Overlawyered: Chronicling The High Cost Of Our Legal System

Posts Tagged ‘Michigan’

Slow typist sues law school, cont’d

The Ann Arbor News covers Adrian Zachariasewycz’s complaint against the University of Michigan Law School (see Jan. 27), and quotes me along the way:

In addition to seeking unspecified monetary damages, Zachariasewycz wants the law school to study his scores and provide a letter or make a verbal statement to prospective employers saying that his typing was a factor in his exams.

“I paid a lot of money to go to law school,” Zachariasewycz said. “I interrupted my career. I worked very hard. And I got a big zero out of it.”

Walter Olson, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, a conservative think tank in New York City, is founder of overlawyered.com, which posted a comment about the case and other lawsuits Olson believes have “eyebrow-raising potential.”

“It’s hard to figure out what’s been done to him that’s unlawful,” Olson said.

Olson said he thought it first had something to do with rights of the disabled.

“But it looks like he’s just an ordinary bad typist like a lot of the rest of us.”

(Jo Collins Mathis, “U-M law school sued over grad’s poor typing skills”, Ann Arbor News, Feb. 2).

Filed under: , , ,

Slow typist sues law school

According to Adrian Zachariasewycz, a/k/a Adrian Zack, of Woodlyn, Pa., some exams given at the University of Michigan Law School reward fast typists with a chance at higher scores. So he’ll see school administrators in court, in a pro se lawsuit that also names as a defendant the Wilmington, Del. law firm of Morris, Nichols, Arsht & Tunnell, where his associate’s gig didn’t work out. He’s suing two of the law school’s career counselors individually for alleged bad advice, too. (WSJ law blog, Jan. 26; complaint in PDF format). More: Feb. 5.

Filed under: , , ,

January 17 roundup

  • Life in prison for adulterers, under Michigan law? [Freep]

  • An Albany personal injury lawyer favors abolishing pain and suffering damages in negligence cases [Warren Redlich]

  • Lott v. Levitt (Jan. 12, etc.) further discussed [Concurring Opinions]

  • Call us kitten fish, cont’d: some trial lawyers re-brand as “civil justice attorneys” [Fulton County Daily Report]

  • Smokers’ freedom defended, by Nobelist James Watson and Canadian columnist Jose Rodriguez [Reason, Calgary Sun]

  • Dinesh D’Souza’s new book doesn’t sound like it’s going to do any favors for his reputation. [Slate, Eric Scheie]

  • Also from Tim Noah: now that O.J.’s confessed, can the law really not lay a glove on him?[Slate]

Filed under: , , , , ,

Patent troll, meet Rule 11

Just sending out batches of letters claiming infringement and demanding money may no longer be a workable business plan:

Based in the British Virgin Islands, Eon-Net is run by an evangelical minister-cum-inventor, who holds several patents (including one on a device for collecting “canine waste”). In March 2005 the company filed a patent suit in New Jersey against Flagstar, a $16 billion savings bank based in Michigan. The bank was one of 32 companies sued separately by Eon-Net for infringing a patent that, the company claims, covers technology that allows online shoppers to enter information into Web sites and have it transferred to the Web retailer’s computer. Eon-Net, which also has pending litigation against JetBlue Airways and Liz Claiborne Inc., had successfully extracted settlement money from ING Bank and Sony Corp. over the same patent.

Eon-Net’s enforcement method involved filing a complaint followed by a letter offering a settlement ranging from $25,000 to $75,000.

Flagstar decided to fight the suit, and its attorney, Melissa Baily of Quinn Emanuel, noticed that Eon-Net’s lawyers “had used nearly identical complaints and demand letters in all 32 suits,” suggesting a lack of careful advance investigation. Although Rule 11 sanctions are especially hard to obtain in the Ninth Circuit, Western District of Washington Judge Marsha Pechman agreed that the suit was both baseless and made without reasonable inquiry and, after ruling in favor of Flagstar on summary judgment in the case itself, ordered Eon-Net and its attorney, Jean-Marc Zimmerman, to pay the bank’s defense costs, estimated at more than $100,000. (Xenia P. Kobylarz, “Patent Trolls Put on Notice Over Generic Infringement Letters”, IP Law & Business, Dec. 14).

