- SueEasy.com is new website that will take in complaints from potential plaintiffs and relay them (OK, sell them, actually) to lawyers [TechCrunch]
- 6-year-old girl in Park Slope, Brooklyn, faces $300 fine for drawing pictures with sidewalk chalk [Brooklyn Paper]
- 30-year-old presents at ER with chest pain. Better order up the works, right? [Shadowfax first and second posts; more on emergency rooms/care here, here, here, etc.]
- More on donor bundling, lawyers and candidate John Edwards [WSJ sub-only, yesterday; Edwards-critical site]
- Monsanto, criticized for aggressive lawsuit campaign against farmers over its patented seeds, loses a patent case against four seed companies [BLT; Liptak/NYT 2003; critics of company]
- A corpse is a corpse, of course, of course/And no one can sue for a corpse, of course: more on that class action that keeps going with dead guy as named client [Madison County Record; earlier]
- While mom is taking bath in motel room her two young daughters somehow manage to change the channel to pr0n; jury awards mom $85,000 [L.A. Times]
- Another case history in how you can buy yourself a world of trouble when you try to fire your contingent-fee lawyer [Texas Lawyer (Law Offices of Windle Turley v. Robert L. French et al.)]
- Hey, you’re pretty good yourself [Marty Schwimmer, Trademark Blog]; just one link can give such a thrill [Cal Blog of Appeal]
- Tuck it in and turn out the light? Court won’t reopen Pooh heirs’ long-running suit against Disney [Reuters/NYT; earlier]
- Texas couple ordered to pay $57,000 for campaign ads criticizing judge [eight years ago on Overlawyered]
Posts Tagged ‘roundups’
October 15 roundup
- Louisiana attorney general Foti, under fire over his attempt to prosecute Dr. Anna Pou in Katrina deaths, faces tough re-election challenge [Times-Picayune, Lafayette Advertiser; earlier]
- Classic “Hershey’s liable to obese Americans” print satire now has a short audio version [Onion radio]
- Criticize alternative medicine at your peril? U.K. libel law helps stifle an opponent of homeopathy [Orac]
- Tennessee trial lawyers’ lobbyist comes under harsh public spotlight following lurid crackup of House Judiciary chair Rob Briley [Nashville Scene; earlier]
- Invoking CAFA, judge throws out coupon settlement in Sharper Image air purifier class action [Krauss @ Point of Law]
- In 4-4 split, Supreme Court lets stand a ruling that NYC must pay private school tuition for Hollywood exec’s ADHD son though he wouldn’t give city program a try; issue likely to return soon [NYTimes; earlier]
- Veteran journalists Patrick Dillon and Carl Cannon ink deal for book on rise and fall of Lerach tentatively titled Circle of Greed [WSJ law blog]
- Unforeseen consequences dept.: plan for retirement community catering to gays may be derailed by workings of antidiscrimination law [Miller, Independent Gay Forum]
- HIPAA an impediment to doctor-patient emails? [CareCure Forums via KevinMD]
- Update on fraudulent liens filed by prison inmates to harass court personnel (Mar. 31, 2004): system strikes back with extra 20-year term for one offender [Texas Lawyer]
- EEOC says Massachusetts employer must accommodate eyebrow-ring-wearing employee who claims membership in “Church of Body Modification” [five years ago on Overlawyered]
October 13 roundup
- Shocker- Washington state trial lawyers lie in ad promoting litigation windfall referendum. [The Olympian; Reject R-67]
- Mississippi AG Jim Hood rewards his out-of-state trial-lawyer campaign donors. [Hattiesburg American]
- Update: Illinois Justice Robert R. Thomas settles his libel case; sued reporter is unrepentant. [Law.com]
- Update: Cop withdraws slip-and-fall lawsuit; department placed her on paid leave and is investigating [South Florida Sun-Sentinel]
- Update: 1-800-Flowers suit dismissed on technicality; plaintiff adulterer vows to refile in New York. [On Point]
- Update: Court reverses injunction in whales v. US Navy sonar lawsuit, but lawyers vow to keep trying. [Bashman roundup]
- Wrongful sermon a cause of action? [On Point]
- Don’t expect your rapist to be convicted by a Philadelphia jury. [Philly Magazine]
- Facebook as treasure-mine for litigation evidence. [Law.com]
- Dry-cleaners can bring frivolous lawsuits, too. [New York Post]
