“What Jaycee Dugard endured is beyond comprehension, but it should be patently obvious that California taxpayers weren’t responsible for what happened to her. …This is all about money and saving face; nothing about responsibility.” [Bruce Maiman, Sacramento Bee]
Posts Tagged ‘third party liability for crime’
“Families of slain Lakewood officers to sue for $134 million”
The [officers’] widows believe that if someone had been listening to [Maurice] Clemmons’ jailhouse phone calls, their husbands could still be alive today. …
While they were recorded, the calls from the Pierce County Jail were never monitored. No one heard them. …
[Pierce County sheriff spokesman Ed] Troyer said it was “preposterous” to think that the county could have listened to every phone call made from the jail.
“It would take over 40 people and $50 million a year to do,” he said. “Plus, we don’t even believe that it’s legal just to randomly listen to people’s phone calls on a full-time basis.”
Washington has gone farther than other states in exposing its state and local governments to exposure in lawsuits alleging failure to prevent crime.
Update: Families drop claims the next day after highly adverse public reaction [Seattle Times]
April 8 roundup
- “Litigation nightmare” seen in Unvarnished, site that allows Yelp-like review of people’s reputations [L.A. Times, Balasubramani] Arkadelphia, Ark.: “16-year-old boy accuses mother of Facebook slander” [AP]
- Inadvertent rape? At Duke, “perceived power differentials” might negate consent [Popehat, Joanne Jacobs]
- New CPSC leadership signals policy of greatly stepped-up fines for CPSIA violators [Northup, Rick Woldenberg/Amend the CPSIA ($2 million Daiso fine) and more]
- “PI Lawyer Pleads in $2.2M Client Theft, Will Get Between 3 and 9 Years” [ABA Journal, NY Daily News, earlier; Marc Bernstein of Bernstein & Bernstein, NYC]
- Let’s say landlords who knowingly rent to accused criminals or released convicts can get sued for negligence in case of repeat offense. Then where do we propose that accused criminals and released convicts live? [Volokh]
- Some theories on lawyer unpopularity [DeVoy, Legal Satyricon]
- Privacy class action over ill-advised Facebook “Beacon” venture settles for… for what, exactly? [Popehat]
- Wisconsin D.A. to teachers: if you obey state’s new sex-ed law, I’ll prosecute you [Radley Balko, Reason “Hit and Run”] More: Volokh.
Open MySpace invitation to house party did not make assault “reasonably foreseeable”
A California appeals court has declined plaintiffs’ invitation to hold that “a public invitation posted on MySpace to a free party offering music and alcohol was substantially certain to result in an injury to someone.” Three men were “allegedly attacked by a group of unknown individuals as they arrived at the party,” which was thrown by a Silicon Valley entrepreneur and announced on the social media site. [OnPoint News]
Woman attacked by homeless sues grocery store
“A woman who says she was attacked by a homeless man and woman while leaving a Jewel Food Store is suing the store and the alleged homeless individuals.” [Jennifer Fernicola, ChicagoNow]
Update on Ogborn v. McDonald’s
Those of you who have attended my “Law of McDonald’s” talks in California and Florida may recall the case of the strip search hoax. A Florida man who was unusually persuasive would call dozens of fast food restaurants until he could find someone who would believe he was with the police and who would disrobe employees (or themselves) at his instructions; though there have been other lawsuits seeking to blame the fast food restaurants for this, courts have generally thrown them out. One exception was the case of Ogborn v. McDonald’s, where two targets of the hoax successfully sued for millions. On Friday, the Kentucky Court of Appeals largely affirmed the lower court judgment, though it reduced the punitive damages received by Donna Summers (who gave an Alford guilty plea for her role in the strip search) from $1 million to $400,000. McDonald’s hasn’t yet decided whether to appeal to the Kentucky Supreme Court. (Andrew Wolfson, “Appeals court upholds $6.1 million strip-search verdict against McDonald’s”, Kentucky Courier-Journal, Nov. 20, via ABA Journal).
“Lawyer Says Televangelist’s No-Divorce Policy May Have Led to Killing”
A stretch? The security chief for Missouri-based Joyce Meyer Ministries has been charged with the murder of his wife and family, and lawyers pursuing a wrongful-death case now say they want to include the financially successful ministry as a defendant. [ABA Journal, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Belleville (Ill.) News-Democrat, UPI]
Pharmacies liable for pill-abusers’ crashes?
A case before the Nevada Supreme Court aims to open up new vistas of liability. [WSJ Law Blog].
October 2 roundup
- Update: “Cash4Gold Drops Consumerist From Lawsuit” [its report; earlier] Unrelatedly, the same Consumers Union publication was taken in by a fake memo in which Australian McDonald’s supposedly plotted to defraud its customers [its revised post]
- “You just killed the homeowner. The bad guy is in there.” [Courthouse News and Scott Greenfield, Phoenix]
- “Reporter Who Survived Midair Crash Now on Risky ‘Libel Tourism’ Journey” [ABA Journal, Krauss/Point of Law, earlier; Joe Sharkey, Brazil]
- Permanent disbarment sought for “too drunk to join fen-phen conspiracy” Kentucky lawyer Mills [Courier-Journal]
- “Woman Blames Study Abroad Program for Rape in Mali” [OnPoint News]
- Ninth Circuit reinstates prosecution of Nevada lawyer, surgeon and consultant in injury-case furor spotlighted by Fortune mag [Legally Unbound, which by coincidence has just hosted Blawg Review #231; Las Vegas Review Journal; earlier]
- Punch line ad lib.: “Former terrorist wants to be lawyer” [Toronto Star] More: Lowering the Bar.
- “Is It So Crazy For A Patent Attorney To Think Patents Harm Innovation?” [Michael Masnick, Techdirt, Against Monopoly (Stephen Kinsella)]
$11 million verdict against pediatrician
Two sisters were repeatedly raped and sexually abused by their older half-brother. This is, a federal jury decided, the fault of their pediatrician, Dr. Patricia Monroe, who failed to report the abuse–though there was no evidence she was aware of the scope of it. Monroe’s attorney “says that’s because the girl refused to speak to Monroe and because the incident wasn’t reportable to Child Protective Services.” The decision will be appealed. (Chris Knight, “Monroe to appeal $11M verdict”, Adirondack Daily Enterprise, Sep. 3).
A message has been sent: make defensive reports to Child Protective Services, and parents will all be worse off when CPS overreacts.