- Jack Thompson, call your office: FBI search turns up no evidence Virginia Tech killer owned or played videogames [Monsters and Critics]
- How many zeroes was that? Bank of America threatens ABN Amro with $220 billion suit if it reneges on deal to sell Chicago’s LaSalle Bank [Times (U.K.), Consumerist]
- Chuck Colson will be disappointed, but the rule of law wins: Supreme Court declines to intervene in Miller-Jenkins (Vermont-Virginia lesbian custody) dispute [AP; see Mar. 2 and many earlier posts]
- Oklahoma legislature passes, but governor vetoes, comprehensive liability-reform bill [Point of Law first, second, third posts]
- Good primer on California’s much-abused Prop 65 right-to-know toxics law [CalBizLit via Ted @ PoL]
- “Defensive psychiatry” and the pressure to hospitalize persons who talk of suicide [Intueri]
- Among the many other reasons not to admire RFK Jr., there’s his wind-farm hypocrisy [Mac Johnson, Energy Tribune]
- “Screed-O-Matic” simulates nastygrams dashed off by busy Hollywood lawyer Martin Singer [Portfolio]
- “Liability, health issues” cited as Carmel, Ind. officials plan to eject companion dogs from special-needs program, though no parents have complained [Indpls. Star; similar 1999 story from Ohio]
- First glimmerings of Sen. John Edwards’s national ambitions [five years ago on Overlawyered]
Author Archive
Canada: “Crook wins damages for injury during theft”
“A Canadian man who admitted shoplifting C$106 in razor blades has been awarded C$12,000 ($10,645) for injuries he suffered when he was tackled by store security guards. … [Daniel] Baines, who represented himself, said employees of the supermarket in a Vancouver suburb used unreasonable force when he struggled during his capture.” (Reuters, Apr. 20). Which suggests once again that Canada has still not “Americanized” its litigation system in any thoroughgoing way: how unlikely is it that a suit in a large American city by an injured-while-struggling thief, if successful, would result in an award as modest as $10,645? More: compare Jun. 13, 2006 (Rochester, N.Y. case).
“When someone runs out of gasoline or money…”
B.J. Khalifah of Grosse Pointe, Mich., who had a letter to the editor in the WSJ last week, takes a view of the litigation process that makes even ours look relatively upbeat (WSJ Law Blog, Apr. 24).
Willie Gary asks for moon, gets 1/4 moon
As David noted the other day, Florida attorney Willie Gary, whose doings are often mentioned on this site, had asked that a court award fees of $11,000 an hour for his work in a trade secrets suit against Motorola. Readers may be interested in the sequel: Circuit Judge Leroy Moe awarded Gary and other lawyers only around a quarter of their request, amounting to $23 million of the asked-for $96 million in fees and costs. The judge also passed over a request that Motorola be hit with $100 millions in sanctions and restitution, though Gary might be able to obtain further consideration of that request. (Adrian Sainz, “Motorola ordered to pay $22.9 million”, AP/Miami Herald, Apr. 20)(via Ashby Jones, WSJ Law Blog).
In case you wondered
I am decidedly male (as ascertained by this test applied to a couple of my recent columns). See Dale Carpenter @ Volokh, Apr. 27, who finds that some other well-known writers aren’t the genders you might expect them to be.
Illegal Easter treats, and New Orleans King Cakes
Elsewhere around the world Ferrero Group, the Italian candy company, sells (with a suitable warning label) a treat called Kinder Surprise which consists of chocolate surrounding a small toy. However, the product is said to be illegal for sale in the United States: according to Donald Mays of Consumer Reports, “a nonfood item cannot be imbedded in a food product” under a law dating back to the 1930s. (“Choking-Hazard Easter Eggs Appear On Store Shelves”, WNBC, Apr. 5). If accurate, this would help explain something we’ve noted a couple of times in earlier posts (Feb. 1, 2002, Jan. 18, 2007), namely that store-bought Mardi Gras King Cakes do not have the little figurine baked into their batter that is found in the more authentic New Orleans versions.
Jack Thompson sues Gawker Media
The anti-game attorney cites reader comments on the Gawker site Kotaku that he considers personally threatening. (GamePolitics.com, Apr. 25; Kotaku, Apr. 23; earlier Kotaku post). Mark Methinitis at Law of the Game says that in his view the complaint “falls well beyond the norm of complaint drafting and more into the realm of a self-promoting tirade” (Apr. 25).
Saw sex book by mistake; $10K apiece demanded
In Bentonville, Arkansas, Earl Adams says his two teenage boys, ages 14 and 16, were perusing the local library shelves when they accidentally ran across a copy of “The Whole Lesbian Sex Book”, for which traumatization they deserve $10,000 apiece. It happened, Adams said, while they were browsing for material on military academies (titter ye not!) and the shock to their sensibilities from exposure to the “immoral” volume resulted in the boys being “greatly disturbed” and undergoing “many sleepless nights in our house.” According to the Washington Post, Library Journal has deemed the sex guide by Felice Newman suitable for public libraries. (Emil Steiner, “Off/Beat: Arkansas Dad Sues Library Over Lesbian Book”, Washington Post, Apr. 25; “Father Says Sons Traumatized By Lesbian Library Book”, 365gay.com, Apr. 20).
Update: Speechless in Seattle
Free speech survives intact: the Washington Supreme Court has unanimously ruled that radio talk show hosts’ urging of listeners to support a ballot measure does not constitute a “contribution” to the yes side for purposes of mandatory reporting under campaign finance law. (Ryan Sager, New York Sun blog, Apr. 26). We covered the charges against KVI hosts Kirby Wilbur and John Carlson Jul. 11 and Jul. 19, 2005. Eugene Volokh has extensive coverage of the new decision. A concurring opinion by Justice James M. Johnson, joined by Justice Richard B. Sanders, terms the enforcement a case of “abusive prosecution”. More: Michelle Malkin; John Fund, OpinionJournal.com, Apr. 30.
Edwards war chest
Strong fund-raising helps keep the North Carolinian a credible Democratic alternative; AP cites in particular the generosity of the lawyers at Lerach Coughlin (Jim Kuhnhenn, “Clinton reports $24 mil in the bank, trails Obama in primary donations”, AP/DeKalb, Ill., Daily Chronicle, Apr. 16).