Bruce Nye at Cal Biz Lit has the latest from the California Prop 65 front.
Archive for January, 2010
January 22 roundup
- Early reactions to Supreme Court’s blockbuster Citizens United ruling striking down ban on independent election advocacy [Point of Law, more, yet more]
- Vision Media Television Group continues its legal push against online critics, Section 230 or no [Consumer Law & Policy, earlier]
- Big FBI sting operation could leave firearms business “wounded”, some say [Point of Law]
- Runaway’s suit against McKeesport, Pa. school district dismissed on statute of limitations grounds [AP/Law.com]
- “Sandra Day O’Connor Backs Campaign to End Judicial Elections” [Schwartz, NY Times, my two cents]
- “Sheriff Joe’s Enabler” [Radley Balko on Maricopa County D.A. Andrew Peyton Thomas; earlier here, here, etc.]
- Why some D.C. lawyers make so much money year in, year out [Hill & Lat, Washingtonian, quotes Ted; Ribstein and more]
- “Hampshire woman jailed for false rape claim” [BBC]
- P.S. At this point, politically, Dems almost have to pass something labeled health care reform whether or not the resulting legislation makes any sense [my comment in National Journal blogger’s poll, more]
Large coal firm threatens critic’s site
Peabody Energy, by way of St. Louis law firm Senniger Powers, has sent a nastygram (PDF) demanding the takedown of an enviro-activist website that critically mimics the “Consortium for ‘Clean Coal’ Utilization,” of which Peabody is a part. Along with trademark infringement claims, the letter advances a congeries of other legal theories (defamation, tortious interference with contracts) and insists on the total removal of the site. [Citizen Media Law, EFF, Riverfront Times]
Profitable ways of owing money
A Texas man has developed a lucrative sideline in suing debt collectors who come after him. [Kimberly Thorpe, Dallas Observer]
Penn & Teller on the ADA
A 2007 show, with discussion of a mass ADA filing operation at about the 4:45 mark:
More via Twitter: “I had a client lose their business partly due to an ADA claim.” (Julian, California, near San Diego).
Lowering the Bar “Best of 2009”
Kevin Underhill rounds up four amusing miscellanies at his excellent site. From the fourth:
In June, a committee of the Oregon Legislature stuck some language into a bill that would (I think) have briefly redefined “no” as “yes.” Allegedly, Democrats were trying to head off an initiative they feared Republicans would later put on the ballot, asking voters to reject a spending measure. The bill provided that a vote to reject the measure would be counted as a vote to adopt it:
A measure referred to the people by referendum petition may not be adopted unless it receives an affirmative majority of the total votes cast on the measure rejecting the measure. For purposes of this subsection, a measure is considered adopted if it is rejected by the people.
The bill was amended again a few days later to remove the controversial language, after it became public.
P.S. And another installment missed above (“We are all tarnished by your stupidity.”)
Venture capitalists vs. trolls
“Almost a third of our portfolio is under attack by patent trolls. Is it possible that one third of the engineering teams in our portfolio unethically misappropriated technology from someone else and then made that the basis of their web services? No! That’s not what is happening. … Our companies are being attacked by companies that were not even in the same market, very often by companies they did not even know existed.” [Brad Burnham, Union Square Ventures via Pete Warden]
January 20 roundup
- Renewed attention to Amirault case contributed to Coakley’s political nosedive [e.g., Jacob Weisberg of Slate via Kaus, earlier] First time a Massachusetts prosecutor has paid a political price over that episode?
- Many, many Democratic elected officials call for rethinking/renegotiating Obamacare rather than trying to force it through [e.g. Barney Frank] Blue Mass blogger: talk radio fueled ire at Coakley, let’s have FCC shut it down [Graham]
- “Big Brother and the Salt Shaker” [NY Times “Room for Debate”, Food Liability Law, earlier on NYC initiative and more] NYU’s Marion Nestle “loves” being called a nanny statist, so we’ll just go right on calling her that [Crispy on the Outside]
- Terror suspects win right to seek compensation from UK government over restrictions on their activities [Canadian Press]
- “Men Without Hats. Meaning no hard hats. Meaning The Safety Dance never met OSHA requirements. No wonder it was shut down.” [Tim Siedell a/k/a Bad Banana]
- Italian judge orders father to go on paying $550/month living allowance to his student daughter, who is 32 [Guardian/SMH, earlier on laws mandating support of adult children]
- Two informants vie for potential bonanza of whistleblower status against Johnson & Johnson [Frankel, AmLaw Litigation Daily]
- “Polling Firm Says John Edwards Is Its Most Unpopular Person Ever” [Lowering the Bar]
NYT covers funny “Machete” injury-lawyer ad
In its advertising column. Overlawyered had it last week.
Update: grand jury indicts “Thugs Lawyer”
“Peter Q. ‘P’Ta Mon’ John, who advertises himself as ‘The Thugs Lawyer,’ was indicted Thursday on charges that he conspired to have attempted murder charges against two local rap music executives dropped.” [Baton Rouge Advocate via Above the Law] Earlier coverage of John here and here (his advertised $500 “Expungement Special”).