U.S. District Judge Charles P. Sifton in Brooklyn has denied motions to dismiss lawsuits which seek to blame Credit Lyonnais of France and National Westminster Bank of the United Kingdom for terrorist bombings in Israel linked to Hamas; the banks handled funds for charities which channeled funds to Hamas. Credit Lyonnais “[vainly] cited investigations in France that cleared the group of any wrongdoing.” (“U.S. judge refuses to dismiss terror finance suit vs French bank”, AP/International Herald Tribune, Oct. 5). Ted covered the lawsuits on Jan. 6 and Feb. 24 of this year.
Posts Tagged ‘United Kingdom’
“BlackBerry addiction”: the hype continues
U.K. schools fear liability surge
Britain: “Headteachers yesterday warned that litigious parents could soon sue schools for failing to prevent their children from drinking, smoking or taking drugs. … Families are already taking legal action over schools’ alleged failure to tackle bullying and heads say they could soon be held responsible for obesity, pregnancies, sexually transmitted diseases, drug taking and drinking.” (James Meikle, “Heads predict lawsuits over obesity targets”, The Guardian, Sept. 12).
U.K.: “Hair salons offered a cut of solicitors’ fees”
In Salisbury, England, a “firm of solicitors is offering hairdressers cash to refer customers who reveal that they have marital problems. But one hairdresser has criticised the idea as unethical and refuses to help.” The law firm of Trethowans says there is nothing in violation of Law Society rules in its offer of £75 to salon stylists who steer distraught spouses its way, the fee “payable when the courts grant a decree nisi or upon the agreement of a separation deed.” The law firm’s director describes the payments as “just a different sort of advertising” and says he has heard of firms in other geographic areas doing the same thing. (The Times (U.K.), Sept. 1). Alex Wade comments (“‘Short back and sides? How’s your marriage, by the way?'”, The Times (U.K.), Sept. 15).
British hot coffee: Bogle v. McDonald’s
If you can stand one more post about the McDonald’s coffee case, this 2002 opinion in the High Court of Justice, Queens Bench Division, is extraordinarily sensible. Most notably, coffee served at 65 C (a mere 150 degrees Fahrenheit), will cause a full-thickness burn in 2 seconds, so the court rejected the claim that McDonald’s could have avoided injury by serving not-so-hot coffee, refuting the claims regularly made by the plaintiffs’ bar that a few degrees’ difference could have avoided injury. (Bogle v. McDonald’s Restaurants Ltd., Neutral Citation [2002] EWHC 490 (QB), Case No: HQ0005713.)
New Times column — BlackBerry suits?
My latest column for the Times Online (U.K.) is now up and deals with one academic’s recent prediction that employers would become targets of lawsuits based on their workers’ BlackBerry addictions. An excerpt:
…it made a perfect hey-Martha-look-at-this story, arriving amid the August silly season. As it happens, media people love to confess to their own BlackBerry addictions, which subtly reflect their own importance (people need to reach me day and night!) and in any case make a more agreeable topic of conversation than their gin, shopping or sex addictions….
All that having been said, it’s very unlikely that employers need worry about BlackBerry-addiction suits. Despite rumors to the contrary, American courts have not in fact been much inclined to let sunken-eyed Jane blame her addictions on deep-pocketed James. Compulsive gamblers’ suits have mostly flopped so far – as have those alleging videogame addiction – while the very modest success enjoyed by plaintiffs in fast-food lawsuits has come on other legal theories, such as ingredient mis-labelling.
(Walter Olson, “BlackBerry suits?”, Sept. 18). For earlier posts on the subject, see Aug. 25 (Ted), Sept. 8 (me)(bumped from mid-morning post).
“If my client hadn’t been blind he wouldn’t have been arrested for dangerous driving”
That proved to be a losing argument for British attorney Timothy Gascoyne, who defended the sightless Omed Aziz from a charge of dangerous driving after Aziz was apprehended operating his Peugeot 405 in a wrong lane approaching oncoming traffic on the ring road in the West Midlands. The winning argument, which prosecuting attorney Peter Love got to make: “A blind man controlling a vehicle is inherently dangerous. A careful and competent driver would not dream of driving in this manner.” Aziz, of Wednesbury, drove for half a mile following the instructions of a friend in the passenger seat (who was also not a lawful driver) on braking and steering. (Nick Britten, “I’m perfectly safe on the roads, says blind driver”, Daily Telegraph, Sept. 5; “Blind man drove car for half-a-mile”, Western Mail, Sept. 5).
Second British gambling CEO detained
“The chairman of British betting company Sportingbet, Peter Dicks, was detained by American authorities in the early hours of today in what is being seen as a further crackdown on online gambling. The detention of Mr Dicks, 64, comes just two months after David Carruthers, the chief executive of BetOnSports was arrested in Texas on alleged fraud and racketeering charges. Mr Carruthers, who has maintained his innocence, was on his way to the company’s offices in Costa Rica.” (Miles Costello, “Sportingbet boss detained in US”, Times Online (UK), Sept. 7). For our earlier coverage, see my Times Online column on Carruthers’ arrest as well as Jul. 20 and Jul. 27.
Great moments in diversity training
“In a strange twist to Britain’s newest terrorism scare, a regional police force admitted Monday that it had sent officers for ‘diversity training’ to an Islamic school that the police searched Sunday as part of a crackdown on jihadist recruiters and trainers. In a statement, the Sussex police said the Jameah Islameah school south of London ‘has been used by officers and staff undergoing advanced training for their role as diversity trainers to the rest of the work force.'” (Alan Cowell, “British School, Searched in Inquiry, Was Used to Train Police”, New York Times, Sept. 5).
U.K.: “Inmate sues for falling from bunk”
A prisoner at Bullingdon near Bicester, Oxfordshire, “is suing the Prison Service after he cut himself falling from the top bunk in his cell”. The inmate told a prisoners’ magazine that bunk beds were “an accident waiting to happen”. (BBC, Aug. 27). As Ted noted Aug. 16, a New Jersey appeals court recently overturned a jury verdict awarded to a student who fell from a loft bed, ruling the dangers obvious.