MedWorm.com provides a medical RSS filtering service. Over 5000 RSS medical sources are combined and output via different filters. This feed contains the latest items from the 'Overlawyered' source. Sat, 16 Aug 2008 14:46:13 +0100 http://www.overlawyered.com/2008/05/note-the-new-rss-feed.html Our move to the WordPress software means we have a new RSS feed: http://overlawyered.com/index.php/feed/ (Source: Overlawyered) Overlawyered blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1451794 Mon, 19 May 2008 04:00:00 +0100 1451794 http://www.overlawyered.com/2008/05/rebuilding-your-pool-fence.html We're requiring you to do it, but we're also forbidding you to do it, explain the nice folks at Town Hall (Maggie's Farm, May 4, via Never Yet Melted). (Source: Overlawyered) Overlawyered blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1442839 Wed, 14 May 2008 04:00:00 +0100 1442839 http://www.overlawyered.com/2008/05/no-honey-nothing-special-happe.html Airline mechanic Arnim Ramdass, 52, allegedly "disconnected the phone line at home and forbade his stay-at-home wife, Donna Campbell, 48, to watch television, Campbell claims in a lawsuit. Eventually, however, she learned the truth: Ramdass, along with 16 other mechanics at Miami International Airport, had won a $19 million lottery jackpot." (Martha Neil, "Wife Sues Husband for Share of Secret $600K Lottery Win", ABA Journal, May 13). See Nov. 20-21, 1999 (similar case from California). (Source: Overlawyered) Overlawyered blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1442838 Wed, 14 May 2008 04:00:00 +0100 1442838 http://www.overlawyered.com/2008/05/overlawyered-has-moved-follow.html If you're seeing this post at the top of the Overlawyered home page, you're looking at an obsolete version of the site generated by our old blogging software. Come visit us at the new site. If you're reading this through a feed, this may be the last post you receive unless you resubscribe. There's now a comments feed, too. (Source: Overlawyered) Overlawyered blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1442837 Wed, 14 May 2008 04:00:00 +0100 1442837 http://www.overlawyered.com/2008/05/an-invaluable-blog.html A grateful hat tip to Johnathan Pearce of the U.K. site Samizdata.net for those kind sentiments: "As ever, those interested in silly lawsuits should keep an eye on Overlawyered, an invaluable blog." (May 2). (Source: Overlawyered) Overlawyered blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1439552 Tue, 13 May 2008 04:00:00 +0100 1439552 http://www.overlawyered.com/2008/05/we-also-invented-the-color-of.html "Oregon sent a cease-and-desist letter to Justia.com threatening a copyright lawsuit for republishing Oregon law." Neither Greg Beck (Apr. 17) nor Ron Coleman (May 1) is much impressed. (Source: Overlawyered) Overlawyered blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1439551 Tue, 13 May 2008 04:00:00 +0100 1439551 http://www.overlawyered.com/2008/05/ada-litigation-closes-another.html Even rural Northern California affords no refuge from the filing mills: Eureka's Arctic Circle franchise has closed its doors after the restaurant was sued for noncompliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act. Jack Williams, who has owned the franchise with his wife, Peggy, since 1989, said the couple decided to close the business last Tuesday because they cannot afford the renovations required by the lawsuit. The suit was filed by local attorney Jason K. Singleton, who in recent years has filed ADA-related suits against a number of local establishments, including Village Pantry, Broadway Cinema, Fortuna Theatre, Cafe Waterfront and College of the Redwoods, among others. ... "Here we had a business that was serving all kinds of customers and now is serving no one," Hockaday [J Warren Hockaday, executive director of the Greater Eureka Chamber of Commerce] said.(Ryan Burns, "Arctic Circle closes due to ADA lawsuit", The Times-Standard, May 6; earlier). (Source: Overlawyered) Overlawyered blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1439550 Tue, 13 May 2008 04:00:00 +0100 1439550 http://www.overlawyered.com/2008/05/site-housekeeping.html * Comments on the main site are still broken, sorry. * Yesterday was one of our biggest Instalanches ever, with about 7,000 Glenn Reynolds readers coming over to visit this post. * You can see our rapidly evolving WordPress "sandbox" here. One vexing problem we'll need to fix: most of the posts from guestbloggers are being attributed to the wrong contributors. That problem is evident in this recent post, which was really authored by Jim Copland; the case names don't render properly either. The posts in the sandbox may accept comments (which may or may not survive in a reconstructed site) but any permalinks are not really permanent and are apt to break soon. Comments about the reconstruction itself are best added to this sandbox post. (Source: Overlawyered) Overlawyered blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1439549 Tue, 13 May 2008 04:00:00 +0100 1439549 http://www.overlawyered.com/2008/05/asbestos-litigation-evolution.html Asbestos litigation continued to grow during the 1980s: by 1992, fully 100,000 claims had been resolved, but another 100,000, yet unresolved, had been filed. A novel means of processing asbestos claims was initiated in 1988, when the Johns-Manville corporation emerged from bankruptcy and established the Manville Personal Injury Settlement Trust, the first "bankruptcy trust" set up to pay out money to asbestos claimants. Unfortunately, plaintiffs' attorneys controlled the trust's claimants committee and set up procedures for the trust that were advantageous to themselves, rather than potential claimants. The trust rules minimized requirements of proof of actual injury or causation (exposure to Johns-Manville products). The trust thus paid out a lot of money quickly to the attorneys, all the while exhausting its