How restrictions on free association can backfire, example #32,785: Hotel owners in Britain who cater to gay travelers say they could be forced out of business by regulations which would make it unlawful to indicate a preference for some guests based on sexual orientation. “At the end of the day, this is our home and as a landlord we have the right to refuse entry to anyone without giving a reason,” says the owner of the Guyz hotel in Blackpool. On the other hand, the civil-rights campaign Stonewall offers no sympathy: “What gay people gain through having an equality law is much more than whether we can just run gay hotels.” (Simon de Bruxelles, “Gay tourist hotels fear equality law”, Times Online, Feb. 1).
Archive for February, 2007
Chew out your lawyers, get sued for defamation
Firing your lawyers? Be careful what you say about them in doing so. William and Elizabeth Margrabe had grown increasingly dissatisfied with the legal work done on their behalf by the firm of Sexter and Warmflash in a Westchester County, N.Y. lawsuit over the sale of a stake in a family business. In a letter firing the firm, Mr. Margrabe charged that its work was “fraught with missteps, poor legal judgments, failure to protect your client’s rights on repeated occasions, and poor, adversarial, or misleading communications with your clients.” He further accused the attorneys of pursuing their own interests over those of clients in seeking a hasty resolution of some issues, and also of charging a usurious interest rate on its fee. He copied the letter to the new lawyers he had hired to take over the matter.
How did Sexter & Warmflash respond? It sued the Margrabes for $1 million for defamation. Trial court judge Shirley Werner Kornreich ruled that its suit could proceed, and ruled outright in Sexter’s favor on the Margrabes’ liability for the “usurious fee” allegation, but an appeals court reversed, ruling that the Margrabes were protected by a privilege extended to statements made as part of a legal proceeding. (Anthony Lin, “Law Firm’s Defamation Suit Against Former Client Dismissed”, New York Law Journal, Jan. 10).
“These men are remarkably sophisticated consumers of legal talent”
But then the Hell’s Angels have been repeat customers of attorneys’ services for long enough to build up an expertise (Thomas J. Lueck, “After Police Search, Hells Angels Brace for Fight”, New York Times, Feb. 1)(quoting attorney Ronald L. Kuby). More: Feb. 10, 1996 (California county agrees to pay nearly $1 million after police shot and killed three guard dogs belonging to Hell’s Angels club).
February 1 roundup
- In “State of the Economy” speech, Bush says litigation and regulation harm U.S. financial competitiveness, praises enactment of Class Action Fairness Act [Reuters; his remarks]
- How many California legislators does it take to ban the conventional lightbulb in favor of those odd-looking compact fluorescents? [Reuters, Postrel, McArdle first and second posts]
- Levi’s, no longer a juggernaut in the jeans world, keeps lawyers busy suing competitors whose pocket design is allegedly too similar [NYTimes]
- Clinics in some parts of Sweden won’t let women request a female gynecologist, saying it discriminates against male GYNs [UPI, Salon]
- Is the new Congress open to litigation reform? Choose from among dueling headlines [Childs]
- Anti-SLAPP motion filed against Santa Barbara newspaper owner McCaw [SB Ind’t via Romenesko]
- Uncritical look at Holocaust-reparations suits against French national railway [Phila. Inquirer]
- Deep pockets dept.: court rules mfr. had duty to warn about asbestos in other companies’ products, though its own product contained none [Ted at Point of Law]
- Lawyering up for expected business-bashing oversight hearings on Capitol Hill [Plumer, The New Republic]
- “King of vexatious litigants” in Ontario restrained after 73 filings in 10 years, though he says he did quite well at winning the actions [Globe and Mail, Giacalone’s self-help law blog]
- Sen. Schumer can’t seem to catch a break from WSJ editorialists [me at PoL]
- South Carolina gynecological nurse misses case of Rocky Mountain spotted fever — that’ll be $2.45 million, please [Greenville News via KevinMD]
- Five years ago on Overlawyered: we passed the milestone of one million pages served. By now, though our primitive stats make it hard to know for sure, the cumulative figure probably exceeds ten million. Thanks for your support!