October 12 roundup
- In Scotland, car repair shop faces music royalty suit because its employees listen to radios on the job [BBC]
- Pediatricians grill kids about their parents’ drinking, gun ownership and antisocial habits — what, weren’t the hairdressers reporting back enough dirt for the authorities to work with? [Malkin, Szwarc]
- Watch out for the new ADA Restoration Act of 2007, which would reverse several Supreme Court precedents with the aim of making it easier to file and win suits [Bader]
- Don’t confuse Hollywood’s idea of lawyering, as in Clooney’s “Michael Clayton”, with the real kind [Lundegaard, MSNBC]
- “It costs millions of dollars in litigation fees to show that a patent should not have been granted, and most big corporations have learned that the hard way.” [Chachkes @ CNet]
- Banning all uses of lead from metal assemblies can result in “tin whiskers” leading to catastrophic failures in electronic devices — lucky those aren’t dangerous or anything [AP]
- Armenian-American writer Garin Hovannisian isn’t an admirer of the Congressional genocide resolution [Boaz @ Cato-at-Liberty; see also Jul. 27]
- Lynchburg, Va. woman: hey, I invented those pre-moistened cleaning wipes [News Advance via VLW]
- Don’t listen to trolls like this Olson fellow [Mark Thoma comments]
- Another round of coverage on libel tourism, SLAPPs and terror-support research [Broyde & Lipstadt @ NYT; Miller @ City Journal, Levitt @ The New Republic]
- New at Point of Law: Ted on yet another iPhone suit, this time demanding a billion plus; further coverage of the Hofstra/Lynne Stewart affair; after many failures, lawyers score a $143 million verdict against Wyeth over hormone replacement drug Prempro/Premarin; more on the U.S. Navy, WWII and asbestos disease; new Irvine law school’s in the money; and much more.
October 10 roundup
- She wore a wire: defense attorney says administrative assistant to one of the three lawyers in Kentucky fen-phen scandal worked as FBI mole, circumventing attorney-client privilege [AP, Courier-Journal, Lexington Herald-Leader, ABA Journal]
- Suing a lawyer because his deposition questions inflicted emotional distress? No way we’re going to open those floodgates, says court [NJLJ]
- Counsel Financial Services LLC, which stakes injury lawyers pending their paydays, says it’s “the largest provider of attorney loans in the United States and the only Law Firm Financing company endorsed by the AAJ (formerly ATLA)”; its friendly public face is a retired N.Y. judge while its founder is attorney Joseph DiNardo, suspended from practice in 2000 “after pleading guilty to filing a false federal tax return” and whose own lend-to-litigants operation, Plaintiff Support Services, shares an office suite with Counsel [Buffalo News] The firm’s current listing of executives includes no mention of DiNardo, though a Jul. 19 GoogleCached version has him listed as President;
- Patent litigation over cardiac stents criticized as “a horrendous waste of money” [N.Y. Times]
- More on the “pro bono road to riches”, this time from a California tenant case [Greg May, Cal Blog of Appeal]
- Not a new problem, but still one worth worrying about: what lawyers can do with charitable trusts when no one’s looking over their shoulder [N.Y. Times via ABA Journal]
- Has it suddenly turned legal to stage massive disruptions of rush-hour traffic, or are serial-lawbreaking cyclists “Critical Mass” just considered above the law? [Kersten @ Star-Tribune]
- “Look whose head is on a plate now”: no tears shed for fallen Lerach by attorney who fought him in the celebrated Fischel case [ChicTrib, San Diego U-T]
- “Jena Six” mythos obscures graver injustice to black defendants, namely criminal system’s imposition of long sentences for nonviolent offenses [Stuart Taylor, Jr. @ National Journal — will rotate off site]
- Economist David Henderson on restaurant smoking bans [Econ Journal Watch, PDF, via Sullum, Reason “Hit and Run”]
- Technical note: we learned from reader Christian Southwick that our roundups were displaying poorly on Internet Explorer (Ted and I use other browsers) and we found a way to fix. So, IE users, please drop us a line when you encounter problems — we may not hear about them otherwise.