funds for potential future claimants. In just its first nine months of operation, the trust paid out some $500 million to 12,600 claimants -- and by the end of 1989, 89,000 more claimants were outstanding. Eventually, the trust had to sharply curtail payments to claimants -- to 10 percent in 1995, and 5 percent in 2001. Injured claimants were literally getting a nickel on the dollar. "As of June 30, 2006, the trust had received more than 773,000 claims and paid out about $3.4 billion--just $4,400 per claimant." (Source: Overlawyered) Overlawyered blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1439548 Tue, 13 May 2008 04:00:00 +0100 1439548 http://www.overlawyered.com/2008/05/may-12-roundup.html Canada free speech: Islamic group files complaint against Halifax newspaper over cartoon of burka-wearing terror fan; two more libel suits aimed at online conservative voices; growing furore over complaint against Steyn/Macleans [National Post] More than 5,000 students committed crimes last year in Philadelphia schools, but none were expelled -- consent decrees tying system's hands are one reason [Inquirer] U.K.: Man threatened with legal action for flying pirate flag as part of daughter's birthday party [Guardian] Bankruptcy judge doesn't plan to accept at face value Countrywide's claim that it generated false escrow documents by mistake in foreclosure [WSJ, WSJ law blog] Amid bipartisan calls to step down, Ohio AG Marc Dann [Apr. 19, May 6] hires an opposition researcher [Adler @ Volokh] on top of Washington lobbyist [Legal NewsLine], after being rebuked by judge for political suit [Dispatch]. And where's that ethics form on the Chesley flight? [Dayton Daily News] Missouri med-mal claims fall sharply after legislated damages curb [Springfield News-Leader] More on Dartmouth prof Priya Venkatesan, the one who wants to sue her students -- as suspected, she's a devotee of deconstructionist Science Studies [Allen/MtC; earlier] Covert plan to sabotage Chinese economy? [Wilson Center event] What, never? Well, hardly ever: Docs continue to assail notion that various complications such as patient delirium, clostridium difficile infection, iatrogenic pneumothorax, etc. -- not to mention falls -- are "never events" [KevinMD various posts; earlier] Mich. high court agrees anti-gay-marriage amendment bars municipal health benefits for domestic partners, just what key proponents had claimed it wouldn't do [Rauch @ IGF, Carpenter @ Volokh, earlier] Private service rates the safety of charter air providers -- but can it afford the cost of being sued after giving a bad rating? [Three years ago on Overlawyered] (Source: Overlawyered) Overlawyered blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1436859 Mon, 12 May 2008 04:00:00 +0100 1436859 http://www.overlawyered.com/2008/05/suing-for-different-founders-o.html Litigants with too much time on their hands? An enactment called the Presidential Coin Act directs the Treasury to mint coins honoring each President. Stanley L. Klos of Florida is suing, claiming the ten men who served as president under the Articles of Confederation should be entitled to coins too. Under traditional concepts of legal standing, it would seem Klos might have trouble proving a particularized injury to his own legally protected interests. (Elaine Silvestrini, "Scholar Sues To Recognize 'Presidents' Before Washington", Tampa Tribune, May 7)(via Above the Law). (Source: Overlawyered) Overlawyered blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1436858 Mon, 12 May 2008 04:00:00 +0100 1436858 http://www.overlawyered.com/2008/05/testilying-in-nyc-firearms-cas.html In more than twenty felon-found-with-firearm cases, judges have found the testimony of New York City police "to be unreliable, inconsistent, twisting the truth, or just plain false. The judges' language was often withering: 'patently incredible,' 'riddled with exaggerations,' 'unworthy of belief.'" Yet "with few exceptions", the testifying officers have faced no consequences, "prosecutors did not notify police authorities about the judges' findings", and the Police Department says it has no official knowledge of most of the cases. Could this relate to the arrogance of a city administration hardened in the belief that individual rights always have to give way to the greater social good of "getting guns off the streets"? (Benjamin Weiser, "Police in Gun Searches Face Disbelief in Court", New York Times, May 12)(& welcome Instapundit readers). (Source: Overlawyered) Overlawyered blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1436857 Mon, 12 May 2008 04:00:00 +0100 1436857 http://www.overlawyered.com/2008/05/comments-and-search-down-for-n.html The site crashed under spammer attack this morning -- I'm told the link from Instapundit with its resulting heavy traffic was just a coincidence -- and we've had to shut down comments and search temporarily while we try to get back on our feet. Update 1:15 p.m. Eastern: search back up (although all old saved searches are broken, you'll have to re-search on individual terms), comments still down. (Source: Overlawyered) Overlawyered blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1436856 Mon, 12 May 2008 04:00:00 +0100 1436856 http://www.overlawyered.com/2008/05/may-21-at-aei-offlabel-uses-of.html An important all-day conference at AEI next week:In the last several years, nearly every major pharmaceutical company has paid hundreds of millions of dollars to settle allegations of illegal "off-label" marketing of drugs. There has been a growing trend of actions by federal prosecutors, state attorneys general, and cooperating trial lawyers to litigate against pharmaceutical manufacturers for allegedly doing too much to promote off-label use of prescription products. Citing recent legal changes mandating exclusion from federal programs after a conviction, many manufacturers say they are forced to settle rather than risk defending