“Though blogger John (Johnny Northside) Hoff told the truth when he linked ex-community leader Jerry Moore to a high-profile mortgage fraud, the scathing blog post that got Moore fired justifies $60,000 in damages, a Hennepin County jury decided Friday.” Moore, who was fired by the University of Minnesota after the post appeared, sued on a theory of “tortious interference” with his employment. [Minneapolis Star-Tribune]
Archive for March, 2011
“I really don’t care what the law allows you to do…”
“…It’s a more practical issue. Do you want to send your attorney a check every month indefinitely as I continue to pursue this?” [Paul Alan Levy, CL&P, on a business’s threats against the “Insurance Forums” website]
Paul Rubin: “Privacy and tracking”
The Emory law and economics expert, newly launched as a blogger at Truth on the Market, has some thoughts about Internet commerce and the (sometimes illusory) sense of being watched.
Manhattan Institute podcast on Schools for Misrule
I spoke about my new book before a luncheon crowd yesterday at my former institute in New York City — several distinguished law professors were in attendance — and Jim Copland interviewed me afterward. We talked about how this book grew out of my earlier work, why international rights are such a coming area in law schools, and much more. The resulting audio podcast runs just over 10 minutes; you may need to turn the volume up higher than normal to hear it properly. You can and should buy Schools for Misrule itself here (Amazon commission as well as regular royalty benefits me).
On the radio front, I was a guest on Jason Lewis’s nationally syndicated (Minneapolis-based) show on Monday, and will be a guest today at 11 Eastern on Ron Smith’s show on WBAL Baltimore (audio).
Radley Balko on forensics reform
Fix the incentives that underlie the system’s pervasive failures, argues the journalist who’s exposed crime-lab scandals and expert unreliability in a series of widely discussed articles. [Reason]
“I Can’t Believe It Wasn’t Legal to Sell Yellow Margarine”
Mark Perry revisits an interest-group-driven feature of the not too distant legal past [Carpe Diem]
Undercutting a $1,500 drug with a $20 equivalent
A competitor drug company warns “compounding” pharmacies of “FDA action” if they persist in any such mischief [L.A. Times]
Twitter as libel in Wales
A town councilor faces a £3,000 libel payout for not tweeting more Caerphilly. [BBC]
Kansas City jury finds for stadium hot dog flinger
“Jurors deliberated a little more than an hour before finding that the Royals were not liable for injuries suffered by a Kansas man when he was hit in the eye by a foil-wrapped hot dog at a game in September 2009.” [Kansas City Star via Lowering the Bar, earlier]
Lawyer suspended for advising clients to break into foreclosed homes
Pending further disciplinary action, the State Bar of California suspended the right to practice of Michael Pines, whose exploits had garnered considerable press attention [Amanda Bronstad, NLJ; earlier here and here]