Overlawyered: Chronicling The High Cost Of Our Legal System

October 21 roundup

Some suits are too silly even for Florida: teen steals OxyContin, dies from OD, family sues Eckerd. [On Point] Jack Goldsmith’s four questions for AG nominee Mukasey. [NY Times/AEI; see also Ornstein] You may already be Pacman Jones’s co-defendant. [TortsProf] A contrarian opinion on Judge Sam Kent. [Beldar] Chris Dodd goes to bat for trial […]

  • Some suits are too silly even for Florida: teen steals OxyContin, dies from OD, family sues Eckerd. [On Point]

  • Jack Goldsmith’s four questions for AG nominee Mukasey. [NY Times/AEI; see also Ornstein]

  • You may already be Pacman Jones’s co-defendant. [TortsProf]

  • A contrarian opinion on Judge Sam Kent. [Beldar]

  • Chris Dodd goes to bat for trial lawyers suing telephone companies that dared to comply with a government request to assist in terrorism investigations. [Slate]

  • Suit: TJ Maxx catches pervert taking surreptitious upskirt photos; female victim sues store for waiting to gather conclusive evidence. Convicted pervert, serving 2-4 years, not sued. [AP/Fox News]

  • Op-ed: Kellogg’s “wimped out” by not calling bluff of frivolous obesity lawsuit. [The Bulletin]

  • DC puts the “dysfunctional” into “district”: fire department; Department of Youth Rehabilitative Services [Washington Post]

  • Not that the TSA boondoggle is any better. [Cafe Hayek]

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3 Comments

  • From the Florida story you linked to: “In cases cited by the Kaminer family, Florida courts held owners of stolen cars liable for leaving their keys in the car when the thief injures a third party.”

    If that’s true…. just wow.

    • By Mike

  • With the upskirt photos, I’m finding it very hard to understand just what damages this woman actually suffered. So someone saw her underwear. Is that really enough to make a court case over it? From the article:

    Van Buren claims the incident has caused her physical and psychological pain, suffering and loss of enjoyment of life. She said she has experienced sleeplessness, anxiety, depression and feelings of stress and violation, prompting her to seek professional help

    I know that everyone who sues wants to claim the victim mantle as much as possible to increase their winnings, but isn’t there some limit to the nonsense that juries/judges are going to believe? How can her attorney make a statement like that and keep a straight face?

    What’s makes it even more fishy is that it says she is a psychologist for a state-run facility for juveniles, presumably juvenile offenders. I would think that in her normal job, she would be regularly subjected to harrassment, even boys trying to look at her underwear on a regular basis. If she was that hypersensitive, how could she even do her job?

  • Re: Dodd – Doesn’t the connect info belong to the company and not the customer? It’s billing data, the telco’s bread and butter. They sell it to anybody with a pulse and some cash.

    • By mojo