A cease and desist letter from Monster Cable to Blue Jeans Cable, alleging various sorts of infringement of Monster’s intellectual property, draws a ferocious response from Blue Jeans’ president Kurt Denke, formerly a practicing lawyer. “Let me begin by stating, without equivocation, that I have no interest whatsoever in infringing upon any intellectual property belonging to Monster Cable. Indeed, the less my customers think my products resemble Monster’s, in form or in function, the better … It may be that my inability to see the pragmatic value of settling frivolous claims is a deep character flaw, and I am sure a few of the insurance carriers for whom I have done work have seen it that way; but it is how I have done business for the last quarter-century and you are not going to change my mind.” And much more (Audioholics; Slashdot).
Archive for April, 2008
Canada: McDonald’s to pay C$55K for firing non-handwashing employee
The British Columbia Human Rights Tribunal has ordered McDonald’s to pay $55,000 for failing to do enough to accommodate an employee whose disabling skin condition prevented her from complying with the restaurant’s hand-washing policy. Among other grounds for its decision, the tribunal cited the following:
There was no evidence of:
* the relationship between food contamination and hand-washing;…
(HRHeroBlogs/Northern Exposure, Apr. 15; Ezra Levant).
More: Commenter Bill Poser finds the decision “much more reasonable” than the reporting makes it sound and says, in particular, Northern Exposure cut off a relevant last word from its quote: “…hand-washing frequency“.
The terrors of tag
From McLean, Va., one of D.C.’s most affluent suburbs: “Robyn Hooker, principal of Kent Gardens Elementary School, has told students they may no longer play tag during recess after determining that the game of chasing, dodging and yelling ‘You’re it!’ had gotten out of hand. Hooker explained to parents in a letter this month that tag had become a game ‘of intense aggression.’ … Many schools nationwide have whittled down playground activities in response to concerns about injuries, bullying or litigation.” (Michael Alison Chandler, “At McLean School, Playing Tag Turns Into Hot Potato”, Washington Post, Apr. 15; reaction via Technorati).
“Pirates can claim UK asylum”
Not just a problem for Penzance: “The Royal Navy, once the scourge of brigands on the high seas, has been told by the Foreign Office not to detain pirates because doing so may breach their human rights. Warships patrolling pirate-infested waters, such as those off Somalia, have been warned that there is also a risk that captured pirates could claim asylum in Britain” on the grounds that if sent back to Somalia they could face cruel punishments such as beheading or hand-chopping. (Marie Woolf, Times Online, Apr. 13).
Brooklyn: judge sues janitor (and city)
“A politically connected Brooklyn judge plans to file a $1 million lawsuit against the city after slipping on a just-mopped floor in his own courthouse, the Daily News has learned.” Civil judge Jack Battaglia, who broke his knee in the fall, is said to be suing not just New York City but the cleaning woman who mopped the floor. “Everyone is entitled to equal justice,” said Dick Dadey of Citizens Union, “but I hope he’s not using his intimate knowledge of the system to maximize his claim.” (Elizabeth Hays, “Judge suing city for $1M after fall on wet courthouse floor”, New York Daily News, Apr. 14).
More: Eric Turkewitz says the judge has only filed a Notice of Claim against the city, not yet a suit; when the time comes, he might not (or then again he might) name the janitor as a defendant. At Above the Law, a commenter offers a theory of why worker’s comp would not bar the judge’s claim. The same commenter asserts that Judge Battaglia is part of a special subgroup of judges whose work consists heavily of hearing claims against the City of New York, and a second, equally anonymous commenter maintains that the prospect of the judge’s having to recuse himself from such cases (now that he is a litigant) is good news for the city.
J.K. Rowling vs. fan guide trial
“It would seem inefficient to have a witness testify 416 times”
Logistical problems following the gigantic raid on the Texas polygamy sect: Although 350 Texas lawyers are said to have volunteered to represent the 416 seized children — each of whom presumably requires individual representation — a small army of others are expected to be needed as well, given that, for example, more than a hundred mothers may soon be locked in custody litigation. (AP/New York Post, Apr. 14).
“Widow sues PetSmart in transplant death”
Should the pet supply chain have foreseen that selling a diseased hamster might result in the death of a liver transplant recipient? Or is the proximate cause insufficiently proximate? (Laurel Sweet, Boston Herald, Apr. 9; Jonathan Turley).
Pending the abolition of gravity…
…or the universal adoption of round-the-clock patient guards or restraint devices, it’s hard to go along with the notion that hospital falls should be so-called “never events”. (Happy Hospitalist, Jan. 15, Feb. 20). Nor is the concept much more useful when it comes to patient suicide attempts or hypoglycemia, among other misadventures (White Coat Rants, Feb. 5)(via KevinMD). Related: letters section, 2004 (pressure wounds/bedsores).
SueEasy.com
The new website aspires to match would-be litigants with the right class action and lawyer for them, but Michael Arrington likely is a great deal too flattering in terming it a “Shangri-La for ambulance chasers” (TechCrunch, Apr. 12), since it remains to be seen whether such a mechanism will be able to attract either litigants or lawyers of the highest caliber. To Luke Gilman (Apr. 13) it calls to mind “a hairball generator…. Looks like a race to the bottom on both sides to me.” Writes TechCrunch commenter “Joey”: “I hope they make a Facebook app: ‘6 of your friends joined this class action lawsuit! Click here to join!'” P.S. Much more from Eric Turkewitz, & welcome visitors from Legal NewsLine and United Press International.