- Today at AEI: Panel (and webcast) on Massachusetts v. EPA Supreme Court argument on carbon dioxide regulation. [AEI]
- Paulson to Economic Club of New York: “Legal reform is crucial to the long-term competitiveness of our economy.” [Paulson; WSJ; WaPo; NYT; American]
- One who reposts on Internet allegedly libelous news article immune from liability in California. One hopes this deters a certain attorney complaining about a six-year-old Overlawyered post recounting a 2000 LA Times article. [Point of Law; Volokh]
- It’s an obvious point, but many judges simply refuse to acknowledge it in failure-to-warn litigation: overwarning can be counterproductive. [WaPo]
- Congress holds that Psalms 37:21 trumps Leviticus 27:30; Senator Obama objects. [WaPo]
- Russia: woman successfully sues Coca-Cola for causing gastrointestinal distress. [Kevin M.D.]
- More on breast implants. [Bernstein @ Volokh]
- More on the New Zealand no-fault med-mal system. [Point of Law]
- Posner on Friedman. [Posner]
- John Edwards seeks to cut in front of line to purchase Playstation 3 at Wal-Mart. Which of the Two Americas is that again? [Taylor @ Reason via Kirkendall]
Posts Tagged ‘libel slander and defamation’
When a judge sues for defamation, cont’d
Reacting to the recent case in which a jury awarded Illinois chief justice Robert Thomas $7 million against a suburban newspaper, the Kane County Chronicle (Jun. 22, Jul. 19, Nov. 3, Nov. 7, Nov. 14, Nov. 19). the New York Times recalls a 1983 case in which “a Supreme Court justice in Pennsylvania sued The Philadelphia Inquirer for defamation. The case was finally dismissed this summer — a full 23 years after it began. … [Reporter Daniel R.] Biddle, who is now an editor at The Inquirer, said he had learned through lawyers that some of the biggest law firms in Philadelphia declined to represent the paper, in part ‘because they were afraid’ that fighting a Supreme Court justice might jeopardize their other clients.” (Katharine Q. Seelye, “Clash of a Judge and a Small Paper Underlines the Tangled History of Defamation”, New York Times, Nov. 20). More: Mar. 16, 2004. The Times piece also discusses a lawsuit’s silencing of the Alton Telegraph, which once was an outspoken voice in Madison County, Illinois; Ted covered that episode on Point of Law Dec. 28, 2004.
November 19 roundup
- By popular demand: Alexis Brennan gives hot chocolate to daughter in carseat, little girl spills drink and burns herself after mom drives away, mom sues Starbucks; press mentions one hot coffee case where plaintiff won, and none of the dozen-plus where plaintiffs had claims thrown out. (This case is distinguishable from the McDonald’s coffee case if the mother’s claim that she specifically asked for a low-temperature drink holds up.) [Indianapolis Star; WRTV]
- Former placekicker and current Illinois Supreme Court Justice Robert Thomas wins $7 million libel judgment from newspaper that dared to criticize him. Newspaper unable to defend truth of its reporting, because its discovery requests were blocked by claims of “judicial privilege.” [Lattman; Bashman]
- Copyright trolls inhibit hip-hop music. Is that a bug or a feature? [Tim Wu @ Slate]
- Judge to class action plaintiffs: tell me about your dealings with Milberg. [Point of Law]
- “Plaintiff draws $1.26M penalty. Judge sends developer message: ‘Scorched-earth litigation’ will cost you.” [Knoxville News]
- Second Circuit: Illegal aliens may sue for wages at U.S. levels. [Madeira v. Affordable Housing Foundation; New York Sun; both via Bashman]
- UK Guy Fawkes crowd forced to resort to “virtual bonfire” because of liability fears over real one. [Evening Standard; apologies for losing the hat-tip]
- Burlington Northern & Santa Fe to artists: don’t paint paintings of our trains or else. [CL&P Blog]
- Borat update: “One immediate handicap the two fraternity brothers bring to this legal battle is an inability to find a lawyer who knows how to spell ‘aisle.'” [Slate]
- ATLA on the offense in the new Congress, but their fifth Congressional target, Heather Wilson, held on to her seat against AG Patricia Madrid (Sep. 13). [Point of Law; Albuquerque Tribune]
- Reliving deregulation debates. [Wallison @ AEI]
- Inconsistent Internet gambling ban violates existing treaty, may result in trade sanctions; Congress must now decide whether to annoy anti-gambling Puritans, American IP content providers, or horse-racing and lottery industry. [Slate]
- Roundup of links on new UK law on derivative suits. [Point of Law]
- World ends: minorities and women hardest hit, as applied to noneconomic damages. [Point of Law; Roth CPA]
Australia: Ed dept. lawyer to teachers – don’t criticize students
Teachers are being warned to watch what they write and say about students because of the risk of being sued for defamation. …
The advice comes as anger has exploded in schools over new student reports which grade students on a scale of A to E for academic performance. …
Teachers’ Federation vice-president Angelo Gavrielatos said threats to sue meant Australia was “importing the worst of American culture”.
