“Crook”, “con artist”, “fraud”

Bloggers and blog-commenters might want to think very carefully before employing those epithets. Sue Scheff of Weston, Fla. obtained an $11 million default verdict in her defamation lawsuit against Carey Bock of Mandeville, La., who’d used the expressions in denouncing Scheff. (Laura Parker, “Jury awards $11.3M over defamatory Internet posts”, USA Today, Oct. 11). David Lat writes, “Eleven million dollars? You can call us whatever you like for that kind of money. … Most wrongful-death awards that are smaller than that.” (Oct. 11).

“The End Result of a Lawsuit”

From House of Caduceus, a disturbing story if true:

The court case lasted a couple years, he was humiliated in court b/c that is what a good lawyer will do, spent thousands of his own money, and eventually won the case. You would think that this win would boost his confidence, but instead, he felt betrayed by the patient and the patient’s family, abused by the court system, and worried about a another possible future lawsuit. This doctor then quit the practice of medicine and refused to keep his job, despite the begging of his employer.

My congrats to those patients and lawyers out there destroying American medicine. You’re doing a fine job of wasting our time and talent.

Update: “Bully” gets bullied

Following up on our Aug. 17 post: “Game publisher Take-Two Interactive Software Inc. was ordered to demonstrate an upcoming video game titled “Bully” for a judge to determine whether it violates Florida’s public nuisance laws. Miami-Dade Circuit Court Judge Ronald Friedman issued the order yesterday. The move is a major coup for conservative Miami attorney Jack Thompson, known for his crusades against pornography and obscene rap music, and now the video game industry.” (Mike Musgrove, “Florida Judge Wants To See ‘Bully’ in Court”, Washington Post, Oct. 12; Jeremy Reimer, ArsTechnica, Oct. 13).

Why there aren’t DVDs of some of your favorite old TV series

The reason, Mark Evanier notes on his blog, we don’t see DVDs of shows like “SCTV” and “WKRP in Cincinnati” is the difficulty and expense of rights clearances for music used during the show, even if it’s just a character humming. More on the difficulty and problem of rights clearances: Oct. 17, 2005 and links therein.

Warner Home Video better hope that a class action attorney with time on his hands doesn’t read the post’s last sentence about a DVD advertised as uncensored that isn’t uncensored; maybe it can be averaged out with the suit over Wal-Mart’s CDs.

Update: A commenter raises an important point:

Read On…

Birthday cards actionable?

Perhaps not, but a UK insurance firm isn’t taking any chances. With new laws in place prohibiting age discrimination and age harassment, Alan & Thomas insurance brokers has barred the circulation of birthday cards signed by the entire staff, who occasionally write jokey statements about the perils of aging.

Julian Boughton, the firm’s managing director, said: “The new rules outlawing age discrimination are a potential minefield for both employers and employees. Every business should be taking action. Often employees don’t realise the implications of what they are writing.”

A member of staff said: “I think it’s stupid really. People like to joke about other people getting older, and it’s only a bit of fun.”

The Employment Equality (Age) regulations 2006 came into force on Oct 1, prohibiting direct or indirect harassment or victimisation on the grounds of age.

Neil Gouldson, an employment law specialist at the Manchester-based firm Rowe Cohen, said: “Gags in birthday cards about people being ‘over the hill’ will need to be curbed.”

(Richard Savill, “Firm halts office cards for fear of ‘ageist’ comments”, Telegraph (UK), Oct. 12) (h/t F.R.).

Novel idea: don’t sue without actual harm

“A federal judge in Arkansas has thrown out a class action lawsuit against Acxiom, which exposed massive amounts of Americans’ personal information in a high-profile Internet security snafu three years ago. … Because the class action attorneys could not prove that anyone’s information had actually been misused, [U.S. District Judge William] Wilson dismissed the case and the request for damages on the grounds that any harm would be entirely speculative.” (Declan McCullagh, “Class action suit over ID theft tossed out”, CNet, Oct. 12).

“60 Minutes” to cover Duke lacrosse case

CBS writes to say that “60 Minutes” will air a major segment on the Duke lacrosse case this coming Sunday. According to the show description, “The other dancer in the Duke lacrosse rape case refutes a key part of the accuser’s story in an interview with 60 Minutes correspondent Ed Bradley. He also spoke with the three players accused in the rape.” More here. Our earlier coverage: Oct. 11, Aug. 30, etc. Further: Durham Wonderland, which has exhaustively chronicled developments in the case, has a must-read summary (Oct. 16).

Yale Political Union debate

Last night I was honored to be the guest of the Yale Political Union (in which I was active during my own undergraduate days) to keynote the evening’s debate on “Resolved: Government should restrict the right to sue”. I got the whole guest treatment, including dinner at Mory’s beforehand with the leadership of the YPU, culminating in an impromptu a cappella performance by the fabulous Spizzwinks. After the debate, many of us retired to Yorkside Pizza to discuss politics and philosophy well into the night, including members of (inter alia) the Independent and Tory parties, the Party of the Right, and the newly forming Party of the Left. Among those present: the organizers of the Largest Facebook Group Ever.

And the debate itself? After my remarks, there were four spirited student speeches, two in the affirmative and two in the negative, following which I made a few further comments. The resolution “Resolved: Government should restrict the right to sue” then passed by a vote of 27 in favor, 10 opposed, and 7 abstentions.

Incidentally, the Yale Political Union, which bills itself as “the largest undergraduate organization at Yale, and the only group of its kind in the country”, is reaching out to alumni and other well-wishers as it plans to commemorate its approaching 75th anniversary. To support the Union, help with the planning of a contemplated anniversary reunion event or events, or get more involved generally, contact Andrew Olson (no relation) at this link.