In 1997 the New Jersey legislature enacted a law stating that a convicted drunk driver “shall have no cause of action for his or her injuries,” but a state appeals court decided that was no reason not to allow such a driver to sue the drinking establishment that allegedly should have cut him off earlier. An earlier appeals case had allowed such suits against “social hosts” such as party-givers. [AnnMarie McDonald/NJLRA, Henry Gottlieb/NJLJ]
Archive for April, 2010
Dutch nurse imprisoned for six years over patients’ unexplained deaths
And then came the second look [Scott Greenfield]
NHTSA, Toyota and “speed control”
Michael Fumento warns that the federal government’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) “has no category for ‘sudden acceleration,’ merely a ‘speed control’ category.” The result is that many complaints of lack of acceleration can wind up getting counted and cited as if they supported the trial lawyers’ case.
Twitter gets a DMCA takedown notice
And pulls the offending Tweet [Jacqui Cheng, ArsTechnica].
Richard Blumenthal vs. Craigslist
The “grandstanding” Connecticut attorney general, notes Mike Masnick at TechDirt, is now publicly decrying Craigslist for turning a profit from sex ads. Why is it turning a profit? Well, the ads used to be free, but Craigslist started charging fees after Blumenthal himself (with fellow AGs) demanded that it do so, the idea being that a credit card trail would scare off some illegal users and make it easier for police to crack down on others.
Blumenthal, a longstanding bete noire of this site, is now running for the U.S. Senate seat held by the departing Chris Dodd. More: New York Times on his Senate bid (rough start, “Martha Coakley in pants”).
After the volcano, a legal eruption?
A “massive plume” of legal action is likely to follow the Eyjafjallajökull eruption, reports the Times (U.K.). Along with plenty of litigation against airlines themselves and other travel companies, stranded employees might file claims against their employers for not doing enough to get them home, and disrupted employers might be sued if they dock pay of employees who considered themselves ready and able to work.
“Climate Scientist, Heated Up Over Satirical Video, Threatens Lawsuit”
The Penn State professor is steamed about being made fun of in the video “Hide the Decline.” [Ed Barnes, FoxNews.com]
You wouldn’t let me play the lottery and I would have won
An Indianapolis resident says “workers at the Speedway store refused to sell him a ticket with a few minutes left before the sales cutoff.” He says he’d picked the winning numbers and filled them out on the slip they wouldn’t accept, so now he’s suing the convenience store chain for the $11.5 million jackpot. [AP/IndyStar.com]
Hulk Hogan sues car insurance company over son’s crash
Says it didn’t properly advise him beforehand that he needed to buy lots of coverage. [ContactMusic.com]
“Partying at Mardi Gras”
Abnormal Use sorts out some issues about Louisiana parade liability, including the perennial tossed-coconut fact pattern.