“It reflects, regrettably, that we do live in an increasingly litigious society and that is sad,” he said.
“All too often we hear threats of litigation . . . and what we are seeing imported into Australia and into our schools is that litigious environment or mindset that is so prevalent in the United States.”
(Bruce McDougall, “Teachers warned off criticism”, News.com.au, Nov. 6 (via Jacobs via Tongue Tied)).
Update: “Gentle Wind drops lawsuit against couple”
The Kittery, Me.-based Gentle Wind Project “has agreed to drop a defamation lawsuit against two former members who wrote articles comparing the self-styled spiritual healing group to a ‘mind control cult.'” (see Aug. 30, 2004). Last year a federal court threw out the group’s lawsuit against Jim Bergin and Judy Garvey, a married couple from Blue Hill, Me. (see Jan. 19, 2006), but the family of project director John Miller refiled the action in state court. Miller “claimed that he could communicate with the ‘spirit world’ [and] said he received designs for ‘healing instruments’ that resembled cards and hockey pucks, and could cure physical and emotional damage caused by illnesses ranging from alcoholism to paralysis.” (Gregory D. Kesich, Portland Press-Herald, Nov. 10).
Breaking: Obnoxious Chi Psi frat boys sue Borat
Two of my least favorite things—misogynistic frat-boys and frivolous lawsuits—together at once. Three Chi Psi fraternity brothers from the University of South Carolina, after signing waivers and getting paid $200, got caught drunkenly wishing for slaves and making other obnoxious sexist and racist remarks on film to Sasha Baron Cohen in his character of Kazakh journalist Borat; those scenes appeared in the movie. They’re now suing, wanting takebacks. TMZ has the Los Angeles Superior Court complaint, which asks for an injunction, punitive damages, and attorneys’ fees. (I look forward to the discovery on the “false light” claims that suggest that the plaintiffs never would say such things as they were recorded being said.) Earlier, a friend of one of the frat boys asked Metafilter for advice. The complaint is filed by John Does, but Chi Psi David Corcoran has already bragged about the experience to FHM. Frat president Todd Bailey talks about the story to the local paper.
(Update: Upon further review, I see that the complaint alleges that the movie “falsely depicted them as insensitive to minorities.” There is no allegation that the movie falsely depicted them as insensitive to women. In the trade, that’s known as a negative pregnant.)
(Second update: Bashman with a roundup of links and Lat with sardonic commentary.)
