- Pants litigation still not over; Roy Pearson takes wrongful termination suit to D.C. Circuit [NLJ, FindLaw “Injured”, my WSJ piece two years ago]
- Microsoft wins stay of “alter Word or stop selling it” ruling [Bloomberg, earlier] More: WSJ Law Blog, Legal Ethics Forum, American Lawyer]
- Masry & Vititoe, law firm of Erin Brockovich fame, files for bankruptcy (she’s no longer with them) [NLJ, background]
- One blogger turns thumbs down on Google Books settlement [Patrick at Popehat] “Laundering orphan works legislation through a class action lawsuit”? [James Grimmelmann, ACS Blog via Mass Tort Lit] Much more: Lynn Chu/Writer’s Reps (who, I should note, has represented my literary interests on matters unrelated to this); WSJ Law Blog; Pasquale/ConcurOp; Kennerly.
- Dire lesson for lawyers in how not to do social media marketing [Mark Bennett/Defending People, Scott Greenfield, Patrick at Popehat, Carolyn Elefant/Legal Blog Watch]
- Tab-divider scam? For a million bucks? Against a big, sophisticated law firm? [ABA Journal, WSJ Law Blog]
- Lawyer who filed “splashy-dolphin” slip-fall action against Chicago-area zoo is heard from [On Point News, earlier]
- Turnabout fair play? “A Doctor’s Plan for Legal Industry Reform” [Richard Rafal, WSJ]
Archive for September, 2009
“Canada keeps malpractice cost in check”
Susan Taylor Martin in the St. Petersburg Times has some striking numbers:
For neurosurgeons in Miami, the annual cost of medical malpractice insurance is astronomical — $237,000, far more than the median price of a house.
In Toronto, a neurosurgeon pays about $29,200 for coverage. It’s even less in Montreal ($20,600) and Vancouver ($10,650).
Among the reasons why: in 1978 the Canadian Supreme Court imposed (on its own) nationwide limits on pain-and-suffering recoveries, adjusted for inflation and now just over $300,000. A single mutual insurer covers most doctors and takes an aggressive approach to defending claims. Most cases are tried before judges. Billboard and TV advertising by lawyers is much less prevalent in Canada. And so forth — all aside from the loser-pays principle.
CPSIA on Thursday: A fine hearing, with one witness…
A fine hearing/My friends, this is… Rep. Waxman’s plan for a dissent-free panel this Thursday (Sept. 10) is to call as the only witness CPSC chair Inez Tenenbaum, to talk up the merits of the law and her efforts as new steward of the agency. It’s not as if the law’s controversial or anything! The Handmade Toy Alliance wonders whether he’ll get away with it.
PUBLIC DOMAIN IMAGE from Benjamin Cobb, Yankee Mother Goose (Ella Brison, illustrator), courtesy ChildrensLibrary.org.
“Lock the law school doors”
There are too many lawyers entering practice already, argues former litigator Dan Slater in the NYT’s “DealBook”. “The American Bar Association, which continues to approve law schools with impunity and with no end in sight, bears complicity in creating this mess. …. many law schools appear to profit from what may charitably be called an inefficient distribution of market information.” Profs. Bainbridge and Ribstein react.
“Woman’s Death Blamed on Hotel Exec’s ‘Hedonism'”
OnPoint News: “Taking employment law into uncharted waters, a $645 million lawsuit alleges the operator of the Hard Rock resort in Las Vegas is liable for the death of its former CEO’s girlfriend because it consented to his ‘hedonistic lifestyle.’” Family members of the 23-year-old woman, who overdosed on drugs in the former CEO’s suite, say the hotel should be responsible because it knowingly cultivated an image of high living, drug use and promiscuity, which made his conduct with respect to her something “within the course and scope of his employment”. The former CEO has already settled a wrongful-death suit brought by the woman’s father.
More on the Pitney Bowes fax settlement
New review: David Giacalone on BabyBarista and the Art of War
Here’s something we’ve never tried at Overlawyered: a full-length, original book review by an outside contributor. Blogger David Giacalone, whose now-inactive EthicalEsq. (later f/k/a) is fondly remembered and has often been linked in this space, has kindly offered to let us publish his newly written review of BabyBarista and the Art of War, a new novel based on Tim Kevan’s popular BabyBarista column for the U.K.’s Times (a paper to which I’ve contributed as an online columnist in the past). The novel has been hailed as a “Hogarthian romp” and a “satire with edge”; David says it displays its subjects, British lawyers,
acting very much like the worst segments of the American bar: taking huge fees for little work, entering settlements at their clients’ expense (to assure a fee, or to get to a golf course or an early lunch), exploiting underlings, disrespecting a “litigant in person” (pro se) party, making it dangerous to raise sexual harassment charges, etc. It was heartening to hear BabyB warn clients about the risks of no-win-no-fee (contingency) arrangements, and enlightening to see how personal injury claims are fabricated. For the entire 266 pages, the Bar’s foibles and vices are laid bare, but with a light (if exaggerated) touch rather than a heavy hand.
The review is longer than our usual blog post, so we’ve published it on a separate page here.
Ohio: Turning the table on a serial ADA plaintiff
Cleveland federal judge Donald Nugent has dismissed a disabled-access lawsuit by Bonnie Kramer against a real estate management company and allowed a counterclaim to go forward against Kramer and her lawyers “alleging abuse of process, fraud, civil conspiracy to commit fraud, spoliation and Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations violations”. Kramer, a self-styled “tester”, has been plaintiff in more than 100 actions under the ADA. [Andrew Longstreth, American Lawyer] More on “Disabled Patriots of America” group: Charlie Deitch, Pittsburgh City Paper.
WordPress upgrade
I’ve upgraded the site to the latest version of WordPress in response to reports of a serious attack on older versions (if you’re running any version earlier than the new 2.8.4, go read about it immediately).
Every time I upgrade, there are user problems for a while, which for readers with some browsers take the form of a front page frozen in time at the last post just before upgrade (in this case, “NYC: tobacco shops can’t give away coffee“). I’ve tried to avert this problem with more careful attention to the cache file, but if you notice this problem (or any other) with the site, please email me at editor – at – thisdomainname – dot- com.
NYC: tobacco shops can’t give away coffee
The Barclay Rex smoking shop must seek a permit as a “food establishment” even if it gives away the brew for free, the city says [Sullum, Reason “Hit and Run”] Readers wonder (h/t Jeff Stier) whether the city is also going to start picking on car dealerships, bookshops and even police stations that offer free coffee, a question to which I think we know the answer.