If enterprise IT departments and data managers thought the compliance burdens of Sarbanes-Oxley were tough, they’d better brace themselves for an even bigger wave of regulation to come, brought on as part of Washington’s reaction to the financial crisis. [Paul Rubens, ServerWatch] More: Jeff Nolan, Venture Chronicles, to whom thanks also for the kind words.
Archive for April, 2009
“Five Steps to Being a Plaintiff Lawyer Machine”
PhilaLawyer, writing at Bitter Lawyer, is nothing if not cynical.
Prescription drug abusers, be not ashamed
Under the holding of a recent court opinion, if you were never prescribed a drug but unlawfully grab and pop pills that had been prescribed to someone else, you (or your estate) can sue the manufacturer anyway for side effects you are said to have suffered. The court did disallow claims for failure to warn, but left standing claims that the drug (fen-phen) posed too high a risk to users overall [Beck & Herrmann, Crowe v. Wyeth, E.D. Pa. applying Missouri law]
California vs. big-screen TVs
The state may ban many popular models on the at-best-paternalistic grounds that they consume too much energy.
“One of the biggest [disasters] left over from 2008”
Excellent editorial on the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act last week in the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
Incidentally, someone was soliciting a quick reading list on behalf of a person who wanted to catch up on CPSIA’s post-Feb. 10 effects by way of reporting (not opinion pieces or editorials) from major media organizations only. I came up with the following list which is anything but exhaustive but at least gives a start: 
- Jenn Abelson, Boston Globe (thrift stores and resale)
- Heron Marquez Estrada, Minneapolis Star-Tribune (dirtbikes and more)
- Lee Logan, Associated Press (pre-1985 books). Also focusing on vintage books: Alexandra Zayas, St. Petersburg (Fla.) Times, Michael Birnbaum, Washington Post
- Doris Hajewski, Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel (toys, shoes, etc.)
- Joseph Pereira, Wall Street Journal (apparel, resale, cost estimates for various sectors)
“There wasn’t the slightest bit of pay-to-play here”
That’s Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell on his no-bid hiring of a Texas plaintiff’s firm (and generous political donor) to sue Johnson & Johnson on contingency fee [Wall Street Journal editorial; Point of Law background here, here, here, here (Arkansas, and Bailey Perrin Bailey’s generous donations to the Democratic Attorney Generals Association (DAGA)), here, and here; ShopFloor].
P.S. And more reporting on the case from John O’Brien at U.S. Chamber-backed Legal NewsLine.
“South Carolina Court Awards $1.8 Million Libel Judgment Against Blogger”
Ad agency head Scott Brandon sued Donald Wizeman “claiming that Wizeman was the author of Myrtle Beach Insider and that Wizeman had defamed him by publishing a June 2007 post calling him a ‘failed lawyer’ and criticizing one of his ad agency’s campaigns. Wizeman denied that he was the author of Myrtle Beach Insider, but admitted agreeing with its content.” Note, however, some oddities that make the case far from typical: Wizeman did not hire a lawyer at first and claims to have been unaware of some key proceedings that were decided against him, and the judge awarded summary judgment to the plaintiff, which is extremely unusual in defamation cases. [Sam Bayard, Citizen Media Law; Mike Cherney, Myrtle Beach Sun-News]
P.S. Some commenters are reading the case as one of “defendant doesn’t show up to contest complaint, gets hit with default judgment”; I wasn’t sure from the story (and am still not sure) that the sequence of events was that cut and dried. Obviously, it doesn’t count as especially odd if an absent litigant gets hit with a big judgment.
Update Aug. 2009: Case settled [Citizen Media Law]
Update: “Quebec dad sued by daughter after grounding loses his appeal”
“A Quebec father who was taken to court by his 12-year-old daughter after he grounded her in June 2008 has lost his appeal.” [CBC] For some reason the litigation has not done wonders for family harmony:
The girl — who now lives with her mother — doesn’t have much of a relationship with her dad now, [attorney Kim] Beaudoin said.
“We went from a child who wanted to live with her father, and after all this has been done, they’re not speaking anymore.”
Library employee objects to “Harry Potter” promotion
And now Deborah Smith of Poplar Bluff, Missouri has won a $45,000 settlement of her claim that library managers should have been more accommodating of her religious scruples about helping promote the popular Rowling wizard-themed books. The library had offered to let her remain behind the scenes during a special Potter event but said she did have to help. The ACLU represented her. [On Point News]
CPSIA, tangled politics of, cont’d
Last week twenty-eight Democratic senators sent a letter (PDF) to Acting CPSC Chair Nancy Nord the gist of which can be summed up as, “Never mind the law we passed, start enforcing the more reasonable law we wish we’d passed”. Neat move, if somewhat at odds with the concept of the “rule of law”.
Rick Woldenberg scrutinizes the politics (with particular attention to ATVs/minibikes) and also points out something seldom brought out in press accounts: the last 23 commission votes on CPSIA have been settled by 2-0 votes, with reputedly “good” CPSC commissioner Thomas Moore (cozy with Congress, vocally pro-CPSIA, a Democrat) voting exactly the same way as Nord, the reputedly “bad” commissioner (at odds with Congress, unenthusiastic about much of CPSIA, known to be a Republican, etc.) 
Which particular decisions, one wonders, would have turned out differently had some new appointee been installed in the vacant third seat, as Rep. Henry Waxman is reputedly demanding as a precondition for even considering hearings on the law? Woldenberg makes the same point today in a Chicago Tribune letter to the editor, responding to an exceptionally lame April 4 editorial in that paper. More on CPSC politics: news-side WSJ; Nord responds to attack from Sen. Durbin, and requests that President Obama name permanent chair to replace her (more). (Update: the National Law Journal is out with coverage of the “furor” CPSIA has set off in Washington).
On a brighter note, AmendTheCPSIA has posted videos (slow loading) of the Capitol Hill rally two weeks ago to demand action on the law. Here’s the video of dirtbike racing dad Rod Yentzer and 6-year-old (!) son Chase:
And here’s bike dealer Steve Burnside of DSD Kawasaki in Parkersburg, West Virginia:
Also, Carol Baicker-McKee has a another excellent post on the rally, while Rick Woldenberg discusses the politics of the event. Earlier rally coverage here.
Public domain image: Yankee Mother Goose (1902), illustrator Ella S. Brison, courtesy ChildrensLibrary.org.