Archive for 2010

January 5 roundup

  • Other motorist in fatal crash should have been detained after earlier traffic stop, says widow in suit against Kane County, Ill. sheriff’s office [Chicago Tribune]
  • Now with flashing graphic: recap of Demi Moore skinny-thigh Photoshop nastygram flap [Xeni Jardin, BoingBoing, Kennerly]
  • Blawg Review #245 is hosted by Charon QC;
  • Expensive, unproven, and soon on your insurance bill? State lawmakers mull mandate for autism therapy coverage [KY3.com, Springfield, Missouri]
  • “NBC airs segment on Ford settlement: Lawyers get $25 million, plaintiffs get a coupon” [NJLRA]
  • “Drawing on emotion”: high-profile patent plaintiff’s lawyer Niro writes book on how to win trials [Legal Blog Watch]
  • “Virginia Tech faces lawsuit over student’s suicide” [AP/WaPo]
  • Maryland lawmaker’s Howard-Dean-style candor: “you take care of your base… It’s labor and trial lawyers that get Democrats in office” [Wood, ShopFloor]

“Sewer service” alleged against New York debt collectors

The New York Times reports on allegations (earlier here, h/t Patrick) that some process servers falsely claimed to have served papers on defendants who subsequently lost default judgments. Per one law encyclopedia:

The tricks of serving process papers can, however, reach a point that the courts will not tolerate because they subvert the purpose of service or threaten to disrupt the administration of justice. The most intolerable abuse is called sewer service. It is not really service at all but is so named on the theory that the server tossed the papers into the sewer and did not attempt to deliver them to the proper party. Sewer service is a fraud on the court, and an attorney who knowingly participates in such a scheme can be disbarred.

Hospital emergency preparedness suits

Hurricane Katrina legal aftermath, cont’d: “About 200 lawsuits have been filed in Louisiana alleging that these institutions [hospitals and nursing homes] are liable for the deaths and for the suffering of other patients who survived because corporate failure to plan adequately for flooding and implement evacuation constituted negligence or medical malpractice.” [New York Times] (& welcome Above the Law, On the Record readers)

Prizes baked into food, cont’d

The New York Times has more on the customs surrounding the traditional French galette des rois baked with little figurines inside, though it does not get into the possible legal or regulatory angles that might prohibit placing such items in interstate commerce. In this case they’re prepared by a licensed home baker in Larchmont, N.Y. For the cases of New Orleans king cake, Christmas puddings, Kinder Surprise candy, etc., see earlier posts.

P.S. For more on Epiphany traditions of “Twelfth Cake,” see Christine Lalumia/BBC, David Zincavage, and KatInTheCupboard/Flickr (1937 children’s book).

“Lawyer: Man who slipped on cruise ship deserves every penny of $9.5 million”

“I strongly disagree that this case is a classic example of the legal system run amok; in truth, it is a classic example of justice being served,” said David Brill, Florida-based attorney for plaintiff Danny Simpson, a fitness instructor on Norwegian Cruise Line’s Norwegian Crown who slipped on a wet floor area. [Gene Sloan, USA Today “Cruise Log” blog]

January 3 roundup

  • “A Patient Dies, and Then the Anguish of Litigation” [Joan Savitsky, NYT, more]
  • “Kern County’s Monstrous D.A.” [Radley Balko]
  • “Former N.Y. Judge Sentenced to 27 Months in Jail for Attempted Bribery” [NYLJ]
  • “ADA Online: Is a Website a ‘Place of Public Accommodation’?” [Eric Robinson, Citizen Media Law, background here and here]
  • “The New Climate Litigation: How about if we sue you for breathing?” [WSJ editorial]
  • Saratoga school district agrees to overregulate, rather than ban, students’ bikes [Free-Range Kids, earlier]
  • “Head of BigLaw pro bono department fails to pay income taxes for 10 years? How’s that happen?” [WSJ Law Blog]
  • Municipal subprime suits: “The Most ‘Evil’ Lenders Are Also, Conveniently, The Richest” [Kevin Funnell; more at Point of Law]