Filed under: , , , ,

December 15 roundup

  • Pro se suit against baking soda manufacturer for failing to warn that baking crack is illegal. [Lat]
  • Plaintiffs’ expert: when you asked for the documents I reviewed, I thought you meant the documents I viewed twice. Judge doesn’t buy it. [Lattman; Des Moines Register]
  • Judges stymie popular will in California death penalty cases. [The Recorder; Will @ WaPo]
  • And coincidental update of breaking news: California federal judge strikes down all lethal injections in state. [Bashman roundup]
  • Via Hans Bader, but not on-line or covered in the mainstream press: DC City Council considering amendment to Human Rights Act barring employment discrimination against ex-convicts. Ex-convict Marion Barry is the sponsor; business community strangely silent. [Legal Times ($)]
  • Virginia plaintiff’s attempt at milk regulation through litigation blocked. Lawyers shamelessly promise to forum-shop. [WaPo]
  • UK insult to injury: adulterer has right to prevent cuckolded husband from writing about affair. [Bashman roundup]
  • Florida Supreme Court stumbles onto a correct answer: no litigation tourism for “snowbirds.” [AP; State Farm v. Roach]
  • Has the Federal Circuit emasculated the “obviousness” rule? An argument that it has. [The American]
  • Wonder how those “bad toy” lists get generated? [Point of Law]
  • More on the “Coercive Abortion Bills” in Michigan, which passed the House, and threaten to criminalize men who end relationships with pregnant women. [Fox News]
  • Lawsuit: please bar publication of yearbook unless it includes photo of my son wearing chain-mail and a sword. [Krauss @ POL]
  • Should we be afraid of hedge funds? [Marginal Revolution]
  • Peter Huber on the emphasis of glue over learning in school. [Forbes]
  • Judge Posner to “furry”: “Your tail is great.” [NWN blog; Eminent Domain blog via Bashman]
  • A commenter here suggested that certain little-read websites are attacking us just to generate traffic. I’m beginning to believe it what with three different writers posting in the last 36 hours attacking me and sometimes Walter, with insults and arguments in varying combinations of baseless, sloppy, and thoughtless. So, while I’m happy to engage thoughtful analysis, no link or response here, since doing so just seems to create perverse incentives, not to mention takes away time from meaningful writing.
  • As contrast: Peter Nordberg critiques posts by me and Walter on the rollover suit and cigarette polonium, as well as interesting posts by Bill Childs and Derek Lowe on the torcetrapib withdrawal. [Blog 702]

Filed under: , , ,

December 2 roundup

  • Tennie Pierce update: only 6 out of 15 members vote to override mayor’s veto of $2.7M dog-food settlement (Nov. 11). [LA Times]
  • Reforming consumer class actions. [Point of Law]
  • Judicial activism in Katrina insurance litigation in Louisiana. [Point of Law; Rossmiller; AEI]
  • What will and won’t the Seventh Circuit find sanctionable? Judge Posner’s opinion gets a lot of attention for snapping at the lawyers, but I’m more fascinated about the parts where the dog didn’t bark, which isn’t getting any commentary. [Point of Law; Smoot v. Mazda; Volokh; Above the Law]
  • Montgomery County doesn’t get to create a trio-banking system. [Zywicki @ Volokh and followup]
  • “The Hidden Danger of Seat Belts”: an article on the Peltzman Effect that doesn’t mention Peltzman. [Time; see also Cafe Hayek]
  • Pending Michigan “domestic violence” bill (opposed by domestic violence groups) criminalizes ending a relationship with a pregnant woman for improper purposes. [Detroit News via Bashman; House Bill 5882]
  • Did Griggs causes distortion in higher education? I’m not sure I’m persuaded, though Griggs is certainly problematic for other reasons (e.g., POL Aug. 12, 2004). [Pope Center via Newmark]
  • The Kramer cash settlement. [Evanier]
  • Jonathan Wilson gives Justinian Lane a solid fisking on loser pays. [Wilson]
  • Speaking of Justinian Lane, for someone who says he was “silenced” because I didn’t post a troll of a comment on Overlawyered, he’s sure making a lot of whiny noise. Hasn’t corrected his honesty problem, though. [Lane]
  • The stuff Gore found too inconvenient to tell you in “An Inconvenient Truth.” [CEI]
  • Islam: the religion of peace and mercy, for sufficiently broad definitions of peace and mercy. [Volokh]
  • One year ago in Overlawyered: photographing exhibitionist students at Penn. Jordan Koko doesn’t seem to have gone through with the threatened lawsuit. [Overlawyered]

