Overlawyered: Chronicling The High Cost Of Our Legal System

Archive for 2006

Why there aren’t DVDs of some of your favorite old TV series

The reason, Mark Evanier notes on his blog, we don’t see DVDs of shows like “SCTV” and “WKRP in Cincinnati” is the difficulty and expense of rights clearances for music used during the show, even if it’s just a character humming. More on the difficulty and problem of rights clearances: Oct. 17, 2005 and links therein.

Warner Home Video better hope that a class action attorney with time on his hands doesn’t read the post’s last sentence about a DVD advertised as uncensored that isn’t uncensored; maybe it can be averaged out with the suit over Wal-Mart’s CDs.

Update: A commenter raises an important point:

Read On…

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Birthday cards actionable?

Perhaps not, but a UK insurance firm isn’t taking any chances. With new laws in place prohibiting age discrimination and age harassment, Alan & Thomas insurance brokers has barred the circulation of birthday cards signed by the entire staff, who occasionally write jokey statements about the perils of aging.

Julian Boughton, the firm’s managing director, said: “The new rules outlawing age discrimination are a potential minefield for both employers and employees. Every business should be taking action. Often employees don’t realise the implications of what they are writing.”

A member of staff said: “I think it’s stupid really. People like to joke about other people getting older, and it’s only a bit of fun.”

The Employment Equality (Age) regulations 2006 came into force on Oct 1, prohibiting direct or indirect harassment or victimisation on the grounds of age.

Neil Gouldson, an employment law specialist at the Manchester-based firm Rowe Cohen, said: “Gags in birthday cards about people being ‘over the hill’ will need to be curbed.”

(Richard Savill, “Firm halts office cards for fear of ‘ageist’ comments”, Telegraph (UK), Oct. 12) (h/t F.R.).

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Novel idea: don’t sue without actual harm

“A federal judge in Arkansas has thrown out a class action lawsuit against Acxiom, which exposed massive amounts of Americans’ personal information in a high-profile Internet security snafu three years ago. … Because the class action attorneys could not prove that anyone’s information had actually been misused, [U.S. District Judge William] Wilson dismissed the case and the request for damages on the grounds that any harm would be entirely speculative.” (Declan McCullagh, “Class action suit over ID theft tossed out”, CNet, Oct. 12).

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“60 Minutes” to cover Duke lacrosse case

CBS writes to say that “60 Minutes” will air a major segment on the Duke lacrosse case this coming Sunday. According to the show description, “The other dancer in the Duke lacrosse rape case refutes a key part of the accuser’s story in an interview with 60 Minutes correspondent Ed Bradley. He also spoke with the three players accused in the rape.” More here. Our earlier coverage: Oct. 11, Aug. 30, etc. Further: Durham Wonderland, which has exhaustively chronicled developments in the case, has a must-read summary (Oct. 16).

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Yale Political Union debate

Last night I was honored to be the guest of the Yale Political Union (in which I was active during my own undergraduate days) to keynote the evening’s debate on “Resolved: Government should restrict the right to sue”. I got the whole guest treatment, including dinner at Mory’s beforehand with the leadership of the YPU, culminating in an impromptu a cappella performance by the fabulous Spizzwinks. After the debate, many of us retired to Yorkside Pizza to discuss politics and philosophy well into the night, including members of (inter alia) the Independent and Tory parties, the Party of the Right, and the newly forming Party of the Left. Among those present: the organizers of the Largest Facebook Group Ever.

And the debate itself? After my remarks, there were four spirited student speeches, two in the affirmative and two in the negative, following which I made a few further comments. The resolution “Resolved: Government should restrict the right to sue” then passed by a vote of 27 in favor, 10 opposed, and 7 abstentions.

Incidentally, the Yale Political Union, which bills itself as “the largest undergraduate organization at Yale, and the only group of its kind in the country”, is reaching out to alumni and other well-wishers as it plans to commemorate its approaching 75th anniversary. To support the Union, help with the planning of a contemplated anniversary reunion event or events, or get more involved generally, contact Andrew Olson (no relation) at this link.

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9th Circuit: UPS must hire deaf drivers

The package delivery company believes that the safer policy is to hire only hearing drivers to operate its trucks, but the 9th Circuit finds that a violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act:

The ruling puts employers in a “damned if they do and damned if they don’t” situation, said Joe Beachboard, a Los Angeles lawyer who represents employers.

If UPS doesn’t employ deaf workers as drivers, it can be sued under the disability act, he said. But if a deaf UPS driver has a serious accident, the company also could be sued.

(Lisa Girion, “UPS Ban on Deaf Drivers Is Rejected”, Los Angeles Times, Oct. 11). More: WSJ editorial, subscriber-only (“Common Sense-Impaired”, Oct. 19).

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Runaway bride wants $500K

Jennifer Wilbanks made worldwide headlines by disappearing, then concocting a bogus abduction story to get out of her engagement to Georgia fiance John Mason; now she wants punitive damages from him for not sharing the proceeds from selling the story, among other offenses. (“‘Runaway Bride’ Sues Ex For $500,000”, AP/CBS, Oct. 10; Lat, Oct. 11)(via Althouse).

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