An old contract-law chestnut: when does a public statement along these lines rise to the status of a legally enforceable reward offer? Dave Hoffman at Concurring Opinions considers it unlikely that a law student will get past summary judgment in his suit against a criminal defense attorney who went on Dateline and promised (or at least seemed to promise) a cool million to anyone who proved his client could have committed the crime of which he was accused.
Archive for 2009
Comment spam — from law firms
As Eric Turkewitz notes, “when a firm outsources its marketing, it also outsources its ethics.”
Lawsuit claiming talk show host unfairly refused to take calls
You might think such a lawsuit, filed against radio host Marc Bernier in Bristol, Va. two years ago, would not detain the legal system for long or inflict heavy costs. But you’d be wrong about that. [Daniel Gilbert, Bristol Herald-Courier, May 19]
June 25 roundup
- UK libel law still casting a chill on free speech around the world [Floyd Abrams, Index on Censorship via Ken at Popehat, Kirk Hartley]
- Much talked about Ramesh Ponnuru op-ed on Constitution and government consideration of race [NYT]
- “EFF Busts Bogus Internet Subdomain Patent” [Electronic Frontier Foundation]
- Why you can’t get low-cost health insurance, part LXVII: legal pressure on insurers to cover behavioral autism treatment [NLJ, Detroit Free Press]
- New Jersey disbars reparations lawyer Ed Fagan, New York having already done so [Black Star News, JTA, Newark Star-Ledger, NJLJ]
- Author Wendell Berry: force NAIS animal-tagging on every small farmer, and you’ll have to call the cops on me [Food Renegade; more on NAIS and small producers, Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund; earlier here, etc.]
- Indiana enacts what Gov. Mitch Daniels calls nation’s strongest law protecting teachers from lawsuits [WANE, WTHR]
- Town of Kenner, La. says it’s learned its lesson from being sued and will ticket drunken bicyclists even if they’re badly hurt in accidents [nine years ago on Overlawyered]
A non-troll patent lawsuit in E.D. Tex.
Both sides actually manufacture products and everything.
The online business model
What if it turns out to depend on selling lots and lots of lawyer ads?
Guestbloggers for Overlawyered
Summer is upon us and with it a wider opening for guestbloggers to join us for what is usually a week of posting. Authors of newly published books and scholarly articles in our fields of interest are particularly welcome. If you’re interested, contact editor – at – thisdomainname.com.
“Cigarette Control and Thought Control”
Steve Chapman on the new tobacco regulation bill: “When it gets in a mood to regulate, Congress doesn’t like to trouble itself with nuisances like the First Amendment.”
More on fashion knock-off litigation
From Kelly Taylor at Miss Trials (via Above the Law, Coleman). More on the proposed Design Piracy Prohibition Act here and here.
Australia’s banned websites
Even linking to one of them can get you A$11,000 a day in fines [BoingBoing]