- Hertz drops libel lawsuit against investor research outfit that claimed its solvency was at risk [Crain’s New York, earlier]
- Report: New Jersey blogger jailed for threats against federal judges was on FBI informant payroll [AP]
- “Bentley Photos Are Props in Willie Gary’s High School Motivational Speech” [ABA Journal]
- Australian personal injury lawyers evade ad ban [Sydney Morning Herald]
- Scott Rothstein’s alleged Ponzi scheme “targeted people who invested in law suits” [Steele/Legal Ethics Forum] “Two Inside Looks at Rothstein’s Firm, Lifestyle” [Ambrogi/Legal Blog Watch]
- O’Quinn driving nearly twice speed limit on rainy pavement at time of crash [Chron]
- “Support for UN religious defamation rule drops” [Media Watch Watch] On the other hand? “Envoy’s Speech Signals Softening of U.S. Hostility to International Court” [AP]
- Rudely titled new book on how to avoid getting sued [Instapundit]
“Lawsuits put global warming on more dockets”
Disclaimer in a 1975 gun book
TortsProf’s Christopher Robinette notes the exceedingly cautious language employed by the publisher of a book on the Walther P-38 pistol. “It’s sad that the publisher can’t even ‘approve of,’ never mind ‘advise’ or ‘encourage,’ the ‘use of’ the material ‘in any manner.'”
Update: dolphin-splash lawsuit amended
“Local sources reported recently that the plaintiff had amended her complaint to blame algae as well.” [Lowering the Bar; earlier here and here].
U.K.: “Health and safety snoops to enter family homes”
Reads like a parody: “Health and safety inspectors are to be given unprecedented access to family homes to ensure that parents are protecting their children from household accidents.” [Times Online]
New at Point of Law
Stories you may be missing if you’re not following our sister site:
- Administration now seeks to take credit for med-mal reform as part of health care plan. How believably? (related here, here, here, here, etc.)
- Also related, if less closely: health care bill packed with goodies for labor;
- Trial lawyers continue push in Congress to restore minimally demanding notice pleading standard by overturning Supreme Court’s Iqbal, Twombly decisions;
- Imprisoned exec of Union Bank of Switzerland wants billions as whistleblowing bounty for assisting federal tax investigators;
- “Right and Left Join Forces on Criminal Justice” — the NYT coverage;
- “New Connecticut Law Tries to Trip Up ‘Runners’ and the Lawyers Who Hire Them”; Connecticut AG Blumenthal to push mandatory hospital error disclosure;
- Third-party litigation finance is getting more controversial;
- “The ethics counsel to the New York state senate told senators to hand-deliver ethics filings, rather than mailing them, to avoid coverage under the federal mail fraud statute.”
- More on public pension funds, securities class-action lawyers, and campaign contributions.
Kindle not helpful enough to blind users
So disabled-rights groups are pressuring universities to spurn the popular reading device [Al Tompkins/Poynter]
How to become a legend in law firm marketing
One way is to leave onlookers reeling at your ads’ tastelessness, as happened with one Texas criminal defense law firm. [Above the Law, A Public Defender, Mark Bennett, Scott Greenfield] Update: followup at Above the Law.
When they sue the wrong person
When the wrong defendant is named in a civil complaint — wrong in the sense of being “different guy with the same name” — you might think it would be relatively routine to order the complainant to compensate the bewildered target. But it’s actually unusual enough to rate news coverage. [Jim Dwyer, “Hello, Collections? The Worm Has Turned,” New York Times]
Update: Continental pilots’ sham divorces
A federal judge has dismissed the airline’s suit against pilots seeking to reclaim pension outlays arising from what it said were paper divorces followed by remarriages to the same spouse. Still pending are the pilots’ suits against Continental for wrongful dismissal and invasion of privacy stemming from the airline’s investigation of the episode. [ABA Journal; earlier here and here]