themselves--even as prosecutions against individual executives have foundered in front of juries. At this AEI Legal Center event, experts on both law and health care will present papers on the law, economics, medicine, and public policy of off-label marketing, discussing everything from the abuse of class action mechanisms to implications for the First Amendment and medical malpractice. Speakers include former Food and Drug Administration chief counsel Daniel Troy; former Cephalon general counsel John Osborn; former deputy attorney general George Terwilliger; principal deputy assistant attorney general and acting assistant attorney general for the Civil Division Jeffrey Bucholtz; attorneys Brian Anderson, James Beck, Mark Herrmann, Richard Samp, and Kyle Sampson; law professor Margaret Johns; and AEI scholars John E. Calfee, Theodore H. Frank, and Scott Gottlieb. Panel I: Off-Label Marketing, R&D, and Medical Practice Panel II: The Legal Environment from Federal Regulation and Enforcement Panel III: Distortions from State and Private Enforcement Panel IV: Legal Implications for Commercial Speech and Medical PracticeRegister here. Earlier discussion on POL: Feb. 1; Feb. 19; Mar. 24; Dec. 17; Aug. 31; Aug. 22 (Richard Epstein); Aug. 1, 2006 (state AGs); Mar. 19 (InterMune indictment). (Source: Overlawyered) Overlawyered blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1436855 Mon, 12 May 2008 04:00:00 +0100 1436855 http://www.overlawyered.com/2008/05/wordpress-here-we-come.html Given the vulnerabilities of Movable Type to attack -- comments are down once again and I don't know at this point when we can get them back up -- it looks as if we'll have to join the crowd in migrating over to WordPress. (And I had really wanted to spend the week on other projects.) Those who might want to share relevant MT-to-WP conversion experience are welcome to check in through email (since comments are busted). (Source: Overlawyered) Overlawyered blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1436854 Mon, 12 May 2008 04:00:00 +0100 1436854 http://www.overlawyered.com/2008/05/nyc-no-mention-of-second-amend.html It might only confuse the jury in the city's lawsuit against a Georgia gun shop whose wares too often found their way North (Joseph Goldstein, "Gag on 2nd Amendment Is City's Aim in Guns Suit", New York Sun, May 9). "Mr. [John] Renzulli, who has defended suits against the gun industry in Judge Weinstein's courtroom before, said that in the past the defense has struck a deal with the plaintiffs on the matter: Lawyers for the gun industry won't mention the Bill of Rights to the jury, if the plaintiffs don't mention the National Rifle Association." (Source: Overlawyered) Overlawyered blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1434428 Sun, 11 May 2008 04:00:00 +0100 1434428 http://www.overlawyered.com/2008/05/i-felt-my-son-would-be-at-a-di.html A mom yields to the pressures in our educatio-legal* system to let her son be given the "disabled" label. "I realized was that among the parents I knew, well over 50 percent had their child in some form of therapy". (Linda Keenan, Burbia, Apr. 4). * Yes, it's a coinage, but since "medico-legal" is by this point an accepted term, it's probably only a matter of time before "educatio-legal" makes its way too. (Source: Overlawyered) Overlawyered blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1434427 Sun, 11 May 2008 04:00:00 +0100 1434427 http://www.overlawyered.com/2008/05/another-burden-for-legacy-auto.html State laws providing a kind of tenure protection for no-longer-needed car dealers are among the reasons it can be extremely expensive to close down a failing marque. General Motors, which closed Oldsmobile eight years ago, "spent more than five years battling dealer lawsuits" despite having set aside almost $1 billion to handle the transition, and Ford may face similar challenges if it tries to shutter its ailing Mercury line. (Martin Zimmerman, "Mercury may be coming to the end of the road", Los Angeles Times, May 10). Earlier: Oct. 5, 2006. For more see this 2001 speech by FTC commissioner Thomas Leary, and this article by Missouri lawyer Gene Brockland on the federal Auto Dealers' Day in Court Act, which is exceeded in stringency by some of its counterpart laws at the state level. (Source: Overlawyered) Overlawyered blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1434426 Sun, 11 May 2008 04:00:00 +0100 1434426 http://www.overlawyered.com/2008/05/update-bork-settles-with-yale.html Terms were undisclosed (AP/WTNH). Ted's post on the case at the time drew wide attention. (Source: Overlawyered) Overlawyered blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1433750 Sat, 10 May 2008 04:00:00 +0100 1433750 http://www.overlawyered.com/2008/05/uk-parents-liable-for-rented-b.html Deflating many a future backyard birthday party: "Parents who hire bouncy castles for a child and his or her friends could be liable for damages for any injuries suffered by the children after a landmark High Court ruling yesterday." (Times Online/Telegraph). (Source: Overlawyered) Overlawyered blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1433749 Sat, 10 May 2008 04:00:00 +0100 1433749 http://www.overlawyered.com/2008/05/villarreal-v-rio-grande-region.html 41-year-old South Texas personal injury solo practitioner Hermes Villareal was admitted to a McAllen hospital on April 16, 2005, reporting that his heart was racing. The hospital put him on a 24-hour EKG. Villareal reported being under stress, but refused a psychiatric consultation or the recommended medication. At 5 a.m. on April 19, 2005, the day of his scheduled discharge, "Villarreal summoned the nurse on duty and requested a razor, saying that he wanted to take a shower and shave his chest, because the EKG monitor leads attached to his chest were bothering him." The nurse complied with his wishes, and Villareal locked himself in the bathroom and committed