We covered this legal malpractice claim last year, with particular attention to the defendant law firm’s argument that it didn’t matter whether the case was handled flawlessly since it was obviously low on merit in the first place. Now a New York appellate court has reversed the trial court and dismissed the action on other grounds. (Scott Kreppein, Sept. 17).
Author Archive
Microblog for 2008-09-21
- Seems they’re a fragile bunch: 97% of LIRR employees “disabled” on retirement [New York Times investigation] #
- Lawsuit-proofing the bailout? Very sweeping immunity language in new bill [Gryphon, Point of Law] #
- Superior alternatives to the bailout? [Mallaby, WaPo] #
- “[L.A.] Times veterans should not be suing Zell. They should be suing themselves.” [Jeff Jarvis, earlier] #
- Jones Day gets bad publicity in hometown over blog-muzzling lawsuit [Cleveland Plain Dealer; earlier here and here] #
- Cool origami [MIT contest] #
Missouri hospitals’ tobacco-recoupment suit
Around the country, courts have thrown out suit after suit by private hospitals, health insurers and benefit funds seeking to tag tobacco companies with the cost of smokers’ illnesses. A suit on behalf of various Missouri hospitals still hasn’t flickered out and is being litigated expensively, with Richard Daynard’s Northeastern University-based Tobacco Product Liability Project doing its customary cheerleading. (Heather Ratcliffe, “Hospitals’ suit against tobacco industry is large in every dimension”, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Sept. 15).
Twitter for 2008-09-20
- I editorialize against state (anti-gay) marriage amendments [Overlawyered] #
- Wonderful hi-resolution historical photo site [Shorpy] #
- For my inner chemgeek [U. Notts “Periodic Table of Videos”] thanks @lilyhill #
- Thanks Laurie @halosecretarial for suggesting Twitterfeed for my blogs, seems to work perfectly #
- Sea shanties Pandora channel thanks @gwachob [my channels] #
- Japanese schoolgirl craze for virtual boyfriends thanks @TechCrunch #
- Ladies Nights at bars a civil rights violation? [Overlawyered] #
Ladies’ Nights at bars, cont’d
Steve Chapman talks some common sense on sex-discrimination lawsuits filed by purportedly offended men, a perennial topic at this site, and many commenters @ Volokh chime in (syndicated/Reason, Sept. 18; Somin @ Volokh).
“Metrolink Train Accident Attorney Lawyer Los Angeles”
It doesn’t actually hang together as a phrase, but it does contain plenty of promising keywords for lawyers trolling for business from the fatal commuter wreck north of Los Angeles, so it rates highly on Google. (Kevin O’Keefe, Sept. 19).
Twitter for 2008-09-19
- Sarah Palin Baby Name Generator; mine is Pie Gallon Palin. #
- McCain assails SEC’s Cox, but Bainbridge is going with Cox; #
- Yes, racial profiling figures into use of peremptory challenges [Sommers, Psychology Today via Deliberations] #
- SEC’s net capital rule waivers to blame for credit blowup? [NYSun] #
- NY Observer’s Doonan cool to Palin eyeglass craze; #
- Business lobbies went along with expansion of ADA litigant categories [Point of Law] #
- @teafortillerman I think “trough gutted palin” is the best I’ve seen yet #
- Don’t blame Gramm-Leach-Bliley for housing bubble [MargRev] #
- Experimentally incorporating Twitter into Overlawyered; #
- @kevinokeefe I’m using Firefox and “follow” button on Twitter fails until I refresh. #
- PR firm retracts Tweet that sought to scare up class action plaintiffs [O’Keefe] #
Lawyers and White House nominations
It seems from the numbers that in recent decades the Democrats have tended to nominate lawyers for President and Vice President, and that the Republicans have tended not to. (Volokh, Sept. 18).
Did I say anything about punitive damages?
If it’s going to put me in danger of removal from state to federal court, I guess it must have just been a typo. An Arkansas federal court bought the argument. (CAFA Law Blog, Sept. 18).
State marriage amendments: thumbs down
This November, voters in California, Arizona and Florida will decide on proposals to amend their state constitutions to include permanent bans on same-sex marriage. A new Field poll indicates that California voters are leaning heavily against that state’s Proposition 8 by a 38 to 55 percent margin, almost double the margin by which the measure was failing in July, despite an intensive “pro” campaign by conservative religious forces. A recent Quinnipiac poll in Florida shows the amendment there still in the lead, but not by the 60 percent majority needed to pass a constitutional change under that state’s law. Arizona voters rejected a ballot measure of this sort two years ago, and opponents have high hopes of defeating it again.
I’ve editorialized repeatedly against these measures in this space and will repeat some of what I wrote four years ago Read On…