It draws a lawsuit in France from the holder of the rights to the notorious killer’s famous 1960 photo. [The Sun, U.K.]
Archive for 2011
Litigation Lobby: president’s med-mal SOTU remarks “disgusting”
David Ingram, National Law Journal:
The New York-based Center for Justice and Democracy, which describes its mission as “protecting our civil justice system,” released a statement calling Obama’s remarks “disgusting” because many proposed changes would affect cases with merit. “The Republican proposals would weaken the legal rights of sick and injured patients and lessen the accountability of incompetent doctors and unsafe hospitals,” the statement said.
I haven’t seen a direct link to the “disgusting” statement yet, only the NLJ/Legal Times coverage, so I’ll try not to jump to conclusions. (Update: link here, h/t gitarcarver). But I’ve wondered before whether the tone taken by the misnamed Center for Justice and Democracy is so harshly abrasive and shrill that it actually alienates the sorts of centrists and moderate liberals that its trial-lawyer constituency should be trying to win over. Earlier on CJD here, here, here, here, etc.
Court tosses Alan Grayson calling-card suit
Washington, D.C.: “The D.C. Court of Appeals ruled Friday that two plaintiffs who hoped to bring claims under the Consumer Protection Procedures Act did not have reason to do so. One of those plaintiffs was former U.S. Rep. Alan Grayson, who called himself a ‘whistleblower’ when he sued AT&T over unused balances on calling cards.” [John O’Brien, Legal NewsLine via David Freddoso, Examiner]
Taiwan: man sues over trained-bird insults
Law school hypotheticals come to life: “Wang Han-chin, an electrician in central Taiwan, accused five neighbours of teaching their mynah, a parrot-like bird, to curse at him” with the epithet “clueless big-mouthed idiot” after he called the police on their noise. He claimed that the insults caused him emotional distress and distraction at work with resulting injury, but prosecutors found that he had not shown an adequate link between the bird and his injuries. [NineMSN via Lowering the Bar]
Texas governor: let’s move toward loser-pays
Right now Alaska is the only one of the fifty states with a serious loser-pays rule. If Texas adopted anything similar, the idea would get a massive boost nationally. [Gov. Rick Perry press release; Bob Dorigo Jones; Orange County Register; William Weaver, Indianapolis Star]
Tape recording Illinois cops
It could send you to prison. [New York Times; Radley Balko] Related: Jim Harper, Cato.
IBM’s proposed “meta-patent”
Will it work as a troll repellent? [Annie Lowrey, Slate]
Do not polish guns while taking this medication
The plaintiff, who had been prescribed Zoloft and Ambien, “reportedly fell asleep while ‘inspecting’ his gun” and shot himself inadvertently on waking. He “is now suing his doctor for medical malpractice, saying that prescribing both an anti-depressant and a sleep aid together deviated from accepted standards of medical care. He has a separate product liability claim pending against the drug manufacturers.” [New Jersey Lawsuit Reform Alliance, FindACase]
Susan Saladoff documentary “Hot Coffee” at Sundance
At Abnormal Use, Nick Farr brings some scrutiny to what’s looking like the big trial-bar media venture of the season.
P.S. And a follow-up that really stands on its own as a resource: “The Stella Liebeck McDonald’s Hot Coffee Case FAQ“
Jump in world prices raises specter of food riots
Now why again do we subsidize the making of corn into ethanol at great cost? [Kenneth Anderson, Opinio Juris]