Europe has them, and we’re lucky we don’t, says James Lileks (“Leave the Anti-Blasphemy Laws in Europe”, syndicated/Newhouse, Mar. 16).
Author Archive
Richard Kreimer rides again
New Jersey: “A homeless man who sued and received $230,000 after being ejected from a library in Morris County is now suing NJ Transit for kicking him and other homeless people out of train stations.” Richard Kreimer, who has filed many suits over the years, is asking for $5 million. (“Homeless man who sued library takes on NJ Transit”, AP/Asbury Park Press, Mar. 15; John Cichowski, “Some riders wear suits, some file them”, Hackensack Record, Mar. 15; Ronald Smothers, “Homeless Gadfly Returns, Warming Up Lawsuits”, New York Times, Jan. 21). “‘As soon as you walk into a train station and you look like a bum, the cops come right over to you,’ Kreimer said.” (“Homeless Man At Home In Court”, New York Post, Mar. 15). For more background, see John Cichowski, “Duffel-bag lawyer takes on the City of Brotherly Shove”, Hackensack Record, Feb. 26, 2004. Update Feb. 25, 2006: Kreimer obtains settlement from bus company.
HIPAA and small towns
What were once thought of as neighborly acts of kindness now pose too great a risk of medical privacy violations under federal law (Joe Ruff, “Communities Adjust To Medical Privacy Laws”, AP/ABC News, Mar. 12; via KevinMD). For more on the Health Insurance and Portability and Accountability Act, see Feb. 5, 2004 and links from there. More: the Michigan Medical Malpractice blogger says the hospitals are overreacting and a little gathering of permissions from patients/families should fix most of the problems (Mar. 17).
“Family of protester killed by bulldozer suing Caterpillar”
“The parents of a 23-year-old activist killed while trying to prevent the demolition of a Palestinian home have sued Caterpillar Inc., the company that made the bulldozer that ran over her. The lawsuit, filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court here [in Seattle], alleges that Caterpillar violated international and state law by providing specially designed bulldozers to Israeli Defense Forces, knowing the machines would be used to demolish homes and endanger people.” Cindy and Craig Corrie, parents of the late Rachel Corrie, live in Olympia, Wash. (Elizabeth M. Gillespie, AP/Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Mar. 16). Update Mar. 25, 2006: family appeals judge’s dismissal of lawsuit.
Batch of reader letters
Four more new reader missives appear on our correspondence page, including: we meet another frequent California filer of disabled-rights complaints; the high cost of winning your case if you’re a doctor who gets sued; a new “Priceless Pets” damage suit, from Chicago this time; and the state of self-defense in the U.K.
Welcome Small Business Advocate listeners
I was a guest on Jim Blasingame’s national radio program “The Small Business Advocate” yesterday, discussing class actions and other topics. You can listen to the show live on the web; one way to find the link is from his archive of law-related shows. Jim Blasingame was kind enough to call The Rule of Lawyers “one of my favorite books”; you can find a copy on Amazon (hardcover or paperback). For more information on how employment lawsuits have watered down strength prerequisites for law enforcement jobs (such as those guarding courthouses in Atlanta and other places), check this Point of Law post.
Thank you, Dan Rather
…for helping rid us of the noxious Fairness Doctrine (Thomas W. Hazlett, “Dan Rather’s Good Deed”, Weekly Standard, Mar. 21, reprinted at Manhattan Institute site).
Browbeating the other side’s lawyer?
It’s really important to make sure things have gone off the record and that the deposition transcript isn’t still running, especially if you’re going to threaten bodily harm (Kelly-Moore Paint Co. motion for sanctions against Eric Birge of Brent Coon & Associates in a Texas asbestos case (PDF))(courtesy Evan Schaeffer, who comments).
“Judge throws out lawsuit over summer homework”
Another widely noted pro se suit comes to grief: Wisconsin judge Richard J. Sankovitz has thrown out the lawsuit filed by 17-year-old Peer Larson and his father arguing that mandatory summer homework should not have been assigned in the honors math class Larson wanted to take (see Jan. 21). “Had the Larsons done a bit more homework, they would have discovered that the people of our state granted to the Legislature … the power to establish school boards and the state superintendent and to confer upon them the powers and duties the Legislature saw fit,” wrote the judge in his order (PDF, courtesy Courthouse News). (AP/Janesville, Wis. Gazette, Mar. 9).
Judge tosses “Fear Factor” suit
“A judge threw out a lawsuit in which a viewer sued NBC for $2.5 million, contending that he threw up because of a ‘Fear Factor’ episode in which contestants ate rats mixed in a blender. U.S. District Judge Lesley Wells called Austin Aitken’s lawsuit frivolous and warned him against appealing.” The handwritten suit (see Jan. 7) was pro se. (“Judge Nixes Viewer’s ‘Fear Factor’ Lawsuit”, AP/Fox News, Mar. 10).