Filed under: , , , , , , , ,

November 12 roundup

  • “[W]e can’t develop good drugs … if after the fact somebody comes in and makes a false claim of credit.” Genentech beats Niro firm (Jul. 21) in billion-dollar patent case. [Legal Intelligencer]
  • Excellent new blog on science evidence issues. [Science Evidence; Point of Law]
  • Easterbrook: mandating software be free is not “price fixing” injurious to consumers. Duh. [Seventh Circuit via Bashman; see also Heidi Bond via Baude]
  • Missouri high court upholds reform law barring some types of dramshop liability against equal protection challenge. [Snodgras v. Huck’s; AP/Columbia Daily Tribune]
  • Insurance company profits: the complete story. [Grace]
  • I address Hyman & Silver’s latest paper on medical malpractice. [Point of Law]
  • Seattle cop spends $10,000 of taxpayer money on lap dances in unsuccessful officially-authorized quest for prostitution violations. [Seattle Times]
  • Peter Lattman discovers Willie Gary’s website. Overlawyered readers were there two years ago. Gary himself is being hoisted by a litigation and advertising petard. [WSJ Law Blog; Fulton County Daily Report]
  • Andy Griffith sues Andy Griffith for use of Andy Griffith name. [AP/CNN]
  • The $2.1 million deposition. [Above the Law; Kirkendall; New York Times]
  • Scalia and Man at Yale. [Above the Law; Yale Daily News; Krishnamurthy via Bashman]
  • Wallison: Deregulation works. [AEI]
  • Must-read: An agenda for the Bush White House in the Democratic 110th Congress. [Frum @ WSJ @ AEI]
  • Clegg: Learn from the Michigan Civil Rights Initiative. [NRO]
  • Krauthammer points out that both parties have moved right this election. [WaPo]
  • Will: “About $2.6 billion was spent on the 468 House and Senate races. (Scandalized? Don’t be. Americans spend that much on chocolate every two months.)” [WaPo]
  • At least we’re not Iran: sex video has criminal consequences there. [Daily Mail]

Filed under: , , , , ,

November 8 roundup

  • Post-election roundup from me and Walter. [Point of Law]
  • Black helicopter crowd calls 90-10 Amendment E (Oct. 27) loss a fraudulent conspiracy. [Lattman]
  • University of Michigan seeks to engage in frivolous litigation to strike down measure barring racial preferences. [Bernstein @ Volokh]
  • Patron drinks, dances on bar, sues bar when she falls down. [Above the Law; Lattman; TortsProf]
  • Can KFed use custody battle to renegotiate “ironclad” prenup? (NB that, unless prenup says otherwise, Britney Spears may be required to spring for Federline’s attorneys.) [TMZ via Defamer]
  • Speaking of which, here’s a divorce case with a legal bill of $3M and counting. [Forbes]
  • The litigious Michael Crook, unhappy that others are posting screen-caps of his mug. [Boing Boing]
  • “Sometimes patients and their families DON’T want to hear good news.” A tale of a Social Security disability seeker. [Rangel]

Filed under: , ,