Jacoby & Meyers: zero net worth?

“An accountant tapped to help clean up the state’s matrimonial courts is under investigation by the FBI for allegedly making crooked evaluations in cases before embattled Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Marylin Diamond, The Post has learned. … The feds are looking into complaints about [forensic accountant John R.] Johnson stemming from divorce squabbles in which he evaluated marital assets. The cases in Diamond’s court include the divorces of millionaire lawyer Gail Koff, head of the Jacoby & Meyers law firm, and fashion designer Cathy Hardwick.

“Johnson determined that Jacoby & Meyers had zero net worth — a finding that supported Diamond’s ruling. She had ruled that Koff’s husband, architect Ralph Brill, was responsible for half of the firm’s $8 million debt from tax problems. … Johnson also said that Hardwick’s name had no value.” (Brad Hamilton, “Divorce Expert Eyed for Covering His Assets”, New York Post, Jun. 27). Koff, we note, is the author of the Jacoby & Meyers Guide to Divorce (Henry Holt, 1991).

Thanks to Mike DeBow…

…for his contributions as a guest blogger over the past week. Aside from Mike’s postings at Southern Appeal, be sure to check out the outstanding links page he maintains at his Cumberland School of Law faculty website, and the conservative/libertarian legal scholarship reading list and pre-law reading list that he co-edits in conjunction with the Federalist Society. Also watch for his work to appear soon on Point of Law, the new Manhattan Institute website I’m editing.

Union Pacific: pay us for logo use on model trains

Squandering consumer goodwill dept.: “For decades, model-train makers have routinely decorated their train sets with the logos of train companies past and present, without paying for the right to do so. But now, Union Pacific wants a piece of the action, and it’s seeking a 3 percent royalty from companies that stick the UP logo on model trains.” (James P. Miller, “Model train fans steaming mad at UP”, Chicago Tribune, Jun. 27). More: “Community goodwill” would doubtless be a more accurate phrase than “consumer goodwill” in the above, and might have made blogger SlitheryD (Jun. 30) happier. See also Feb. 4, 2005 (planes, ships, etc.)

“Judge Says Artist Can Make Fun of Barbie”

Merits of loser-pays: Five years ago, the Mattel toy company sued artist/photographer Tom Forsythe for copyright and trademark infringement over “a series of 78 photographic images of the wildly famous doll showing her nude, and sometimes posed provocatively, in or around various household appliances. … After a lengthy legal tussle, which included a series of appeals, a federal judge late last week instructed Mattel to pay Mr. Forsythe legal fees of more than $1.8 million.” (Bill Werde, New York Times, Jun. 28).

A new regulatory regime for tobacco?

Fred Smith, the president of the Competititve Enterprise Institute, makes the case against pending federal legislation that would “[p]ut the Food and Drug Administration in charge of regulating tobacco in exchange for a buyout of farming quotas.” The proposed deal would, according to Smith, “strengthen the nanny state at the expense of individual choice, increase black market activity, hurt lower-income consumers, and, perversely, create new health risks for all Americans.” (Fred L. Smith, Jr., “The FDA poses threat to our health, liberty,” Investor’s Business Daily, June 21 (PDF file)).

Quota buyout legislation was passed by the House of Representatives on June 17 as title VII (the “Fair and Equitable Tobacco Reform Act of 2004”) of H.R. 4520, the “American Jobs Creation Act of 2004.” The focus now shifts to the Senate, which is apparently considering the deal outlined by Smith’s op-ed. For more on this, see Will Snell & Kelly Tiller, “Fair and Equitable Tobacco Reform Act of 2004,” U. of Ky. Dept. of Ag. Econ., June 2004 (PDF file); Jasper Womach, “Tobacco Quota Buyout Proposals in the 108th Congress,” Congressional Research Service, updated April 6 (PDF file); Blake Brown & Gary Bullen, “Tobacco Buyout,” N.C. State U. Dept. of Ag. & Resource Economics.

Woes of NY liability

As seen from Rochester: “Unlike many other states, New York does not limit lawsuit awards against municipal governments. High awards deplete public coffers and ultimately hike taxes. And New York is the highest-taxed state.” (Jay Gallagher, “Liability claims pick taxpayer pockets”, Rochester Democrat & Chronicle, Jun. 22).

Outsourcing enforcement in Mass

Massachusetts consumer protection law includes “item pricing” regulations.” A shopper who picks up an item marked $3.19, but is charged $3.59 at the checkout, has been the victim of a violation of these rules. If a state wishes to address such incidents, a practical question arises: how to enforce legal rules when they involve such trifling amounts of money per incident? Enter class action lawyers, naturally. According to the Boston Globe, Massachusetts Attorney General Thomas Reilly has farmed out the enforcement of these rules to a group of private attorneys — who are doing quite well for themselves. Cases against Home Depot and Wal-Mart have been settled; a settlement with Walgreen is pending. If the Walgreen settlement is finalized, the outcome of all this acitivity will be the payment of $3.2 million to the private attorneys, $3.9 million to “an eclectic group of charitable, consumer, and nonprofit groups,” and $425,000 to the AG’s Office. The list of favored groups includes, among others, the Roscoe Pound Institute and Public Citizen. The Globe points out that “it would be impossible to identify consumers hurt by item-pricing failures”; one of the private attorneys claims in the story that the payments to the favored groups will benefit Massachusetts residents, with most being used to “spur greater awareness of consumer rights.” Cases against other retailers (in addition to Walgreen) are pending. (Bruce Mohl, “Reilly turns to private enforcement of item pricing,” Boston Globe, June 27)

Bay Area radio appearances

I’ll be a guest Monday morning at 8:30 a.m. PDT on Napa, Calif.’s KVON radio 1440 AM. And then on Tuesday morning at 8 a.m. PDT I’ll be joining host Lee Rodgers on his popular show on KSFO 560 AM. In both cases I’ll be discussing my book The Rule of Lawyers, which came out in paperback earlier this month (more). To book a broadcast interview on the book, email me directly or contact Jamie Stockton at the St. Martin’s/Griffin publicity department: 212-674-5151, ext. 502. (bumped 6/28)