Michael Steadman posted a negative review on eBay over a $44 clock that he didn’t think worked as advertised. He’s already spent $7,000 defending himself against the defamation suit filed by the seller, who is a Miami Beach lawyer. [Orlando Sentinel, Obscure Store]
Archive for April, 2010
Update: carpet maker to pay $18 million to settle illegal-alien-hiring RICO case
The suit against Mohawk Industries had been billed as a test case for private litigation extracting cash from employers over use of illegal immigrant labor. An insurer will pay $13 million and the company said the remainder of the settlement was less than the legal costs of continuing to fight. [Fulton County Daily Report, earlier, etc.]
The fabulous diversity of Obama’s SCOTUS shortlist
Orin Kerr explains.
AP on Toyota legal “stonewalling”
Is the Japanese company super-extra-resistant to discovery demands, or is it just behaving the way other automakers would, backed up by a Japanese legal environment that is less oriented than ours toward compulsory disclosure-on-demand managed by hostile lawyers? Michael Fumento: “it’s clear from the article that the ‘experts’ upon whom the journalists relied aren’t just lawyers, aren’t just trial lawyers, but are trial lawyers suing Toyota.”
“Universal jurisdiction”, Judge Garzon, and the Pope
I’ve got a few thoughts at Point of Law on the continuing uproar over prosecutions of international human rights violations against the will of the home countries of the alleged perpetrators.
NY lawmaker: ban high-fructose corn syrup
Assemblywoman Barbara Clark (D-Queens) has proposed ousting thousands of commonly encountered food products from New York’s grocery shelves. [Katherine Mangu-Ward, Reason “Hit and Run”]
Permission to link, cont’d
Software startups and patent litigation
“Knowing why and how startups can be sued into oblivion will give you a new appreciation for the problems in the patent system.” [Sawyer at Feld Thoughts via Pete Warden]
Why you can’t phone the doc
…Defensive medicine costs you more than money. When was the last time you asked for telephone advice? Doctors are very, very leery of giving meaningful advice over the phone, because we can’t take the risk of this kind of conversation in front of a jury…
Everything we say and do is supposed to be documented, too – to defend ourselves. Every wonder why the doc spends so much time scribbling in the chart, instead of talking to you? It’s not because we like writing. It’s because every single day we’re reminded that the chart is our only defense.
Do you think this hasn’t increased health care costs? Do you think it hasn’t affected the relationships doctors have with patients?
April 12 roundup
- Town counsel of Southborough, Mass. considering legal action against online critic [Evan Lips/MetroWest Daily News, Jacob Sullum/Reason, Aspen Daily News]
- “Drowning in laughter”: pic of ill-advised safety sign [Turley]
- Canadian lawyer accused of fabricating evidence of jury tampering [Times Colonist h/t @ErikMagraken]
- One union (SEIU) wins $1.5 million verdict against another (NUHW) [Fox, Jottings]
- “Anti-Law School Blogs Seek to Keep Others from Making ‘Same Mistake We Did'” [Legal Blog Watch, WSJ Law Blog] Instruction at University of Texas law school has room for improvement [Blackbook Legal] Chief Justice Roberts: law review articles aren’t particularly helpful for practitioners or judges [WSJ Law Blog]
- “Illinois Hospital Loses Tax-Exempt Status for Not Being Charitable Enough” [NLJ]
- “Cyber-bullying” proposal in Suffolk County, N.Y. could criminalize repeated insults [Volokh]
“Where’s the State Action in Tort Awards Based on Speech?” [same] - George Will: administration “can imagine the world without the internal combustion engine but not without Chrysler” [WaPo/syndicated]