suicide with the razor. This was, said Villareal's family, the hospital's fault; since it's South Texas, a Hildago County jury, after a three-week trial, awarded $9 million in March (which looks to be reduced at least to $1.64 million under Texas law capping damages). Ironically, the opening line of the Texas Lawyer story says "It was a suicide no one saw coming," but doesn't question the resulting jury verdict. Somehow, the trial lawyer, Raymond L. Thomas, a close friend of Villareal's, interjected himself into the closing argument, telling an emotional story of a Rolex Villareal had given him as a gift that left the jury in tears; the press coverage doesn't acknowledge the blatant violation of ethical rules (see also Texas Rule 3.04(c)(3)), much less indicate whether he got away with it because of the failure of the defense to object or a judge's failure to oversee her courtroom. (Jenny B. Davis, "Attorney, Interrupted: Seeking Meaning, Recovery for a Legal Life Lost," May 5 via ABA Journal). (Source: Overlawyered) Overlawyered blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1433748 Sat, 10 May 2008 04:00:00 +0100 1433748 http://www.overlawyered.com/2008/05/woman-sues-stamford-my-son-ste.html A New York woman who took her family to visit the Maritime Aquarium has filed a $100 claim against the city, saying her child's shoes, along with the entire outing, were ruined when her 1-year-old stepped in dog feces early last month outside the Maritime Garage. Norwalk officials will deny the claim, city attorney M. Jeffry Spahr said. "The official response is her claim is denied and poop happens," he said. The claim by Mahopac, N.Y., resident, Kelly DeBrocky was filed with the city clerk on April 7. It came across Spahr's desk yesterday. ... Spahr said he has seen some frivolous claims, but the feces claim reeks. "Some wacky stuff comes across. I don't know if people are more litigious. My opinion is two things are at play. No. 1, people are resistant to taking responsibility for their own actions and No. 2, they feel there always has to be somebody to blame," he said. Other claims without merit, Spahr said, include a boater who blamed the city after his boat, docked at the city marina, filled up with water in a heavy rainstorm and sank, and parents who hold the city responsible when their children fall and injure themselves on playground monkey bars. Spahr also cited a suit by boxer Travis Simms two days before he won the super-welterweight title in January 2007. Simms said that a 2005 injury he suffered during a basketball game at Benjamin Franklin School due to city negligence sidelined his boxing career for two years. The city is waiting to see whether Simms will drop the case amicably. Spahr said that long after that is resolved, lawyers in his office will still be talking about the feces claim. "That's kind of way up there in a take-the-cake kind of thing," he said. The mother claims she had to discard her toddler's clothes and shoes and return home after the incident, and wants reimbursement. Spahr's response: "I'm also having a tough time picturing why (the child) had to be bathed after stepping in this unless he thought it was some kind of poop sandbox." (Alexandra Fenwick, "City: Mom's claim stinks", Stamford Advocate, May 8 (via Romenesko)). (Source: Overlawyered) Overlawyered blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1432449 Fri, 09 May 2008 04:00:00 +0100 1432449 http://www.overlawyered.com/2008/05/careful-what-you-sue-for-airli.html When American Airlines instituted a $2 per bag charge for skycap service at Boston's Logan Airport, the workers' tip income dropped, some travelers seeing the change as a reason to stop tipping. A lawyer representing the workers sued American and a month ago a federal jury awarded them more than $325,000. In addition, the Massachusetts legislature recently enacted a law providing that businesses can be hit with triple damages in wage/hour disputes. Now American Airlines has decreed a complete ban on tipping at check-in at Logan, while also ordering its contractor to raise the skycaps' wages from the former nominal $5.15 an hour to $12-$15, well above the minimum wage but well below what they had been getting in tips. The workers' lawyer is of course charging retaliation and has asked a judge to forbid the change. (AP/Boston Herald, Boston Globe; Boston Herald editorial). (Source: Overlawyered) Overlawyered blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1432448 Fri, 09 May 2008 04:00:00 +0100 1432448 http://www.overlawyered.com/2008/05/asbestos-podcast-with-lester-b.html Yesterday, I had the privilege to do a brief interview with Lester Brickman, a professor of law at Cardozo School of Law in New York. Professor Brickman is one of the nation's leading legal ethicists and the national adacemic expert on asbestos litigation. The discussion is available as a podcast, downloadable here. (Source: Overlawyered) Overlawyered blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1432447 Fri, 09 May 2008 04:00:00 +0100 1432447 http://www.overlawyered.com/2008/05/asbestos-litigation-foundation-1.html Asbestos litigation has been around a long time. Early on, nothing like modern product liability law existed (see Richard Epstein's discussion here); lawsuits resided in workplace injury law when filed in the 1920s and 30s, and were soon subsumed in workers compensation reforms. Modern asbestos litigation began after the Selikoff study was published in 1964. In December 1965, Texas attorney Ward Stephenson filed a case on behalf of Claude Tomplait, who had worked as an asbestos insulator. Four years later, Stephenson extracted a settlement for $75,000 from seven defendants. Notwithstanding this meager beginning, Stephenson persisted in asbestos litigation and won a major victory in Borel v. Fibreboard Paper Products Corp., 493 F.2d 1076 (1973), in which the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals