- Did the Feds err in letting Lehman fail? [Salmon vs. Carney] #
- Oh, spare us, Newt: Gingrich says some of SNL’s Palin skits “were slander and were worthy of a lawsuit” [Van Susteren] #
- Signs of much economic distress in ocean shipping trade [Naked Capitalism] #
- Seattle municipal archives, tons of cool historical photos [Flickr] #
- “Journalism is not brain surgery; it’s more difficult than that,” sez (did you guess?) a journalism professor [Happy Hospitalist] #
Archive for October, 2008
“Late filing syndrome”
That’s the explanation given by Charles J. O’Byrne’s lawyer for why his client didn’t file income taxes for year after year. I’ve never tried that one myself, but then, I’m not the chief aide to the governor of the state of New York, the way O’Byrne is. He has no plans to resign from his position. (Nicholas Confessore and Jeremy W. Peters, “Governor’s Aide Had ‘Late-Filing Syndrome,’ Lawyer Says”, New York Times, Oct. 23).
Relatedly or otherwise, Carolyn Elefant at Legal Blog Watch notes (Oct. 22) that Harpreet Singh Brar, known to Overlawyered readers for his abusive mass mailing of demand letters to California businesses,
came up with an even better defense to charges of failure to file tax returns on behalf of himself and his professional corporation: ineffective assistance of counsel. Sounds promising, except when you consider that Brar is an attorney who represented himself at trial. On appeal, he’s argued that he did not knowingly waive his right to counsel, and that he may have been under the influence of drugs and alcohol at the time of the waiver. Not surprisingly, the appeals court rejected Brar’s argument. (Source: Metropolitan News-Enterprise.)
Lynn Woolley show
I was a guest this morning of the Texas-based radio broadcaster, discussing my recent City Journal article on supposed “criminal incitement” via campaign speech, as well as the danger of a straitjacket for broadcast opinion in the form of a revived Fairness Doctrine.
Guestblogger volunteers
Guestbloggers are welcome through the year at Overlawyered, but especially next week, when I’ll be trying to wrap up a big deadline. Drop me a line at editor – at – thisdomainname.com.
“Tunneling boy’s mother sues utility”
“A Canadian woman whose 9-year-old son tunneled [under a fence] into an electric sub-station and was badly burned is suing a Manitoba power utility for negligence.” (UPI, Oct. 22).
Henry Blodget on damaging emails
When Congressional investigators come calling, or hostile lawyers begin trawling in electronic discovery, guilty and not-so-guilty alike can be caught in the net:
It’s the folks who are just chattering and venting to colleagues about normal business tensions who are most at risk. The computer doesn’t capture the wink or head nod. It doesn’t say “this is my first reaction…when I have considered everything in detail, I’ll give you my final opinion.” Etc.
(h/t Pete Warden, from whom more).
Why stores have surveillance cameras
It only takes a couple of incidents like these for the system to pay for itself, and that’s aside from the anti-shoplifting benefits.
French president: I’ll sue voodoo-doll maker
The company offers a doll for sale resembling President Nicolas Sarkozy (as well as one of his rival, Socialist Segolene Royal). “The doll bears a number of colorful quotes from the outspoken statesman (such as ‘Get lost, you pathetic ______,’ which he allegedly said last year to someone who refused to shake his hand) and comes with a manual telling buyers to stick pins in the quotes.” The nastygram from Sarkozy’s lawyer says the maker must recall the 20,000 dolls or it will infringe on Sarkozy’s “exclusive and absolute rights over his own image”. (Lowering the Bar, Oct. 22; BBC).
Microblog 2008-10-22
- McCain hoist on his own campaign regulation petard [WSJ edit] #
- Conservatives should hold a retreat to talk about why they’re being sent to the wilderness [Friedersdorf/Culture11] #
- Disability activism and “anti-national sexual positions”: just another day in postmodern academia [Massie] #
- Unionism on steroids: Employee Free Choice Act would be Thatcherism in reverse [Claire Berlinski, City Journal] #
- Here’s a twist: a politician walking over his ambition to reach his grandmother #
Roy Pearson presses pants suit
After losing below, he’s now hauled the dry cleaning Chung family before an appeals court in his seemingly never-ending litigation over the pair of lost pants he said should be worth $54 million (WSJ law blog, Oct. 22).