Our roundup link to a discussion of the classic jury-deliberation movie stirred up a considerable discussion among David Bernstein, Ilya Somin, Orin Kerr and commenters at the Volokh Conspiracy.
Archive for 2008
Licensing eBay resellers, cont’d
Mary Jo Pletz, who lives north of Allentown, Pa., made a very successful time of it accepting people’s consigned items and selling them on eBay. Now the state of Pennsylvania is proceeding against her for not taking out an auctioneer’s license, though it denies that it is seeking the $10 million in fines that her lawyer alleges. (Bob Fernandez, “Pennsylvania takes on online auctions”, Philadelphia Inquirer, Jan. 30). Earlier similarly: Feb. 26, 2006 (California); Oct. 13, 2005 (North Dakota); Mar. 21, 2005 (Ohio).
Banning restaurants from serving the obese
House Bill 282, filed in the Mississippi legislature, is an “act to prohibit certain food establishments from serving food to any person who is obese, based on criteria prescribed by the state department of health”. It sounds as if it almost has to be a parody, but when Sandy Szwarc calls its sponsor he says he’s perfectly serious (Jan. 31).
Our annual Super Bowl party post
One of the many things I like about my girlfriend is that she’s the one who wants us to get a bigger television. Of course, if we got too big a television, we might not be able to hold our annual Super Bowl party: the NFL is sending around its annual set of scare letters to anyone offering a public exhibition of the Super Bowl on a television larger than 55 inches. (Jacqueline L. Salmon, WaPo, “NFL Pulls Plug On Big-Screen Church Parties For Super Bowl”, Feb. 1). Yes, you’ve seen this story before: Feb. 3 and Jan. 31 last year.
Update: and at the WSJ ($).
Site maintenance alert
We’re responding to ongoing comment-spam attacks (which knocked us offline for a while this morning) with some site maintenance. Comments will probably be down for a bit while we attempt to upgrade. Update 11:15 a.m. EST: Back up and running again; if you notice anything wrong, please drop us an email.
February 1 roundup
- Following public outrage, Spanish businessman drops plans to sue parents of boy he killed in road crash [UK Independent; earlier]
- Scruggs to take Fifth in State Farm case against Hood [Clarion-Ledger] And how much “home cooking” was the Mississippi titan dished out in the Medicaid-tobacco case that made his fortune? [Folo]
- More critics assail ABC “Eli Stone” vaccine-autism fiction, with American Academy of Pediatrics calling for episode’s cancellation [AAP press release; Stier, NY Post; earlier]
- Special ethics counsel recommends disbarment of Edward Fagan, lawyer of Swiss-bank-suit fame whose ethical missteps have been chronicled on this site over the years [Star-Ledger]. As recently as fourteen months ago the L.A. Times was still according Fagan good publicity;
- In past bail-bond scandals, private bond agencies have been caught colluding “with lawyers, the police, jail officials and even judges to make sure that bail is high and that attractive clients are funneled to them.” [Liptak, NYT]
- Archbishop of Canterbury calls for new laws to punish “thoughtless or cruel” comments on religion [Times Online, Volokh]
- Another disturbing case from Massachusetts of a citizen getting charged with privacy violation for recording police activity [also Volokh]
- Abuse of open-records law? Convicted arsonist files numerous requests for pictures and personal information of public employees who sent him to prison; they charge intimidation [AP/Seattle Post-Intelligencer]
- It resembles a news program on Connecticut public-access cable, but look more closely: it’s law firm marketing [Ambrogi]
- Judge says Alfred Rava’s suit can proceed charging sex bias over Oakland A’s stadium distribution of Mother’s Day hats [Metropolitan News-Enterprise; earlier on Angels in Anaheim]
- Crack down on docs with multiple med-mal payouts? Well, there go lots of your neurosurgeons [three years ago on Overlawyered]
An ADA right to smoke-free eateries?
