Maybe for corporate defendants, at least, if a blockbuster Second Circuit ruling holds up [Ku, Anderson, more, WLF]
Archive for 2010
Web seminar: “Legal PR, Trial Lawyers’ Style”
I appeared in this Washington Legal Foundation web video yesterday. I discussed ways in which the rise of online media has helped correct some of the deficiencies of the older media in covering controversies like that over “unintended acceleration”. The other presentation on the video is by Andrew Trask of McGuire Woods and the Class Action Countermeasures blog. Viewing is free but you’ll need to register.
(Litigious) life in academia
Lawsuits fly in various directions arising from almost implausibly colorful fact patterns (“professor-dominatrix”) at the University of New Mexico English department [Chronicle of Higher Education]
“Evidence of fraud mounts in Ecuadorian suit against Chevron”
Roger Parloff of Fortune has this excellent summary of where the controversy stands. Before the new revelations, it had been taken for granted in many quarters that the large oil company was guilty as charged in the environmental suit — not least because a widely hailed independent documentary film advanced that position, as did “a sympathetic 12,600-word article for Vanity Fair in 2007.” But here’s what a U.S. Magistrate Judge said in a ruling last week: “While this court is unfamiliar with the practices of the Ecuadorian judicial system, the court must believe that the concept of fraud is universal, and that what has blatantly occurred in this matter would in fact be considered fraud by any court. If such conduct does not amount to fraud in a particular country, then that country has larger problems than an oil spill.” It’s sad to think we might have to start reading those 12,600-word Vanity Fair articles with a more skeptical eye.
Prosecutor’s hitting on crime victim
“Inappropriate but did not amount to misconduct?” Really? [Crime and Federalism, Journal Sentinel; Calumet County, Wisconsin]
“High Court to Decide Whether Climate Change Cases Should Proceed”
The Supreme Court takes a look at curtailing lawsuits aimed at punishing or regulating carbon emissions, and might even revisit its pro-environmentalist ruling in Massachusetts v. EPA. [Marcia Coyle, NLJ] Related: “Call for Papers: Civil Litigation as a Tool for Regulating Climate Change” [Valparaiso University School of Law via TortsProf]
Less harsh federal criminal sentences
Have we arrived yet at a bipartisan consensus? Or is Washington’s “tough-on-crime” faction simply choosing to give the issue a pass? [Josh Gerstein, Politico] Related: if you think conservative Justices on the Supreme Court are adamant against overturning criminal convictions, think again [Marie Gryphon, National Law Journal]
Fooling the ump
September 17 roundup
- International House of Pancakes (restaurant chain) vs. International House of Prayer (church) [CNN]
- “Law Schools Now Require Applicants To Honestly State Whether They Want To Go To Law School” [The Onion, satire]
- “As ENDA Lingers in Congress, a [million-dollar verdict] in Maine” [Michael Fox]
- Fear: On advice of FBI, cartoonist who organized “Everybody Draw Mohammed Day” drops out and changes name [Seattle Weekly, Welch, Moynihan]
- University of Windsor lawprof asks Ontario Human Rights Tribunal to overturn school’s decision not to make her dean [National Post]
- Prominent Seattle lawyer arrested, and do-you-know-who-I-am-ery allegedly ensues [Above the Law]
- “Man rushed to hospital after finding tampon in his cereal” [Obscure Store, Macon Telegraph] Update: suit dropped.
- Manufacture iPhones in the U.S.? “I worry America has too many lawyers. I don’t want to spend time having people sue me every day.” [Foxconn’s Terry Gau, quoted in Business Week]
ABA Journal blawg beauty contest, again
It’s that time of year again and you can not only nominate blogs to the ABA’s “Best Legal Blogs” compilation, but tell why you like them (hint hint). The entry form is here.