If it’s going to put me in danger of removal from state to federal court, I guess it must have just been a typo. An Arkansas federal court bought the argument. (CAFA Law Blog, Sept. 18).
State marriage amendments: thumbs down
This November, voters in California, Arizona and Florida will decide on proposals to amend their state constitutions to include permanent bans on same-sex marriage. A new Field poll indicates that California voters are leaning heavily against that state’s Proposition 8 by a 38 to 55 percent margin, almost double the margin by which the measure was failing in July, despite an intensive “pro” campaign by conservative religious forces. A recent Quinnipiac poll in Florida shows the amendment there still in the lead, but not by the 60 percent majority needed to pass a constitutional change under that state’s law. Arizona voters rejected a ballot measure of this sort two years ago, and opponents have high hopes of defeating it again.
I’ve editorialized repeatedly against these measures in this space and will repeat some of what I wrote four years ago Read On…
Twitter integration
As alert readers may have noticed, I began using Twitter recently (@walterolson) and have been experimenting over the past week with what it can do. I’ve now added Alex King’s Twitter Tools plugin for WordPress, which makes it possible to integrate blog functions with those of Twitter. I’m giving a tryout to two new functions:
* Now featured atop the rightmost column of this site is a list of my five most recent Twitter posts. Some are ultra-brief summaries of Overlawyered or Point of Law posts, while others point to law-related articles or news stories in lieu of writing them up at full post length, and yet others contain non-law-related or even personal content. If you want to keep abreast with these in something close to real time without coming back to visit the site itself, “follow” @walterolson (on your Twitter account) or use the @walterolson RSS feed (distinct from the regular Overlawyered posts and comments feeds).
* Once a day Twitter Tools will generate an Overlawyered post like this one summing up the last day’s Twitter mini-posts (“tweets”). In their native form, these roundups have a rather raw look, replete with artificially truncated URLs (of the tinyurl and is.gd variety), often not identifying the article source, etc. If time and inclination permits, I’ll try to clean these up and make them more Overlawyered-relevant by reinserting “real” URLs, via links, earlier/further reading, etc., maybe cutting pure personal stuff, etc.
* Here’s a list of lawyers and law types on Twitter. I’m listed at #230.
* This is all, obviously, experimental, and aimed at seeing whether the new formats appeal to existing readers and reach new ones. If it does work well, I might take further steps, such as systematically broadcasting Overlawyered content on Twitter (a reader volunteer might come in really useful on that). One step at a time, though.
* More: If you’re a reader whose Twitter posts might furnish good story tip material for this site, and I realize that, there’s a good chance I’ll try following you; I’ve already done three posts using material I found in Twitter streams. (This is by contrast with Facebook, where I follow a more conservative policy, and mostly accept as friends only those I “really” know or at least have emailed with a fair bit).
“Vexatious” to post motions on anti-RIAA blog?
Attorney Ray Beckerman is “one of the nation’s few attorneys who defends accused file sharers” and runs a blog called Recording Industry vs The People that is often cited in coverage critical of Recording Industry Association of America and its massive litigation campaign. Now RIAA is seeking sanctions against Beckerman in a case in which he is defending Marie Lindor. Among its allegations (PDF): Beckerman “has consistently posted virtually every one of his baseless motions on his blog seeking to bolster his public relations campaign and embarrass plaintiffs.” And: “Such vexatious conduct demeans the integrity of these judicial proceedings and warrants this imposition of sanctions.” Although RIAA is seeking to voluntarily dismiss its case against Lindor, it wants sanctions against her too, saying that she obstructed its attempts to ascertain whether she was responsible for file-sharing. (David Kravets, Wired/Threat Level, Sept. 17).
Twitter for 2008-09-18
- Yikes! Pressure builds to downgrade U.S. govt’s “AAA” rating [Reuters] #
- John Carney leaves DealBreaker for better offer [Salmon] #
- Man smoked pot on sly, now sues over rejection by pain management program [Overlawyered] #
- Lots of StumbleUpon traffic on blog all of a sudden. Does this relate to having joined Twitter? #
- Freakonomics on credit crisis, thanks @petewarden [Levitt, NY Times] #
- Other countries aren’t citing our Supreme Court as much? Good! [Paulsen, Balkinization] #
Feeds working again?
Many of our RSS feed subscribers lost their Overlawyered feeds when we switched platforms to WordPress this spring. I’ve just installed a plugin that should get things moving again, redirecting everyone to a single main feed for the site; those who want to follow comments can subscribe to this separate comments feed. If it doesn’t work for you, let me know.
Emotional value of lost pets, cont’d
A veterinary malpractice suit aims to overturn Georgia’s adherence to the traditional rule barring damage recovery for intangible pet companionship value. Not that it’s about you-know-what: “Money is not the object here,” says Kathryn Sutton about 13-year-old miniature Schnauzer Marshall. (D.L. Bennett, “Animal rights drive dog lawsuit”, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Sept. 15). Earlier here, here, here, here, here, etc.
Purge that data, cont’d
Geoffrey Fieger to run for Detroit mayor?
“Judge Who Scoffed at Dispute Between Former Law Partners Is Reversed”
“A trial judge had an obligation to hold a plenary hearing on disputed issues in a suit between two former law firm partners, even if he thought the matter petty and unworthy of the lawyers involved, an appeals court ruled last week. The panel reversed Monmouth County, N.J., Superior Court Judge Alexander Lehrer, who decided motions to enforce litigants’ rights based on conflicting certifications, after calling the dispute ‘the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever seen’ and questioning whether the amount at issue justified the cost of a hearing.” At one point the judge said, of a requested evidentiary hearing, “Let’s spend $60,000 in legal fees for me to determine whether or not one lawyer owes another lawyer $24,000.” (Mary Pat Gallagher, New Jersey Law Journal, Sept. 9).