Barrick Gold and Banro Corporation have sued three authors of a book that alleged human rights violations in African mining operations; Barrick has also threatened suit against a Vancouver-based publisher over a not-yet-published book. [BoingBoing, Canadian Business, Quill and Quire; FreeSpeechAtRisk.ca]
Posts Tagged ‘Canada’
Canada: “fatally flawed” human rights proceedings
They trampled an Ontario businesswoman’s rights, a higher court finds. Maxcine Telfer of Mississauga, Ont., “whose home was ordered seized to pay an Ontario Human Rights Tribunal award to a former employee[,] can keep her house — for now.” [Toronto Star]
February 21 roundup
- Estate of Anna Nicole Smith may sue over opera based on her life [Daily Mail via Surber, other Daily Mail]
- Maryland Department of Environment: yep, we put tracking devices on Eastern Shore watermen’s boats [Red Maryland]
- Trial lawyers’ federal contributions went 97% to Dems last cycle [Freddoso, Examiner]
- $6.5 million for family abuse: unusual sovereign-exposure law costs Washington taxpayers again [PoL]
- Canadian court: no, we can’t and won’t waive loser-pays for needy litigants who lose cases [Erik Magraken]
- CPSC considers mandating “SawStop” technology [Crede, background]
- Gun groups alarmed over ATF pick [Chicago Tribune]
- Jury blames hit-run death on wheelchair curb cut [four years ago on Overlawyered]
“Is Canada becoming an overly litigious society?”
Column by Sameer Vasta in Sympatico.ca’s “Coffee Talk”:
Thankfully, a lot of these cases are thrown out by judges who realize that litigation isn’t the solution to every problem, but some of them are not, tying up important public resources that could be better used.
Over-litigiousness doesn’t really solve any problems, even for the person filing the case.
Law schools roundup
- The first hard copies of Schools for Misrule have arrived from the printer and they look fantastic. You can order here (and benefit me Amazon-commission-wise as well as through royalties) at very favorable pre-publication prices;
- “Can NY Support Any More Law Schools? Doubts Stall Plans for Three New Campuses” [ABA Journal]
- Professional rigor without Tiers: how Canada’s law school scene differs from ours [Above the Law]
- Villanova “knowingly” fiddled scores to improve law school rating [Paul Caron roundup] By creative use of such measures as library seatage, Michigan’s Cooley contrived to name itself nation’s number 2 law school [AtL] Malcolm Gladwell notes that US News rankings “reward Yale-ness” [New Yorker, Ribstein/TotM] A “good way to distinguish yourself from other law schools is to tell the truth to prospective students” and Washington & Lee has shocked competitors with a significant gesture in that direction [AtL] “Applying SOX (or something like it) to law schools” [Tung Yin, PrawfsBlawg] Morriss/Henderson: “law schools have a special moral obligation to tell the truth about themselves.” [Pope Center]
- Mark Tushnet on academic fads and “mere” doctrinal scholarship [via Boyden, PrawfsBlawg]
- Some law reviews admit their circulation has plunged, others don’t admit it [Ross Davies, Green Bag via Caron] “Girls under trees” deprecated as element in law school web design [Lowering the Bar]
- On lawprof interest disclosures [Gerding/Conglomerate, Salmon, Weiser/SALT]
- Legal academy during World War II mostly silent on government overreach [Sarah Ludington, SSRN via Orin Kerr]
Canadian court: alcoholism following accident is compensable injury
After a pedestrian was hit by a truck and suffered a broken elbow and other injuries, he began to drink excessively and developed clinical alcoholism with serious health consequences. Doctors testified that the man’s “pain and mood” following the injury contributed to this development, in combination with genetic predisposition (both his parents were alcoholics). A judge in the province of British Columbia found that the “alcohol abuse was caused by the Accident and that such alcohol abuse was reasonably foreseeable,” so that compensation for it could be recovered as part of the lawsuit. [BC Injury Law]
Canada: Lawsuit blames province for car-moose collisions
Since parties “are immune to reason…I have tried ridicule as a last resort”
A Canadian judge loses his patience in a divorce case. [Lowering the Bar]
January 7 roundup
- Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen’s firm suing Apple, Google and many others over common web features [Atlantic Wire, Groklaw (“Allen v. World and Dog”]
- Probably not a good idea to give local authorities cash incentive to snatch kids from homes [Bader, CEI]
- Hyperlink liability case: “If I lose there won’t BE an Internet in Canada” [Ars Technica]
- Shooting spree at Denny’s results in suit charging eatery with negligent security [PNWLocalNews.com]
- More links: “Do securities lawsuits help shareholders?” [Point of Law, Bainbridge]
- Fourth Circuit revives CSX fraud suit against asbestos lawyers [Dan Fisher, Forbes] “Asbestos defendants want automatic access to info in bankruptcy trusts” [Chamber-backed LNL]
- Creation of noncompliant consumer financial product is a criminal offense under Dodd-Frank [Josh Wright, TotM]
- Man sues over seeing contestants eat rats on NBC reality show “Fear Factor” [six years ago on Overlawyered]
Lawsuits meant to silence critics
Ontario is being urged to tackle the problem. “The thing about SLAPPs is they are very effective. They are so effective that you never hear about them, because, the whole thing about them is, they are trying to shut people up,” said an environmentalist who favors broader protection for speech. [The Globe and Mail]