That’s Eugene Volokh’s capsule summary (Jul. 12) of the jury result reported by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch: “Tony Twist, the former rock ’em-sock ’em Blues hockey player, was awarded $15 million Friday by a jury that concluded comic book artist Todd McFarlane had profited by using Twist’s name without his permission. McFarlane, formerly the principal artist and writer of Spiderman comics, gave the name Tony Twist to a violent New York mob boss in McFarlane’s Spawn comics in the early 1990s.” (Peter Shinkle, “Tony Twist wins $15 million verdict”, Jul. 10). Brian J. Noggle also comments.
The men behind Edwards
I’ve got an op-ed in today’s Wall Street Journal arguing that the scariest thing about John Edwards (see Feb. 19 and many other links on this site) is the “tightly organized fund-raising and electoral machine” he has constructed most of whose key backers “are drawn from the tiny handful of tort lawyers even more successful than he”. In particular, four of the most powerful men behind Edwards — Fred Baron, John O’Quinn, Tab Turner, and Paul Minor — personify in various ways some of the most objectionable features of today’s personal-injury litigation scene. (Walter Olson, “Edwards & Co.”, Jul. 12, paid subscribers only)(free OpinionJournal.com version).
Defeat the Federal Marriage Amendment
George Will, Lynne Cheney, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Rudolph Giuliani, and Bob Barr are all on record opposing this wretched would-be Constitutional amendment, and they’re right. See Faith Bremner, “Conservatives opposing marriage amendment”, Gannett News Service/The Coloradoan, Dec. 11, 2003. For our earlier posts on the subject, see Feb. 20 and Feb. 25. For a comeback to the ripely absurd “FMA is needed to bolster fertility rates” argument, see Jacob Levy, Volokh Conspiracy, (Jul. 9); for some ribbing of social conservatives who seem determined to borrow the “precautionary principle” from enviro absolutists for this occasion, see Jane Galt’s co-blogger “Mindles H. Dreck” (Jul. 8, Jul. 9). “As for the gay Republicans whose votes Mr. Bush might then lose, Mr. Weyrich [Paul Weyrich, prominent in the Washington religious right] wrote, ‘Good riddance.'” (Carl Hulse and David D. Kirkpatrick, “Senate Braces Itself for Fight on Gay Marriage”, New York Times, Jul. 9). And the same kind sentiments to you, sir!
More: And the Chicago Tribune (Jul. 13), and the Wall Street Journal, and Richard Epstein…. Update Jul. 14: defeated 48-50 on procedural vote. Yet more: Dale Carpenter (U. of Minn. Law School), “The Federal Marriage Amendment: Unnecessary, Anti-federalist, and Anti-democratic”, Cato Institute White Papers, Sept. 23; Rep. Christopher Cox (R-Calif.), “The Marriage Amendment Is a Terrible Idea”, Wall Street Journal, Sept. 28 ($).
Review: “The Wisdom of Crowds”
In Sunday’s New York Post, I favorably review James Surowiecki’s new book The Wisdom of Crowds: Why the Many Are Smarter Than the Few and How Collective Wisdom Shapes Business, Economies, Societies and Nations (though I didn’t like the title and think it leaves anything but an accurate impression of the book’s contents). (Walter Olson, “Mob Wisdom”, Jul. 11). On-topic snippet: Surowiecki offers an account (among much else) of “why juries, political factions or artistic coteries that start out with similar leanings can talk each other into more extreme positions than any of them took originally”.
Spoliation at the U.P. line
“In one recent 18-month period, seven federal and state courts imposed sanctions on Union Pacific, the nation’s biggest railroad, for destroying or failing to preserve evidence in crossing accidents, and an eighth court ordered a case retried. One sanction has since been overturned on appeal.” Big New York Times front-pager endorses charges from plaintiff’s bar that the railroad has been less than diligent in preserving potentially unhelpful evidence after rail-motor vehicle crashes (Walt Bogdanich, “In Deaths at Rail Crossings, Missing Evidence and Silence”, Jul. 11).
News of diocesan bankruptcies
Sign of the times: Bankruptcy Creditors’ Service, Inc., has launched a new publication entitled Catholic Church Bankruptcy News, its mission being to keep track of legal proceedings in the case of the insolvency of the Diocese of Portland, Oregon, and whatever other dioceses or church institutions follow the same path into Chapter 11 under pressure from abuse claims. Subscribers will have to pay $45 for each issue, expected to appear approximately every 10 to 20 days, but a sample issue can be perused for free. (via Amy Welborn). One of the claimants suing the Portland diocese over abuse, whose trial had been set for Jul. 6 until stayed by the bankruptcy filing, is demanding $135 million; another wants $36.5 million. For more, see Ashbel S. Green, “Church bankruptcy and the courts”, Religion News Service/Salt Lake Tribune, Jul. 10.
Induce alarm
“When the lawyers at EFF [Electronic Frontier Foundation] first sat down and asked ‘Whom could we sue under the Induce Act [the Inducing Infringements of Copyright Act (PDF), proposed by Sens. Hatch, Daschle, Leahy, Boxer and others] if we were an abusive copyright holder?’ the answer was clear: pretty much everybody. Playing the devil’s advocates, we knew we could draft a legal complaint against any number of the major computer or electronics manufacturers for selling everyday devices we all know and love — CD burners, MP3 players, cell phones — and that with that complaint, we could file a lawsuit that would survive any attempt to dismiss it before trial, costing the targeted company up to $1,000,000 per month in legal fees alone. The Induce Act is a nasty, brutish stick in the hands of the wrong plaintiff.” (“Prelude to a Fake Complaint”, EFF website, Jun. 24). See Bryan Chaffin, “EFF Demonstrates How To Use New Law Against Apple, iPod”, Mac Observer, Jun. 25. For more on the bill, see Legal Reader, Jun. 10.
Staggered sports schedules again found to violate Title IX
“Separate soccer seasons for girls’ teams in two Westchester, N.Y., school districts violate civil rights laws banning gender discrimination in athletics, the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled [last month].” The Mamaroneck and Pelham school districts had unsuccessfully argued that logistical concerns — notably a shortage of soccer fields to play on — justified the practice of having boys play soccer in the fall and girls in the spring. (Mark Hamblett, “Separate Soccer Found to Violate Civil Rights”, New York Law Journal, Jun. 8). For a similar ruling in Michigan, see Dec. 24-27, 2001; letter to the editor, Feb. 28, 2002. More: May 7, 2005.
Fox News Channel, Neil Cavuto show
I’m slated to appear on the Fox News Channel’s “Your World” today between 4 and 5 pm, to discuss Martha Stewart, Ken Lay, class action reform, the Edwards pick, and other legal topics. Guest host will be Stuart Varney, in Neil Cavuto’s absence.
Punditry about the Edwards pick
…summarized with links on Point Of Law this morning.