March 31 roundup

  • Funniest string cite ever? Judge Alex Kozinski has a field day [Lowering the Bar]
  • Lawyer: panic attack explains why I settled my bias complaint for a mere $350K [ABA Journal]
  • Curious EU heritage sign: “plants, wild animals and leprechauns (little people) are protected in this area” [SkyNews]
  • “She asked me if she should go back to earning $25,000.” Caught in the poverty trap [Megan Cottrell, Urbanophile]
  • Jury rejects claim that formaldehyde emissions from FEMA Katrina trailer caused man’s throat tumor [Courthouse News]
  • Update: McDonald’s settles nude-photos-left-on-cellphone case [OnPoint News, earlier]
  • Canadian psychiatrist accused of human rights violations in South Africa suppressed public discussion of his past for years by threatening to sue news organizations [Guardian]
  • Judge throws out Texas law limiting quick solicitation of accident victims [Houston Chronicle]

3 Comments

  • Regarding the nude photos at McD’s.
    He’s more than happy for us to think of him as a dimwit who irresponsibly left nude photos of his wife at McDonalds.
    But perhaps he is just a tad smarter than the other fast food shakedown artists. Leaving a finger in chili was a dumb move when you could just upload some pics of your wife, plant the phone at the restaurant, concoct a story whereby the store owner appears to accept responsibility for the phone, leave it in his possession for days rather than dash back immediately… brilliant; and he got away with it too.

  • So what was the McDonald’s settlement? The article is very unclear. It is called a “3 million dollar lawsuit” but doesn’t say what the settlement was. It just says the judge filed a dismissal on Feb 26. It also says the franchise is pleased with the decision, so I doubt they paid out $3 mil.

  • That “poverty trap” story was fascinating.

    There’s going to be a very sad corollary to this: if Democrat’s proposals to means test Social Security and Medicare ever get anywhere, a frugal person who retires with several million may be worse off than some deadbeat who has saved nothing by retirement because they will receive no social security or medicare. (Compounded by the near 0 percent interest rates–the war on saving–that are used to keep deadbeats in their houses a little longer.)

    It sucks from both ends….