Point of Law).