- As football helmet makers come under litigation pressure, one company’s label simply advises not playing football [New York Times, ABA Journal]
- D.C. Circuit: Obama administration has broken law by stalling action on Nevada nuclear site [AP/ABC News, In re Aiken County (PDF)]
- Unexpected venue? Writer in National Review suggests legalizing prostitution [Charles Cooke]
- Eight reasons New York City rent is so ridiculously high [Josh Barro]
- “How much is a life worth?” [Kenneth Feinberg profile in National Journal]
- Ed Markey vs. amusement parks [Elie Mystal, Above the Law]
- How easy is it to pull real estate deed fraud? You (and the owners of the Empire State Building) might be surprised [Now I Know]
Posts Tagged ‘football’
In New Jersey, an “epic” business partnership lawsuit
“There is no reason in the world for a case to be tried 20 years after it was filed,” said Judge Deanne Wilson, who said she knew of nothing matching the case in the New Jersey courts. The judge was highly critical of the conduct of the defendants, a real estate family led by Minnesota Vikings owner Zygmunt “Zygi” Wilf, which she found had misappropriated funds owed to longtime business partners. [Ben Horowitz, Newark Star-Ledger, Minneapolis Star-Tribune and more, Field of Schemes]
Law schools roundup
- “Law school plotted to sabotage its own students?” [Steele, Cassandra Burke Robertson, Caron on Phoenix allegations]
- Bryan Garner’s take on law reviews [Green Bag]
- Washington & Lee’s innovative practice-oriented third year has drawn much attention, but job placement results lag [Deborah Merritt via Alice Woolley]
- “Law school sues for liability insurance coverage” [VLW on Liberty U., Miller-Jenkins kidnapping case]
- The business of one high-flying law school: documents shed light on NYU [Joe Patrice, Above the Law]
- Concussions: NFL players’ union to fund $100 million Harvard project, including HLS, on football and health [Cohen, Prawfs, with further thoughts from a notorious gadfly on lobbying by lawprofs]
- John O. McGinnis and Russell Mangas, “An Undergraduate Option for Legal Education” [IRLE/SSRN]
- Toward more sensible law school rankings? ABA makes it harder to count higher expenditures themselves as a plus [Above the Law]
Sports roundup
- Florida attorney John Morgan, suing NASCAR over crowd injuries, says waiver on back of ticket isn’t valid [Mike Bianchi, Orlando Sentinel, scroll to “Open Mike”; John Culhane, Slate] Idaho court denies assumption-of-risk “Baseball Rule” in foul-ball case [CBS]
- “Pennsylvania vs. NCAA: case dismissed” [antitrust; Rob Green, Abnormal Use]
- 1911 article: aviation “as safe as football”: 47 aviation vs. 60 football fatalities in 1909. [Kyle Graham, @tedfrank] “Do no harm: Who should bear the costs of retired NFL players’ medical bills?” [WaPo] “Retired Jocks Dig for Gold in the California Hills” [Jon Coppelman on state’s generous worker’s comp arrangements, earlier]
- “The Derrick Rose lawsuit and emotional distress claims in South Carolina” [Frances Zacher, Abnormal Use]
- “Parents of autistic New Jersey teen sue so he can play on” [Brick, N.J. football team; WPVI]
- NY Yankees successfully challenge company’s effort to trademark “Baseball’s Evil Empire” [Ilya Somin, Michael Schearer]
- “Memo to Roger Goodell: I’ll take my NFL football without Obamacare propaganda, please” [Bainbridge]
“Colorado jury awards $11.5M to family in helmet lawsuit”
“A Colorado jury has awarded $11.5 million in a lawsuit originally brought against helmet maker Riddell and several high school administrators and football coaches over brain injuries suffered by a teenager in 2008.” While the jury rejected the plaintiff’s claim of design defect, it accepted the theory that the helmet maker should have done more to warn of concussions. “The jury assessed 27 percent of the fault for Rhett Ridolfi’s injuries, making the company responsible for paying $3.1 million of the damages.” Riddell has been hit with a wave of lawsuits from both school and professional football players. [AP, Denver Post, earlier](& Coyote)
NFL concussion litigation in court
It reaches an important juncture at a hearing in federal court in Philadelphia today, where a judge will be asked to decide whether litigation is pre-empted by collective bargaining and arbitration law. The choice of counsel — frequent Supreme Court advocates David Frederick and Paul Clement — suggests the high stakes. [Washington Post] Earlier here, here, etc.
Podcast on NFL concussion suits
Welcome WTIC listeners
I was a guest on Hartford-based morning talk radio just now to discuss the NFL concussion litigation (more). Host Joe D’Ambrosio stood in for the ailing Ray Dunaway. More: concussion litigation and the NCAA [Nathan Fenno, Washington Times]
Steve Chapman on pro football litigation
As I’ve been saying for a while, if the logic of other mass tort litigation is to carry over to suits over traumatic brain damage from pro football, it’s by no means clear how the organized sport can make it through the coming wave of litigation other than by turning itself into a very different game. Chicago Tribune-based syndicated columnist Steve Chapman gives me a chance to outline some of the reasons why, including the high likely damages, pressure to draw in peripheral parties and defendants such as doctors and equipment makers, and difficulties in relying on an assumption of risk defense [Washington Examiner] Background on risks for school-age players: WSJ.
P.S. Some more stirrings on the prevention and diagnosis front. A contrasting view from Max Kennerly. And discussion by Andrew Sullivan and readers, “Is Big Football the Next Big Tobacco?”
Report: marker for concussion brain damage found in living NFL veterans
As I’ve said before, if subjected to the same injury liability rules that American courts apply to other businesses, organized football is unlikely to survive. The development of a workable diagnostic test for living players would hasten this process along. [PBS] Similarly: Ta-Nehisi Coates, said before, if subjected to the same injury liability rules that American courts apply to other businesses, organized football is unlikely to survive. The development of a workable diagnostic test for living players would hasten this process along. [PBS] Similarly: Coyote.