“In a strange twist to Britain’s newest terrorism scare, a regional police force admitted Monday that it had sent officers for ‘diversity training’ to an Islamic school that the police searched Sunday as part of a crackdown on jihadist recruiters and trainers. In a statement, the Sussex police said the Jameah Islameah school south of London ‘has been used by officers and staff undergoing advanced training for their role as diversity trainers to the rest of the work force.'” (Alan Cowell, “British School, Searched in Inquiry, Was Used to Train Police”, New York Times, Sept. 5).
Author Archive
CNBC “Morning Call” today
I’m scheduled to be a guest this morning at 11:45 Eastern Time on CNBC’s “Morning Call“, discussing the possibilities that employers will get sued over their employees’ “BlackBerry addiction“. I’ll be arguing that such suits are unlikely to get anywhere if filed.
“Juror took loans from plaintiff in Texas Vioxx case”
Merck wants Leonel Garza’s $13 million verdict reviewed. (AP/Boston Globe, Sept. 1). For other doubts about the case, see Ted’s post of Apr. 23 and Point of Law coverage here.
Billing fraud at a major law firm?
No, that couldn’t possibly be true. There must be some error in the report. (WSJ law blog, Aug. 30; Nathan Koppel, “Lawyer’s Charge Opens Window On Bill Padding”, Wall Street Journal, Aug. 30 ($); Stephen Bainbridge, Aug. 30; Carolyn Elefant, Aug. 31; Matthew Farmer (ex-Holland & Knight) letter to judge in PDF format).
U.K.: “Inmate sues for falling from bunk”
A prisoner at Bullingdon near Bicester, Oxfordshire, “is suing the Prison Service after he cut himself falling from the top bunk in his cell”. The inmate told a prisoners’ magazine that bunk beds were “an accident waiting to happen”. (BBC, Aug. 27). As Ted noted Aug. 16, a New Jersey appeals court recently overturned a jury verdict awarded to a student who fell from a loft bed, ruling the dangers obvious.
“Ben, take off your clown suit for a minute”
Larry Ribstein has some advice for Times business columnist and not always intentional comedian Ben Stein (Sept. 3).
“Helping Christians who’ve been injured”
Thus reads the advertising tagline of Colorado Springs law firm McCormack & Murphy P.C. Shrewd marketing? Disturbingly exclusionary? A manifestation of sincere religious conviction? All of these? (David Lat, Above the Law, Aug. 31, who got it from Parenthetical Statement).
Oops
Posted on a case Ted had already covered last month. This is the replacement post. My mistake. Sorry!
Motley Rice and its 9/11 cases
September 11 litigation as an industry, courtesy of the asbestos/tobacco zillionaires from South Carolina:
While other lawyers have resolved most or all of their cases — at least 32 of the roughly 90 total lawsuits have settled — Motley Rice has settled only three. …According to several lawyers and plaintiffs in the case, Motley Rice has made unusually high settlement demands, often 5 to 10 times higher than similar plane crash cases. The higher demands stem from Motley’s calculations for what it calls “terror damages” — compensation for the amount of time frightened victims knew they were fated to die — of between $750,000 and $1 million a minute, according to those lawyers and clients, who requested that their names not be used because the settlement process is confidential.
The story deserves a place in the “Not About The Money” files because client after client informs the Boston Globe that their litigation stance is entirely unrelated to that disdained cash nexus; presumably it’s just happenstance that they have wound up represented by lawyers who are making monetary recovery a very high priority indeed. Somehow one is reminded of the character in Flannery O’Connor: “Mrs. Hopewell had no bad qualities of her own but she was able to use other people’s in such a constructive way that she never felt the lack.” (via Lattman)(cross-posted from Point of Law).
American Hunters and Shooters Association
The New Republic, like the Washington Monthly before it, is hyping this newly hatched groupuscule which aims to woo gun owners into an anti-NRA coalition. Trouble is, it’s a bit of an uphill slog convincing people you’re all for private gun ownership when your executive director played an active role on the plaintiff’s side in the lawsuit campaign against the firearms industry (see Jun. 29). (Michael Blanding, “Gun crazy”, The New Republic, Sept. 4). Cam Edwards has the details (Aug. 30).