- Patent trolls are thriving, one study finds [271 Patent Blog, The Prior Art, PriceWaterhouseCoopers, PDF]
- One plaintiff’s lawyer’s view: Did Rep. John Murtha Die From Medical Malpractice? [Turkewitz]
- “Rubber stamps for two [class action] settlements” [Ted Frank, Center for Class Action Fairness, AOL and Yahoo cases]
- Little League and baseball bats: “America’s favorite pastime collides with favorite pastime of personal injury lawyers” [Bob Dorigo Jones]
- States push home day-care providers into unions [Stossel]
- U.K.: “Cardiologist will fight libel case ‘to defend free speech’” [Times Online] More on British libel tourism: Frances Gibb, Times Online (“It’s official – London is the libel capital of the world” ), Citizen Media Law, Gordon Crovitz/WSJ, N.Y. Times.
- From a half-year back, but missed then: FBI says Miami lawyer bought stolen hospital records for purposes of soliciting patients [HIPAA Blog, Ambrogi/Legal Blog Watch]
- Would-be Green Police can be found in Cambridge, Mass., not just Super Bowl ads [Peter Wilson, American Thinker via Graham]
Connecticut jury: Blumenthal wrongly ruined business
At Point of Law I’ve got a post up about a significant embarrassment — $18 million worth — for veteran Connecticut Attorney General (and now Senate candidate) Richard Blumenthal.
“Proposed Changes to Psychiatric Manual Stir Lawsuit Fears”
“The American Psychiatric Association wants binge eating and excess gambling to be considered psychiatric disorders. … Lawyers have plenty to say about the proposed disorders, which, some argue, could open up the door for yet more disability suits in the workplace.” [Tresa Baldas, NLJ]
Alienation of John Edwards’ affections?
Per ABC News, Andrew Young says that Elizabeth Edwards has threatened him with a lawsuit under North Carolina’s law permitting lawsuits against third parties — not limited to paramours — who helped break up a marriage. We’ve been covering the workings of this law for years at Overlawyered, and Ted may have been the first to spot its possible application to the Sen. Edwards squalor-ama. Much more at Death by 1000 Papercuts. (Rewritten somewhat for clarity 1 p.m. Eastern; & welcome Mickey Kaus readers)
Winkler County nurses trial, cont’d
Orac has plenty of interesting reporting and coverage here, here, and here (earlier). Update: Not guilty.
High school agrees to halt Chrysler Rams logo use
Lake Mary High School concedes it has no legal grounds on which to resist Chrysler’s request. Contrary to many readers’ suggestions, the automaker did not agree to license the logo’s use on cordial terms. To quote the Orlando Sentinel account:
“As I am sure you can appreciate from your years of work with the board, control of use of a mark by enthusiastic students and parents is quite simply not practical, and I know the school and board would not want to be in the position of censoring student expression associated with the design,” wrote Judith Powell, an attorney for Chrysler.
(& welcome The Truth About Cars readers)
About that South Carolina law
Eugene Volokh says there’s nothing new about it, it appears to date to the Red Scare in 1951. Corrected earlier post here.
Before doom struck
Patrons of the Taipei pastry shop were entirely unsuspecting of the horde of trademark lawyers about to descend. [via John Mesirow, Legal Juice]
Courts should dismiss climate-change-as-nuisance suits under political-question doctrine
So argues Harvard’s Laurence Tribe. [Washington Legal Foundation, PDF (with co-authors Joshua Branson and Tristan Duncan), via Adler]
“Scan and Deliver”
“How Google got control over millions of out-of-print books” via a legal settlement. [Michael May, Texas Observer]