Hooters of America had sued WingHouse for copying its concept (Nov. 23). While restaurant chains are not permitted to copy the distinctive “trade dress” of competitors (Two Pesos v. Taco Cabana, 505 U.S. 763 (1992)), the point is to avoid confusion, and Hooters’ claim was mostly based on their attempt to prevent anyone else from selling chicken wings with a scantily-clad waitress. Judge Ann Conway “found that ‘no reasonable juror’ could confuse WingHouse girls, who are dressed in all-black shorts and tops, with Hooters girls, who wear orange shorts and white tops” and threw out Hooters’ suit. Because Hooters had previously agreed to settle such intellectual property disputes with WingHouse in 1997, WingHouse was awarded $1.2 million in a breach-of-contract counterclaim. (Michael Sasso, “Hooters’ Look Isn’t Exclusive, Judge Rules”, Tampa Tribune, Dec. 3; Richard Wilner, “Wing Man Bests Hooters”, New York Post, Dec. 4; “Hooters Can’t Stop Restaurant From Copying Waitress Uniforms”, Bloomberg News, Dec. 3).
Update: San Diego v. Roe
We earlier covered the ridiculous decision in Roe v. San Diego (Jan. 29), where a police officer claimed to have a first-amendment right to sell both homemade porn videos using his official uniform and his official uniform–and the Ninth Circuit actually agreed that this was a triable claim. The Supreme Court thought otherwise in a short 9-0 decision yesterday, throwing out the case without oral argument in a stern rebuke of the lower court. (Onell R. Soto, “High court backs firing of officer in San Diego”, San Diego Union-Tribune, Dec. 7; David Savage, “High Court Upholds Firing of San Diego Police Officer”, Los Angeles Times, Dec. 7; see also Catherine Seipp, “Coffee, Tea, or Fired for Blogging?”, NRO, Nov. 24).
Colleges and suicide
Return of in loco parentis, cont’d: if you’re a student who gets reported for having potentially suicidal thoughts, the college administration these days may require you to take a medical leave of absence off campus until you can show you’re better. That’s not necessarily the best outcome for you, but it’s the outcome that best protects the college from future liability suits, which have been multiplying in recent years following attempted and successful student suicides. (Karen W. Arenson, “Worried Colleges Step Up Efforts Over Suicide”, New York Times, Dec. 3).
Madison County Record
We’ve had occasion to praise the story-digging prowess of this recently launched southern Illinois publication. Now the Washington Post is reporting (Jeffrey H. Birnbaum, “Advocacy Groups Blur Media Lines”, Dec. 6) that it’s being backed by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which is eager to shed light on the county’s peculiar legal culture. Hmmm. Maybe they’re following the advice Irving Kristol used to dispense: “Got a problem? Start a magazine.” More: Paul Hampel, “New newspaper is partly owned by U.S. Chamber of Commerce”, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Dec. 8; “Journalism: Do you believe it?” (editorial), Dec. 10.
“Public protection attorneys”?
Mickey Kaus doesn’t think it’ll fly (Dec. 6) as a euphemism (Edward Epstein, “UC scholar to help Democrats refine message”, San Francisco Chronicle, Dec. 5).
Backs SUV over toddler, blames Nissan
In Garland, Texas, in October, a man backing up his Infiniti SUV accidentally ran over and killed his two-and-a-half-year-old daughter. Now, represented by attorney Windle Turley, his family is suing Nissan, parent company of Infiniti. “They claim new back-up video cameras or sensors which detect objects behind a vehicle were available, and should have been installed in their SUV.” (Don Wall, “Garland family sues carmaker over toddler’s death”, WFAA-TV (Dallas-Fort Worth), Nov. 17). GruntDoc had a strong reaction to the story (Nov. 20).
Anniston’s acrid aftermath
Forbes covers the aftermath of the much-ballyhooed Aug. 2003 settlement in which Monsanto/Solutia (which, because of a complicated history, is different from the company currently calling itself Monsanto) agreed to pay hundreds of millions of dollars to resolve the claims of thousands of residents of Anniston, Ala. about the company’s former release of PCBs. Despite earlier commentary (including ours of Apr. 15) pegging the settlement at $300 million with $120 million going to plaintiff’s lawyers, Forbes says the actual figures (counting all the cases settled) amount to a total $600 million with 39%, or $234 million, going to the lawyers, who include former senator Donald Stewart and Johnnie Cochran of O.J. fame. “What has unfolded in Anniston instead [of the expected big payouts for poor plaintiffs] is a financial free-for-all, an unseemly grab for money by the lawyers, residents and assorted hangers-on.” One trouble sign: many of the people putting in claims for damages have zero PCBs in their blood, and some never lived a day in Anniston in their lives. (Susan Kitchens, “Money Grab”, Forbes, Nov. 15 ($) or at KeepMedia).
Greeks shelve plan to sue Oliver Stone
Update: first-WTC-bombing case drags on
Eleven years after the first terrorist bombing of the World Trade Center, a suit against New York’s Port Authority still hasn’t reached trial, though it’s inching closer (Tom Perrotta, “Liability for 1993 WTC Bombing Argued in Appeals Court”, New York Law Journal, Nov. 10)(see Oct. 12-14, 2001).
Update: first jail time in fen-phen fraud
Mississippi: “A Fayette minister and a teacher are going to prison for their role in submitting phony Fen-Phen drug settlement claims in Jefferson County.” John Frye, a minister, and Lizzie Hammett, a teacher, are to report to prison Feb. 1 to begin serving sentences of one year and one day. There have thus far been six guilty pleas among twelve Fayette residents charged in a joint FBI and IRS criminal investigation of fraudulent claims of injury from the diet drug, many of which resulted in $250,000 payments from the drug’s manufacturers. (Jimmie E. Gates, “Two will serve jail time for role in Fen-Phen settlement fraud”, Jackson Clarion-Ledger, Dec. 3). See Nov. 14, Oct. 20 and links from there.