Overlawyered: Chronicling The High Cost Of Our Legal System

Oz: “PC rules blamed for Santa shortage”

Another one from Australia:

Disillusioned by a growing list of rules imposed by recruiting agencies and shopping centres to guard against litigation, men who have brought smiles to the faces of thousands of young West Australians for decades are reluctantly deciding to call it quits.

They can’t hand out lollies, they can’t pat children on the head because of religious beliefs, they can’t put children on their laps unless they get permission from parents and they can’t have photographs taken with youngsters unless their hands are in full view.

So frightened have some Santas become of being sued that they are demanding extra helpers to act as witnesses just in case a complaint is made.

(Joe Spagnolo, Daily Telegraph (Aus.), Dec. 4). For discouragement of Christmas parties Down Under, see our Friday item. More Santa-related items from around the English-speaking world: Dec. 24, 2004; Dec. 30, 2003; Oct. 9-10, 2002; Oct. 12 and Dec. 13-14, 2000.

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Update: Audubon String Quartet breakup

“If this were a stage tragedy, we’d be watching the final scene, where members of the famed string quartet are forced to surrender their instruments to the violinist they once spurned.

“But if this were a play, it would have been over long ago. Instead, the ugly drama of the Audubon Quartet and its former first violinist, David Ehrlich, is the drama that never ends.” Ehrlich has prevailed in the litigation and now is expected to take his former colleagues’ house, as well as other personal assets. He denies that just walking away from the dispute is an option at this point: “I have no choice. I owe a fortune to my attorneys.” (Kevin Kittredge, “Last act? Violinist Ehrlich seeks ex-colleagues’ assets”, Roanoke Times, Nov. 20). Earlier coverage on this site: Jun. 5, 2000 and links from there, May 10-12, 2002, and letter to the editor, Jun. 2002 (via Arts & Letters Daily). Update: the New York Times ran a substantial feature on the breakup Dec. 11.

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Update: East German athletes’ steroid suit

A court in Hamburg will hear the case (see Mar. 14) in which some 190 athletes from the former East Germany are seeking compensation for the damage done to their bodies by steroids administered by authorities under the pre-1989 Communist regime. The drugs were made by Jenapharm, at that time a state-owned concern, later bought by the Schering corporation, which is the target of the compensation demands. (Luke Harding, “Forgotten victims of East German doping take their battle to court”, The Guardian (U.K.), Nov. 1; “The Quest for Gold Left Lives in Ruins “, Deutsche Welle, Jun. 29).

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Update: Feds raid Fieger’s office in campaign laundering probe

Getting wilder by the week: “Federal agents raided the law office of Geoffrey Fieger late Wednesday looking for evidence that he laundered $35,000 in campaign contributions to the John Edwards 2004 presidential campaign through his employees.” (David Ashenfelter and Joe Swickard, “Federal agents raid Fieger’s office”, Detroit Free Press, Dec. 1). “A former associate in trial attorney Geoffrey Fieger’s firm said Friday that he and his wife each gave $2,000 to Democrat John Edwards’ 2004 presidential campaign on the promise that they would be reimbursed by the firm.” Joseph Bird, an attorney later fired by Fieger’s firm, “said he had ‘no clue’ at the time that it was illegal for employers to instruct people to give to a campaign and then reimburse them.” (Sarah Karush, “Lawyer says firm demanded political contributions to Edwards”, AP/Winston-Salem Journal, Dec. 2; same story with more details at Detroit News site, Dec. 4). For earlier evidence suggesting the likelihood of laundering in trial lawyers’ donations to Edwards, see Apr. 28-29 and May 8, 2003. For more on Fieger, see Nov. 17, Nov. 10 and links from there.

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Onion on RIAA lawsuits

It’s satire now, but that’s what we thought when the Onion published a joke five years ago about lawyers suing Big Chocolate over obesity, and turned out to be merely prescient: “The Recording Industry Association of America announced Tuesday that it will be taking legal action against anyone discovered telling friends, acquaintances, or associates about new songs, artists, or albums.” (“RIAA Bans Telling Friends About Songs”, Nov. 30). More on and from the Onion: Nov. 3; May 26; Apr. 15; Nov. 6, 2003. More on the RIAA: Feb. 7.

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Rear Window

An amorous pair of University of Pennsylvania students coupled publicly in front of (and against) a dorm window facing another high-rise dorm; several students with views took photographs, and photographs, as even blurry photographs with three-pixel-long depictions of naughty parts of indeterminate gender do, got passed around by e-mail and ended up on various websites. The University Office of Student Conduct has since charged one of the photographers with sexual harassment, which would go on his permanent record. The next question is what the university will do to the Daily Pennsylvanian, which publishes one of the photos in its article. (Jason Schwartz, “Racy photo lands student in trouble”, Nov. 30 (via Fark); Regina Medina, “Sex-act pix shake Penn”, Philadelphia Daily News, Dec. 1 (via Throwing Things)) .

Update: A commenter informs us that AP reports that Penn has dropped the charges.

Second Update: Dropping charges doesn’t end matters, of course.

[Attorney] Jordan Koko issued a statement on [the photographed student’s] behalf.

“My client is emotionally shattered from this extremely disturbing ordeal. The intense focus on this matter into my client’s identity and image has imposed exceptional emotional and psychological harm,” the statement read.

Koko added that his client’s privacy was invaded in violation of state law and her constitutional rights. He said she “will pursue all her legal options.”

Constitutional rights? Someone is unclear on the concept. (Jason Schwartz, “Photographer escapes charges”, Daily Pennsylvanian, Dec. 2). The FIRE blog is similarly unimpressed with Koko’s reasoning.

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