I’ll be enjoying the holiday for the rest of the week, so postings will come either from Ted Frank or not at all. See you next Monday, most likely. Also, I’m scheduled to appear as a guest next Monday (Dec. 29) on the Bill Good show on Vancouver’s CKNW radio, at 11:30 a.m. Pacific time.
Coyote v. Acme
Ian Frazier’s classic New Yorker humor piece on a product liability suit that is truly Looney Tunes (Feb. 26, 1990; at Beebo.org)(book).
How do your holiday parties compare?
Attorney Willie Gary, frequently mentioned in this space (see Apr. 1-2, 2002 and links from there) sent out 275,000 invitations this year to his annual holiday party in Stuart, Fla., a fabulous bash that has been called South Florida’s premiere party; tens of thousands attended (Tyler Treadway, “Liberally distributed, invitations to Gary festival more elaborate each” (sic), TCPalm.com (Scripps newspapers), Dec. 11; “Thousands take part in Gary’s holiday fete”, Dec. 13). Gary had an extra reason to celebrate this year, because a jury on Dec. 12 awarded $18 million to one of his clients, a road builder who said he was defamed by an investigative-journalism piece in the Gannett chain’s Pensacola News-Journal (see Mar. 30, 2001). (“Florida jury awards $18 million to road builder”, AP/First Amendment Center, Dec. 16). (More on case: Jan. 7; appeals court reverses, Oct. 25, 2006)
In Houston, meanwhile, trial lawyer W. Mark Lanier expects 5,000 holiday attendees at his 25-acre estate for what he bills as the “best party in the world”, now in its twelfth year. Lanier, who is noted for buying asbestos items on eBay and in 1998 won a $115 million verdict for 21 plaintiffs in an asbestos case, hired Bill Cosby to entertain the crowd this year; previous years’ talent have included Barry Manilow, Crosby, Stills, and Nash, Diana Ross, and the Dixie Chicks. (Jonathan D. Glater, “Houston Holiday: Barbecue, Al Green and 5,000 Guests”, New York Times, Dec. 15)(fee archive) Incidentally, the Times also reports the following: “‘I support tort reform that gets rid of the garbage cases,’ said Mr. Lanier, who is a Republican. ‘I do not support the medical malpractice reform because I think it hurts the good cases and doesn’t do anything to restrict the garbage cases.'”
UK: “Postman sues customer who sent ‘too many’ letters”
“A postman is taking legal action claiming that he pulled a muscle because there were too many letters in a pillar box.” Alan Pugh claims that George Chryssides, a religious studies lecturer at Wolverhampton University, owes him compensation for posting about 270 envelopes containing a magazine Chryssides publishes for members of the British Society for the Study of Religions, and weighing around 50 pounds in all. “The Communication Workers’ Union is paying for the action and papers have been lodged with Birmingham County Court. Dr Chryssides said: ‘Claims of this kind raise the question of whether people can post their Christmas mail without redress.'” (Nick Britten, Daily Telegraph, Dec. 20)
Infant’s Benadryl death: so many defendants to blame
In August Paula Burcham, who ran an unlicensed day-care from her Lakeland, Fla. home, was sentenced to eight years in prison for giving a lethal dose of the sedative/antihistamine Benadryl to 3 1/2 month old Grace Fields, a child under her care. Now the infant’s mother is suing not only Burcham but also the Eckerd drugstore chain; Pfizer, which makes Benadryl, and a Michigan firm that manufactures a generic version; Polk County, and its health department; and the Florida state Department of Children & Families. (“Mother sues baby sitter, drug maker, drugstore”, AP/Miami Herald, Dec. 22).
Homeless sue against closure of crime-plagued park
In Bakersfield, California, a group of homeless persons are suing to prevent the city from closing International Square Park, which municipal authorities say has become a magnet for alcohol, drugs and crime. The complainants, who are being assisted by a lawyer from the federally funded Legal Services Corporation affiliate Greater Bakersfield Legal Assistance, point out that the park has provided shade and comfort to many homeless people. (“Homeless Files Suit To Prevent Park’s Closure”, KERO-TV, Dec. 19).
Update: Aussie drunk driver loses case
Updating our Jul. 30 report: “A woman has lost a case in which she sued a pub where she had been drinking shortly before she crashed her car. …Justice Gerald Cripps said the defendants did not have a duty of care ‘to protect the plaintiff from the consequences of her own inebriation’.” (“Judge finds against drunk driver who sued hotel”, AAP/Sydney Morning Herald, Aug. 18)(opinion in Parrington v Hotelcorp Pty Ltd & Ors, New South Wales Supreme Court)
Morales: sealed papers could show tobacco-suit misconduct
“Dan Morales, the former attorney general jailed for scheming to steal millions of dollars from Texas’ tobacco settlement, says sealed court documents could show wrongdoing on the part of private lawyers who represented the state.” (see Nov. 2 and links from there). Morales said a year ago that he believed the Big Five tobacco lawyers he hired may have breached their loyalty to the state in the course of taking home $3.3 billion in fees, and now says documents sealed as part of his criminal case would show such misconduct if made public. The documents were sealed by U.S. District Judge Sam Sparks at the request of attorney Mike Tigar, representing the Five. “Also Friday, Marc Murr, a former Houston lawyer charged as a co-defendant to Morales, was sentenced to six months in federal prison. In October, Murr pleaded guilty to mail fraud.” (Janet Elliott, “Morales urges probe of tobacco attorneys”, Houston Chronicle, Dec. 20).
Dallas police fake-drug scandal
Hair-raising and, as Mark A.R. Kleiman (Dec. 16) points out, strangely underpublicized: “Dallas police paid their drug informants based on the quantity of drugs seized. So some informants decided to manufacture cases by planting fake ‘cocaine’ — variously described as the powder used to chalk billiard cues and as ground-up gypsum wallboard — on about 80 Mexican immigrants.” The bounty had been set at $1,000 per kilogram.
Canada: nine-year-old’s hockey suit
“Parents may stop helping out on their kid’s teams if a Springbank lawyer successfully sues volunteers within his own son’s league, says the head of minor hockey in Calgary. … Michael Kraik is suing the Springbank Minor Hockey Association because he says his nine-year-old son Alexander was deliberately placed on a weaker team due to favouritism from league officials for their own children.” The suit seeks C$50,000 and names two officials individually. (“Hockey crisis looms”, Calgary Sun, Dec. 19). Update Jan. 11: suit dropped.