August 21 roundup

NYC criminal defense lawyer and TV commentator Robert Simels convicted of witness tampering in closely watched case [NY Daily News and more, NYLJ, Greenfield, Simon/Legal Ethics Forum]
Title IX suit says harassment by other students pushed school girl into anorexia, school should pay [Pittsburgh Post-Gazette]
Federal judge upholds some Louisiana restrictions on lawyer advertising, but says rules on Internet communication unconstitutionally restrict speech [WAFB, Ron Coleman]
“Woman Claims Display Was So Distracting, She Fell Over It” [Lowering the Bar; Santa Clara County, Calif. Dollar Tree]
Associated Press now putting out softer line on blogger use of its copy, but is it a trap? [Felix Salmon, earlier]
Update: Google ordered to identify person who set up nasty “skank” blog to attack NYC model [Fashionista, earlier here and here]
Some speak as if lawsuits over “alienation of affections” a thing of the past, alas not so [Eugene Volokh, more, yet more; earlier]
Connecticut: “State Holds Hearing On Whether Group Can Hand Out Food To The Poor” [Hartford Courant; “Food Not Bombs” group at Wesleyan]

Note: post was mistakenly titled as “August 22 roundup” at first, now fixed; thanks to reader Jonathan B. for catching.

Filed under: alienation of affection, bullying, Connecticut, copyright, defense lawyers, ethics, Google, Louisiana, Pittsburgh, Title IX

Update: court throws out wrestlers’ suit against WWE (again)

Two performers have fallen flat in an effort to get a Connecticut federal court to reinstate their suit. Daniel Schwartz has more; earlier here and here.

Filed under: Connecticut, sports, wage and hour suits

Clotheslines as safety hazard?

Greenwich, Connecticut, has forbidden clotheslines — in an elderly-housing complex — as a purported safety hazard. Its director not very convincingly cited “liability issues – someone running around in the backyard in the dark”. [Christopher Fountain, For What It’s Worth]

Filed under: Connecticut, land use and zoning

Connecticut passes probate court reform

Gov. Jodi Rell has signed legislation reorganizing the long-criticized system, which handles child custody matters and conservatorships as well as wills and estates; Hartford Courant columnist Rick Green had made the cause a crusade with horror stories. More: Connecticut Law Tribune (cross-posted from Point of Law).

Filed under: child custody, Connecticut, wills and trusts

Mandatory composting in San Francisco

“Throwing orange peels, coffee grounds and grease-stained pizza boxes in the trash will be against the law in San Francisco, and could even lead to a fine.” [San Francisco Chronicle and “Thin Green Line” blog via Coyote] And a Coyote commenter reports from a Connecticut town where

they force us to separate everything. They pick up cans, glass, plastic and newspaper. However, all the other [mandatory recycling including catalogues] must be driven to the dump/recycling center – which conveniently closes by 3pm on weekdays and by noon on Saturday. We spend at least 1.5 hours every week sorting and delivering our recycling. EVERY week.

Filed under: Connecticut, recycling, San Francisco

Boldly patterned carpets and wallpaper

A house for sale in Greenwich, Ct. for about $7.5 million is decorated in a eye-grabbing way that might intrigue some home-hunters while putting off others. Real estate bloggers start to notice, the tone of discussion turns snarky (especially in comments), and the nastygrams duly follow.

Filed under: bloggers and the law, Connecticut, real estate

Cases that could never live up to their headlines dept.

“Inventor of Vibrating Toilet Seat Sues Google Over Allegedly Defamatory Search Results” [Citizen Media Law]

P.S. Also in the news this morning, a less colorful lawsuit against Google over search results: the principals of the New Haven, Connecticut personal injury law firm of Stratton Faxon are incensed that when you search on their firm’s name in Google, you get along with the results an auto-generated ad from a competitive firm.

Filed under: advertising, Connecticut, Google, libel slander and defamation

Frontiers of disabled-rights law

Via Daniel Schwartz: in Connecticut, S.B. 114, a bill introduced into the legislature this year by labor committee chair Sen. Edith Prague (D-Norwich) would protect the right of learning-disabled workers not to be fired by their employers “for taking long meal periods and losing track of time”.

Filed under: Connecticut, disabled rights

Consolation prize: script rights?

Noting that a litigant’s choice of counsel is to be given weight in such matters, a court in Stamford, Ct. has ruled against a husband’s request to disqualify the opposing attorney on the grounds that that attorney “simultaneously represents the defendant’s first and second wives”. [“Motion To Disqualify Lawyer Representing Both Wives Denied,” Connecticut Law Tribune, May 11 (pay section of site)(Voruganti v. Voruganti, Malone, J.)]

Filed under: Connecticut, divorce, ethics

Connecticut probate mess

It’s deeply entrenched, yet political pressure for a change continues to build (earlier).

Filed under: Connecticut, judicial system, wills and trusts