In a 169-page report (PDF at GamePolitics, courtesy Escapist), Judge Dava Tunis has explained her recommendation that anti-videogame crusader Jack Thompson, a regular on this site for many years, be permanently disbarred with no chance of reinstatement. Thompson’s personal abusiveness, Tunis found, is part of a “pattern of conduct to strike out harshly, extensively, repeatedly and willfully to simply try to bring as much difficulty, distraction and anguish to those he considers in opposition to his causes.” (Escapist, Daily Business Review, Kotaku; related, GamePolitics (opposing lawyer found Thompson’s personal attacks the “emotional equivalent of stalking”)).
Archive for July, 2008
“Welcome to the Nanny State Nation”
It’s going on from California to New York City: a Drew Carey feature for Reason.tv.
Update: Cohen & Grigsby immigration video
Last year (Jun. 25, 2007) a furor broke out when a YouTube video revealed lawyers from the firm speaking frankly about skirting provisions of immigration law that require that a qualified domestic applicant be sought before hiring certain foreign workers. Now the U.S. Department of Labor has “announced that it has begun placing pending permanent labor certification applications filed by [the Pittsburgh-based law firm] into department-supervised recruitment. Supervised recruitment requires the employer to receive advance approval from the labor department for all recruitment efforts to ensure that U.S. workers are fully considered for available positions.” The move will undoubtedly make it harder for the law firm to compete for employer business in the immigration field. (“Recruitment filings by Pittsburgh law firm under U.S. Labor scrutiny”, Pittsburgh Business Times, Jul. 8; ABA Journal links to DoL press release).
Indiana lottery class action certified
Hoosiers who bought losing Cash Blast tickets may be eligible to claim refunds… at least if they’ve held on to tickets in the now-defunct game from the period May 2005-July 2006. (Jeremy Herb, “$20M lawsuit against Hoosier Lottery gets class-action status”, Indianapolis Star, Jul. 10).
Great moments in Continuing Legal Education
They instruct the people who are supposed to instruct the rest of us how to comply with the law, but they can’t figure it out themselves:
New Jersey’s biggest purveyor of legal education has notified 15,000 customers that they may owe years of back taxes.
The Institute of Continuing Legal Education recently learned it should have been charging sales tax on the books, CDs, videotapes and audiotapes it sells and is working with the state to try to collect the money. …
[ICLE Executive Director Lawrence] Maron says ICLE was operating on the basis of a legal opinion, which turned out to be wrong, that, as a nonprofit entity, it did not have to collect sales tax. …
[New Brunswick, N.J. solo attorney Ann] Kiernan says she particularly resents that ICLE plans to turn over a list of who bought what to the state but has not offered to give lawyers information about their own past purchases.
(Mary Pat Gallagher, “CLE Customers Told They Have to Pay Back Taxes on Products”, New Jersey Law Journal, Jul. 11).
Lawyers and p.i.’s: no more “Just find it”?
The upcoming trial of Los Angeles attorney Terry Christiansen, charged with knowingly paying Anthony Pellicano to wiretap adversaries, is already focusing overdue attention on lawyers’ methods of working with the shadowy private investigators they often hire. Ethics rules supposedly make them responsible for the conduct of those hired snoops, but it seems winks and meaningful silences have often passed for adequate oversight:
“It was very common for a lawyer to say, ‘Just find it,'” said Jimmie Mesis, editor-in-chief of PI Magazine, a trade magazine for private investigators, and public relations chairman for the National Council of Investigation and Security Services in Baltimore. “They really didn’t care what [investigators] did, whether [it was] garbage dumpster diving or pretexting. It was just a statement of: ‘Just do what you have to do to get it.'”
(Amanda Bronstad, “Christensen Case a ‘Wake-Up’ Call for Lawyers on Use of Private Eyes”, National Law Journal, Jul. 11).
Teacher tenure follies
On Long Island, even a teacher’s guilty plea and likely prison sentence for a fifth DWI arrest in seven years is not necessarily enough for termination. The teacher continues to draw paid leave at an annual salary of $113,559, with a disciplinary hearing coming up next month. (Frank Eltman, “Firing tenured teachers isn’t just difficult, it costs you”, AP/USA Today, Jun. 30). Related: Ray Fisman, Slate.
Cop shot by 3 year old sues gun maker
Perhaps it would have been too complicated for Enrique Chavez of Anaheim, Calif. to sue himself for allowing his three year old son access to the loaded gun in the back seat of his pickup truck. So he’s suing Glock instead. “Chavez, 35, is also suing the manufacturer of the gun’s holster and the retail stores that sold him the gun and the holster. He bought the gun at the Los Angeles Police Revolver and Athletic Club and purchased a holster made by Uncle Mike’s and Bushnell Outdoor Products from Turner’s Outdoorsman.” (“Officer hurt in accidental shooting sues gun maker”, AP/San Luis Obispo Tribune, Jul. 9 via Glock Talk Forum).
Bikini-clad appearance on Howard Stern show
Second grade teacher Marie Jarry called in sick one day to her job at the Southington, Ct. public schools, which perhaps was not strictly accurate, since the next day she and her husband won first prize in a “Hottest Wife, Ugliest Husband” contest on the Howard Stern show. Now she’s suing over being pressured to resign from her job; school authorities invoked a school “morality clause” and were really mean about the little sick day fib (The Smoking Gun, Jun. 27, with copy of complaint). Writes Daniel Schwartz: “In thinking about this case, I can’t help but think of the irony of this case compared with a case down south last month which held that a female employee was subjected to a ‘hostile work environment’ because of the ‘vulgar radio programming’ in her workplace. And what was that vulgar programming? The Howard Stern show of course … While the particulars of this case will play out in court, what is striking about the complaint is the unwillingness to acknowledge that the teacher bears any responsibility for what occurred.” (Connecticut Employment Law Blog, Jul. 2).
eBay versus LVMH: gift recyclers beware?
The verdict in a French court, if upheld, won’t just compel the online auction site to police its listings for counterfeits of luggage, perfume and other status goods, but also will knock out “gray market” goods (product originating in authorized channels, but sold in a different market than intended). “It would even bar individuals from reselling LVMH perfumes that they had received, for instance, as unwanted Christmas presents, both lawyers say.” (Parloff, Fortune)(cross-posted from Point of Law).