Thus argues a lawsuit filed by James Bogden against four restaurants in Alexandria, Va., which “seeks to require the restaurants to become smoke-free, arguing that they must accommodate Bogden’s disability, coronary artery disease, and eliminate secondhand smoke so he can eat at them. Each of the restaurants allows smoking in designated areas.” (Jerry Markon, “Man With Heart Condition Wants Smoke-Free Eateries”, Washington Post, Jan. 31).
4,896 opt-outs in Sears tippy-stove class action
An extraordinary number of consumers asked to be excluded from the class action settlement over Sears kitchen stoves that are allegedly too prone to tip when an opened oven door is leaned on. With humor quaint, the Chamber-backed Madison County Record reports on the reaction of class action lawyer Stephen Tillery:
At a Jan. 15 settlement hearing, Tillery interpreted the widespread rejection as a sign that he drafted a successful class notice.
“People read their mail,” he told Circuit Judge Barbara Crowder. “There was no problem with notice.”
(Steve Korris, “Consumer groups ‘ecstatic’ over Sears settlement, despite opt out of 4,896 stove owners”, Madison County Record, Jan. 24).
Plaintiff’s attorneys are slated to pocket $17 million in fees, which Tillery describes as modest compared to “the fund of monies made available to the class” by the troubled retailer, which he estimates at $500 million. “Made available” is of course a term of art, and it is anyone’s guess as to how many class members will actually take the time and trouble to file for refunds of up to $100 on old stoves. Inevitably, however, last year’s Sears wheel alignment class settlement comes to mind (see May 17 and Jul. 31, 2007). In that settlement the lawyers projected that consumers would redeem millions of dollars in coupons (and used that as the basis for their fee calculations), but the actual sum redeemed turned out to be $2,402.
“Katrina Suit Vs. Army Corps Dismissed”
Whatever the failings of the Army Corps of Engineers, the Flood Control Act of 1928 makes clear that federal taxpayers cannot be forced to pay through litigation for the catastrophic collapse of the levees, so there goes the multi-trillion-dollar class action. (Cain Burdeau and Michael Kunzelman, AP/Forbes, Jan. 30). Update: That wasn’t the last word, though: later rulings allowed suits against the Army Corps to go forward.
January 30 roundup
- Vioxx settlement is good for Merck and the trial lawyers suing it, the price being paid in legal ethics [Gryphon/City Journal]
- Australia: will-contest lawyers “will have their fees capped after a string of cases where the bill has exceeded the final inheritance.” [Sydney Morning Herald]
- ADA obliges golf courses, at least Marriott’s, to furnish accessible carts to disabled golfers, federal judge rules [Egelko, SF Chronicle]
- Henry Fonda/Sidney Lumet jury-deliberation classic Twelve Angry Men normally spoken of in tones of reverence. But what’s this? [Leo McKinstry, U.K. Spectator; Gracchi, Westminster Wisdom]
- Columnist and talk show host Michael Smerconish, himself former trial lawyer, is among latest to be sued by inmate/fantasist J*nath*n L** R*ch*s [Philadelphia Inquirer; earlier]
- Biggest-ever EEOC settlement for individual racial discrimination will bring Lockheed Martin electrician $2.5 million [Reuters/NYT]
- U.K.: Coast guard wins award for saving teen from cliff, then loses job because he didn’t follow prescribed health and safety precautions [Times Online, Sun]
- Lawsuit by baseball pros who missed out on big careers because they never abused steroids? [RedBirdsFan]
- Until Sarkozy, French heads of state liked to cancel outstanding parking tickets on taking office; contrast with American practice of pardons as departing Presidential gesture [Rittelmeyer/Cigarette Smoking Blog]
- New at Point of Law: Ted on med-mal statistics; Prof. Richard Nagareda on recognizing that mass torts are lawyer-driven; voter intimidation and union card check; state AGs and letters of marque and reprisal; Prof. Michael Krauss on thread-count class action; IRBs vs. hospital safety; Ted’s continuing coverage of the Vioxx settlement; and much more.
- OSHA backs down from its plan to regulate hazards like trippable power cords and rickety chairs in telecommuters’ home offices [eight years ago on Overlawyered]