- There are “almost certainly” many innocent persons in prison today wrongly convicted of shaking a baby to death [Radley Balko, Reason] Harris County, Texas forensic examiner under scrutiny [same, Reason “Hit and Run”] L.A. Times on forensics reform [same]
- Feds order large private insurer Humana to pull criticisms of Obama health plan from its website [David Henderson, Eugene Volokh and followup]
- Why would anyone market lawyers’ services through blog comment spam? Especially at Popehat? [first and second posts]
- “Revolving door” for officials of regulatory agencies tends to lead to law firms [Naked Capitalism]
- Tenure trouble: teacher’s union head “would protect a dead body in the classroom” [Ron Bailey, Reason on Brill “Rubber Room” article, earlier]
- Google asked to unmask user in another defamation suit (Turks & Caicos developer) [Brian Kumnick, FindLaw “Injured”]
- “Fired Ave Maria Law Prof Gets Tenure in Whistle-Blower Settlement, Lawyer Says” [ABA Journal, background Washington Monthly]
- Ted Frank on Ameritrade settlement [Center for Class Action Fairness, earlier]
Author Archive
Judge orders shared dog custody
A New Jersey couple who never married fought for three years over custody of Dexter the pug. Now they can look forward to having not only the canine in question, but also lawyers, in both of their lives for the indefinite future. [Gloucester County Times, Philadelphia Inquirer]
“Zurich hospital turns away US health tourists”
“Zurich University Hospital has stopped treating North American ‘medical tourists’, fearing million-dollar claims from litigious patients if operations go wrong. Hospitals in canton Valais have also adopted measures to protect themselves against visitors from the United States, Canada and Britain.” [Swissinfo.ch via Mark Perry and Coyote]
“New Allegations About Fred Baron’s Role in Edwards Deception”
A book proposal by former John Edwards aide Andrew Young is sensationally said to allege “that Edwards asked [the late asbestos-suit impresario] Baron if he could find a doctor who would falsify a DNA report.” [New York Times via (quoted) AmLaw Litigation Daily] Now where would anyone have gotten the impression that Baron was a good person to talk to if you wanted to misrepresent medical facts about someone?
How class actions get invented
Sean Wajert on a class action filed against Bayer:
Plaintiffs are consumers who claim to have purchased Bayer combination aspirin and dietary supplement products. They do not claim that they were injured by these products or that the products were ineffective. Instead, plaintiffs seek damages because they say they would not have purchased these products if they had known that Bayer, instead of submitting a New Drug Application (“NDA”) for each of these combination products, relied on the preexisting separate regulatory review of aspirin and the supplements.
More: Ron Miller.
Unpaid interns who need to be paid
Mark Cuban is taken aback at the federal rules [via HR Capitalist]
EEOC sues Abercrombie & Fitch
The clothing chain, famed for its hormone-saturated atmosphere, is being sued by the feds on behalf of a Muslim teenager whom it allegedly refused to hire because of her insistence on wearing a modest hijab headscarf, modesty being arguably incompatible with Abercrombie’s image. [EEOC press release via Ohio Employer’s Law]
September 21 roundup
- Lawyer blames “fine print” for overstepping solicitation rule on Buffalo air-crash victims [NJLJ, New Jersey Lawsuit Reform Watch]
- “Music Industry Takes Aim at Publishers of Online Lyrics” [ABA Journal]
- Prosecuting energy producers when their operations accidentally kill birds? Well, sometimes [WSJ Law Blog, Stossel, Adler at Volokh]
- Ninth Circuit rejects “litigation factory” approach to CAN-SPAM enforcement [California Civil Justice, Spam Notes]
- The semantics of saying “illegal” vs. “undocumented” alien [Volokh]
- “The crime of passing through town without an adequate explanation” [Freeland, Mississippi, on MotorhomeDiaries.com case]
- Report vague suspicion of child abuse, or not? Trust your instincts, says a public service ad. Bad advice [Free Range Kids, Common Room]
- “Plaintiff on Troll Tracker: ‘Let’s Get This [Blog] Shut Down'” [Mullin, IP Law & Business, earlier] More: SE Texas Record.
Straight talk in medical reports
Throckmorton is losing patience with pathology and radiology reports that hedge and dodge instead of laying things out straight:
Oh, I miss the days when you got a radiology report that said, “fracture right 3rd rib, no pneumothorax”. Because of frivolous lawsuits radiologists have learned to be vague, noncommittal and to pass the buck of possible litigation. So now you get a 2 page report that says “linear lucency in right 3rd rib, clinical correlation recommended, underinflated lung fields cannot exclude underlying interstitial disease and or masses. CT recommended for further evaluation, if condition warrants.” along with several other paragraphs of lawyer imposed legalmedspeak….
Reader Phil Grossman
Many will know the name of Phil Grossman, from Boston, as a frequent commenter here, but his assistance to the site went much beyond that. No reader had a sharper eye for good stories, and I think more posts over the years were based on his links than on anyone else’s. Often his news tips would arrive accompanied by his consistently thoughtful analysis of what the stories meant on a deeper level and how the system might be reformed to do better next time. Time after time, his emails would brighten my writing day with their wit, intelligence, and sympathetic wisdom.
Now Eric Grossman writes to report his father’s death. I can well imagine the gap that must be left in his family with his passing, and extend my heartfelt personal sympathies to those he leaves behind.