found asbestos manufacturers strictly liable for their workers' injuries. The Borel court rejected statute of limitations, contributory negligence, and assumption of risk defenses; and modern asbestos product liability litigation was born. The litigation got another shot in the arm when New Jersey attorney Karl Asch uncovered the "Sumner-Simpson papers," which "described in great detail the efforts of Raybestos, Johns-Manville, and other manufacturers to find out about the hazards of asbestos, develop strategies to deal with them, and--most important--to keep that knowledge from the public and workers." These documents were put to great effect by South Carolina lawyer Ron Motley, who actually used the papers to convince a South Carolina circuit judge to grant a new trial after a jury had ruled in favor of asbestos defendants. Motley of course went on to become an asbestos super-lawyer and an architect of the multibillion-dollar multistate tobacco settlement; his antics are well-known to long-time readers of this site. Two more foundational cases are worthy of mention. In 1981, the D.C. Circuit ruled that insurers who had written asbestos policies were liable for the maximum insured between exposure and diagnosis, rather than only in the year of diagnosis. See Keene Corp. v Insurance Co. of North America, 667 F.2d 1034 (D.C. Cir. 1981). Given the long latency between asbestos exposure and ultimate illness, the level of insurance exposure was suddenly massive. Circuit Judge Patricia Wald warned that the court's decision "requires a leap of logic from existing precedent, for it concerns diseases about which there is no medical certainty as to precisely how or when they occur." In 1982, the New Jersey Supreme Court threw out the "state of the art" defense for asbestos manufacturers, in essence holding that it mattered not whether business practice was the best available to the industry at the time the injury occurred. See Beshada v. Johns-Manville Products Corp., 442 A.2d 539 (N.J. 1982). The court opined, "The burden of illness from dangerous products such as asbestos should be placed upon those who profit from its production and, more generally, upon society at large which reaps the benefits of the various products our economy manufactures. " Thus, in less than a decade, the law was radically shifted, and asbestos litigation was born: "The decade after Borel saw 25,000 asbestos cases filed. By 1981, more than 200 companies and insurers had been sued; by 1982, defendants' costs had topped $1 billion." But these early years were just the beginning... (Source: Overlawyered) Overlawyered blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1432446 Fri, 09 May 2008 04:00:00 +0100 1432446 http://www.overlawyered.com/2008/05/seidel-subpoena-aftermath.html As a judge considers whether to impose sanctions on attorney Clifford Shoemaker for hitting investigative blogger Kathleen Seidel with an intimidating subpoena, one of Shoemaker's attorneys asks the court for more time "to gather the material I would need to show the Court the justification for the Subpoena and its scope," which prompts Eric Turkewitz to wonder (May 6): "Why is it necessary to look for justification for the subpoena after it was issued?" And: "Other than talking to Shoemaker, who must have already had justification before the subpoena was issued, why would it be necessary to interview any other witness? It's only Shoemaker's rationale that matters to the sanctions motion." In another indication that heavy-handed pursuit of a blogger might not have worked out very well as a legal strategy, Shoemaker's own clients, the Sykes family, have now voluntarily dropped their vaccine-autism suit against Bayer, which was the basis for the subpoena (Seidel, Orac). (Source: Overlawyered) Overlawyered blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1429012 Thu, 08 May 2008 04:00:00 +0100 1429012 http://www.overlawyered.com/2008/05/at-least-they-spelled-our-url.html How many errors can you spot in the Jeannette Borzo/California Lawyer magazine story on legal blogging and its sentence about this weblog?As best as most people can tell, the history of legal blogs began in July 1999 when two lawyers-a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute and another attorney from New Jersey-launched Overlawyered (www.overlawyered.com). (Source: Overlawyered) Overlawyered blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1429011 Thu, 08 May 2008 04:00:00 +0100 1429011 http://www.overlawyered.com/2008/05/excited-to-be-here-to-talk-abo.html I can't say how excited I am to be here as a guest at overlawyered -- the first legal blog still in existence! I'll never be the indefatigable blogger that is my colleague Walter, or my friend and fellow legal reformer Ted, but I jumped at the opportunity to come over here to Mr. Olson's "other" blog (he and Ted are also the mainstays of the Manhattan Institute's PointofLaw.com, to which I occasionally contribute). Overlawyered's long-time readers have doubtless read a lot about asbestos. And we've covered asbestos litigation very extensively over at Point of Law. But there's a lot of new material in the Manhattan Institute's just-released Trial Lawyers, Inc.: Asbestos, as well as a lot of background for those new to the subject. Over the next week, I'll be going through both. I'd urge anyone interested to read the entire report, available here. Those who want a quicker review of some of the newer material should read my column in the Washington Examiner, which ran yesterday. And there's a good overview of my thoughts in an on-line interview available here. I'll be back shortly to begin my walk-through of the report, looking at the underpinnings of the trial lawyers' big asbestos machine. (Source: Overlawyered) Overlawyered blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1429010 Thu, 08 May 2008 04:00:00 +0100 1429010 