Reasonable foreseeability? “A woman has won nearly $240,000 compensation from RailCorp after a judge ruled she was raped because she had broken her ankle weeks earlier at a Sydney railway station. RailCorp was found responsible for the woman’s rape at a private home, because she could not escape with her leg in plaster, and for her subsequent depression.” (Geesche Jacobsen, “A fall, a rape – and $240,000”, Sydney Morning Herald, Apr. 26).
Author Archive
April 25 roundup
- More on that Edwardsville, Ill. Pizza Hut door-swing case and its attorney-complainant [Madison County Record; earlier]
- Workers at U.K. health and safety agency told not to move chairs in the office, they might hurt themselves [Daily Mail via Nobody’s Business]
- Lawyer who hoped for $25 million will appeal arbitrator’s ruling awarding him only a solitary buck ($1.00) for “redundant and unnecessary” work on San Diego pension crisis [Lattman]
- New at Point of Law: Ted on Sen. Fred Thompson, Oklahoma enacts liability reform, RFK Jr. as mass-tort tout, birthing balls, and much more;
- Title IX from outer space: now it’s Virginia’s James Madison U. axeing teams [USA Today; more]
- Westchester County, N.Y. dominatrix sues police dept., saying media frenzy dashed her hopes of Wall Street career [Journal-News; more on attorney Ravi Batra]
- Parodists, retire now: ex-N.J. governor McGreevey, disgraced after hiring unqualified paramour for key safety post, appointed to teach course on ethics [Orac]
- “School choice, but only for the most irritating parents” [Coyote on Supreme Court’s pending special-ed case; more]
- Will tainted-pet-food episode give lawyers their long-sought breakthrough on loss-of-companionship, other intangible damages for animal injury? [NLJ; earlier]
- Disgruntled former partner withdraws charge of impropriety over Oz breast implant fees [The Australian; Aust. Prof. Liab. Blog; earlier]
- Dr. who delivered Illinois Gov. Blagojevich’s daughter throws in the towel [three years ago on Overlawyered]
Attention: inventors of new religions
If you believe you are called to don unique garb and headgear to reflect your evolving spiritual quest, you may find it harder to keep your job at the nation’s best-known mass-market retailer. “Wal-Mart’s attorney declined comment, but in legal pleadings the company said the Universal Belief System isn’t a bona fide religion and that it fired [Daniel A.] Lorenz because of provocations he initiated under the guise of protected religious expression. … Lorenz was seen outside work in secular clothing, Wal-Mart’s pleadings said.” A federal district judge granted the store a summary judgment, which Lorenz is appealing. (Zeke MacCormack, “Plaintiff in headdress doesn’t win over judge”, San Antonio Express-News, Apr. 9; “Wal-Mart employee’s attire gets him fired”, Mar. 8, 2004).
Champerty watch: “Patent Pirates”
“Hedge funds and institutional investors are financing the latest wave of IP lawsuits. … Says Daniel McCurdy, a patent consultant in Warren, N.J., ‘They are the arms merchants in the new patent wars.'” (Nathan Vardi, Forbes, May 7). For more on champerty, a former offense at common law which consisted of financing the prosecution of a lawsuit in exchange for a share of the proceeds, follow this link.
Door-inserted newspaper delivery
The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel explains that it’s discontinuing the practice because stepping onto porches and placing the paper behind the screen is just too dangerous, at least legally:
…A more critical reason for the new delivery policy is to insure distributor safety and to protect our subscribers from liability issues. Should an Independent News Distributor become injured while delivering on your property, you, as the homeowner are legally liable for damages. One of the major reasons Journal Sentinel is moving to doorstep delivery is to avoid this situation for both our customers and our distributors. …
Sincerely,
Sheila Davidson
[Vice President/Circulation]
(Romenesko, Apr. 23).
U.K.: Maypole fetes and village greens
By recognizing its own limitations, a judicial system can assist in welcoming in the Spring:
The traditional English village fete received the backing of senior judges [last month] after they threw out a £150,000 damages claim made by a woman who broke her leg in a hole left by a maypole.
The Court of Appeal heard that villagers must be allowed to uphold their centuries-old celebrations without worrying that they will be sued if accidents happen.
Lord Justice Scott Baker said: “If the courts were to set a higher standard of care than what is reasonable, the consequences would quickly be felt.
“There would be no fetes, no maypole dancing and no activities that have come to be a part of the English village green for fear of what might go wrong.”
(Martin Beckford, ” Legal victory for village fetes and maypoles”, Daily Telegraph, Mar. 2).
Don’t
More things you really shouldn’t do if you’re a lawyer:
- While having an affair with a married client, draft a will for him in which he leaves you nearly $5 million from his estate (Orange County, N.Y. estate lawyer Michele Okin, already disbarred over unrelated client fraud; a judge threw out the will)(New York Law Journal)
- Hire a thug to rough up clients who owe you money (former Winnipeg immigration lawyer Ingrid Chen, sentenced to 18 months behind bars)(CBC)(more at Legal Juice)
- Serve as straw man for a 3,000-client bogus accident ring (now-disbarred Solomon Kaplan, convicted in New York of witness tampering and making false statements to an FBI agent, though the Second Circuit vacated his insurance fraud convictions on account of judicial error)(New York Law Journal)
“Rabid”, “animal” — in the good sense?
Curious passage in a Law.com profile of federal prosecutor Michael Wang:
“Mike is just different,” said an assistant U.S. Attorney who has known him for years. “If anything, he tends toward the rabid. I like him.”
An admiring defense lawyer concurred: “He’s an animal.”
(Justin Scheck, “Corporate Crime Prosecutor Plays Hard”, The Recorder, Apr. 13).
“Don’t go to law school…”
“…unless you want to be a lawyer.”
reason: That would thin the herd pretty quickly, wouldn’t it?
Rauch: Yeah, it sure would.
— Jonathan Rauch, interviewed by Nick Gillespie in the new Reason (“The Radical Incrementalist”, Apr. 20).
New Times column — the costs of health privacy
My new column in the Times (U.K.) is on the many costs of HIPAA, the federal law which even now prevents institutions from releasing the Virginia Tech psychopath’s health records (privacy rights extend after death) and played a notable role (along with the Buckley Amendment/FERPA) in restricting the chances for relevant actors to compare notes on his symptoms of madness before it was too late (Walter Olson, “Could less rigid privacy laws have prevented the Virginia tragedy?”, Apr. 20).
More: Dr. Wes has some additional HIPAA thoughts, as does Jeff Drummond at HIPAA Blog.