Annals of unusual criminal defenses: the lawyer defending Hiccup Girl Jennifer Mee on murder charges says he may blame her actions on Tourette’s Syndrome, a medical condition not ordinarily linked to violence or criminality. [CBS News/WFOR/AP, Lowering the Bar]
Bounteous bankruptcies: Lehman Brothers
$1 billion so far in lawyers’ and other professional fees, and counting. [Reuters]
“Nine Key Ballot Initiatives To Watch”
Taxes and guns, eminent domain and public employee benefits: from Dan Mitchell at Cato-at-Liberty.
Trucker demands religious accommodation for refusal to haul alcohol, tobacco
Age of accommodation, cont’d: “in Reedy v. Schneider National, Inc. (E.D. Pa. filed Oct. 15, 2010). Vasant Reddy says that he has ‘a sincerely held religious belief that he cannot consume, possess, or transport alcohol or tobacco,’ and that he informed Schneider National of this. …Nonetheless, he says, he was ordered to transport a load with alcohol, and was fired because he refused to transport it.” [Eugene Volokh] (cross-posted at Secular Right).
Publication: we’ll come after those who read multiple stories online
The North Country Gazette does not put its articles behind a paywall, but insists that visitors not read more than one unless they subscribe. According to BoingBoing, a notice on the site (now apparently taken down, or at least inaccessible to many visitors) contained the following menacing wording:
A subscription is required at North Country Gazette. We allow only one free read per visitor. We are currently gathering IPs and computer info on persistent intruders who refuse to buy subscription and are engaging in theft of services. We have engaged an attorney who will be doing a bulk subpoena demand on each ISP involved… and will then pursue individual legal actions.
Need for agent’s help at check-in said to be ADA violation
“The National Federation for the Blind has initiated a class action lawsuit against United Airlines because United’s check-in kiosks cannot be used by blind passengers.” [Gary Leff, Boarding Area]
State bar: lawyer claimed to “channel” client’s dead wife
Really bad lawyer conduct? Or only medium? “The State Bar of Arizona is looking to throw the book at a Phoenix attorney who told a client that she was channeling his dead wife, then allegedly lied about it during an unrelated disciplinary proceeding.” [National Law Journal]
Canada: “Yukon man seeks $12M for space rock damage”
“A Yukon mining prospector claims federal geologists stole a priceless piece of meteorite he found in the 1980s that contained alien organisms, but RCMP say they haven’t found any evidence to support that allegation.” [CBC]
Foreclosures on the rocks
Lawyers profited handsomely from devising the foreclosure-mill model, and now will profit handsomely from exposing its flaws, as Larry Ribstein notes. More: Arnold Kling (“If you say that ‘the law is the law’ and ‘rules must be enforced as written,’ that can be a consistent position and I can respect you for it. But then don’t turn around and say that we should empower mortgage counselors to rewrite people’s loans.”) Stephen Bainbridge (prospective lawsuit wave over packaging of mortgages for investors “show the extent to which mass financial torts now adversely affect American business.”)
Yet more: “Lawsuit wave could hurt housing market: FDIC chief” [AP/WaPo]; the elusive search for villains [Holman Jenkins, WSJ]
India: Colgate patented traditional remedy, opponents claim
“Indian activists claim that the patent [awarded to Colgate for a tooth powder] is bogus because the ingredients — including clove oil, camphor, black pepper and spearmint — have been used for the same purpose for hundreds, ‘if not thousands,’ of years on the subcontinent.” [Fox Orlando]