http://www.overlawyered.com/2008/05/gov-spitzers-career-change.html His future in private practice? (NBC Saturday Night Live, dubiously safe for work; via Turkewitz). (Source: Overlawyered) Overlawyered blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1429009 Thu, 08 May 2008 04:00:00 +0100 1429009 http://www.overlawyered.com/2008/05/mccain-justice-advisory-panel.html The presumptive GOP nominee has announced a list of 45 or so names; the academic contingent encouragingly includes Profs. Volokh, Calabresi, Rotunda, McGinnis, and Kerr. (Hotline, May 6). More: the Obama campaign responds (via Kerr @ Volokh): The Straight Talk Express took another sharp right turn today as John McCain promised his conservative base four more years of out-of-touch judges that would threaten a woman's right to choose, gut the campaign finance reform that bears his own name, and trample the rights and interests of the American people. Barack Obama has always believed that our courts should stand up for social and economic justice, and what's truly elitist is to appoint judges who will protect the powerful and leave ordinary Americans to fend for themselves. (Source: Overlawyered) Overlawyered blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1426340 Wed, 07 May 2008 04:00:00 +0100 1426340 http://www.overlawyered.com/2008/05/40-billion-demanded-over-use-o.html An Arizona antiwar activist has been much criticized for selling a T-shirt with the slogan "Bush Lied, They Died" along with the names of the more than 4,000 U.S. servicemen killed in the war. Parents of a soldier killed in action in Iraq are suing, saying the use of their son's name has caused them emotional distress; they want class-action status on behalf of all the parents of other soldiers killed in action, amounting to $40 billion. The suit's Amended Complaint does little to advance the dignity of its cause with assertions like, "Most respectfully, this is a concept that even a mentally-challenged monkey could grasp." (Howard Wasserman, Prawfsblawg, May 5; Balko, Reason "Hit and Run", May 6; The Smoking Gun, Apr. 23). (Source: Overlawyered) Overlawyered blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1426339 Wed, 07 May 2008 04:00:00 +0100 1426339 http://www.overlawyered.com/2008/05/purina-vs-chow-baby.html "Three years ago, Purina sent a cease-and-desist letter to Chow, Baby!, a Baltimore area pet supply shop and Web site owned by Robin McDonald, asserting that its use of the 'Chow, Baby!' name was likely to cause confusion with Purina's CHOW trademarks and would dilute the distinctive quality of those marks. ... According to the dictionary, 'chow' is defined as food, a meaning that dates back to 1860." (Carolyn Elefant, Legal Blog Watch, May 2). More from Ron Coleman:But companies such as Purina are not interested in discussing the matter. Brand management isn't a seminar. They are interesting in executing and maintaining a policy of complete domination of not only their brand equity space, but a comfortable semiotic buffer all around that space to the full extent that they can get away with it. Judges simply do not award fees or otherwise penalize brand owners for overreaching under the Lanham Act, though the Act empowers them to do so (the exceptions are notable and hence reportable). For this reason it is worth it to Purina and companies like it -- it is a rational economic and corporate choice -- to litigate these cases at the small risk of actually getting to a final adverse judgment regarding a trademark they have no right to anyway, as weighed against the much higher possibility that the other side will surrender $10,000, $25,000 or even $100,000 worth of fees into the process -- dollars that are orders of magnitude more significant to the defendant (or declaratory judgment plaintiff) than for a corporation that probably has counsel on a retainer anyway. (Source: Overlawyered) Overlawyered blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1426338 Wed, 07 May 2008 04:00:00 +0100 1426338 http://www.overlawyered.com/2008/05/johnny-sac-on-card-check.html Via Kaus, I'm pleased to see someone making this issue crystal-clear: Earlier on POL: Jan. 24; Jun. 21; Feb. 2, 2007. (Source: Overlawyered) Overlawyered blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1426337 Wed, 07 May 2008 04:00:00 +0100 1426337 http://www.overlawyered.com/2008/05/pants-judge-sues-over-lost-job.html You knew it was coming dept.: Roy Pearson wants $1 million for being deprived of his District of Columbia judgeship. (Emil Steiner blog/Washington Post, Kerr @ Volokh, Laconic Law Blog; earlier). (Source: Overlawyered) Overlawyered blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1426336 Wed, 07 May 2008 04:00:00 +0100 1426336 http://www.overlawyered.com/2008/05/new-york-lottery-sued.html According to the would-be class action on behalf of Take Five ticket buyers, those supposed chances of "winning" are inflated by counting a free play as a win. "The lawsuit says merchants who sell the tickets should be held liable since they were in on the fraud." (Thomas Zambito, "A lotto nonsense, says $5M lawsuit", New York Daily News, May 6; Kati Cornell, "You've Gotta Sue To Win", New York Post, May 6; Lottery Post). (Source: Overlawyered) Overlawyered blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1426335 Wed, 07 May 2008 04:00:00 +0100 1426335 http://www.overlawyered.com/2008/05/the-asbestos-litigation-machin.html Yesterday the Manhattan Institute released a new report by my colleague Jim Copland, "Trial Lawyers Inc. -- Asbestos". As I note at Point of Law, even as a longtime observer of asbestos litigation I found it quite an eye-opener. I'm happy to announce that Jim Copland will be joining us tomorrow for a guestblogging stint to explain some of his findings. (Source: Overlawyered) Overlawyered blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1426334 Wed, 07 May 2008 04:00:00 +0100 1426334 