Flying the trial lawyer skies

Duly noted: Pennsylvania state treasurer and U.S. Senate candidate Robert P. Casey Jr. last June made his first fund-raising trip outside the East Coast, flying to Dallas aboard a private jet owned by the law firm of Baron & Budd, poster kids for legal ethics in the asbestos realm. “Casey flew out of Dallas with more than $71,000, including $28,000 from employees of Baron and Budd.” (Carrie Budoff, “Money at center of Senate contest”, Knight Ridder/Centre Daily Times, Feb. 13)(OpenSecrets.org). Similar: Jan. 8, 2001 (Sen. Edward Kennedy).

Update: licensing eBay sellers

Now it’s California legislators: “California residents who sell goods on eBay could have to pay a $295 fee and be regulated in the same way as pawnbrokers under legislation designed to crack down on the sale of stolen property.” Opponents say the bill would drive out of business thousands of antique dealers and consignment shops, as well as eBay sellers and the dropoff shops and sellers’ agents that work with them. Pawnbrokers, who are pushing the legislation, say that state law already requires that sales of secondhand goods be reported to local law enforcement, but that the law has gone unenforced against everyone but themselves. In recent years influential Sacramento legislators, including Senate President Pro Tem John Burton (D-San Francisco), have unsuccessfully proposed measures to require secondhand sellers to report transactions to a state law enforcement database, which is the pawnbrokers’ key demand. (Greg Lucas, “Pawnbrokers try, try and try again”, San Francisco Chronicle, Feb. 25). We earlier discussed proposals for licensing of eBay sellers in Ohio (Mar. 21, 2005) and North Dakota (Oct. 13, 2005).

“BlackBerry Lawsuit Is Patently Absurd”

So says Rob Pegoraro in today’s Washington Post.

It’s not that NTP never turned its ideas into a product. The patent system doesn’t reserve success to owners of factories and laboratories; the guy living in his parents’ basement is allowed to sell his idea to people with those resources.

No, the problem here is simpler. There are too many bogus patents getting handed out.

Pegoraro also notes that RIM is hardly an innocent in the patent wars. The potential injunction has gotten loads of press coverage; Howard Bashman has roundups here, here, and here. See also Point of Law, Nov. 25, and Overlawyered’s Blackberry litigation coverage.

Update: Kreimer gets another settlement

Richard Kreimer, the homeless man who made headlines in 1991 when he won $230,000 from officials of the Morristown, N.J. public library, who had ejected him for his strongly offensive body odor and for repeatedly staring at patrons, has now obtained a settlement in his lawsuit against a New Jersey bus company whose drivers allegedly refused to let him board their vehicles for similar reasons (see Mar. 17, 2005). Kreimer says that as a condition of receiving money he is bound not to discuss the terms of the settlement. He still has individual lawsuits pending against the two bus drivers involved, as well as a separate federal lawsuit pending “against NJ Transit, the city of Summit, and others, alleging he was wrongly ejected from train stations because he is homeless.” Although a court later overturned the ruling on which the 1991 settlement had been based, it proved impossible to reclaim the $230,000 settlement paid him, which according to AP was spent about half on lawyers’ fees and half on Kreimer’s living expenses. (Wayne Parry, “Homeless man settles lawsuit against bus company”, AP/NJ.com, Feb. 17; New Jersey for Change, Feb. 18)(& welcome Fark readers — and apologies for the practice of Hosting Matters, which, we just now learned, blocks referrers from that popular site because it doesn’t want to process the burst of traffic. If you get a blocking message, try “refresh/reload” or go to our main page and scroll down).

“Midwest Oil fined for selling gas too cheaply”

Yep, it’s happened again: “The Minnesota Commerce Department on Thursday announced plans to fine a gas station chain $140,000 for repeatedly selling gas below the state’s legal minimum price.” (Tom Ford, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Feb. 24). For earlier installments, see Jun. 5, 2004 (Minnesota again), May 21, 2005 (Maryland). And, of course, for the reverse, see Feb. 17, etc.

Sexual harassment, ITOD

In The Old Days (ITOD for short) it was very unlikely that a six-year-old would draw a three-day suspension from first grade on grounds of “sexual harassment”, as one just did, says Ned Crabb of the Wall Street Journal (“Schoolyard cred”, OpinionJournal, Feb. 24). More: Wendy McElroy comments (“Sexual Harassment Policies Need Reform”, iFeminists/Independent Institute, Feb. 17).

Mohammed Aqueel Hussain

Mohammed Aqueel Hussain, 26, of Burnley, Lancashire, was on parole from a 2001 conviction for wounding, when, while driving a stolen VW Golf with a provisional license (he hadn’t had a lesson in ten years) and no insurance, he killed a three-year-old girl, Levi Bleasdale, in a hit-and-run accident that he never reported. Hussain pled guilty to careless driving and handling stolen goods, and was sentenced to twelve weeks, leading Tony Blair, among others, to call for stricter sentencing. (BBC, Feb. 22; Mirror, Feb. 24; TimesOnline Law Blog, Feb. 22).

Overlawyered is pleased to be the only American blog on the TimesOnline’s blogroll; one can find our UK coverage here.

Deep pocket files: Blaming banks for terrorist attacks II

Second verse, same as the first: this time, the defendant is Credit Lyonnais, and once again, the “connection” to a terrorist group is a charity that keeps a fraction of its money at the French bank, is considered by French law to be a legitimate charity. In fact, Commite de Bienfaisance pour la Solidarite avec la Palestine was not designated a “global terrorist organization” by the USA until August 2003, after many of the plaintiffs were injured by Hamas, which is not a defendant in the case. And the bank shut down the account in September 2003! (Joseph Goldstein, “Americans Sue French Bank In Terror Case”, New York Sun, Feb. 24) (via Bashman). The motion to dismiss in the Weiss v. National Westminster case, which we discussed Jan. 6, is available on the Liability Project‘s Documents in the News page. Update Oct. 8: judge denies motion to dismiss.

Sued by politico, Canadian blogger backs down

Mark Bourrie, who puts out the blog Ottawa Watch, indulged in some unkind comments at the expense of Warren Kinsella, a prominent operative in Canada’s Liberal Party. Then Kinsella filed a libel action demanding C$600,000. (Jorge Barrera, Ottawa Sun, Feb. 15; Jay Currie, Feb. 15). Although numerous well-wishers urged Bourrie to resist in court, the two sides settled the case within about a week and Bourrie published an apologetic note on his blog. Sequence of posts at Ottawa Watch: first, second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh.

Loses $14M gambling, sues drugmaker and casinos

Retired Texas doctor Max Wells is suing seven casinos and drugmaker Glaxo SmithKline, saying an anti-Parkinson’s drug predisposed him to compulsive gambling. “His lawsuit, filed Friday, says the drug company didn’t warn patients that Requip could cause compulsive behavior. And it cites a 2005 Mayo Clinic study that documented 11 Parkinson’s patients who developed compulsive gambling habits while taking Requip or a similar drug called Mirapex.” (Claire Osborn, Austin American-Statesman, Feb. 22; KevinMD, Feb. 22). More: Derek Lowe comments (Feb. 26).