Host Jerry Agar had me on this morning to talk about the NYC government’s attempt to impose gun control nationwide (see yesterday’s post for more details and a link to my Times piece). And many thanks to the various bloggers who’ve linked the piece, starting with Glenn Reynolds.
Author Archive
“Music Industry Sues 83-Year-Old Dead Woman”
“Gertrude Walton was recently targeted by the recording industry in a lawsuit that accused her of illegally trading music over the Internet. But Walton died in December after a long illness, and according to her daughter, the 83-year-old hated computers.” (AP/ABCNews, Feb. 4). Glenn Reynolds (Feb. 5) guesses that it’s another “bot-based complaint” (more).
“The ad FOX won’t run”
If you’ve spend much time browsing weblogs lately, you’ve probably noticed the near-ubiquitous blog ad, placed by a trial-lawyer-allied group, complaining that Rupert’s minions won’t air their broadcast commercial supportive of medical malpractice suits. But the blog ad conceals a rather significant fact about the controversy, as I point out at Point of Law this morning. Lots of other good new stuff there too, including Ted on revelations of silica/asbestos double-dipping; a new column by Stuart Taylor, Jr. critical of the tort reform ideas popular at the moment in Congress (Jim Copland summarizes); welcoming a new weblog on international law; Vioxx and the quest for “smoking guns”; a P.R. exec is chosen to head ATLA; and Ted on historic preservation.
NY Times op-ed: city gun-liability law
I’ve got an op-ed in today’s New York Times criticizing the new Gotham law, signed by Mayor Bloomberg last month, which presumes to impose liability for street crime on gun manufacturers and dealers unless they adopt a strict “code of conduct” for their sales nationwide, not just in New York City. I note that it will add impetus to the drive in Congress for a law pre-empting abusive gun lawsuits. The new law “insults the right to democratic self-governance of the 273 million Americans who don’t live in New York City. …The mayor and City Council of New York seem to think they can make laws that bind the rest of the country. That’s an arrogant stance — and when the rest of the country is heard from, it’s apt to be a losing stance as well.” The piece is part of the Times’s new geographically zoned Sunday op-ed program and ran in city but not suburban editions of the paper. (Walter Olson, “The wrong target”, New York Times, Feb. 6). For the other side, here’s the press release and bill description from the measure’s sponsor, Councilman David Yassky, the city council’s press release (PDF), and the bill text. (bumped Sun. evening 2/6) Update Feb. 20: Yassky responds.
Accept cookies? [Y/N/Sue]
Hundreds of blogs have noted the case from Durango, Colo. (see our Feb. 4 post) in which Wanita Renea Young sued teenagers Taylor Ostergaard and Lindsey Jo Zellitti, who’d baked homemade cookies, delivered them to various homes including Young’s as a surprise, and in doing so scared Young by banging on her door at 10:30 p.m., causing her an anxiety attack. A selection of comments:
* “I find it a bit amusing that the lady is claiming that the banging on the door made her think that burglars were present…we all know how burglars knock before entering…” (commenter Mark Noonan at Dean Esmay)
* “Young said she believes that the girls should not have been running from door to door late at night. “Something bad could have happened to them,” she said.
Something bad….yeah, like getting sued!” (all-encompassingly)
* “I hate articles like this. You can’t get any decent coverage of a legal issue unless it’s coming from a legal source. … We can’t fairly critique [the judge’s] decision because we don’t know what evidence it was based on. We don’t know what evidence it was based on because the article is clearly and fundamentally biased in favor of the defendants.” (Drew Vogel of the Terminus blog, commenting at Dean Esmay)
* “The karmic beauty, of course, is that for $900 this lady will be known the world over for fifteen minutes of ignominy and a couple of decent girls will wind up on the talk show circuit or have some good material for college essays.” (commenter docpops at Metafilter)
A sampling of others (warning, serious rudeness in some): BoingBoing, Ben Kepple, WizBang, RajeRant (“It’s times like this that I’m ashamed to be a lawyer”), Cliffs of Insanity, FishTown Chatter, Distorted Perspective, Ambulance Down.
“Ethics Charges Leveled at Lawyer Who Fostered Holocaust Settlement”
Yes, it’s the Edward Fagan saga again (John Covaleski, New Jersey Law Journal, Jan. 20). For earlier installments, see Aug. 13, 2004 and links from there.
Appeals panel rejects tobacco disgorgement
In a severe blow to the federal government’s wretched racketeering lawsuit against major tobacco companies, a panel of the D.C. Circuit, split 2-1 along ideological lines, has held that the Justice Department can’t seek disgorgement penalties of $280 billion against the companies. (AP/Forbes; Fox News). For our commentaries on this bipartisan disgrace of a lawsuit, see Sept. 21 and links from there, as well as Sept. 24. Reactions: Competitive Enterprise Institute, Mike DeBow, Anthony Sebok.
Yogi Berra v. “Sex In the City”
By reader acclaim: “The Yankee legend has filed a $10 million lawsuit against Turner Broadcasting Systems for using his name in a ‘hurtful’ advertisement for its ‘Sex and the City’ reruns.” (Dareh Gregorian, “Unberrable ‘Sex'”, New York Post, Feb. 2; “Yogi Berra sues for $10M over sex ad”, CNN/Money, Feb. 3; complaint at The Smoking Gun). At his Sports Law blog, Greg Skidmore, our guestblogger, thinks there may be something to Berra’s claim (if not its $10 million demand) under the current state of the law.
Sued for leaving cookies on porch
Colorado: “Two Durango teens thought they’d surprise neighbors with nighttime deliveries of home-baked treats. But one woman was so terrified, she sued and has won.” But Wanita Renea Young, 49, was so unnerved by the knocks at her door at 10:30 p.m. that she called sheriffs and then sought emergency room care for an anxiety attack. The teenage cookie-leavers, Taylor Ostergaard and Lindsey Jo Zellitti, wrote her letters of apology, but she sued anyway and won $900. (Electa Draper, “Cookie klatch lands girls in court”, Denver Post, Feb. 4). More: National Review Online notes the case and radio host Steve Gill tells how to send the girls money. A day or two later: public support and media appearances roll in for the cookie girls (Denver Post, Feb. 6; more). And David Giacalone enters a dissent.
Train crash worsened his drinking: $8.5 million payout
“A train conductor won an $8.5 million settlement from a railroad after claiming that a 2002 collision between his commuter train and a freight train worsened his alcoholism. Patrick Phillips, 52, contended that a mild concussion suffered in the crash triggered a desire for alcohol that transformed him from a ‘controlled’ alcoholic into one who drank himself into malnutrition and eventual dementia, his lawyer said. Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway confirmed Tuesday that it settled the case out of court.” (AP/Lakeland Ledger, Feb. 2; Dan Weikel, “Conductor’s Crash Suit Is Settled”, L.A. Times, Feb. 2).