“The threat of global warming is so great that campaigners were justified in causing more than £35,000 worth of damage to a coal-fired power station, a jury decided yesterday. In a verdict that will have shocked ministers and energy companies the jury at Maidstone Crown Court cleared six Greenpeace activists of criminal damage.” (Michael McCarthy, Independent (U.K.), Sept. 11).
Author Archive
Fall speaking: Chapel Hill Nov. 12 (and more?)
I haven’t been doing much traveling to speak over the past few years because of responsibilities close to home, but I’m planning a trip to the University of North Carolina on Wed., Nov. 12 to speak to the law school’s Federalist Society chapter. I might be able to combine it with another event the day before or after, presumably at some town or campus with direct flights to/from Raleigh/Durham. If you’re interested in hosting, let me know at editor – at – [this domain name] – dot – com.
Coughlin Stoia, AmLaw Daily and Prof. John Coffee, cont’d
Yesterday, updating a Tuesday post, I expressed some annoyance that AmLaw Daily’s coverage of the $688 million Enron fee award extensively quoted Columbia lawprof Jack Coffee in support of the fee’s fairness — even casting him as a “frequent class action critic” whose praise for the fee was more credible because “unlikely” — without informing readers that Prof. Coffee had in fact been hired by the plaintiff’s lawyers to support their fee application, a role he has served in earlier cases as well. Now the publication has “updated [the post] with new information” reflecting that relationship. Journalism professor Mark Obbie of Syracuse’s Carnegie Legal Reporting Program is kind enough to credit my criticism with making a difference.
“Obsessed with Lawsuits”
This network report on serial litigants seems to have trouble distinguishing those with a psychological need to be involved in litigation from those who approach it coolly as a business proposition. (Russell Goldman, ABC News, Jul. 31).
September 11 roundup
- It’s still not over: Judge Roy Pearson of lost-pants fame returns to court with appeal against Custom Cleaners owners, the Chung family [WJLA]
- Columbus cops’ class action: dept. shouldn’t have asked us what our ailments were when we took sick leave [Dispatch]
- Culture Warrior Jeff Bell hopes Palin will reverse trends that have “legitimated a contraceptive ethic” [Weekly Standard] Better not count on it [York, NRO “Corner”]
- RIAA has now filed 30,000 lawsuits against file-sharing music fans [Wired “Threat Level”, Ambrogi]
- Recently at Point of Law: Ohio’s Supreme Court in the balance this November; Biden vs. legal reform; guestblogging by Peggy Little and Jane Genova; Lilly Ledbetter at Democratic convention; big Peter Angelos cellphone-cancer case strikes out; call for Australian no-fault cerebral palsy fund; and more;
- Massachusetts high court ruling that docs can be sued over their patients’ medication-impaired behavior is predictably leading to new suits [Globe, Brockton hospital crash; earlier]
- What Alinsky-style “community organizers” do [York, NRO via Bookworm Room] “Organizers break laws if they have to.” [Thomas Geoghegan @ Slate — and he’s being admiring]
- California trial lawyers successfully gut original Schwarzenegger plan to reform award of punitive damages [four years ago on Overlawyered]
Now Twittering
Here. For the moment this is just a personal one; after I learn more about how it works I might try to get Overlawyered its own Twitter.
Speed governors, cont’d
We’ve occasionally warned about the up-and-coming idea of mandating that automobiles be fitted out with mechanical controls that would keep them from being driven faster than the authorities think is good for us, and sure enough, here’s an endorsement of the notion from Matthew Yglesias at Think Progress (via Hemingway, NRO “Corner”; see also Ezra Klein, American Prospect).
Bogus “Stella Awards” — at VC
Volokh contributor Paul Cassell is momentarily taken in by a whiskery email hoax, and the usual comments uproar ensues. Among ways of avoiding future embarrassment: check Snopes.com, Google key phrases of the suspect material, or just be a regular reader of Overlawyered.
Lawyer’s theft explained by irrational desire to save more
John Duncan, once a prominent attorney with the Maine firm of Verrill Dana, was disbarred and faces prison after theft and embezzlement from the law firm, overbilling of clients and tax evasion. “His lawyer, Toby Dilworth, said Duncan had an ‘irrational’ desire to save more, to provide his family with greater financial security,” though over the period in question Duncan’s household had more than a million dollars in assets and an annual income topping a quarter million. (Martha Neil, “Ex-Chair of Prominent Maine Firm Gets 2 Years in Tax Case”, ABA Journal, Sept. 5).
Do as we say dept.: Rep. Rangel on taxes
While the commentariat is gripped by discussion of whether Gov. Sarah Palin should have cut personal travel expenses only by 68 percent compared with her predecessor as Alaska’s chief executive, or by some higher amount, maybe it’s worth pausing a moment to note that the dean of New York’s Congressional delegation — and the most powerful figure in Congress in charge of tax legislation! — has just been caught not paying his taxes.
More: Turns out tax compliance is hard. Who knew?