http://www.overlawyered.com/2008/05/minn-driver-kills-dog-sues-own.html Maybe it's better sometimes not to stand on all your legal rights? "Jeffery Ely ran over a dog and then sued its owners for the cost of repairing his vehicle. Ely claims in court filings that he suffered $1,100 in damages after Fester, a brain-damaged miniature pinscher, ran in front of his 1997 Honda Civic in January." (USA Today, May 7). (Source: Overlawyered) Overlawyered blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1426333 Wed, 07 May 2008 04:00:00 +0100 1426333 http://www.overlawyered.com/2008/05/on-honest-engineering-discours.html What if we are "actively aligning incentives against" having such a thing? (Coyote, Apr. 14). Separately, Coyote explains why he isn't very active in his own blog's comment section, though he often learns things from it. (Source: Overlawyered) Overlawyered blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1423177 Tue, 06 May 2008 04:00:00 +0100 1423177 http://www.overlawyered.com/2008/05/may-6-roundup.html Raelyn Campbell briefly captured national spotlight ("Today" show, MSNBC) with $54 million suit against Best Buy for losing laptop, but it's now been dismissed [Shop Floor; earlier] Charmed life of Florida litigators Stanley and Susan Rosenblatt continues as Miami judge awards them $218 million for class action lawsuit they lost [Daily Business Report, Krauss @ PoL; earlier here, here, and here] Lerach said kickbacks were "industry practice" and "everybody was paying plaintiffs". True? Top House GOPer Boehner wants hearings to find out [NAM "Shop Floor", WSJ law blog] It's Dannimal House! An "office rife with booze, profanity, inappropriate sexual activity, misuse of state vehicles and on-the-job threats involving the Mafia" -- must be Ohio AG Marc Dann, of NYT "next Eliot Spitzer" fame [AP/NOLA, Adler @ Volokh, Above the Law, Wood @ PoL; earlier] Sorry, Caplin & Drysdale, but you can't charge full hourly rates for time spent traveling but not working on that asbestos bankruptcy [NLJ] More: Elefant. Fire employee after rudely asking if she's had a face-lift? Not unless you've got $1.7 million to spare [Chicago Tribune] Daniel Schwartz has more analysis of that Stamford, Ct. disabled-firefighter case (May 1); if you want a fire captain to be able to read quickly at emergency scene, better spell that out explicitly in the job description [Ct Emp Law Blog] As expected, star Milberg expert John Torkelsen pleads guilty to perjury arising from lies he told to conceal his contingent compensation arrangements [NLJ; earlier] Case of deconstructionist prof who plans to sue her Dartmouth students makes the WSJ [Joseph Rago, op-ed page, Mindles H. Dreck @ TigerHawk; earlier] How'd I do, mom? No violation of fair trial for judge's mother to be one of the jurors [ABA Journal] First sell the company's stock short, then sue it and watch its share price drop. You mean there's some ethical problem with that? [three years ago on Overlawyered] (Source: Overlawyered) Overlawyered blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1423176 Tue, 06 May 2008 04:00:00 +0100 1423176 http://www.overlawyered.com/2008/05/rape-by-fraud.html Further discussion of how lying about your past to avoid alienating a romantic partner could become a felony in Massachusetts if a state lawmaker has his way (Volokh, May 5; see Mar. 12). More: Greenfield (feminist law professors' proposals). (Source: Overlawyered) Overlawyered blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1423175 Tue, 06 May 2008 04:00:00 +0100 1423175 http://www.overlawyered.com/2008/05/more-lawyerad-spoofs.html The Damage Control comedy team has done parody ads under the titles Neglect, Nursing Home, Personal Injury, Sexual Harassment, and Sue Somebody. (h/t: Nicole Black). (Source: Overlawyered) Overlawyered blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1423174 Tue, 06 May 2008 04:00:00 +0100 1423174 http://www.overlawyered.com/2008/05/bill-targets-drivers-with-pets.html But won't California lawmakers have to consider an exception for emotional support animals? (Steve Geissinger, San Jose Mercury News, May 6)(more). (Source: Overlawyered) Overlawyered blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1423173 Tue, 06 May 2008 04:00:00 +0100 1423173 http://www.overlawyered.com/2008/05/pawn-shop-owner-sued-over-trol.html "Stacy Hanson and wife Colleen are suing Rocky Mountain Enterprises of Nevada, owner of the West Valley City pawn shop where Sulejman Talovic purchased a shotgun with a pistol grip. Talovic killed five people and injured four at Salt Lake City's Trolley Square mall in February 2007." (KSL, May 2). (Source: Overlawyered) Overlawyered blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1419648 Mon, 05 May 2008 04:00:00 +0100 1419648 http://www.overlawyered.com/2008/05/suing-over-what-your-coworkers.html The Eleventh Circuit on Monday "held that Ingrid Reeves could proceed to trial with her hostile environment harassment claim -- which is to say, that if the jury agrees with her on the facts, it's entitled to award potentially hundreds of thousands of dollars in damages -- even though the case didn't involve any sexual extortion, any offensive touching, any sexual propositions, or even any insults targeted to her personally. Rather, her complaints, as described by the Eleventh Circuit were chiefly related to "sexually crude language that offended her." Among the sources of that offense, per the court opinion, was "a radio program that was played every morning on the stereo in the office", per Eugene Volokh "a morning program on Birmingham's 107.7 FM during 2002-03, according to one brief". (May 2; title post borrowed from Bader). (Source: Overlawyered) Overlawyered blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1419647 Mon, 05 May 2008 04:00:00 +0100 1419647 http://www.overlawyered.com/2008/05/dont-x.html Another bunch of things not to do if you're a member of the legal profession. Send insulting