Last week I took part in no fewer than eight panel discussions (these hosts work you hard) at the University of Colorado’s 56th Conference on World Affairs. The Boulder Daily Camera covered the final panel, on taxes (Matt Branaugh, “Turning Up the Heat on Taxes”, Apr. 10) while the student-run Colorado Daily ran a story on Tuesday’s session, concerning the role of the media in court proceedings (Katherine Crowell, “‘Trial by press’ unjust”, Apr. 7). Also, while I was speaking in Orange County, Calif. last month, Kyle Beckley interviewed me for the Chapman University Law School publication, the Esquirer; an excerpt appears at Beckley’s website, OneL7 (Apr. 4).
Author Archive
“What the World Needs Now Is DDT”
“[W]hat really merits outrage about DDT today” is its underuse, as millions die annually of malaria for lack of the reviled pesticide, writes New York Times editorialist Tina Rosenberg. Commentators such as ABC’s John Stossel got to the story first (see CEI, Todd Seavey), but the Times may be more effective at reaching those who can do something about the state of the law (New York Times Magazine, Apr. 11).
Med mal: around the blogs
Not that this exactly qualifies as news, but Sen. Tom Daschle says things to pro-tort-reform constituents back home that are rather different from what he says in Washington, notices the South Dakota Politics blog (Apr. 4, Apr. 7). And the departure of a surgeon in MedPundit Sydney Smith’s home town, coinciding with a particularly obdurate sound bite from ATLA-admired Sen. Patrick Leahy, prompts her (Apr. 10) to give the Vermont Democrat an Open Secrets look-up (see also MedRants, Apr. 8, with comments section). Dr. Smith also notes (Apr. 6) that the med-mal crisis in famed Madison County, Ill., may play a role in the contemplated closure of Scott Air Force Base in Belleville.
“Dodgy Patents Rile Tech Industry”
Many techies are nervous if not aghast about the issuance of a number of patents by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office in recent months, including one “awarded to security firm Network Associates that gives the company rights to technology that deletes ‘undesired data’ from a computer”, and “another that gives Amazon.com the right to charge other website operators for using browser cookies that store data structures”. (Amit Asaravala, Wired News, Apr. 5). Another controversial one: Frank Weyer and Troy Javaher of Beverly Hills were recently issued a patent for an Internet naming system. Earlier this year, they sued leading domain registrars Network Solutions and Register.com for alleged infringement of their patent. “The patent covers the method of assigning URLs and e-mail addresses of members of a group such that the “@” sign is the dot in the URL. For example, if a group used a so-called third-level URL, www.john.smith.com, the e-mail address would be [email protected]” (Marguerite Reardon, “Domain registrars sued over URL patent”, CNETNews.com, Jan. 15; “Nizza Group Sues Network Solutions and Register.com for Patent Infringement”, news.webhosting.info, Jan. 11). Weyer and Janaver’s Nizza Group issued a press release Jan. 8 about its success; its lawsuits have drawn much criticism in such places as The Register (Kieren McCarthy, “Patent lawyer puts claim to entire Internet”, Jan. 17; Geek.com (Jan. 20); Slashdot).
In Boulder Apr. 5-9
As previously mentioned, I’ll be at the University of Colorado Apr. 5-9 participating in the 56th Conference on World Affairs and expect to do little if any posting until next weekend (schedule of panels I’ll be on).
Update: “compulsory chapel for lawyers” upheld
The Minnesota Supreme Court has ruled that it is constitutional to require lawyers to attend periodic classes on eliminating bias, rejecting the contention that such courses amount to a form of compulsory indoctrination. (“High court upholds required anti-bias classes for lawyers”, AP/Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Mar. 25; David L. Hudson, Jr., “Required Course on Bias Upheld”, ABA Journal eReportl, Apr. 2). See Nov. 21 and links from there. For a defense of the program, see David Giacalone, Mar. 25.
Tipsy totterer: I didn’t mean to sue airline
Curious update to our item of three days ago: Floyd Shuler, who slipped on an escalator after drinking on a flight, now says he “didn’t intend for the suit to be filed. ‘I learned about the filing of the lawsuit against US Airways … along with everyone else,’ Shuler said. ‘It was never my intent to take on the airline industry. I apologize for any inconvenience this has caused US Airways.’ Shuler’s attorney, Paul Kutcher, did not return a phone call from The Associated Press seeking comment.” (“Man Drops Suit Filed Against Airline After He Drank Booze, Fell”, AP/Tampa Bay Online, Apr. 1).
“The Great Car-Rental Wipeout”
William Tucker, writing in the New York Sun (Apr. 1), explores the ruinous consequences of the state’s vicarious-liability law for independent car rental agencies (via Spartacus). See our piece of last Jun. 9 as well as Jul. 14 and links from there. More: Chrysler has now joined GM and Ford in refusing to lease in New York, while Honda has resumed offering leases, but at special high prices intended to compensate for the state law. (“Chrysler to stop leasing in New York”, Bloomberg/Detroit Free Press, Mar. 26)
New batch of reader letters
We’ve posted four more entries from our still backed-up pipeline of reader letters, on our letters page. Among topics this time: the unsuccessful suit demanding that taller airline passengers get first dibs on roomy exit-row seating; big business’s enthusiasm (sometimes) for antitrust law; the now-defunct database which offered to track patients who sue doctors; and fear of volunteer plumbers.
Reparations: the British must pay
Three new reparations campaigns are aimed at perfidious Albion; if they succeed, we propose going after them for their burning of American towns during the Revolutionary War and War of 1812:
* In Buenos Aires, Argentina, Carlos Traboulsi, who is president of the local Christian Democrats, has filed a $67 billion (U.S.) claim against Britain in a local court, citing the unlawful occupation/exploitation of the Falklands/Malvinas islands since 1833 as well as “the theft of the River Plate Viceroy treasury in 1806”. What, didn’t any lawyers advise him to file in a U.S. court? (“67 billion dollars claim for ‘Malvinas usurpation'”, MercoPress, Mar. 10.)
* Ten plaintiffs are suing Lloyd’s of London in New York, demanding that it pay reparations for having written insurance on slave ships hundreds of years ago (“Slave descendants to sue Lloyd’s”, BBC, Mar. 29). Some in the British press are taking at face value the image attorney Edward Fagan would like to present of himself as the “feared New York lawyer who extracted huge Nazi gold settlements from German and Swiss companies” (“Slave descendants sue Lloyd’s for billions”, The Observer, Mar. 28); they should have read our Jun. 24-25, 2002 report (see also Aug. 8, 2003; Jan. 17-19, 2003; Nov. 17-19, 2001).
* “A half forgotten colonial expedition to subjugate a querulous African kingdom more than a century ago could bankrupt Britain if a Ugandan king succeeds in bringing a ?3.7 trillion suit against the Crown.” During a five-year war in the 1890s the British deposed King Kabalega II of the Bunyoro kingdom, and his descendant, named King Solomon, has now retained lawyers in both Uganda and London and plans a legal action in the latter city. “But the king’s compensation claims do not appear to enjoy much support from his subjects. ‘This is very wrong,’ said Aisha Kungozo, 24, a teacher who runs a tiny school for 16 children in the village of Mparo outside Bunyoro’s capital, Hoima, where the royal palace is situated. ‘The British built schools and houses for us. They gave us medicine. They did more to help us than any omukama [king] ever did.'” (Adrian Blomfield, “African king aims to bankrupt Britain”, Daily Telegraph, Mar. 13).