The families of two eleventh graders at Vero Beach High have contacted a civil rights lawyer after their English teacher read a selection from a book, “A Land Remembered”, where a character uses a racial slur. (Linda Jump, “Racial slur spurs book ban initiative”, Florida Today, Nov. 17). (via Jacobs, who asks why a teacher is reading to eleventh graders)
Archive for November, 2003
“German court rejects first smoking damages claim”
“‘The chamber justified its ruling on the grounds it was not clear the defendants had acted illegally or in a manner for which they could be held liable,’ the court said in a statement.” (Reuters, Nov. 14).
Stallone sued over Rocky movies
I bet you didn’t know that the original “Rocky” movie was inspired by journeyman boxer Chuck Wepner’s 1975 fifteen-round loss to Muhammed Ali in 1975. Which doesn’t bode well for Wepner’s lawsuit: he seems to think he’s entitled to a $15 million cut for that movie and its four sequels for misuse of publicity rights. (A look at Wepner’s web site seems to indicate the ex-con benefits more from publicity from Stallone than Stallone has from publicity from Wepner. I didn’t see any references to Mr. T, however.) One looks in vain for an acknowledgement by the press coverage that the lawsuit has less of a chance than Wepner did against Ali–though readers of Professor Volokh’s weblog know better:
No, it’s not legally actionable for a writer to use your name in honestly describing the inspiration for his work. Even if Stallone is intentionally trying to “capitalize” on this story (not terribly likely, I think, but say it’s so), he’s perfectly entitled to do so, just as biographers or journalists are perfectly to “capitalize” on others’ names and stories when writing their works. Wepner wouldn’t be entitled to get damages from someone who wrote a biography of him (unless the biography was libelous, which isn’t an issue here). He’s likewise not entitled to get damages from someone who was inspired by him in making a movie, and who reveals this inspiration in discussing the movie.
(Dave Anderson, “Bayonne Bleeder Throws a Punch at the Italian Stallion”, New York Times, Nov. 16; Steve Springer, “The Eye of the Lawsuit”, Los Angeles Times, Nov. 13; AP, Nov. 13; Eugene Volokh blog, Nov. 10).
Mississippi YMCA drowning case settles
A televised lawsuit against a Mississippi YMCA and a host of other defendants completed settlement late last week. (Terms of the settlement, no doubt motivated in part by the threat of a request for punitive damages, were not disclosed, but the lead plaintiffs’ lawyer, Dennis Sweet (see May 7 and Oct. 25, 2000), implied the total was almost $10 million.) The plaintiffs did not just sue the YMCA over their son’s drowning, but also sued a local television station’s charitable foundation because it had provided funding for the YMCA’s swimming program–which no doubt explains why the press coverage was more skeptical than it usually is when plaintiffs go after deep pockets.
Monte Barton, who represents the Y.M.C.A., says, “The Y.M.C.A. relies on [its] donors and volunteers. If they get scared away, because of the threat of lawsuits, it will definitely [affect] not only the Y.M.C.A., but other organizations like that.”
Charlene Priester, who represents the TV-3 Foundation, says, “That may indeed be something that is discussed in board rooms of charities throughout Jackson, the state and the nation since it was broadcast all over the country.”
Priester represents the TV-3 Foundation, the separate non-profit organization that helps the community. It is also out of the lawsuit now. But Priester says she’s still troubled by it.
Priester says, “Once someone has been sued in this type of lawsuit, it will always make you wonder before you do something to help. Do you subject yourself to this type of litigation?”
That’s why Priester says there needs to be some self-examination in the legal system.
Priester says, “This case might have been the poster child for tort reform…when you start suing charitable organizations when you know all they did is donate money and volunteers.”
(Dawn Russell, “Drowning Suit Draws Community Concern”, WLBT, Nov. 13; “Final defendant settles lawsuit over Jackson YMCA drowning”, AP, Nov. 15; Jimmie E. Gates, “Lawsuit over drowning settled”, Mississippi Clarion-Ledger, Nov. 15; “Three defendants agree to settle lawsuit over Jackson YMCA drowning”, AP, Nov. 14; Joanna Gaitanoglou, “All but One Defendant Dropped from Drowning Suit”, WLBT, Nov. 13; Rochelle Steinhaus, “Most parties in drowning suit settle, but trial goes on”, CourtTV, Nov. 13; complaint).