October 8 Roundup
- The DC Examiner quotes both Walter and me in their series on corruption in the trial bar.
- Damned if you do, damned if you don’t: privacy laws interfere with college mental-health treatment, which of course doesn’t keep them from being sued when the treatment doesn’t work. [LA Times; earlier in April; and May 2006]
- Charlie Weis didn’t just lose his first several games of the season at Notre Dame; he also lost his silly medical malpractice case retrial. [Childs; February in Overlawyered]
- Ninth Circuit revives one claim in deep-vein thrombosis litigation against airlines. [Montalvo v. Spirit Airlines; San Francisco Chronicle; earlier on Overlawyered]
- Hugh Hewitt discusses tort reform with Overlawyered bloggers. [Ted on Hugh Hewitt; Walter on Hugh Hewitt]
- Overlawyered and Public Citizen agree: it’s silly for law firms to try to copyright their nastygrams. [CL&P Blog]
- More on the Target website disability suit. [Open Market; Oct. 3 and links therein]
- Utah Supreme Court adopts common-sense product liability rule. [Products Liability Law Prof]
- DC City Council objects to recovering millions spent by city on medical care of patient who sued city after gouging out his own eyes. [DC Examiner; Washington Post; BLT]
- The most embarrassing thing Joe Stiglitz ever wrote? [Manne via Boudreaux; Cowen; Frum]
- Are Overlawyered readers “fringe element” “sycophants”? From the same blogger who says no one can criticize Lynne Stewart unless they personally know her, but I presume that’s “For thee, but not for me”-style hypocrisy. [Scott Greenfield]
October 3 roundup
- Yet another Apple suit, this time on behalf of user who wishes iPod and iTunes were more compatible with other song vendors and devices [Miami Herald/ILR]
- Fairview Heights, Ill. alderman says town was “deceived” into serving as lead plaintiff in class action against Orbitz, Priceline, Expedia and other online travel firms [Madison County Record]; More: here and here.
- “Evasive”, “bad faith”: federal judge slams health insurance lawyers for stalling suit by docs [Phila. Inquirer; Plus: their side @ Law.com]
- Plastic water guns draw ire of politicos in Albany, N.Y. [Times-Union via Nobody’s Business]
- High lawyers’ fees said to be pricing middle class Canadians out of the justice system, but it must be said the numbers cited sound pretty low by U.S. standards [Maclean’s]
- Flickr makes it easy to grab and reuse strangers’ photos, and legal sorrows ensue [NY Times]
- Jack Thompson tries to get federal judge Jordan removed from hearing one of his lawsuits against the Florida Bar [GamePolitics.com; & yet more]
- New at Point of Law: trial lawyers deem “slanderous” ads featuring fictional law firm of Sooem, Settle & Kashin; Business Week cover story on wage/hour suits; John Edwards comes out again for “certificate of merit” med-mal reform; replace your old kitchen cabinets and get lead paint companies to pay; and much more;
- Some New York lawmakers think secondhand smoke is just as bad for you as actually being a smoker [Siegel via Sullum; more on recent smoking bans, complete with culturally-sensitive hookah exception]
- “Disability Math” video explores paradox of how employment fell among handicapped after enactment of the ADA [Dubner, Freakonomics; more (now with more direct Freakonomics link)]
- Class-action lawyers sue over kids’ Pokémon card trading craze, claiming it’s illegal gambling [Eight years ago on Overlawyered; Milberg Weiss angle here]
September 25 roundup
- Picture of farmer with goose appears on greeting card, he wants $7.5 million [Roanoke Times; earlier]
- More class actions filed over Apple iPhone [Ars Technica on roaming and battery claims, O’Grady’s PowerPage, iPhoneWorld; earlier]
- L.A. Times quotes attorney Stephen Yagman on prison overcrowding, but forgets to mention that he was lately convicted of thirteen felonies [Patterico]
- Bad idea watch: compulsory national service [Somin @ Volokh]
- Doing well representing the little guy: Gerry Spence lists his Wyoming residence for sale at $35 million [WSJ/Chicago Daily Herald]
- “Appropriate”, not “perfect”, justice needed: “We simply have to stop killing litigants with kindness,” says chief judge of Australia’s largest state [The Australian]
- Toddler killed after wandering into heavy traffic, trucker should have been more on guard against such a thing happening [Salt Lake Tribune]
- Pennsylvania pro se litigant sues Google, says it spells his social security number upside down [Ambrogi] More: Coyote says “Up next, the owner of Social Security number 71077345 sues Shell Oil for the same reason.”
