“It depends on your whole interpretation of what a weapon is,” said the superintendent of the Jamesburg, New Jersey district. “It’s not a weapon as a knife is a weapon. But a weapon is anything that has the potential to cause harm.” Better watch out for kids who bring knuckles and fists to school, especially if they try to smuggle them in in the form of innocent-looking hands. [Free-Range Kids]
Posts Tagged ‘New Jersey’
“NJ Judge: Casinos Must Pay $8M for Misleading Ads”
“Because [Harrah’s] ads did not explicitly state that the $15 [“birthday cash”] vouchers could not be redeemed until after 8 a.m. on the days in question, tens of thousands of recipients are entitled to $100 each in damages — a potential $8 million hit to the casino giant’s bottom line.” [AP/NYT]
August 31 roundup
- Well, that solves that problem: International Criminal Court outlaws “aggression” [Jeremy Rabkin, Weekly Standard] One contrasting view [David Bosco, Foreign Policy]
- “Attorney holds banks up to liability in ATM robberies” [Baldas, NLJ; Ted at PoL]
- New report: litigation costs to California public schools run high [California Citizens Against Lawsuit Abuse, PDF]
- “Plaintiffs Object to Deal in Anorexia Suit Claiming School Didn’t Prevent Fat Taunts” [ABA Journal]
- Attention government contractors: “Your customer wants to see how much you make” [Hodak Value]
- New Jersey med-mal reform advocates rally after state high court guts certificate-of-merit law [NJLRA, more]
- SEPTA, the Philadelphia transit authority, files trademark action against personal injury law firm [Kennerly]
- Chemicals devastating lobsters in the Northeast? Maybe not [Logomasini, CEI]
Offering to trade legal services for sexual favors
Over dissents from two justices, the New Jersey Supreme Court has declined to disbar an attorney who made “repeated, demeaning and offensive suggestions to his clients” in “an effort to barter his professional services for sexual favors.” The punishment instead: suspension for a year and required sensitivity training. Solangel Maldonado at Concurring Opinions thinks the court was too lenient, arguing that an employer charged with similar conduct toward an employee would have faced extensive liability under sexual harassment law.
August 4 roundup
- “Wacky warning dept.: Steven Morris v. Harley-Davidson Motor Co.” [Wajert and Ted at PoL]
- “Are HOA Foreclosures a Necessary Tool or an Extortion Racket?” [Jurow, Business Insider]
- “Court Under Roberts Is Most Restrained in Decades” [Adler/Volokh, earlier]
- New Jersey Supreme Court confirms equestrian center’s legal protection in horseback-injury case [NJLRA]
- White-collar prosecution: Is “Conscious Avoidance” the Next “Honest Services”? [Christine Hurt, Conglomerate]
- Cy pres class action giveaways arrive in Canada [National Post]
- More on why Wal-Mart is spending big to fight a relatively low OSHA fine [Paul Greenberg, earlier]
- Older jobseekers find offers scarce? Someone should pass a law! Oh wait [four years ago on Overlawyered]
July 28 roundup
- “N.J. High Court to Review Drunken Drivers’ Right to Sue Bars That Served Them” [NJLJ]
- Recipe for Oakland-style public unionism: “Public Safety Employer-Employee Cooperation Act” pending on Capitol Hill would impose public-service collective bargaining and labor arbitration on local governments nationwide [Cavanaugh/Reason, more, effects on police misconduct accountability]
- iPhone class action of doubtful benefit to consumers [Hahn & Passell, Regulation 2.0]
- U.K.: “Fired Top In-House Lawyer Testifies She Was Bullied by Underling” [ABA Journal]
- Due this fall: Norma Zager book “Erin Brockovich and the Beverly Hills Greenscam” [Pelican Publishing] Weitz firm invokes Brockovich association to drum up Gulf spill business [Michael Daly, NYDN]
- Paperwork nightmare: “Health Care Reform’s Terrible, Tiny Tax” [Megan McArdle]
- Three views of Sherrod fiasco [Rick Esenberg, Radley Balko, John Derbyshire]
- This time the feds look serious about foisting low-flow showerheads on unwilling consumers [Heritage Foundry]
Muslim woman demands female attendant for emergency-room EKG
Rona Mohammedi is now suing Somerset Medical Center in New Jersey because it told her only male ER technicians would be available to check whether her severe chest pains were the result of a heart attack. [Newark Star-Ledger, White Coat]
July 13 roundup
- Wal-Mart spending millions to fight $7,000 OSHA fine? Not so paradoxical when you think about it [Coyote]
- Proliferation of product recalls, as with warnings, can result in consumer fatigue and inattention [WaPo via PoL]
- Settlement said to be near between casino and gambler who lost $127 million [WSJ, UPI, earlier]
- “Think Globally, Sue Locally: Out-of-Court Tactics Employed by Plaintiffs, Their Lawyers, and Their Advocates in Transnational Tort Cases” [study, PDF and press release; Jonathan Drimmer for US Chamber, related WSJ]
- “End of an Era? Another Crunch Berries Case Dismissed” [Lowering the Bar, California Civil Justice, earlier on “froot” cases here, here, etc.]
- New Jersey: “School legal costs are a killer” [Rayner, Daily Record]
- ABA Journal profiles Ted Frank;
- We’re the ones who write the laws around here, not you legislators: Washington Supreme Court strikes down med-mal notice law [SeattlePI.com]
“Law Firms Sanctioned Over Billionaire Perelman’s ‘Frivolous’ Estate Claim”
“A New Jersey judge has sanctioned two firms, Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison and Lowenstein Sandler, for pursuing a ‘frivolous’ and ‘ridiculous’ legal claim on behalf of billionaire Ronald Perelman against his 85-year-old ex-father-in-law.” [NYLJ]
June 14 roundup
- Study: Lawyers overestimate their chance of prevailing in litigation [Post, Volokh]
- Novell court victory might spell end to SCO Linux-infringement claims [GrokLaw, earlier]
- “Law firms violating copyrights?” [Mister Thorne]
- Lawyers say New Jersey money-laundering statute “uniquely criminalizes the mere possession of U.S. currency” [NJLJ]
- Ted Frank vs. critic on $28 million Sacramento nursing home award [PoL]
- Advocates push “right to development” for developing countries [Kelly, Global Governance Watch]
- For once Connecticut AG Blumenthal wants a damage award reduced [Hartford Courant, earlier at PoL]
- “Did You Know That the Real World Has an STD Waiver?” [Mystal, AtL]