The Humane Society of the U.S. says it plans to sue Amazon.com under a District of Columbia consumer protection statute because the online retailer has rejected its demands to stop selling two magazines aimed at cockfighting enthusiasts, The Gamecock and The Feathered Warrior. (They seem to have overlooked Grit and Steel.) The Society claims that a federal law prohibiting the use of the U.S. mails for the promotion of cockfighting events renders the magazines illegal, a position that the U.S. Postal Service itself has apparently not chosen to endorse. (KTHV, Jul. 18; Elizabeth M. Gillespie, “Humane Society urges Amazon.com to quit selling cockfighting mags”, AP/Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Jul. 18; Nobody’s Business, Jul. 24).
Variety on Pellicano case
Some in the press have concluded that “prosecutors are intent on busting lawyers, not movie types”, and the entertainment magazine suggests the wiretapping scandal isn’t really such a big deal after all. Still sounds pretty interesting to us (Gabriel Snyder, “Sounds of silence”, Jul. 20).
“Case studies in divorce madness”
Ann Althouse and commenters (Jul. 21) analyze the marital breakup of football player Michael Strahan, as well as an unrelated guy whose live-in relationship fell victim to contractor cuckoldry.
Peacocks in the barnyard
Los Angeles Times reporter Molly Selvin wanted my opinion of class-actioneer Bill Lerach for this profile, so I gave it. Holding up the other end of the discussion are Lerach fans Jamie Court, of Harvey Rosenfield’s outfit, and actor/humorist/ expert-economic-witness-in-Milberg-cases Ben Stein (“Unsettling Days for King of Class Actions”, Jul. 23)(cross-posted at Point of Law).
“Almost all leakers are lawyers. That’s the bottom line.”
That was former New York Times executive editor Howell Raines’ response to an Aspen Institute audience member’s question about media leaks, as quoted by Greg Schreier in the Aspen Times (“Raines reflects on journalism, loss and lawyers”, Jul. 21).
“Court rules: Mazel tough”
“A Manhattan judge has tossed out a lawsuit by a couple claiming they endured ‘humiliation, indignity, distress of mind and mental suffering’ when they weren’t able to have their daughter’s bat mitzvah at The Plaza hotel. … Although the hotel gave the family six months’ notice [of its decision to undergo renovations, making the space unavailable] and repaid their $12,000 deposit on the planned $20,000 bash, the Alenicks claimed it ‘made no effort to compensate for the uniqueness of The Plaza.'” (Dareh Gregorian, New York Post, Jul. 21)(via Lattman).
Look for the union libel
“A jury ruled Friday that a labor union defamed Sutter Health with a mass mailing of postcards and awarded the Northern California health care organization almost $17.3 million in damages. The Placer County jury found that Unite Here, one of the nation’s largest unions that represents hotel, restaurant and laundry workers, defamed Sutter Health early last year by sending postcards to women of child-bearing age in Northern California claiming the organization’s hospitals used unclean linens. The union was in a labor dispute with the laundry service that cleaned the linens at the time.” (“Jury: Union defamed Sutter Health”, InsideBayArea.com (Hayward Daily Review), Jul. 23; Mehul Srivastava, “Jury award stings union”, Sacramento Bee, Jul. 22).
Jack Thompson, friend of the court?
Great moments in auto regulation
The federal government has decided that automakers may not install one safety option (a front passenger seat airbag turnoff switch, intended to protect kids) unless they also install a second (a child-seat anchor system known as LATCH). Toyota had offered the first but not the second on certain Tundra models, so they did a recall whose point was to eliminate customers’ access to the first option, thus worsening safety for kids riding in front seats. (Peter Valdes-Dapena, “Toyota’s totally bizarre recall”, CNN/Money, Jul. 12). DealBreaker comments: “How badly does the government hate your kids? Bad enough to kill them.” (Jul. 13).
“Don’t lift front of chair while sitting in it”
P.J. O’Rourke writes, “I tremble for my country when I reflect that chair manufacturers feel compelled to tell Americans this”. Later, after a call to a law office about the dangerous folding chair, “The receptionist told me that John Edwards would be over within the hour; meanwhile I might want to start pricing yachts.” Just a satire, folks (“From the editor’s chair”, Weekly Standard, Jul. 31).