• Calif. AG sues automakers for global warming
• Plaintiff: McDonald’s should’ve warned me and my boss not to be gullible. Incidentally, the circumstantial criminal case against the guy behind the insidious phone calls fell apart because his defense attorney was able to impeach the victims (in a different Louisville case) by accusing them of trying to shake down McDonald’s for hundreds of millions. So he’s still on the street. Thanks, plaintiffs’ bar!
• The burglar and the skylight: another debunking that isn’t
• First rumblings of NYC trans fat ban gets Wally TV coverage.
• Suit: plaintiff was too stupid to be admitted into law school
• Neglect your kid now, sue for $5 M later
• Lonelygirl 15 creator defends Grand Theft Auto against meritless lawsuit
• NAACP suit: unlawful for clinic to close on Jewish Sabbath
• Can we blame lawyers for pro se claims?
• New Bizarro-Overlawyered blog writers don’t realize they’re arguing for reform, or providing excellent examples of how lawyers hurt medical consumers. See also the relationship between efficiency and safety; Milberg Weiss Fellow Cyrus Dugger visits the comments in an unrelated post to make an unfounded accusation that he refuses to back up.
• Pelman allowed to sue McDonald’s over getting fat.

Filed under: best of

• Wal-Mart lawn mower suit: newspaper reporter parrots plaintiff’s attorney’s implausible tale without fact-checking
• The Kessler RICO ruling on tobacco
• NJ court: no warning that one might fall out of loft bed required
• $18 million “sudden acceleration” verdict in South Carolina
• Another way lawyers hurt safety
• ADA frequent filer forgets who he’s suing
• Lawyers fake evidence in $2B suit, still practice today
• The return of the spilled-coffee tort—or is it?
• Trial lawyer wikiality

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• Junk faxers get a bigger bounty than Osama bin Laden (and here)
• Wore boxer shorts to game, sues over yearbook photo
• Mistaken for Michael Jordan, so he sues
• Revealed preference for trans fats
• 151-proof rum is flammable, who knew?
• Plaintiff sues Con Ed because Dr. Bartha blew himself up with gas
• Red Buttons, comedian, litigant
• “Sued for expressing “glee” over lawyer’s indictment”
• Town seeks to hold parents liable for kids’ drinking in homes

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• Family sues MySpace when 14-year-old daughter sneaks out of house to meet 19-year-old boy; the arrested alleged rapist also threatens suit.
• Plaintiff can sue Illinois Burger King for being hit by car that crashed through restaurant.
• Plaintiff fakes injuries, wins millions, drives doctor out of Illinois.
• “You’re going to get accident cases of people that aren’t really hurt, you say they’re hurt and you send them to the doctor.” But everybody does that!
• How speed limits hurt consumers.
• Programmer plaintiffs win overtime wages at the cost of bonuses and stock options; lawyers get contingent fees for “victory.”
• Day care center kills child with lawn mower, lawn mower company liable for $2M.
• Commenter disregards self-heating coffee warning, seeks lawyer: “Our microwave was destroyed, our kitchen was covered in dried latte”
• Alleged cost of bad behavior exceeds all money in existence.
• What are consumer hellholes?

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• Respirator manufacturers spent 90% of their income defending themselves against hundreds of thousands of shotgun lawsuits, though they haven’t lost one.
• The bait and switch of “abstinence” education
• One reason for high gas prices on the East Coast: junk-science MBTE cases.
• Chrysler liable when unattended toddler shifts van (with key left in ignition) out of park and falls out of car.
• “Please don’t feed the trial lawyers”
• Sadly, Joe Jamail’s deposition video is no longer on YouTube, but there are always the anecdotes. Update: back on YouTube as of Jan. 8
• 14 years, $14.5M; 14 minutes, $1.2M plus punitives. Who says non-economic damages aren’t irrational?
• Prop 65: “shaking down the defendants for ubiquitous trivia”

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• Tried to outrun subway train, wins $1.4M
• Texas undercover agents preemptively arrest drinkers in bars for being drunk.
• IDEA: school choice for legally savvy parents.
• Not about the money files: $175 million suit against BGE
• County 25% responsible for employee’s murder of husband
• The Trevor Law Group’s new shakedown practice?
• When jurors bring expertise
• Even Madison County asbestos juries have their limits.
• Future sexually-frustrated-fan celebrity class actions

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A busy month:

• Target sued because website not accessible to the blind.
• Sued for taking baths too early.
• The winning plaintiffs’ attorney responds to our post objecting to a $29 million verdict.
• “Fair housing” suit against Craigslist.
• Rhode Island jury endorses nuisance theory against lead paint manufacturers
• Maquiladoras spend $17M defending themselves against junk science.
• “Customer of size” loses suit against Southwest Airlines.
• $160 million for (someone else’s) beating
• Mississippi jackpot justice.
• Dallas Observer doesn’t owe $1 billion.
• Flying shrimp not so fatal after all.
• Warren Meyer’s favorite lawsuit.

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• James Frey meets a million little plaintiffs. And then some.
• Lawsuit garners restaurant second review.
• Sherri Carlson blames Nickelodeon and Kellogg for having to say no to her kids.
• PPA litigation fizzles.
• Missouri court throws out $80M sudden acceleration verdict on appeal.
• E-mail and litigation.

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We’ve added, along the right column of this site’s front page, a new sidebar feature entitled “Greatest Hits”, linking to a selection of our and readers’ favorite posts from the past (and maybe a stray article or two we’ve written fitting the theme). It’s intended as a rotation, so periodically some posts will drop off and be replaced with others.

An archive of links from the feature follows the jump.

Read On…

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