“The ten ‘Borat’ remorse cases filed against the makers of the hit mockumentary turned out to be an almost total washout for plaintiffs,” notes OnPoint News, which has a handy table of case results.
Archive for 2008
On WMBI (Chicago) discussing eHarmony settlement
I’m scheduled to discuss the eHarmony settlement and litigation between 3 and 3:30 Central on the PrimeTime Chicago show on WMBI Friday.
“Obese have right to 2 airline seats –Canada court”
Declining to hear an appeal by airlines: “Obese people have the right to two seats for the price of one on flights within Canada, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled on Thursday.” (Reuters, Nov. 20; CBC). We’ve covered the issue for years, including, e.g., here, here, here (U.S.), here, and here. More thoughts: Scott Greenfield, Ann Althouse.
Judge Joyce convicted in Pennsylvania insurance fraud
“Former Superior Court Judge Michael T. Joyce was convicted Wednesday on charges that he lied about neck and back injuries and abused his position on the bench to receive a $440,000 payout from two insurance companies following a slow-speed automobile accident. … the judge filed his claims on judicial letterhead, [Assistant U.S. Attorney Christian] Trabold said, and referred to himself as a judge 115 times in the letters.” (Leo Strupczewski, “Former Judge Convicted for Lying About Injuries in Auto Accident”, Legal Intelligencer, Nov. 20). Earlier here and here. The trial was covered extensively in the Pennsylvania press, and the defense called a parade of witnesses, including high-ranking judges, in support of the accused jurist. (Paula Reed Ward, “Fellow jurists defend judge charged with faking injury”, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Nov. 11)
Jones Day vs. BlockShopper: court denies motion to dismiss
A court has declined to dismiss the trademark action by the giant law firm upset at a local real estate publication that had gossiped about condominium purchases by two of the law firm’s associates. (Levy/CL&P, Bayard/Citizen Media Law, Ron Coleman, Eric Goldman). Earlier coverage here and here.
EEOC settlement: pork-handling exemption, prayer breaks for Muslim workers
Minnesota: “In a landmark settlement that could change the way Muslims are treated in the workplace, St. Cloud-based Gold’n Plump Inc. has agreed to allow Somali workers short prayer breaks and the right to refuse handling pork at its poultry processing facilities.” The federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission had sued Gold’n Plump Poultry, Inc., along with an employment agency that worked with it, charging religious discrimination and retaliation on behalf of the Muslim workers. The employment agency had required applicants to sign a form saying that they would not refuse to handle pork products if the occasion arose at work. (Chris Serres, “Somalis win prayer case at Gold’n Plump”, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Sept. 10). “The timing of the [paid] added [prayer] break will fluctuate during the year so as to coordinate with the religious timing for Muslim prayers.” The two companies between them also agreed to pay $365,000 as part of the settlement. (Sept. 10; EEOC news release; via Workplace Prof Blog).
Latest issue of Class Action Watch
The latest issue of the Federalist Society’s Class Action Watch has many articles of interest to Overlawyered readers:
- William E. Thomson & Kahn A. Scolnick on the Exxon Shipping case;
- Jimmy Cline on Arkansas’s disregard for class action certification standards;
- Jim Copland on the “Colossus” class action;
- Laurel Harbour on the New Jersey Supreme Court decision on medical monitoring class actions;
- Lyle Roberts on lead-counsel selection in securities class actions;
- Mark A. Behrens & Frank Cruz-Alvarez on the lead paint public nuisance decision by the Rhode Island Supreme Court; and
- Andrew Grossman, extensively citing to Overlawyered and my brief in discussing the Grand Theft Auto class action settlement rejection.
Complaint “forces eHarmony to offer gay dating service”
“Online dating service eHarmony has agreed to create a new website for gays and lesbians as part of a settlement with a gay man in New Jersey, the New Jersey Office of the Attorney General said on Wednesday.” (Reuters, Nov. 19, FoxNews.com)(via Friedersdorf, see also Mataconis, Sullum, Balko). Earlier coverage: Jun. 1 and Jun. 8, 2007; Mar. 26, 2006 (married man wants listing). More: lawyer in parallel California suit against eHarmony says it isn’t moot despite policy change because they still want money.
Note: headline changed 11/21 to reflect commenter’s observation that despite the usage in the news articles, the civil rights proceedings in question had not reached the formal status of a lawsuit.
Piracy and international human rights, cont’d
Modern theorists of international human rights law have concentrated on tying Western governments’ hands, but have devoted rather less attention to the human right not to be attacked on the high seas. (David B. Rivkin, Jr. and Lee A. Casey, “Pirates Exploit Confusion About International Law”, Wall Street Journal, Nov. 19). Earlier here, here, and here.
Daschle to HHS
Sorry, docs: former South Dakota Senator Tom Daschle, reported as Obama’s HHS pick and indeed a “health czar” charged with pushing comprehensive health care reform through Congress, was known as a particularly close ally of the trial lawyers as Majority Leader, and drew on them as his most important donors in his final (2004) race. In 2004 he won an award from the New York Trial Lawyers Association for his work in blocking liability reform at the national level. (CNN, Patterico, American Prospect).
More from Carter Wood who notes the NAM vote tabulation: “On the identified 10 votes [between 1999 and 2004], Sen. Daschle voted against the tort-reform position 10 times. (Included were four health-care, medical liability-related votes.)” (& Dr. Wes).