Shouldn’t the government be considering a ban? (H/t: reader D.W.). More: TYWKIWDBI.
Posts Tagged ‘animals’
Motorcyclist crashes into wild pigs on road
And many happy returns to California taxpayers for the $8.6 million, courtesy of a Monterey County jury. Lowering the Bar: “I can’t remember how many times I have tried to warn people that bad things were going to happen if we didn’t tame our state’s boars and train them to be alert for drunk drivers when crossing the street. Why don’t people listen?”
National Animal Identification System
CPSIA-reminiscent: a pending proposal to require all owners of livestock and poultry to tag each creature with a radio ID, and do a lot more paperwork besides that, could spell an end to small-scale backyard animal husbandry. (Shannon Hayes, “Tag, We’re It’, New York Times, Mar. 10). More: Timothy Carney, D.C. Examiner; Jack Kittredge, Mother Earth News, 2007.
March 5 roundup
- Uninjured patients of California, unite to demand the money you have coming to you! [Russell Jackson via PoL]
- Lawyer’s nastygram to blogger Patterico: how dare you talk to my witnesses as part of your research on my case? [Ken @ Popehat, Sheffner/Copyrights and Campaigns, Volokh, Hricik/Legal Ethics Forum; lawyer Kathy Kelly retracts and regrets her threat; the underlying article by Radley Balko, alleging extraordinary misconduct by Mississippi-based medical examiners in a Louisiana case, is here [caution, disturbing images and videos]; reactions to that from Patrick @ Popehat, BoingBoing, Coyote]
- Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) being helpful to trial lawyers? Old news to Overlawyered readers [AmLaw Daily, Wood @PoL, our earlier coverage of Specter]
- California lawyers are obliged to pay $500 annual dues to the state bar, which leaves one member irritated when the official bar publication showcases a predictable brand of politics [Bookworm Room on CLAY awards, California Lawyer] More: Discriminations on the Virginia state bar;
- So is the New Jersey Law Journal going to start printing regular tutorials on how to take unlawful action against blogs that criticize one’s client, or is it just going to be the one time? [Ron Coleman]
- New blogger Andrew Grossman joins Point of Law, expert on the “overcriminalization” of life [intro, proposed we-must-do-something-about-chimps “Captive Primate Safety Act”]
- R.I.P. Murray Teigh Bloom, author of The Trouble With Lawyers (1968), whose obituary appeared in the New York Times the other day;
- Eric Turkewitz continues his investigations of online solicitation of victims of the Continental #3407 Buffalo crash; might the New York anti-chasing rules be working? [fifth and sixth posts in series]
- Stadium patdown case: California constitution “does not grant courts a roving commission to micromanage” security arrangements at private facilities [Egelko, Chronicle]
“Yo Quiero $500K for Yappy Chihuahuas”
Lawyer Paulette Taylor says she has complained to neighbor Theodore Henderson and to the management of their Central Park West building that his two Chihuahuas “bark in a manner that is offensive, constant, continuous and incessant.” Failing to find satisfaction that way, “We’re asking for a restraining order against the dogs,” says her lawyer, Jacqueline Bukowski, and $500,000 for “emotional and physical distress” couldn’t hurt either. [NY Post via Pero]
Lure cat down from tree? No, someone might sue
Brutis the cat in Phoenix, Ariz. is safe now, but not until after a bit of hard feeling with the neighbor whose property he’d wandered on to:
[the Humane Society] suggested [owner] Michael leave food and water at the base of the tree, something Michael said he couldn’t do because his police officer neighbor would not let him back on the property.
Michael said the officer told him he was concerned that if someone got hurt while trying to get the cat on his property, he would be liable.
“He said no because of insurance,” explained Michael.
(ABC15.com).
“The Weirdest Legal Cases of 2008”
Gary Slapper does an annual roundup for the Times Online (U.K.). This one includes the case of a bodybuilder whose loud grunts while working out became intolerable to his neighbors, and a man in Macedonia who sued a bear for stealing honey. (Dec. 5).
Snapping goose causes slip-fall, the sequel
Last year we covered the unsuccessful suit against Contemporary Watercrafters, a Rockville, Md.-based pool maintenance business. It’s getting some more attention now as one of the entries in the U.S. Chamber’s Faces of Lawsuit Abuse campaign (careful, it auto-plays video with sound). Angle we didn’t mention in our earlier post: the owner was annoyed at the mess made by the geese and approached the Humane Society about removal but was told “it was a no-go — the Migratory Species Act forbade him from moving or disturbing the geese. All he could do was wait for their goslings to hatch and hope they then moved on of their own free will. The store put up tape around the area and signs warning passersby of the terrible geese threat.” (On the Record (Md. Daily Record blog), Dec. 9).
U.K.: “Noisy parrot case costs taxpayer more than £26,000”
Dorchester, England: “A judge has criticized a council for spending £26,000 on a legal wrangle involving three noisy parrots, saying the costs were ‘out of all proportion’ to the case.” (Richard Savill, Telegraph, Nov. 1).
San Francisco zoo tiger mauling victims sue
The long-expected suit was filed in federal rather than state court, and one attorney speculates that the reason was to get more suburbanites on the jury panel, on the theory that they will be less hostile to the plaintiffs than San Francisco residents. Federal theory? Well, “Kulbir Dhaliwal contends his federal civil rights were violated because he was deprived the use of his BMW M3, the car the three took to the zoo.”
The suit also accuses Sam Singer, a well-known crisis management spokesman whose firm was retained by the zoo after the attack, of libel and slander.
The Dhaliwals contend Singer and city officials engaged in a smear campaign to suggest the young men were disreputable and had taunted the tiger before the escape.
“There’s no merit to the lawsuit whatsoever,” Singer said. “More importantly, I’d like to remind people that [plaintiff’s lawyer Mark] Geragos was the one who said his client, Michael Jackson, was a perfectly normal human being and Scott Peterson was an innocent man. I leave it up to the judgment of the public as to how accurate he is on any of his claims.”
Watch out getting into a fight with a crisis management specialist, they have sharp tongues. (John Coté, “Tiger attack victims file suit in federal court”, San Francisco Chronicle, Nov. 13; more Chronicle coverage; earlier).