“Hundreds of defendants sitting in prisons nationwide have been convicted with the help of an FBI forensic tool that was discarded more than two years ago. But the FBI lab has yet to take steps to alert the affected defendants or courts, even as the window for appealing convictions is closing, a joint investigation by The Washington Post and ’60 Minutes’ has found.” The bureau has now agreed to release the files involved (John Solomon, “FBI’s Forensic Test Full of Holes”, Washington Post, Nov. 18; more Post coverage; Obbie, Nov. 18; Ambrogi, Nov. 19; Althouse).
Archive for November, 2007
November 20 roundup
- Dickie Scruggs will host Dec. 15 Hillary fundraiser headlined by Bill [Clarion-Ledger via WSJ law blog]
- Megabucks campaigns for state judicial office: Symptom? Illness? Both? [Justice O’Connor @ OpinionJournal.com, Adler @ Volokh; Pero]
- U.K. kids’ author says publisher’s safety worries vetoed depiction of fire-breathing dragon in book [Daily Mail]
- Roger Parloff describes the Judith Regan complaint as bizarre, and angry commenters are soon denouncing him as a Fox’s-paw [Fortune Legal Pad; Althouse; ritual disclaimer]
- Wonder why booking a dance venue can get pricey? Here’s one reason [WV Record]
- “Why should I take a dollar out of [my neighbor’s] pocket?”: a Virginia Tech family wrestles with the temptation to sue [Mundy, WashPostMag]
- Essential silliness of the “media diversity” scare [Welch, LAT]
- Boston’s James Sokolove, known for his heavy rotation of personal-injury TV ads, is now chasing for … patent plaintiffs? [WSJ law blog; earlier]
- Great big gobs of mutilated monkey meat could bring five years in slammer for NYC immigrant [IHT]
- Recounting the tale of Miami’s one-time high-living “King of Torts” Louis Robles, who stole from around 4,500 clients [AJP “CEO Alert” series, PDF]
- Campaign regulation laws spell incumbent protection in New Zealand too [Bainbridge]
- Influence of newspaper lobby retards natural migration to the web of fine-print legal notices [Liptak, NYT]
George Will on John Edwards
The columnist lets him have it with both barrels, concentrating on the Lerach connection (“Setting the Bar for Corruption”, syndicated/Washington Post, Nov. 18).
Salvation Army English-at-work suit, cont’d
Both houses of Congress have voted over the past month or two to block the EEOC lawsuit now underway against a Massachusetts unit of the religious group over its policy requiring workers to speak English on the job. But the House leadership has nonetheless promised bilingualism advocates that the proposal will be kept out of a final bill. (John Fund, “Mi Casa, Sue Casa”, OpinionJournal.com, Nov. 19). For more details about the Framingham, Mass., controversy, see PoL, May 3; earlier coverage of the controversy on Overlawyered is here and here. More: Bader, Morrissey, ScrappleFace; & welcome Michelle Malkin readers.
NYC council: poor tenants should have eviction lawyers
Note that the proposal here is not to provide free lawyers in cases where careful case-screening establishes a fair argument that the eviction is in some way legally wrongful or unjustified. It’s to use taxpayer money to make sure that tenants who’ve trashed the apartment or stiffed the landlord on months of rent are also assigned a lawyer who will predictably use all the procedural leverage available to stall things out further, extract a payment as a condition for the tenant’s leaving, and so forth. NYU’s Brennan Center is pushing the scheme, which has 22 sponsors on the New York City council. (Manny Fernandez, “Free Legal Aid Sought for Elderly Tenants”, New York Times, Nov. 16). For more about “Civil Gideon” schemes, see this post (scroll) and this one (David Giacalone: “Attorney Employment Assurance Plan”).
P.S.: To clarify matters: for now, the program would apply to elderly tenants (which doesn’t mean all the occupants of the apartment will necessarily be elderly).
Squelching the Black Friday bargain-tipsters
“For the last several years, Wal-Mart Stores and other large chains have threatened legal action to intimidate Web sites that get hold of advertising circulars early and publish prices online ahead of company-set release dates.” After one such site received a nastygram from Office Depot, it began reporting forthcoming sale prices at “Office Despot”, whereupon the retailer sued, without ultimate success but presumably at a nontrivial defense cost (Randal Stross, “What to Do When Goliaths Roar?”, New York Times, Nov. 18).
Mass. governor: let’s jail online gamblers
Gotta protect those state revenues?
Even as Governor Deval Patrick seeks to license three resort casinos in Massachusetts, he hopes to clamp down on the explosion in Internet gambling by making it illegal for state residents to place a bet on line. He has proposed jail terms of up to two years and $25,000 fines for violators.
Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), however, reacted strongly against the proposal:
“I believe in personal liberty,” Frank said. “Adults should be able to do what they want. I wish my fellow liberals would not be so inconsistent on this issue.”
(Matt Viser, “Internet gambling is a target of Patrick bill”, Boston Globe, Nov. 10)(via Brayton).
Journalism award
No, I’m not going to…
…sue Rick Brookhiser. But that’s not to say the emotional distress on my end isn’t real (NRO “The Corner”, Nov. 17).
P.S.: And yes, he did misspell my surname, which an old friend really shouldn’t do. But I don’t want him to correct it, lest more people who Google on my name wind up landing on the post.
Tax e-filing class action
Philadelphia law firm Feldman, Shepherd, Wohlgelernter, Tanner & Weinstock wants $1 billion from members of an income tax software group, Free File Alliance, including H&R Block and Intuit (Gina Passarella, “Tax Preparers Face Proposed Billion-Dollar Class Action Over E-Filing”, Legal Intelligencer, Nov. 15; Paul Caron, Nov. 15).