And electronic bingo players have now sued under the 158-year-old law to demand reimbursement of their losses. [Kent Faulk, Birmingham News]
Archive for July, 2010
UK historian who salted Amazon with self-serving reviews loses legal case against rivals
It is unclear from the BBC’s account whether the sock-puppetry amounted to anything that would have been actionable in an American court. A detail worth noting, though: “Initially, when confronted by the allegations of his involvement, Prof Figes instructed his lawyer to threaten legal action.”
Privacy/information collection “best practices” bill
Declan McCullagh at CNet and Jim Harper at Cato warn about a proposed bill sponsored by Rep. Bobby Rush (D-Ill.) that could impose significant regulatory burdens and legal risks on many small businesses, websites and even individuals that gather information about customers or other persons. The bill is presently titled the “Building Effective Strategies To Promote Responsibility Accountability Choice Transparency Innovation Consumer Expectations and Safeguards Act, or BEST PRACTICES Act of 2010.”
July 26 roundup
- Emerging newspaper business model: copyright lawsuits against bloggers? [Kravets, Wired, Ron Coleman, TechDirt, PoL]
- Five NYC hospitals to use “health courts” to seek agreements before medical malpractice cases go to trial [WSJ]
- Serpentine asbestos politics behind “California state rock” fracas [Cal Civil Justice, more, PoL, Bailey, earlier here and here]
- From Andrew Grossman: “Feinberg: ‘priests, mayors or even sheriffs could vouch for [BP trust fund] claims of local businesses.’ Has he ever been to Miss, La.?!”
- Va. lawyer, real estate agent sanctioned for “frivolous claims supported by wild speculation” [ABA Journal]
- An injury lawyer reads and reacts to my first book, The Litigation Explosion [Alan Crede]
- Le Corbusier’s writing made him sound like certain pro se litigants [Johnson, PrawfsBlawg]
- “Tip: Photoshopping Self Into Charity Photos Not Likely to Reduce Sentence” [Lowering the Bar, more]
Delegate to Durban conference up for 10th Circuit nod
Keith Harper, now with Kilpatrick Stockton, is a longtime Native American Rights Fund attorney and class counsel in the gigantic Indian trust fund litigation, Cobell. Some critics focus on his prospective appointment for an “Oklahoma seat” on the court, others are not happy with developments in Cobell. [Tulsa World, Kimberly Craven/Billings Gazette]
“Humiliated” talent-show reject wants to sue host
“A woman who blames illness for her failure on Britain’s Got Talent wants to sue the TV show for discrimination because she felt humiliated by the judges.” Emma Amelia Pearl Czikai says she was jeered after health problems related to fibromyalgia hurt her performance. [Sky News]
July 24 roundup
- San Francisco considers, then tables, ban on pet sales at stores [Amy Alkon]
- Florida: we’ll pull you into our courts as an online-defamation defendant even if you’ve never set foot here [CBS4.com]
- Bratz case: “Alex Kozinski gives Barbie a spanking” [AtL]
- GEICO launches counterattack against crash fraud in New York [PoL]
- When a lawyer sues the wrong doctor: hey, isn’t everyone entitled to mistakes now and then? [American Medical News, sanctions affirmed in Virginia case]
- “[Congressman Alan] Grayson’s shakedown lawsuit threatens D.C. business” [LaFetra, PLF/Examiner]
- Asbestos: Do component makers have a duty to warn about other manufacturers’ hazardous products? [Cal Biz Lit and two followups on California decisions, NAM and Levy Phillips & Konigsberg on a since-settled New York case against Foster Wheeler]
- Subsidies for durum wheat flowed in happy circle for everyone but taxpayer and consumer [Mark Perry]
“Libel tourism” legislation
The intention of protecting American authors from overreaching foreign defamation suits certainly seems a good one. But what about the details? Howard Wasserman, who has raised various objections in the past, finds the bill that just passed the Senate “a dramatic improvement over earlier versions.” [Prawfsblawg]
“99 Cents Only Stores sued over price increase”
Although the company president says the California-based chain has “basically bombard[ed]” its customers with notifications about its price increase to 99.99 cents an item, class action lawyers say it’s unfair and misleading. [L.A. Times] One reader is reminded of the words of Lionel Hutz: “Mr. Simpson, this is the most blatant case of fraudulent advertising since my suit against the film, ‘The Never-Ending Story.’”
P.S. Orange County attorney Dan Callahan, described as having filed one of the suits, looks to be the same Daniel Callahan of Callahan and Blaine who has appeared in these columns twice before.
“Students Aren’t Allowed To Touch Real Rocks”
Lenore Skenazy at Forbes: “How the Consumer Product Safety Commission drives parents — and everyone else — crazy.” Besides the CPSIA rock-poster story of the headline (earlier), the CPSC has scared parents about not-very-terrifying Graco high chairs and Little Tykes workbenches, to say nothing of those McDonald’s Shrek glasses with traces of cadmium.
Related: the Federalist Society presents a podcast on CPSIA with CPSC commissioners Nancy Nord and Robert Adler; rules for making kids’ products recall the IRS code in complexity; the new public database of alleged product-related injuries, a la NHTSA’s, draws critical attention from manufacturers and CPSC commissioner Anne Northup; and the commission tackles the dangers of clacker balls.