In its “Commentary” section, today’s Los Angeles Times carries a shortened version of my City Journal piece about the campaign to make Big Cola the next tobacco (Feb. 2). See Jan. 23, etc.
Steve Berman sues Apple over iPods
Specifically, Seattle attorney Steve Berman (Nov. 24, 2003 and links therein), on behalf of a Louisiana man, accuses Apple of selling a “defective” product because it can cause hearing loss if one turns up music to maximum volume using headphones. The lawsuit, filed in San Jose, seeks class action status, even though each member of the putative class will come to the table with different pre-existing knowledge about audio safety and different usage patterns for their device. (Many iPod users don’t use headphones at all.) Each iPod comes with a warning that “permanent hearing loss may occur if earphones or headphones are used at high volume,” but, of course, the lawsuit alleges that the warning is insufficient. The plaintiff, John Kiel Patterson, doesn’t even claim that his hearing has been damaged, thus making it a typical “Harm-Less Lawsuit.” (Dan Goodin, AP/Yahoo, Feb. 1, h/t W.F.)
Update: a pdf copy of the complaint.
Are those BlogAds?
Yes, as a matter of fact, we’ve joined the crowd and started running the darn things. Do click on the ads to visit and, where appropriate, support our advertisers. And if you’ve a mind to advertise your own publication, cause, organization, product or website, check out our very reasonable introductory ad rates.
Borgata Babes Say Goodbye
Renee Gaud and Trisha Hart were hired as “Borgata Babes” by the Atlantic City casino of that name, made to sign an agreement requiring them to maintain hourglass figures and weight proportionate to their height, and were outfitted in “cleavage-baring bustiers, high heels and tight-fitting bolero-style jackets”. Then they discovered that managers were serious about the weight requirement and kept “emphasizing looks over job performance”. What could be more shocking or unexpected? So of course they’re suing (John Curran, “Waitresses sue casino over weight policy, allege discrimination”, AP/Newsday, Jan. 31; Dan Gross, “Ex-servers sue Borgata”, Philadelphia Daily News, Jan. 31).
Don’t know much about property
Authorities have finally cracked the largest burglary ever reported from a Massachusetts residence, the 1978 theft of a Cezanne and six other paintings from the Stockbridge home of collector Michael Bakwin. And who’d been holding on to the paintings all these years? Retired criminal defense attorney Robert M. Mardirosian, 71, who came into their possession soon after their theft when the burglar — whom Mardirosian was representing in an unrelated matter — left them at the lawyer’s residence. (The burglar had intended to fence the paintings right away, but Mardirosian had advised him he might get caught doing that.) Not long thereafter the burglar was slain by criminal associates. Mardirosian created dummy corporations and accounts to hold the paintings and at least twice tried to sell them, but was blocked when the Art Loss Register, which intervenes to prevent the sale of stolen art, took steps to stop that from happening. Mardirosian, who now lives in a gated community in Falmouth on Cape Cod, says he acted from legitimate motives: “My whole intent was to find a way to get them back to the owner in return for a 10 percent commission.” (Stephen Kurkjian, “1978 art heist solved”, Boston Globe, Feb. 1). Plus: updates February 2011 (on attorney’s conviction and return of paintings to owner).
Phila. judge: no right to anonymous online disparagement
Watch what you say about lawyers (and everyone else), cont’d: a “Philadelphia judge has ruled that a valid defamation claim trumps any right to speak anonymously on the Internet….Common Pleas Judge Albert W. Sheppard Jr. ordered the operator of two now-defunct Web sites to turn over the identities of the anonymous authors of comments on the sites that allegedly defamed a Philadelphia law firm….In the suit, the Klehr Harrison firm complains that its reputation was severely disparaged by comments on the two sites that falsely accused its lawyers of being ‘thieves,’ committing ‘fraud’ and ‘lying’ to a judge.” Although courts in some other states have protected anonymous online commenters from demands that their identity be disclosed, Sheppard said Pennsylvania law was not obliged to follow that path. (Shannon P. Duffy, “Law Firm’s Defamation Claim Found to Trump Critics’ Internet Anonymity”, The Legal Intelligencer, Jan. 23). For more on the legal hazards of criticizing Pennsylvania lawyers and judges, see Nov. 30, 2003, Mar. 16, 2004, and Oct. 24-25, 2001.
Comments are open (be very careful, please).
Tree protection laws and their perverse consequences
Thom Lambert explains how such laws can lead to more trees being cut down. I discussed a similar problem on Point of Law back on Jan. 27, 2005.
Jury selection, while you wait
The Lay-Skilling Enron criminal trial will be one of the highest-profile Houston trials in many years, but in the courtroom of U.S. District Judge Sim Lake the process of jury selection was over within a day. That should be a lesson to judges elsewhere — especially in state-court proceedings — who allow lawyers to turn voir dire into a manipulative process that can last weeks or even months. Tom Kirkendall and Norm Pattis comment.
P.S. The Wall Street Journal’s news side covers the issue today: Paul Davies and John Emshwiller, “Split Verdict on Selecting Juries Quickly”, Feb. 1 (sub only). Washington U. (St. Louis) law dean Kent Syverud says, “I think Enron ought to be a wake-up call to show everyone that it can be done”. Among those complaining of a too-short process is Christopher Seeger, the attorney for the plaintiff in the New Jersey Vioxx case recently won by Merck, who “said the case was lost in the jury selection. ‘If I had an opportunity to flesh out some of the biases I believe I would’ve been able to talk some of those people off the jury'”. P.P.S. The New Yorker has more about the jury questionnaires and consultants (Mimi Swartz, “Talk of the Town: Enron Multiple Choice”, Jan. 30).
Baseball: Anaheim vs. the Angels
As the city’s $100 million lawsuit unfolded in court, a “dispute that a year or so ago seemed goofy — Arte Moreno’s decision to rename his baseball team the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim — has lost its humor content.” (Dana Parsons, “Can Angels Name Spat Have a Winner?”, Los Angeles Times, Jan. 15)(more).
“Tainted trials, stolen justice”
Criminal prosecutions often go seriously wrong in the Santa Clara County, Calif. courts, according to an investigative series in the San Jose Mercury-News.