From the United Kingdom: “A devout Christian who said an accident at work boosted his libido and wrecked his marriage as he turned to prostitutes and pornography was awarded more than 3 million pounds in damages [last month]. Stephen Tame, 29, from Suffolk, suffered severe head injuries in a fall, transforming him from a loyal newlywed into a ‘disinhibited’ character who had two affairs.” (Reuters, Dec. 19; Rajeev Syal, “Man whose head injury inflamed his sex drive wins £3.2m payout”, Times Online, Dec. 20; Kathryn Lister, “£3m compo for sex mad hubby”, The Sun, Dec. 20).
Author Archive
“Best Blawg Theme”
Overlawyered has been accorded that honor in the Blawg Review 2006 Awards. Thanks! The latest (#89) edition of Blawg Review, incidentally, is here.
Thanks to guestbloggers
My sincerest thanks to all three of the guestbloggers who (along with Ted) have kept things lively over the past two weeks: George M. Wallace, whose work you can follow at Declarations and Exclusions and A Fool in the Forest; Kevin Underhill of Lowering the Bar; and Skip Oliva of the Voluntary Trade Blog. Well done! I also notice that the comments section has been humming along busily. I should go away more often.
Nintendo Wii wrist strap class action
Nintendo has already begun shipping a stronger strap and has offered free replacements to those who bought the hit game with the original strap, but that didn’t save it from a would-be class action suit filed by the law firm of Green Welling LLP, claiming to represent all buyers of the device. (Marcus Yam, “Lawsuit Filed Against Nintendo For Defective Wrist Straps”, DailyTech, Dec. 20; Consumerist, Dec. 20; Eric Bangeman, “Nintendo sued over Wiimote straps”, ArsTechnica, Dec. 19). ArsTechnica previously published a three-part series on class actions and problems with their workings, with an emphasis on tech cases (Nate Anderson, “A look at class-action lawsuits”, May 2).
“Blaming cars in California”
Steve Chapman on attorney general Lockyer’s suit against automakers for facilitating carbon emissions:
So serious is the harm from this conduct that Lockyer wants automakers to … keep doing it. The usual remedy for a public nuisance–say, someone in a residential neighborhood holding raucous parties every night till dawn, or letting vicious dogs run loose–is to stop it. But the state doesn’t propose that they quit selling their products to Californians or switch to zero-emission cars. Instead, it asks the manufacturers to turn over large sums of money while continuing to commit their terrible wrongs.
That should be a clue to something Lockyer passes over: While cars may have drawbacks, they also have benefits, and most people would not be willing to give up those benefits or pay a lot more to enjoy them. That combination of virtues and vices makes autos well-suited to regulations reflecting a democratic consensus, and a poor candidate for control by the courts.
Read the whole thing (Chicago Tribune, Dec. 21).
Teri Smith Tyler v. Carter, pro se
Reader Victor Serby writes, regarding the recent discussion here of baseless pro se suits: “This is the pro se suit that I think takes the cake. It is an oldie, but a goodie. The cite is: 151 F.R.D. 537 (SDNY 1993)”.
“Martha Stewart’s Legal Troubles”
That’s the title of a newly published book edited by lawprof Joan Heminway, featured in this podcast from Glenn and Helen Reynolds. I haven’t had a chance to see the book itself, but I do like its cover art.
Duke lacrosse prosecution scandal
Letter to the editor, WSJ
Today’s WSJ (sub-only) carries a letter from senior fellow Maureen Martin of Chicago’s Heartland Institute mentioning this site, and quoting from Greg Dwyer’s “letter from a new father” of Nov. 14, all in the course of arguing that a backlash may be afoot against the new food nannyism typified by Mayor Bloomberg’s trans fat ban.
Newspaper owner: remove that window sign or else
Highlights Hair Salon owner Eric Zahm sympathized with workers seeking to form a union at the Santa Barbara News-Press, so he put a sign in his window reading “McCaw Obey the Law”, referring to the paper’s owner, Wendy McCaw. Next thing you know, McCaw’s lawyer, Barry Cappello, fired off a letter to Zahm threatening “appropriate action” if the sign were not taken down, on the grounds that the sign’s message exposed his client to “hatred, contempt and ridicule.” Zahm caved in for fear of a suit and took down the sign. So much for the notion that all newspaper magnates are devotees of freedom of speech (Matt Cota, “Santa Barbara News-Press Owner Threatens Hair Stylist Over Sign”, KSBY, Dec. 15).
More: In the comments, reader “imafish” alerts us to another lawsuit in which Ampersand Publishing LLC, which publishes the News-Press, has sued reporter Susan Paterno, claiming that an article she wrote about the newspaper in the American Journalism Review was a “biased, false and misleading diatribe”; charging her with libel and product disparagement, it asks unspecified compensatory and punitive damages. (Greg Risling, “Publisher Sues Reporter Over Story”, AP/Newsday, Dec. 19).