• Remember that ludicrous case where the Florida driver fell asleep, crashed his Ford Explorer, his passenger was killed, and a jury blamed Ford to the tune of $61 million? (See also Sep. 10.) A Florida court got around to reversing it, though only to grant a new trial under a variety of erroneous evidentiary rulings that prejudiced Ford, rather than because the suit was too silly to ever conceivably win in a just society. The remand goes back to the same judge that let the suit go forward and committed multiple reversible errors in favor of the plaintiff. [Ford Motor v. Hall-Edwards (Fla. App. Nov. 7, 2007); Krauss @ Point of Law; Daily Business Review; Bloomberg/Boston Globe]
• Not really a man-bites-dog story, but Geoffrey Fieger (Aug. 25 and rather often otherwise) speaks. [ABA Journal]
• Uh-oh: Former litigator hired to invest $100m in court cases for UK hedge fund. [Times Online]
• The real NatWest Three deal. [Kirkendall; July 2006 in Overlawyered]
• Homeowners fined $347,000 for trimming trees without a permit—after the Glendale Fire Department sent them a notice telling them to trim their trees for being a fire hazard. (h/t Slim) [Consumerist]
• Disclaimers at children’s birthday parties (h/t BC) [Publishers Weekly]
• British Christmas parades handcuffed by litigation fears. (h/t F.R.) [Telegraph]
• Underlawyered in Saudi Arabia: A “19-year-old Saudi gang-rape victim was recently sentenced to 200 lashes and six months in jail for being in a car with an unrelated male when the attack occurred. Last week, her lawyer was disbarred for objecting too vociferously.” [Weekly Standard]
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Filed under: autos, deep pocket, Enron, Ford Explorer, Ford Motor, Geoffrey Fieger, jackpot justice, nonmonetary costs of litigation, personal responsibility, Saudi Arabia, sued if you do, trees, United Kingdom