George Gillespie of Medina County, Ohio, is suing America Online for allegedly failing to do anything about teasing, humiliation and abuse he endured in one of the online service’s chat rooms. His suit also names individual defendants who live in Oregon and Alabama; Gillespie alleges that the Alabama man actually traveled to Ohio to further his campaign of harassment. Attorney Mark Tarallo of Holland & Knight in Boston believes the plaintiff “will face a tough battle, particularly in the fight with AOL.” (Tresa Baldas, “Chat Room Chatter Draws Lawsuit”, National Law Journal, Jan. 6; Julie Wallace, “Internet, civil liberties collide in unique lawsuit”, Akron Beacon Journal, Dec. 19).
Author Archive
“B.C. cat owner sues over deadly coyote attack”
Canada: “A Vancouver woman is suing the city and the B.C. government for allegedly failing to keep the streets safe after her pet cat was killed by two coyotes….In a statement of claim filed in B.C. Supreme Court, [Judith] Webster says she’s suffered and continues to suffer from post-traumatic stress and/or adjustment disorder, loss of enjoyment of life, and loss of past and future earnings.” (CanWest/Vancouver Province/Saskatoon Star-Phoenix, Jan. 4).
Indian land claims: give us Denver
We’ve covered this set of issues numerous times in the past, but here are some fresh details:
When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act became law in 1988, no one imagined that it would become a Trojan Horse that would deliver Las Vegas-style casino gambling into communities across America. Having saturated local markets, many tribes are now seeking to acquire land near other, sometimes-distant, population centers, and converting it to “sovereign” territory, in an effort to shoehorn casinos into areas where they’re often not wanted by local populations. Once land becomes part of a reservation, it typically becomes exempt from local taxes, state labor laws, municipal ordinances, zoning restrictions and environmental review. In one of the most egregious cases, in 2004, the Cheyenne-Arapahoe Tribes of Oklahoma filed a 27 million acre land claim which included all of Denver and Colorado Springs, but offered to drop it in exchange for the approval of a Las Vegas-style casino near Denver Airport.
“These efforts are being funded by ‘shadowy’ developers who underwrite the litigation expenses, lobbyist fees and even the cost of land in exchange for a cut of the profits,” James T. Martin, the executive director of the United South and Eastern Tribes, told the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs in May 2005. “If even one of these deals is approved, the floodgates for this kind of ‘reservation shopping’ will open throughout the country.” (Mr. Martin, it should be said, is no opponent of gambling: his organization includes tribes whose main goal is to thwart new competition against their own casinos.)
(Fergus M. Bordewich, “The Least Transparent Industry in America”, Wall Street Journal, Jan. 5)(subscriber-only).
Cereal-serving restaurants
Watch out if you try to open one — you might risk infringing someone’s “business method” patent. (Chris Hayes, “Snap, Crackle … Patents”, In These Times, Jan. 2)(via Reason “Hit and Run“).
P.S.Victor Serby, in comments, notes what he calls a “glaring factual error” in Hayes’s account and points out that a patent application is a very different thing from a valid patent.
Search ad terms
Per Forbes, Sept. 5, p. 118, not online: “Costliest terms per click include ‘Lawyer in Missouri’ ($47) and ‘Auto Accident Lawyer Detroit’ ($46)”. See Apr. 8, 2004, Jan. 5, 2005.
Vexatious litigant jailed for contempt
“Former Steamboat Springs [Colo.] resident Kay Sieverding, who has been in jail since September, was released Wednesday after she agreed to dismiss her numerous federal lawsuits.” U.S. District Judge Edward Nottingham had ordered Sieverding committed to jail for contempt of court after she continued to file lawsuits he described as “frivolous”, “abusive” and “gibberish”, including refilings of lawsuits she had already lost. “Sieverding has filed lawsuits against not only her former neighbors but also Steamboat Springs officials, the local newspaper, several individual lawyers and the entire Colorado and American Bar Associations, among others. She has filed the lawsuits in Colorado U.S. District Court, and also in federal courts in Illinois, Minnesota, Kansas and the District of Columbia.. …The judge said he will issue an additional order prohibiting Kay Sieverding from filing any more lawsuits, anywhere in the United States, without an attorney or his permission.” (Karen Abbott, “Pledge gets woman out of jail”, Rocky Mountain News, Jan. 5; Alicia Caldwell, “Woman Held Over Lawsuits”, Denver Post, Dec. 19)(via Jonathan B. Wilson, here and here).
“FTC objects to Netflix settlement”
“The Federal Trade Commission is asking a California judge to reject a proposed class-action settlement between consumers and the Internet DVD rental service Netflix, saying the agreement ‘appears dangerously close to being a promotional gimmick.’ … In the proposed settlement, plaintiffs’ lawyers would receive $2.5 million, but the plaintiffs — in this case, the class of current and former Netflix customers — would receive either a free service upgrade for one month or a coupon for free service for one month. However, if customers receiving the freebies do not cancel the upgrades or service before the end of the month is up, Netflix would begin charging them for the extra services.” (Candace Heckman, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Jan. 10). Ted thoroughly examined the defects of the settlement Nov. 3. The commission’s amicus brief is here in PDF format (courtesy Skip Oliva, who comments). Update Jan. 21: settlement delayed because of large number of objections.
Alito nomination open thread
We haven’t posted much here on the Supreme Court battle (although Point of Law has had a lot) but here’s a thread for regular readers who may wish to opine one way or the other on it. If you haven’t seen it already, by the way, check out our thread in which regular readers are invited to introduce themselves, currently at 24 comments.
U.K.: “over-promoted” bodyguard wins $50K
While on the subject of Britain: “A black police bodyguard who protected the Duchess of Cornwall has won [A]$70,000 compensation [roughly U.S. $53,000] after suing Scotland Yard for ‘over-promoting’ him because of political correctness.” Sgt. Leslie Turner’s “representatives argued he landed the prestigious job as Camilla’s bodyguard only because he was black. It was claimed that as a result of being over-promoted and not receiving proper training and support, Sgt Turner made mistakes which led to him being re-assigned….Had Sgt Turner’s case reached a tribunal, potentially embarrassing secrets about Charles and Camilla’s lives may have been aired.” (“Camilla’s protector paid out”, Daily Mail/Melbourne Herald Sun, Jan. 8)(via Taranto). Writes Gary Collard at SarcastiPundit (Jan. 10), “The amazing thing is that it wasn’t a US trial lawyer who first thought of this.”
Most dubious public-liability claims
A list from Britain includes “a bin man who made a claim against his council after being ‘startled’ by a dead badger which fell out of a bag, a shoplifter who sued because she fell down stairs while running from the scene of a crime, and a motorist who claimed he did not see a traffic roundabout in daylight – despite there being a large tree in the middle.” (Patrick Barkham, “The wronged trousers, and other scams”, The Guardian, Jan. 3; “Dubious insurance claims ‘rising'”, BBC, Jan. 2).