John Stossel revisits two of the high points in EEOC history, its crusades against sex imbalances in the Hooters restaurant waitstaff and Sears hardware departments (“When sexism claims are a real hoot”, syndicated/TownHall, Jun. 28).
Author Archive
Craigslist classifieds suit
Google, Amazon, AOL and Yahoo are all defending Craigslist in the suit demanding that it censor its housing ads so as to prevent users from requesting “gay Latino sought for roomshare” and the like (Lynne Marek, “Online Peers Stand Up for Craigslist in Lawsuit”, National Law Journal, Jun. 28). Earlier coverage: Aug. 10, 2005; Feb. 9, Feb. 20, Mar. 6, 2006. Craigslist’s defense, by CEO Jim Buckmaster, is here.
New column — Times Online
I’m pleased to announce that I’ve begun a new periodic gig as a columnist on American law for the online Times (the London-based one). My first effort examines the possibility, discussed in this space recently, that fans of Barbra Streisand might file a class-action lawsuit against the singing legend because she is again doing a concert tour years after a tour that was supposed to be her farewell. (Walter Olson, “The long, long, long goodbye”, The Times Online, Jun. 27).
Incidentally, British readers visiting this site for the first time will find an archive of UK-related material here.
Memo to campaign consultants
If you’re running someone for Congress and he wants to make an issue out of his support for litigation reform — even if, or especially if, he’s actually shown a willingness to support such reform as a state legislator — it’s probably best if his own law firm doesn’t have a full-page “We get results!” ad in the Yellow Pages inviting victims of “slip and fall injuries, medical negligence … dog-bite injuries, wrongful death [and] defective products” to “put our experience to work for you. … No fee unless you collect.” (Eric Zorn, “Candidate’s reform talk may be adding insult to injury”, Chicago Tribune, Jun. 22).
Miscellaneous personal tech note
I’ve finally replaced my aging PC with an iMac and am in the midst of the transition now — apologies for some email delays that have resulted. Mac’s native browser, Safari, doesn’t play well with Movable Type so I’m sticking with Firefox. I’m a complete newcomer to the iMac, so feel free to send useful tips about getting the most from it.
IP protection for recipes
Peter Lattman and the WSJ have a roundup (Jun. 26).
“…And there’s a thousand more in this state that do it”
One crooked Pennsylvania lawyer disbarred and, by his own account at least, 1,000 more to go:
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has ordered the disbarment of a Philadelphia attorney who served time in prison after pleading guilty to charges he defrauded a slew of insurers on behalf of personal injury plaintiffs who in reality had not needed medical attention.
During a disciplinary hearing Michael Radbill suggested that the practice of representing clients who are “not really injured” is endemic across the state, according to the report from the Supreme Court’s Disciplinary Board.
He also indicated that over the course of a 30-year career, 80 percent of his practice had been centered on the representation of uninjured personal injury clients. …
The federal investigation also produced evidence that Radbill had employed people to recruit personal injury clients, help stage slip-and-falls for his clients and oversee his clients’ treatment by medical providers willing to falsify records and insurance claims, according to the report….
According to the report, Radbill said at a disciplinary hearing that “I got into personal injury cases and … when I was a young lawyer, [people told me], ‘You’re going to get accident cases of people that aren’t really hurt, you say they’re hurt and you send them to the doctor.’
“That’s not right, OK?” Radbill continued, according to the report. “And I did it for 30 years and there’s a thousand more here in this state that do it, and I told [the investigators] that, and they said, ‘Yeah, but you got caught,’ [for] which I served my time, I didn’t make excuses, so that’s true.”
(Asher Hawkins, “Representation of Uninjured Clients Brings Disbarment for Pa. Lawyer”, The Legal Intelligencer, Jun. 23).
“Tort reform for liberals”
That’s Prof. Bill Childs’s theme as he begins a week guestblogging at our sister site, Point of Law.
“VA Barred from Publicizing Offer to Vets”
Brook no competition dept.: “A federal judge temporarily has barred the government from publicizing its free credit monitoring offer to veterans whose personal data was stolen and wants to see if they might get a better federal offer. Lawyers who have filed a class-action lawsuit on behalf of the 26.5 million veterans and active-duty troops affected contend that accepting the government’s offer could jeopardize their chance of winning more money in the privacy suit.” (Hope Yen, AP/Washington Post, Jun. 26)(hat tip: Florida Masochist).
New guestblogger Hans Bader
Joining us this week as a guestblogger is Hans Bader, Counsel for Special Projects at the Competitive Enterprise Institute in Washington. Hans is a frequent visitor to our comments section; his current projects for CEI include constitutional challenges to the 1998 tobacco Master Settlement Agreement and to the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board created by Sarbanes-Oxley. Before joining CEI he was at the Center for Individual Rights where his work included constitutional and civil rights litigation, including free speech and workplace claims.