I’ve got an op-ed in today’s New York Sun (Walter Olson, “Kerry’s crafty operator”, Jul. 7). See also below.
Author Archive
Senate takes up class action reform
OJR on web defamation
In an article in USC Annenberg’s Online Journalism Review, writer Mark Thompson examines some recent instances in which webloggers have been threatened with defamation actions on questionable grounds, such targets including Justene Adamec (Calblog) (see Jan. 22) and the pseudonymous “Atrios”. One source of jeopardy is courts’ penchant for narrowly construing statutes intended to protect press freedom: for example, the Wisconsin Court of Appeals refused to extend to the Internet a state law providing that newspapers and magazines cannot be sued for defamation until they’ve been given a chance to retract an item. Also mentions our commentary on the Luskin/Atrios case (see Oct. 30). (“Law Offers Internet Publishers Scant Guidance on Libel”, Jun. 16).
Exporting s. 17200
Have you been skipping past items about California’s abuse-ridden s. 17200 business practices act (see Jun. 30, Apr. 22, Mar. 12, Feb. 16 and links from there) just because you don’t happen to live or do business in California? Then read on. Under a case currently on appeal to the state’s supreme court, a business located anywhere else in the country, perhaps even the world, can be sued under s. 17200 if it advertises for customers in California — and such advertising may take the form of maintaining a website accessible to California customers. In the case at issue, a Los Angeles appeals court ruled this March that several Nevada casino hotels “could be sued by a man seeking class action status on behalf of all California residents hit with a $3-per-night energy surcharge while staying in Las Vegas, Reno or other gambling towns.” The court held “that hotel advertisements, toll-free numbers and interactive Web sites provided sufficient contact to give Los Angeles-area resident Frank Snowney jurisdiction to sue in California” under the ultra-liberal state law. According to a Fulbright & Jaworski lawyer who is representing the casinos on appeal, the ruling “may affect any hotel, cruise ship, club, theater, museum, sporting venue, rental car company, restaurant, etc., operating exclusively outside of California, but accepting online reservations.” (Mike McKee, “Businesses Quake Over California Case”, The Recorder, Jul. 2). More: There turns out to be a whole blog dedicated to s. 17200, and it takes exception to the Recorder article’s slant, interpreting the pending case as primarily about the scope of state jurisdiction generally and only incidentally about s. 17200 (via Legal Reader).
Panel says no malpractice, jury says $3 million
In South Portland, Maine, a jury has awarded Neil Maietta $3 million in a complicated medical malpractice claim against anesthesiologist Dr. Kenneth Blazier over an infection that set into Maietta’s spinal discs after a medical procedure. “The verdict was unusually large for Maine, where awards of more than a million dollars are rare. It was particularly surprising in this case because a medical malpractice review panel had unanimously found that the doctor and hospital were not at fault for Maietta’s injury. The panel’s finding was disclosed to the jury, but it found for Maietta anyway. ‘I’ll take my chances with a jury any day,’ said Maietta’s lawyer, Daniel J. Lilley of Portland.” (Gregory D. Kesich, “Man wins $3 million for injury by doctor”, Portland Press Herald, May 27)(via SickOfLawsuits.org).
U.K.: It’s sunny, stay inside
According to guidelines issued by the city council of the city of Derby, England, teachers who plan to lead students on summer trips should “consider keeping a supply of maximum factor suncream to spray onto pupils, although they are told not to rub it in for fear of being accused of inappropriate contact.” Meanwhile, in the city of Bristol, staff at Hillcrest Primary school confiscated a bottle of factor 60 sunblock that a mother had given her easily sunburned 8-year-old son to take to school, saying it was forbidden for students to possess medication and that the youth should instead have worn a long-sleeved shirt and sun hat. Perhaps as a concession to the intractable problem of achieving all the different kinds of complete safety at once, the Derby council guidelines urge educators to consider canceling field outings entirely on days that are too sunny. (“Schools warned over sunny trips”, BBC, Jun. 4)(via Common Good “EdWatch“); “School stops boy using sun cream”, BBC, May 4).
Now we are five
Overlawyered was launched on July 1, 1999, which makes us five years old. Hurrah! We’re going to celebrate by taking off the Fourth of July holiday — see you next week.
America’s drollest police blotter
…now has its own book-length compilation: Kevin L. Hoover, The Police Log: True Crime & More from Arcata, California (via Sam Smith’s Progressive Review, which is newly redesigned along blog lines). Update July 2009: blotter now located here.
Cleveland law firm breakup
Lurid allegations flew in a Cleveland courtroom after the breakup of medical-malpractice and personal-injury firm Kampinski & Mellino. A jury eventually ordered Charles Kampinski to pay almost $621,000 to Christopher Mellino, who had resigned from the firm. He can probably afford it: “Trial evidence indicated Kampinski earned about $36 million between 1997 and 2001 — $15.8 million in 2000 alone. Mellino, his longtime sidekick, raked in some $5.5 million over that span — peaking at $2.53 million in 2000 — under a pay scale that gave him 1 percent of the firm’s net fees for every year he worked there.” (Jim Nichols, “Ruling ends bad breakup of lawyers”, Cleveland Plain Dealer, Jun. 18) MedPundit (Jun. 18) comments. Despite the Cleveland paper’s description of the law firm as “one of Ohio’s most successful personal-injury and medical-malpractice firms”, it does not boast a particularly high Google profile, currently scoring only a dozen or so hits under its former name.
Popcorn butter verdict
…discussed on PointOfLaw.com this morning.