Oz taxpayers spent more than $A1 million securing the conviction of murder defendant/jailhouse lawyer Hugo Rich, who employed many colorful and wearying tactics in his defense on charges of murdering a security guard during a holdup. [Melbourne Herald-Sun]
Archive for 2009
Roche withdrawing Accutane after jury verdicts
The news is on the Bloomberg wire. Beck & Herrmann have this to say: “Despite the absence of scientific evidence, juries have repeatedly awarded millions of dollars to folks who developed IBD [inflammatory bowel disease] after taking Accutane. … If you ever need another example of the cost of litigation driving a beneficial drug off the market, add Accutane to your list.” From the Bloomberg account it appears, however, that generic versions of the powerful anti-acne medication will continue to be available — for now, at least.
More: New Jersey Lawsuit Reform Alliance (“If you are reading this and currently taking Accutane, trial lawyers owe you an apology. You just lost your drug.”); a curious 2002 Accutane lawsuit.
Illinois law school scandals/furors
Influence-peddling at the University of Illinois with state politicians including now-disgraced Gov. Blagojevich, per a Chicago Tribune investigation:
What does it cost to get an unqualified student into the University of Illinois law school?
Five jobs for graduating law students, suggest internal e-mails released Thursday.
The only surprising thing about this stuff is that none of these bigwigs (including a law school dean — apparently she never learned to think like a lawyer) can ever seem to remember that government emails are subject to FOIA requests.
Also in Illinois, a furor has broken out over DePaul’s firing of its law dean, Glen Weissenberger (per Paul Caron) “for reporting truthful information to the ABA in connection with its reaccreditation site visit”. John Steele, Legal Ethics Forum:
For some time now, I’ve been arguing on this blog that the most powerful form of ethics teaching that occurs in law schools is the open and widespread gaming of numbers and statistics for rankings purposes. Students are taught that gaming the numbers and then concealing it, fibbing about it, or rationalizing it, is what grown-ups do for a living in the real world.
More: Above the Law (with emails from U. of I.); Prof. Bainbridge (recalling his days on U of I Law’s admissions committee); and see comments below on this post for views of the DePaul episode differing from those linked above.
Further: The U of I dean at the time says her email remarks were facetious and are being misinterpreted [David Hyman, Volokh]. And Brian Leiter (via Glenn Reynolds): “Attacking university officials over this scandal is like attacking the victim of a robbery for handing over his money…. And, by the way, the same story is waiting to be written about admissions at every state university in the country.”
Utah, Louisiana: censorship via private lawsuit?
American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression:
There is a disturbing new trend in censorship legislation. Bills have been introduced in Utah and Louisiana this year that give private citizens the right to sue booksellers and other retailers for committing an “unfair” trade practice by selling “offensive” material to a minor. The defendants in these lawsuits would have to hire a lawyer to defend them and could be forced to pay thousands of dollars if they lost.
Earlier, the governor of Utah vetoed a similar measure aimed at video and game retailers.
“Disparaging eBay comment draws lawsuit”
“Nikki Foote of Henderson [Nevada] was sued over comments she allegedly posted charging that the Gucci handbag she purchased for $495 was a fake.” [Las Vegas Sun]
Domino’s sued in murder of deliveryman
Springfield, Mass.: The parents’ suit charges that the chain wrongfully sent Corey Lind out to deliver pizza to dangerous and unknown addresses; he was ambushed and murdered in 2007. Noteworthy angle:
According to the suit, prior to 2000 Domino’s had a policy of not making or of limiting deliveries to certain areas.
As a result of discrimination claims against the company, the federal Department of Justice investigated the policy. The result was an agreement between the government and Domino’s establishing procedures Domino’s could use to limit or stop deliveries to certain areas based on safety.
The suit said that Domino’s required all stores to implement a Limited Delivery Service Policy which, among other things, would evaluate each store’s delivery and service area and provide for the safety of delivery workers.
A steer named Tivo
More from notorious patent venue E.D. Tex.: litigants and lawyers are reaching out to buy sponsorships and other sources of presumed goodwill with the heavily rural jury pool, thus resulting in “Samsung Stagecoach Days” and the purchase of prize cows by faraway patent holders. [Elinson/The Recorder, Frankel/AmLaw]
A legal scramble over Michael Jackson’s estate?
The headline at Business Insider puts it more rudely than that. Business Week notes that “The singer faced a near-constant drumbeat of legal troubles in life. He’ll likely cue up plenty of them in death as well.” More: WSJ Law Blog; Eric Turkewitz with an early analysis of the medical and pharmacist liability possibilities.
“Teenage strippers sue Atlanta”
It is lawful for the 19- and 20-year-old exotic dancers to strip for customers, but a new Atlanta ordinance forbids persons their age to set foot in places selling alcoholic beverages, so they cannot legally enter their workplace, the Cheetah Lounge. [AP/WBBM]
Financial services regulation overhaul: goodbye to arbitration?
Tucked away in the Obama administration’s proposals for revamping regulation of financial services is a provision that would apparently allow federal regulators to curtail or eliminate the preagreed arbitration of consumer complaints in stockbroker and other financial service disputes, thus shunting more cases as litigation to the civil courts. [Erin Geiger Smith, Business Insider]. Max Kennerly has a plaintiff’s-eye view.