- “Sioux split on suit seeking money for Black Hills” [Associated Press]
- More on nomination of Mothers Against Drunk Driving CEO to head highway safety agency [Balko, see also comments on earlier post]
- Push by advocates in Congress to extend shakedown-enabling Community Reinvestment Act to all financial institutions [Victoria McGrane, Politico] And some numbers from Bank of America raise doubts about those oft-heard “CRA default rates lower than regular default rates” assertions [Weisenthal, Business Insider]
- Illinois attorney general Madigan to Craigslist: purge vice ads or I’ll see you in court [L.A. Times]
- Here and there, acknowledgments in the press of the damaging effects of laws entrenching auto dealers against termination [L.A. Times via Craig Newmark]
- How many people get arrested for “contempt of cop”? [Coyote Blog] Blogosphere has helped spread awareness of police-abuse issues [Greenfield]
- Virginia Postrel: I told you so on that light bulb ban story [earlier]
- U.K. law reform panel: “charlatan” and “biased” expert witnesses put defendants at risk of wrongful conviction [Times Online]
Archive for 2009
“Why lawyers rule the U.S….”
“…and what it says about our culture“.
Judge tosses lawsuit over lack of men’s studies program
Anti-feminist litigant Roy Den Hollander had claimed that Columbia University violated the law by offering courses in the study of one gender but not the other. A judge disagreed. [Corey Kilgannon, NY Times City Room via Elefant] Hollander has made earlier appearances at this site through his lawsuits against “Ladies’ Night” discounts at drinking establishments.
Twitter memoir of jail experience?
Self-description of @washtenawjail, a Twitter account launched on Saturday: “I spent 5 months in the Washtenaw County Jail in 2008. I had never been in trouble with the law before. Here’s what I experienced – 140 characters at a time.” Washtenaw County is west of Detroit; its largest cities are Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti.
How-to-hack-iPhone postings result in Apple nastygram
“Apple’s lawyers demanded [BluWiki] take down pages that described how to use third-party software on iPhones and iPods.” [ArsTechnica via Ambrogi, Legal Blog Watch]
Ticketed for parking in their own driveways
The District of Columbia has a new way to raise revenue: “When Anderson complained to a supervisor at DPW she was told that she could lease the property from the District and avoid future tickets.”
New at Point of Law
If you’re not reading my other legal site, Point of Law, here’s some of what you’re missing:
- Taft-Hartley and the secret ballot in union-representation elections, part of a new category on labor law;
- Also, a new category on international law and international human rights law with coverage of such topics as the Harold Koh nomination, other lawprofs joining the Obama administration, the Alien Tort statute, the proposed Spanish prosecution of Bush administration lawyers, and piracy and international law;
- One form of executive pay they don’t care to limit: Senate rejects proposed $50 million ceiling on bounties paid to informants (“relators”) in federal whistleblowing suits;
- Pay-for-play in state drug-recoupment litigation: Pennsylvania, New Mexico furors just the start of much more to come;
- We’ve heard the line, “Want less litigation after the fact? Then support more regulation before the fact.” Here’s one of many reasons to take that with a grain of salt;
- “File case in Texas. Take plaintiff deposition. Dismiss case, and refile in California.” Asbestos litigation has some of the best forum-shopping gamesmanship;
- Plaintiff’s lawyers in California spent more than $4.1 million in that state’s 2007-2008 election cycle;
- Miranda warnings for company counsel?
Woman fined $500 for suing police dog
The judge said Inez Sparks, of the Detroit suburb of Eastpointe, should not have named a police dog as defendant in her dog bite claim against the Warren, Mich. police department and its officers. [WDIV/ClickOnDetroit.com]
More “swoon and fall” church claims
Upholding a $40,000 jury award, the Michigan Court of Appeals has “said a church was liable for the fall of a woman who was ‘slain in the spirit’ during an altar call” (see Jun. 21, 2007) [On Point News] And per the same site, a new Oregon case presents a somewhat different fact pattern: Shin Lim Kim was allegedly acting as a “catcher” at the Portland Onnuri Church in Beaverton, but suffered a fractured spinal vertebra when fellow congregant Hyun Joo Hoon fell on her:
The church was negligent, the complaint says, in not providing multiple catchers; failing to discuss “safe catching strategy” with congregants; selecting Kim — “a small and not particularly strong person” — as a catcher; and failing to instruct congregants on “the correct procedures to fall, so that they would not injure themselves and injure the person assisting and/or catching them.”
More coverage of this genre of suits: June 8, 2008.
Foraging for wild food in the city
Yes, it’s a locavore’s dream, but as you search for nettle, wild radish and miner’s lettuce, you might consider taking a lawyer along [Peter Jamison, SF Weekly]