“Judging School Discipline”
The new book Judging School Discipline : The Crisis of Moral Authority argues that the hundreds of lawsuits challenging school disciplinary procedures has undermined the quality of public education. The book claims to examine every case involving student discipline through 1992, and the authors plan to release updated data through 2003 next month. “‘Clearly, just the threat of lawsuits restrains teachers and administrators from taking charge in their classrooms and schools,’ said [Richard] Arum, chair of the Humanities and Social Sciences Department at The Steinhardt School of Education. ‘Rather than reaffirming civil liberties, litigation has prevented schools from enhancing educational opportunities for all.'” (James Devitt, “Richard Arum Argues that Flood of Lawsuits Hinders Education”, NYU press release, Oct. 10).
Norwegian edition
The Norwegian Supreme Court has held that tobacco companies are not responsible for a smoker’s death, because by 1964, smokers had widespread knowledge of the risks of smoking and could have chosen to quit. (Nina Berglund, “Family loses fight against tobacco firm”, Aftenposten, Oct. 31; Doug Mellgren, “Smoker’s lawsuit is rejected in Norway”, AP, Oct. 31). Lest you fear that Norway is a complete oasis of common sense, another Norwegian court has ordered the state to purchase an automobile for a 4’2″ individual who claims to have anxiety attacks at the thought of riding a bus. (Kaare M. Hansen and Nina Berglund, “State ordered to buy car for short man”, Aftenposten, Nov. 11).
Off for a few days
I’ll be away through Tuesday speaking at the American Tort Reform Association‘s 2003 Annual Conference for State Coalition Leaders in Las Vegas. Co-blogger Ted Frank, however, will still be watching the news for postworthy items. See you on Wednesday.
NYC cops nabbed on claims fraud rap
The urban accident racket, as we’ve had occasion to observe, has over the years corrupted any number of doctors (more), clinics, insurance adjusters and even parents, as well as (of course) lawyers. We are reminded to add “policemen” to the list by the latest report that more than a dozen persons, including several New York City police officers, have been indicted in a claims fraud scheme in which cops’ role was to write up fake accident reports for crashes that never occurred which were then used as the basis for filing personal-injury claims. (Michael Wilson, “City Officers Are Arrested in Bogus Claims of Accidents”, New York Times, Nov. 13; “Fraud Didn’t Enrich Officers, Authorities Say”, Nov. 14) (more, from 1996)
Job opening
The Manhattan Institute Center for Legal Policy (with which I’m associated) tells me that it has an opening for a staff position to work on compiling articles, reports and other material related to the Trial Lawyers Inc. project. Candidates need not be located in New York City but should have a strong interest in litigation reform issues combined with writing ability and familiarity with Web-based publishing (you might be a blogger, for example). If you fit the bill, email me at editor -at – thisdomainname and I’ll forward your response to the Institute.
Update: College Board resists test-accommodation tide
The College Board finally appears to be halting its years-long slide toward offering extra time and other accommodations to an ever-growing number of test-taking students claiming learning disability (see our earlier coverage going back to Feb. 1999). The last straw came when litigation pressure forced testers to abandon the practice of “flagging” scores on tests taken with accommodations (see Jul. 22-23, 2002 and links from there). Searching for a way to prevent a new flood tide of requests, the Board instituted “a new requirement that students seeking extra time must generally have a diagnosis and a plan for accommodations in school at least four months before taking the SAT.” In addition, it compiled a list of 142 schools which had accounted for a greatly disproportionate share of accommodations requests — a list including many highly affluent public and private schools — and asked those schools to supply greater documentation for the requests. “Faced with such scrutiny, many of the schools that had asked for the most accommodations have pulled back substantially on their requests.” The number of parental appeals has also tripled, suggesting that the Board may need to hire more lawyers than ever (and nervously hope for favorable treatment in the courts) if it wants to make the new harder line stick. (Tamar Lewin, “Change in SAT Procedure Echoes in Disability Realm”, New York Times, Nov. 8).