Following up on our Oct. 26 report: “A judge [Oct. 31] lopped off nearly half of the $15.5 million verdict fired-editor Kimberly Osorio won from her ex-bosses at The Source, the bankrupt bible of the hip-hop industry.” (Thomas Zambito, “Judge halves Source-suit payout”, New York Daily News, Nov. 1)
Andrew Sullivan, “The Conservative Soul”
I’ve got a review in today’s New York Post of Andrew Sullivan’s new book, The Conservative Soul: How We Lost It, How To Get It Back. A brief excerpt:
The “conservatism I grew up with,” notes Sullivan, stood for “lower taxes, less government spending, freer trade, freer markets, individual liberty, personal responsibility and a strong anti-communist foreign policy.” Defining figures such as Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher spoke regularly of human freedom as the great aim of political life. “It has long been a fundamental conviction of the Republican Party,” declared the 1980 GOP platform, “that government should foster in our society a climate of maximum individual liberty and freedom of choice.”
Somehow from there we arrived at the presidency of George W. Bush, whose pronouncement on the state’s proper role – “When someone hurts, government has got to move” – owes more to LBJ than to Barry Goldwater.
Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum brusquely waves aside “this whole idea of personal autonomy,” this “idea that people should be left alone, be able to do whatever they want to do.” Ex-Democrats of the McGovern-Dukakis era once popularized the line “I didn’t leave the party, the party left me”; if the Santorums prosper, plenty of old-line Republicans will be ready to sing the same refrain.
(Walter Olson, “Reforming the Right”, Nov. 5). Andrew Sullivan responds here.
“Next to go: duck-duck-goose”
Some thoughts on the “safety”-driven (in fact, lawsuit-driven) repression of schoolyard play: “I feel very sorry for elementary school teachers if the kids don’t run around the playground chasing one another. All that energy is going to come out one way or the other – better outside than in.” (Dean P. Johnson, “Schools are banning tag. What’s next: musical chairs?”, Christian Science Monitor, Nov. 3).
Update: Calif. ADA lawyer suspended
Setbacks for key figures in a prominent disabled-access filing mill:
Two of the attorneys behind an onslaught of ADA lawsuits in California — including at least 20 involving Monterey County restaurants and wineries — have run into serious legal troubles of their own.
Thomas Frankovich, who represented plaintiff Jarek Molski in hundreds of handicapped-access lawsuits over the last five years, was suspended June 19 from practicing in the U.S. District Court in Los Angeles. The six-month suspension came after one judge on the court, Edward Rafeedie, declared Frankovich a “vexatious litigant” and said he would recommend Frankovich for disciplinary action because of his “abusive and predatory litigation practices.”
(Paul Miller, “Indictment, suspension for two ADA lawyers”, Carmel Pine Cone, Jul. 21). 
Also in June, as was mentioned here in a post at the time (Jul. 5; see also Patterico, Jul. 1), Los Angeles attorney Stephen Yagman, who had represented Frankovich in defense of his ADA practice, was himself indicted on federal charges of tax evasion and bankruptcy fraud. In February 2005, after Judge Rafeedie had threatened Frankovich with sanctions, Yagman had said that “Judge Rafeedie’s mean-spiritedness, his cruelty, and his contempt for civil rights make Hitler look like a humanitarian.” (Paul Miller, “ADA lawyer’s new strategy: Insult the judge”, Feb. 11, 2005). More on Yagman: Jessica Seigel, “Cop griller”, George, Mar. 1998; Patterico, Jun. 3, 2004.
More Carmel Pine Cone coverage of Frankovich and Molski here, here, here and here. Our coverage: Sept. 21 and Dec. 12, 2004, Jan. 8 and Mar. 18, 2005. And for a very different point of view, once again, here’s Mary Johnson, “Jarek Molski’s problem — and I don’t mean access”, Ragged Edge, Oct. 24, 2005, arguing that Frankovich and Molski just aren’t good enough at getting their story out.
November 3 roundup
- Don’t forget Point of Law’s featured roundtable discussion on the midterm elections. [Point of Law]
- Public Citizen’s consumer law blog is holding a book club, and they’ve invited AEI’s Michael Greve into the hostile territory to discuss his book on consumer-fraud class actions. Both the book and the discussion are must-reading. [CL&P; CL&P; CL&P]
- Lester Brickman and others talk about mass tort screening fraud on your iPod. [Federalist Society]
- November 8 in DC: the Kaiser Family Foundation is hosting a big panel on health courts. [Common Good]
- Roundup of links on the outrageous Illinois Chief Justice Robert Thomas libel suit. This really deserves a longer post by itself. [Bashman]
- Melvin Dummar is back in court with his implausible Howard Hughes lawsuit. [AP/MSNBC via ATL]
- Barney Frank also doesn’t like the internet gambling ban. [Frank via Evanier]
- Today’s outrageous Ninth Circuit decision: a 2-1 invalidation of a meth-addict’s guilty plea for murder. Judge Bybee’s dissent tears it apart. [Smith v. Baldwin; The Recorder; Above the Law]
- Clint Bolick of Institute for Justice, on the other hand, defends judicial activism in an interview with Russell Roberts. [Cafe Hayek]
- Have we mentioned the new website with all of Judge Richard Posner’s opinions in one place? [Project Posner]
“Citing stress, cop sues man whose life he saved”
A heartwarming human-interest story, indeed: police Sgt. Ron Nametko of Denville, N.J. was hailed as a hero two years ago 
when he “talked a suicidal sheriff’s officer into putting down his weapon and surrendering. Now the sergeant, who has since retired with a disability, is suing the man who pointed a loaded gun at him, citing emotional distress from the incident.” Nametko’s suit also names a neighbor, Doug Wilkins, accusing him of aiding and abetting Patrick O’Connor’s actions. (AP/Newsday, Nov. 2; Bill Swayze and Margaret McHugh, “After saving man’s life, ex-Denville cop decides to sue him”, Newark Star-Ledger, Nov. 2).
Teenager accused of possessing painkillers…
…so prosecutors in Morris County, N.J. seized his family’s three cars. “Neither of the parents were aware of their teenage son’s prescription painkiller use, nor were any of the cars registered in his name. The family currently has no means to get to work or transportation. Gerald Trapp Sr. is a Bloomfield police officer.” The youngster, Gerald Trapp Jr., 19, accepted a diversion program for first-time offenders in lieu of trial but did not admit any wrongdoing. (Peggy Wright, “Prosecutor wants to keep 11 seized cars”, Oct 27; TheNewspaper.com, Oct. 28)(via Nobody’s Business, Oct. 28).
Just to see if they were paying attention
Someone messed up big by failing to remove this amusing little bit of verbiage hidden away in a patent application (Eugene Volokh, Nov. 1).
YouTube.com sued by UTube.com
Universal Tube & Rollform Equipment, an Ohio company, says its website utube.com gets more than 2 million erroneous clicks a month from persons who don’t realize how to spell the name of the hit shared-video site. “The lawsuit asks that YouTube stop using the youtube.com domain name or reimburse Universal Tube for the cost of establishing a new corporate identity.” (Elinor Mills, CNet, Nov. 1; Matthew Sussman, BlogCritics, Nov. 1).
“City of nannies”
Once Hog Butcher for the World and City of the Big Shoulders, Chicago has suddenly emerged as a hothouse of fussily paternalistic legislation aimed at such things as foie gras, trans fats and smoking in cars. “What did they put in the Chicago water supply?” (Miriam Gottfried, Forbes, Oct. 30).