- Hush up with those jokes, now: Lerach Coughlin lawyer hailed as hero after jumping from his BMW to save pregnant woman attacked by pit bulls [ABA Journal]
- The “murky area between zealous advocacy and improper conduct”: Judge Preska sanctions Cleary Gottlieb for litigation abuse [WSJ Law Blog, Lat]
- Out-nannying them all? Edwards says his health plan will legally oblige everyone to go in for checkups with the doc [AP; MagicStats, Howard, Althouse]
- Apparently we missed out on the Aug. 31 celebration of Love Lawyers Day [Giacalone]
- To settle lawsuit by psychiatrist’s family, Augusten Burroughs agrees to call “Running with Scissors” a “book” rather than “memoir” [Althouse]
- Will contest over Maryland judge’s estate has dragged on for fourteen years [Washington Post]
- Recap of Flea fiasco (doc liveblogging his own trial); we get randomly mentioned [American Medical News; earlier]
- “Viacom charges man with violating his own copyright, after he YouTubed their program that used his video.” [Reynolds](but see: Evan Brown via Coleman]
- Is your lawyer a “chicken catcher” or a “chicken plucker”? [KevinMD]
- When if ever should “best interest” custody standard override parent’s right to free exercise of opinion, religion, cultural affiliation, etc.? [series of Eugene Volokh posts]
- Don’t forget to join our new Facebook group with distinctive content [if you’re a member]
- New at Point of Law: Texas judge’s son withdraws from odometer class action; what do environmentalist litigators have against whales?; N.Y. Times’s born-yesterday Vioxx coverage (and this from Ted, which is pretty devastating); Dickie Scruggs takes down an insurance commissioner; sexual assault foreseeable when fraternity left in possession of unsupervised motel room? Marshall, Texas dignitaries rally to save their special court; and much more.
Archive for September, 2007
“Record beer consumption” at Hagens Berman cycling event
There’s nothing intrinsically droll about this report of increased jollity, mirth and conviviality at the 2006 Clif Bar/Hagens Berman Starcrossed Cyclocross race, co-sponsored by the prominent Seattle class-action firm: “The men’s main event was fast, painful, and exciting and it certainly did not disappoint the rowdy pumped up crowds who had been feasting on Pabst Blue Ribbon in the beer garden all day long.” (Cycling News, October). The only potentially humorous note is to those of us who remember Hagens Berman as having thrust itself forward a mere three years ago in the national media as the national scourge of alcohol marketing — beer marketing in particular (Mar. 29, 2004). The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel article we cited at the time, with chapter and verse on the firm’s grandstanding against the sudsy brew, is still online.
Steamed oysterers
Sort of like being paid for not planting corn? “[A]n oysterman here in the nation’s top oyster-producing state can make as much, if not more, collecting damage settlements from oil companies as from harvesting the bivalves themselves, according to a recent study by two Louisiana State University economists.”
“On average,” they wrote, “oyster leases generate a majority of their net income from non-oyster-producing activities.” Money “appears to flow to leases irrespective of their ability to produce marketable oysters.”
So lucrative is the potential payoff from the oil companies that there is almost certainly a lively trade among oystermen in the “speculative” leasing of otherwise unproductive water bottoms, Dr. Keithly and Dr. Kazmierczak [Walter R. Keithly Jr. and Richard F. Kazmierczak] concluded.
Indeed, speaking on condition of anonymity, one of the major “landmen” — middlemen who negotiate between oystermen and oil companies — agreed that some fishermen deliberately leased bottoms in harm’s way, in order to collect from the companies.
The New York Times says the “oyster community” in the Pelican State is infuriated at the report and calls it false. (Adam Nossiter, New York Times, Aug. 15).
Our earlier coverage of one bizarre excursion by the Louisiana courts into oyster-lease compensation is here, here, here, and here. The broadside The Oyster Girl, widely distributed in the English singing tradition, underscores the importance of watching one’s pockets when oysters are being traded.
“Granholm’s picks cheer trial lawyers”
“A trio of judicial appointments announced this week underline [Mich. Gov. Jennifer] Granholm’s determination to temper [former Gov. John] Engler’s judicial revolution — and reward Michigan’s plaintiff’s bar, which has been among her most important sources of financial support.” Of three trial lawyers Granholm is naming to judgeships, two have served as board members of the Michigan Trial Lawyers Association. (Brian Dickerson, Detroit Free Press, Aug. 22).
Excessive fines
Too bad the courts have decided to leave the Eighth Amendment’s Excessive Fines Clause on the shelf, it might otherwise be helpful to everyone from Virginia motorists to sexual harassment defendants (Ralph Reiland, “The ignored amendment”, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, Aug. 27). More resources here, here, and here (noting Supreme Court’s ruling in Browning-Ferris that the clause restrains excessive fines only when payable to the government, not private parties).
Why they call it discovery
“A lot of plaintiff lawyers simply use the litigation process to find out whether it’s a good case as opposed to trying to find that out before they sign it up,” Mr. Johnston says.
— from a profile of Randy Johnston, a Dallas lawyer who specializes in plaintiff’s legal malpractice work. (Cheryl Hall, “Randy Johnston is a lawyer who sues other lawyers”, Dallas Morning News, Aug. 20).
McDonald’s “hold the cheese” suit, cont’d
The U.S. Chamber-affiliated West Virginia Record has some further details on, as well as a selection of media reaction to, the $10 million lawsuit by Jeromy Jackson of Morgantown charging that the burger chain put cheese on his Quarter Pounder despite his requests, thus triggering an allergic reaction. (Cara Bailey, “‘Hold the cheese’ suit draws worldwide attention”, Aug. 17). Earlier: Aug. 10.