- Once billed as “King of Torts”, Miami asbestos lawyer faces fifteen years behind bars for stealing $13 million from clients [Sun-Sentinel]
- Groom sues bride, saying she took the ring and presents and never got the wedding paperwork straightened out leaving them legally unmarried [ClickOnDetroit]
- Surgical resident on the hook for $23 million in Wisconsin case; she was the only one of the docs involved not covered by damage limits [Journal Sentinel via KevinMD]
September 23 roundup
- Lawyers in Iowa suit against Microsoft bag $75 million [ComputerWorld, ABA Journal; earlier antics in case here, here, here, and here]
- Not a parody: Santa Cruz, Calif. says smoking in the park’s OK so long as its pot, not tobacco [Mercury-News via Bader]
- L.A.’s big payout in Tennie Pierce case (firehouse dog food prank) deemed “completely outrageous”, “‘best possible’ outcome” (or both?) [Patterico, more, John and Ken, LoneWacko, Holy Coast; earlier]
- Suit by Paris, Tex. hospital seeks to uncover name of anonymous blogger [Houston Chronicle](& Coyote)
- Global-warming litigation roundups [Associated Press, Daily Report, NJLJ/PoL, Horner @ NRO]
- Sues American Cancer Society after slipping on step at charity fund-raiser [Madison County Record, more]
- Have Islamic Society of Boston lawsuits chilled local media? [Boston Phoenix via Romenesko]
- Four guilty pleas so far in case of West Orange, N.J.’s Seligsohn, Goldberger & Shinrod, which paid runners to bring in staged and non-existent auto accidents [NJLJ first, second reports]
- New at Point of Law: war on terror “lawyered to death“?; Florida insurance craziness; subprime lending crusade; France’s “model” health care system would offer few chances to attorneys like John Edwards; Mississippi AG Hood says “the system is working” on outside contracts; Sen. Ted Kennedy’s new “Equal Remedies Act of 2007” would boost payouts in workplace suits; and much more;
- Browser add-ons that help squelch ads may be headed for litigation [Broache & McCullagh, CNet]
- Lottery winner’s curse? Among other woes since winning nearly $315 million in Powerball, Jack Whittaker says he’s been involved in 460 legal actions [Chicago Tribune]
September 18 roundup
- L.A. city council debating settlement of Tennie Pierce (firehouse dog food prank) case, apparently for several million [AP/Mercury-News; earlier]
- Lerach said to accept jail term of 2 years or less in plea deal, won’t testify against former partners [Washington Post, Point of Law; earlier]
- No shock, Sherlock: divorce cases said to have the highest rate of perjury in open court [Oregonian via WSJ law blog]
- Things you might not have known about the Duke/Nifong case unless you’ve read the new Stuart Taylor/K.C. Johnson book [Leo, Minding the Campus; Thernstrom]
- Take a wild guess as to one reason doctors are reluctant to communicate with their patients via email, despite the many potential advantages [Medical Economics via KevinMD]
- Latest suit charging casino should have recognized customer’s gambling addiction [Indianapolis Star; earlier]
- One brother kills the other in anger in the North Carolina woods, both members of a logging crew; ruled compensable under workers’ comp [Coppelman]
- My client, the dog: another trend piece on steady expansion of animal law [Boston Globe]
- Prankster gets American U. alumni mag to print erroneous report of two classmates as being gay. Defamatory? [New York Post, Smoking Gun; Julie Hilden a while back]
- Trial begins in Kentucky of civil suit arising from the string of McDonald’s strip-search hoaxes Ted wrote about last year [OnPoint News, Louisville C-J/USA Today]
- Woman who nearly froze to death after a night of drinking sues city, emergency personnel and taxi driver who dropped her at home [five years ago on Overlawyered]