Behind the menacing letter in question, apparently: a baffling failure to grasp the context in which the phrase “Academic Advantage” appeared on the popular blog.
Archive for 2011
“Lawyer advises foreclosed clients to break back into their homes”
Attorney Michael Pines “admits to breaking into homes at least half a dozen times… leaving the clients [most famously baseball legend Lenny Dykstra] to squat in their homes while he defends their legal right to possession.” More in an L.A. Times profile:
Although Pines advises his clients not to pay their lenders, he wants to be paid.
“I tell my clients that if you’re living in a house for free, you should be able to afford to pay a lawyer,” Pines said, adding that he usually charges an hourly rate of $650.
January 18 roundup
- What, no more monkeys or snakes? Starting March 15 new federal regulation will restrict definition of “service animals” to dogs alone [Central Kitsap Reporter, earlier, more]
- “Appeals court: SD prosecutor’s conduct denied man a fair trial” [San Diego Union-Tribune]
- A tale of local regulation: “A septic system at the crossroads” [Roland Toy, American Thinker]
- Firm sues Fark, Reddit, Yahoo, etc. etc. over 2002 patent on “structured news release generation and distribution,” draws rude reply from defendant TechCrunch;
- UK schools minister: “no touching pupils” policy keeps music teachers from doing their job [Telegraph]
- Legal ethicist Stephen Gillers hired at $950/hour to approve ethics of Ken Feinberg’s BP compensation fund work [two views: Andrew Perlman and Monroe Freedman; earlier, Byron Stier]. Per Ted at PoL, trial lawyers criticizing the arrangement “complain that BP is using the same tactic plaintiffs’ lawyers regularly use to prove their own ethics.”
- Is WordPress’s quirky “Hello Dolly” plugin a copyright infringement? [TechDirt]
- Congrats, you’re eligible for a job with the D.C. public school system [ten years ago on Overlawyered; more on criminal records and hiring, subject of a current EEOC crusade]
“Is trademark bullying okay if you’re on the side of the angels?”
Ron Coleman wonders about a well-known cancer charity’s designs on phrases like “For a Cure” and the color pink. [Mike Masnick, TechDirt]
Salon yanks discredited RFK Jr. vaccine piece
Six years late, the online publication is throwing in the towel on a notorious venture into antiscientific claptrap by America’s Most Irresponsible Public Figure®, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. Meanwhile, Carter at Point of Law reports that the newly civility-aware celebrity environmentalist will be headlining a “Progressive Voices Cruise” of the Caribbean that by total coincidence will also feature attorney Michael Papantonio, with whose Levin Papantonio injury-law firm the hothead scion has long been associated, a connection curiously absent from his current Wikipedia page and most other coverage (& welcome Jonathan Adler readers).
Update: adult clubs to settle EEOC age-bias suit
“Two Houston adult entertainment clubs this week agreed to settle a federal age discrimination case with a former waitress who alleged younger, male managers called her ‘old’ and said she showed symptoms of memory loss. The owners of Centerfolds and Cover Girls agreed to pay $60,000 to Mary Bassi. She was 56 when she was fired in 2006 ‘without provocation or explanation,’ according to a lawsuit the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission filed on Bassi’s behalf.” [Houston Chronicle; earlier]
License plate and tax on bicycles?
A New Jersey proposal is shelved.
Taking anti-hacking law too far?
Arguing for a temporary restraining order in a civil dispute, lawyers for Sony argue that the federal “anti-hacking” law prohibits unauthorized access to one’s own computer. (As commenters point out, the company may also have less controversial arguments based on other areas of law, such as intellectual property and contract.) [Orin Kerr]
Obama administration’s Title IX activism
The quota pressure in sports has been around for a while, but the idea of an enforcement push in hard academic disciplines may be getting extra encouragement from the very top:
Obama himself seems to have latched onto the idea. While praising Title IX’s impact on increasing women’s participation in athletics, he said, “If pursued with the necessary attention and enforcement, Title IX has the potential to make similar, striking advances in the opportunities that girls have in the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (“STEM”) disciplines.” The nation’s university science, engineering, and mathematics departments may thus soon find themselves faced with the task of complying with a regulatory regime similar to the intercollegiate athletics three part test.
[Alison Somin, Federalist Society “Engage”, PDF]
More: a John Stossel segment, and cutbacks in men’s sports at Delaware.
Appeals court upholds dismissal of CSPI salt case against Denny’s
Amid much hoopla, the Center for Science in the Public Interest had filed a suit on behalf of a New Jersey man claiming Denny’s hadn’t adequately warned its meals were salty. Now an appeals court has upheld the dismissal of the suit’s consumer-fraud theory, meaning that the complainant would be able to proceed only by proving actual personal injury [Abnormal Use, Home News Tribune via NJLRA; earlier here, here, etc.]