The logo on the clerics’ vehicle does look frankly imitative, but was there really a likelihood of confusion? In any case, Best Buy through its lawyers was unforgiving. [Bruce Vielmetti, Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel]
Archive for 2010
Sued if you do, sued if you don’t dept.: laminated vs. tempered glass
As we have seen in earlier coverage, automakers will get sued over some kinds of accident if they decide to use laminated glass, and sued over others if they decide to use nonlaminated glass. Now Ted at Point of Law has details of another case, this one against Ford, in which the South Carolina Supreme Court held that NHTSA regulations resolved the issue at hand and should not be second-guessed by tort litigation. Unfortunately, as Ted notes, the trial bar and its allies in the Obama administration are doing their best to weaken the preemption defense, which would open up maximum scope for sued-if-you-do, sued-if-you-don’t litigation of this sort.
“Oh, no! School wi-fi is making our kids sick!”
Orac at Respectful Insolence does a little skeptical investigating. [link fixed now, thanks alert reader L. Nettles]
“Sending a child off to college…?”
Basketball doubleheaders: men first
Title IX From Outer Space dept.: “A sports conference that always scheduled weekday basketball doubleheaders in which women’s teams played the first game — letting the men play in the later time slot — has altered the practice, after an anonymous sex discrimination complaint charged that this made the women’s games appear to be a ‘warm-up’ act for the men’s games.” [Inside Higher Ed via George Leef, NRO “Phi Beta Cons”] More: Coyote.
Speaking at several law schools in 2010
It’s the 2010 Ted Frank law-school-speaking tour!
September 9: Louisiana State
September 15: New York University
September 16: Columbia
October 6: Texas Wesleyan
October 7: St. Mary’s (San Antonio)
November 9: Ohio State
November 10: Toledo
It’s not too late to get on the calendar if your school’s Federalist Society is interested.
In ADA-mill news…
“A San Diego lawyer has irritated business owners in the town of Redlands, Calif., by sending out letters on behalf of clients demanding $6,500 settlements for claimed violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act and related state law.” [ABA Journal; attorney James Mason]
“Utility Threatens to Send Overdue Balance of $0.00 to Collections”
The only thing that tends to work in these situations is to give up and send them a check for $0.00. [LegalBlogWatch]
“A Litigious U.S. Might Be Driving Business to Law Firms Abroad”
Hoist on their own petard? “Are U.S. law firms losing international business opportunities because a surprising number of in-house lawyers prefer to seek counsel in other countries? That’s the conclusion of a survey that suggests global companies would rather be advised by British firms.” One of the apparent factors involved is that international firms often prefer dealmaking that specifies British or European rather than American jurisdiction in case of later dispute. [David Hechler, Corporate Counsel]
One judge’s philosophy?
Washington Supreme Court Justice Richard Sanders, who won a moment of fame nationally for heckling then-Attorney General Michael Mukasey at a dinner, may conceive himself as a champion of the underdog, but if the Seattle Post-Intelligencer’s coverage is accurate, he doesn’t always manage to convey that stance in the most felicitous way: “Sanders said his job as a Supreme Court justice is to make sure ‘the smallest dog can lift its leg against the largest tree.'”