“The suit [by a Florida man against the Winn-Dixie supermarket chain and a flower importer] states the roses should have been stripped of their thorns and the stems should have been wrapped more carefully.” [UPI]
Archive for 2011
New TV legal drama’s protagonist: a mediator
“It’s refreshing to find a show that can demonstrate to litigation-happy America that it’s possible, even desirable, to amicably resolve disputes without going to court.” [Radley Balko, Reason, on USA Network’s “Fairly Legal”] More: Abnormal Use interview with show creator Michael Sardo (via its update).
“Due Process Stops at the Campus Gates?”
My Cato colleague Ilya Shapiro on the Obama Education Department’s unsettling insistence that colleges and universities, on pain of losing federal dollars, pare back the due process accorded to those accused of sexual misconduct. [Cato at Liberty]
Plus: earlier on Yale’s submissive reaction to Title IX complaint and suspension of a fraternity. More: “hostile environment” Title IX complaints leveled against other schools as well; Cathy Young on campus sexual assault numbers.
New Jersey schools: pulling another Abbott from the hat
New at Cato: I blast a weak NYT editorial, and explain how school finance litigation exemplifies the phenomenon some have nicknamed The Permanent Government. More on Abbott v. Burke here.
June 2 roundup
- “Italian Seismologists Charged With Manslaughter for Not Predicting 2009 Quake” [Fox, earlier]
- “With context in place, it appears the WHO isn’t saying cell phones are dangerous” [BoingBoing, Atlantic Wire, Orac]
- Wrongful convictions and how they happen — new book “Convicting the Innocent” by Brandon Garrett [Jeff Rosen, NY Times]
- SEC to Dodd-Frank whistleblowers: no need to go through company’s internal complaint route [D&O Diary, WSJ Law Blog]
- “British Press Laws Facing Twitter Challenge” [AW]
- Despite legislated damages cap, jackpot awards continue in Mississippi [Jackson Clarion-Ledger] More problems with that $322 million Mississippi asbestosis verdict [PoL, earlier]
- Golf club erects large net to comply with legal demands to prevent escape of errant balls, is promptly sued by neighbors who consider net too ugly [five years ago on Overlawyered]
Why U-Haul won’t rent trailers for Ford Explorers
“Every time we go to hire an attorney to defend a lawsuit, as soon as we say ‘Ford Explorer,’ they charge us more money,” explains a company spokeswoman. Today’s Explorer is based on a design entirely different from the model that attracted rollover litigation in the 1990s, which doesn’t seem to matter. [Edward Niedermeyer, Truth About Cars]
Copycat reality-TV shows
At what point if ever do they rise to the level of legal infringement? [Matthew Belloni, THREsq.]
June 1 roundup
- More views on California prisoner release: Steve Chapman (California can incarcerate less and be safer), John Eastman/City Journal (state’s pols share blame for conditions), Sarah Hart, FedSoc SCOTUScast (sharing dissenters’ foreboding). Earlier here and here;
- Stephen Carter, “Economic Stagnation Explained, at 30,000 Feet” [Bloomberg/RCP]
- Long-running legal campaign aimed at blocking new coal-fired power plants [Conn Carroll, Examiner]
- Unconsciously? “We hope it sends a message that if you … unconsciously ignore the law, you could go to jail.” [WSJ Law Blog on prosecution of executive following pool drain entrapment death]
- Following outcry: “Disney withdraws application to trademark ‘SEAL Team 6′” [AP, earlier]
- More fact-checking of Scott Horton Guantanamo Harper’s article mysteriously awarded prize by ASME [Alex Koppelman/AdWeek, Joe Carter/First Things, Jack Shafer/Slate (citing “slipperiness and many flights of illogic”), FishBowlNY, Politico, Noah Davis/Business Insider, Cutline, earlier] Horton is a lecturer at Columbia Law and his piece drew on work done at Seton Hall Law. More: defense of Horton at leftist TruthOut site;
- Germans hesitate to join nanny-state parade [four years ago on Overlawyered]
“Media industry awash in cease-and-desist letters”
“Spin magazine slapped Eric Rice, a Portland, Oregon Twitter user, with a cease-and-desist over his ‘@Spin‘ Twitter handle…. Spin, however, may just be following the precedent set by other magazines. Entrepreneur, for one, is notorious for bullying small businesses that use the word ‘entrepreneur,’ a term that the magazine claims to own.” [Dylan Stableford, Yahoo Cutline]
“Lawsuit blames Tampa Electric for teen’s fall from pole”
“Was it a lack of common sense or utility company negligence that prompted a 16-year-old boy to climb a power pole, get shocked and fall 35 feet and into paralysis?” [St. Petersburg Times] Earlier zapped pylon-climbers here, here (also a Tampa Electric case), and here.