letters to opposing counsel. (G.F. Pignato, ordered to write an article about civility.) [Legal Profession Blog via ABA Journal] Leave your innocent client in jail by failing to act on new evidence. (William S. Gebbie, surrenders his California license; also stole client funds.) [ABA Journal] Use the NY Yankees trademark without permission in advertising for asbestos clients. [ATL] Make "jerk-off" motions in court. (Adam Reposa, Texas, sentenced to ninety days for contempt of court; many in blogosphere are appalled at what they call an overreaction.) [ATL; Simple Justice; Mark Bennett and again; and Patterico notes an interesting coincidence] Mock the plaintiffs' attorney at a jury trial with "Overruled" signs and soccer-style red cards. (Judge James M. Brooks, admonished.) [ATL] As a prosecutor, conceal exculpatory evidence. (Former Sonoma County Deputy District Attorney Brooke Halsey Jr., suspended.) [ABA Journal] And even if you're a pro se, don't send a death threat to opposing counsel by fax. [Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel]Earlier: Feb. 24. (Source: Overlawyered) Overlawyered blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1418445 Sat, 03 May 2008 04:00:00 +0100 1418445 http://www.overlawyered.com/2008/05/may-2-roundup.html Contriving to give Sheldon Silver the moral high ground: NY judges steamed at lack of raises are retaliating against Albany lawmakers' law firms [NY Post and editorial] When strong laws prove weak: Britain's many layers of land use control seem futile against determined builders of gypsy encampments [Telegraph] "U.S. patent chief: applications up, quality down" [EETimes] Plenty of willing takers for those 4,703 new cars that survived the listing-ship near-disaster, but Mazda destroyed them instead [WSJ] "Prof. Dohrn [for] Attorney General and Rev. Wright [for] Secretary of State"? So hard to tell when left-leaning lawprof Brian Leiter is kidding and when he's not [Leiter Reports] Yet another hard-disk-capacity class action settlement, $900K to Strange & Carpenter [Creative HDD MP3 Player; earlier] Filipino ship whistleblowers' case: judge slashes Texas attorney's fee, "calling the lawyer's attempt to bill his clients nearly $300,000 'unethically excessive.'" [Boston Globe, earlier] RFK Jr. Watch: America's Most Irresponsible Public Figure (r) endorses Oklahoma poultry litigation [Legal NewsLine] Just what the budget-strapped state needs: NY lawmakers earmark funds for three (3) new law schools [NY Post editorial; PoL first, second posts, Greenfield] In Indiana, IUPUI administrators back off: it wasn't racial harassment after all for student-employee to read a historical book on fight against Klan [FIRE; earlier] Fiesta Cornyation in San Antonio just isn't the same without the flying tortillas [two years ago on Overlawyered] (Source: Overlawyered) Overlawyered blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1414922 Fri, 02 May 2008 04:00:00 +0100 1414922 http://www.overlawyered.com/2008/04/appeals-court-tosses-out-nyc-l.html A major victory for the good guys, of which Ted has a discussion at Point of Law. I would add that Mayor Bloomberg and other promoters of the gun litigation should take very little comfort from Judge Katzmann's dissent, which is based on two themes -- that the majority could have decided the case without reference to constitutional analysis, and that it could have certified the case to the New York courts for an authoritative account of local law -- that in no way imply any endorsement of the city's case on the merits. (Larry Neumeister, AP/SFGate, Apr. 30). More from Hans Bader: "The Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence has claimed that the law violates "separation of powers" by changing the outcome of pending court cases (an argument that, if taken to its logical conclusion, would require invalidating the 1964 Civil Rights Act because it legislatively overturned trespass convictions of civil-rights demonstrators who engaged in sit-ins)." (Source: Overlawyered) Overlawyered blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1411763 Thu, 01 May 2008 04:00:00 +0100 1411763 http://www.overlawyered.com/2008/04/newstex-syndication.html Overlawyered is now among the blogs carried by the "content on demand" news service. (Source: Overlawyered) Overlawyered blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1411762 Thu, 01 May 2008 04:00:00 +0100 1411762 http://www.overlawyered.com/2008/05/new-faculty-hire-at-berkeley-l.html Eric Muller has details. (Source: Overlawyered) Overlawyered blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1411761 Thu, 01 May 2008 04:00:00 +0100 1411761 http://www.overlawyered.com/2008/05/connecticut-timed-fireman-test.html Updating our Jan. 18, 2007 post: "Connecticut's Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities says that the city of Stamford violated anti-discrimination law because they wouldn't give extra time on a promotion exam to David Lenotti. Lenotti is a fire lieutenant with attention deficit disorder." [Excerpting coverage in the Apr. 15 Stamford Advocate*]: The city defended the denial by claiming a fire captain, the position Lenotti sought, must be able to read and process information quickly at a fire scene. But state officials said the city never proved that was true, never consulted with disability rights experts and does not use a promotional test that actually measures how fast a candidate can read. (Dave Statter, Apr. 20; Created Things, Apr. 16; decision in PDF format). *An odd aspect of the Stamford Advocate article, preserved on GoogleCache: it quotes disability consultant Suzanne Kitchen making the very same comment, word for word, that we criticized her for making more than a year ago. Does Ms. Kitchen really repeat herself so precisely? (Source: Overlawyered) Overlawyered blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1411760 Thu, 01 May 2008 04:00:00 +0100 1411760