November 7 roundup
- My informal debate with Professor Silver over the effect of reform on physician supply continues. [Point of Law; Silver]
- If you’ve been intrigued by Professor E. Volokh’s idea of medical self-defense (and thus payment for organs) as a constitutional right, he’ll be discussing it with Richard Epstein and Jeffrey Rosen at AEI. [Volokh; Harvard Law Review @ SSRN; AEI]
- Peter Wallison on how over-regulation and over-litigation is killing American competitiveness in the capital markets. [Wall Street Journal @ AEI]
- Press coverage is finally starting to break through in the Milberg Weiss scandal with a lengthy Fortune profile. [Point of Law]
- Economists and scholars file Supreme Court amicus brief calling for federal preemption of state “anti-predatory lending laws” in important Watters v. Wachovia case. [Zywicki @ Volokh; CEI]
- One-sided coverage by the New York Times on the issue of web accessibility for the blind. Earlier: Oct. 27; Feb. 8. [New York Times]
- Deep Pocket Files update: MADD tries to intervene in stadium vendor case where appellate court tossed $105 million verdict because of unfair trial. See Aug. 4 and links therein. [New Jersey Law Journal]
- Lawsuit: my dead father’s baseball card mischaracterizes his nickname. [Lattman]
- Lawsuit: I have legal right to the letter W. [Times Record News via Bashman]
- Samuel Abady and Harvey Silverglate on libel tourism. [Boston Globe via Bashman]
- Another roundup of Justice Robert Thomas libel lawsuit stories. [Bashman]
- $15M Minnesota verdict blaming a delayed delivery for cerebral palsy, despite evidence it was caused by an unrelated infection. [Pioneer Press]
November 6 roundup
- Election day is tomorrow; the roundtable is still going on our sister website. [Point of Law]
- One reason the election is important: judicial nominations. Bill Clinton appointed 378 judges; Bush, in six years, 266, with 45 vacancies. [National Law Journal]
- Update: Illinois appellate court rejects Judge Maag’s $110M libel suit. (Earlier: Dec. 23, 2004 and links therein.) [Bashman]
- Does Professor Charles Silver’s single-variable time series on Texas doctor supply tell us anything about reform, as he claims? Did doctors push reform down the throats of an “anonymous and dispersed” group? I argue no. [Point of Law; Silver @ Bizarro-Overlawyered]
- Professor Paul Horwitz questions the convenience of the death-bed statements of the decedent in Williams v. Philip Morris. [PrawfsBlawg]
- More threatened Borat-related litigation (Nov. 29) from Mahir “I kiss you” Cagri and from Gypsies. The latter is resulting in film censorship in Germany. [Wired; Sydney Morning Herald]
- “We live in a very litigious society; it makes it more difficult for a physician to be a good Samaritan.” [MetroWest Daily News via Kevin MD]
- Add Art Bell to the list of people threatening to sue bloggers. [Workbench]
- Twenty years of Scalia. [Weekly Standard]
November 3 roundup
- Don’t forget Point of Law’s featured roundtable discussion on the midterm elections. [Point of Law]
- Public Citizen’s consumer law blog is holding a book club, and they’ve invited AEI’s Michael Greve into the hostile territory to discuss his book on consumer-fraud class actions. Both the book and the discussion are must-reading. [CL&P; CL&P; CL&P]
- Lester Brickman and others talk about mass tort screening fraud on your iPod. [Federalist Society]
- November 8 in DC: the Kaiser Family Foundation is hosting a big panel on health courts. [Common Good]
- Roundup of links on the outrageous Illinois Chief Justice Robert Thomas libel suit. This really deserves a longer post by itself. [Bashman]
- Melvin Dummar is back in court with his implausible Howard Hughes lawsuit. [AP/MSNBC via ATL]
- Barney Frank also doesn’t like the internet gambling ban. [Frank via Evanier]
- Today’s outrageous Ninth Circuit decision: a 2-1 invalidation of a meth-addict’s guilty plea for murder. Judge Bybee’s dissent tears it apart. [Smith v. Baldwin; The Recorder; Above the Law]
- Clint Bolick of Institute for Justice, on the other hand, defends judicial activism in an interview with Russell Roberts. [Cafe Hayek]
- Have we mentioned the new website with all of Judge Richard Posner’s opinions in one place? [Project Posner]
“This article is copyright protected. Fair Use is not applicable.”
Eugene Volokh has a good laugh at the expense of an upstate New York publication called the North Country Gazette (Oct. 23 and 25). More: I should have made clear that it was David Giacalone who noticed the Gazette’s unusual policy and called it to the attention of the blogosphere; he has subsequently found himself drawn into a dispute with Gazette proprietor June Maxam. More: Carolyn Elefant, Typical Joe, and PhDiva (here, here and here).