A Chicago parks supervisor, Mr. Yost reported a man behaving strangely, and wound up facing a decade’s worth of pro se suits that he says have cost him “well in excess of six figures.” [The Provocateur and related documents; CBS2Chicago; more from law firm representing Yost]
Author Archive
NYC: court tosses track totterer’s $2.3 million award
A New York appeals court has tossed a jury’s $2.3 million award to a man who fell onto the Union Square subway tracks and lost his leg. The court focused on the jury’s acceptance of what it said was speculative testimony from experts arguing that the train’s motorman should have stopped faster. The victim “said he was too drunk to remember how he ended up on the tracks or anything about the accident.” [AP/WINS, New York Post, Dibble v. NYCTA, earlier, and compare $6 million track totterer award last year] More: John Hochfelder.
“France’s Not-So-Free Speech Laws”
Insensitive off-the-cuff remarks can result in criminal proceedings and fines under French law, with an Interior Minister the latest to be tripped up. [Rachel Ryan, FrumForum]
Volkswagen sunroof settlement, cont’d
Ted Frank’s Center for Class Action Fairness has filed an objection to the proposed settlement. Earlier here.
New oil spill panel director: plaintiffs only, please?
Georgetown law professor Richard Lazarus has been named executive director of the Obama administration’s new commission on the Gulf oil spill. In 2007 Prof. Lazarus was reported to be among participants in the rather grandly named “National Legal Scholars Law Firm“, which “provides its services solely for the benefit of plaintiffs’ lawyers,” though he is not longer named on its scholar list.
“McDonald’s faces lawsuit over Happy Meals”
The horrible Center for Science in the Public Interest says it will sue unless the fast-food giant takes toys out of its meal packages. [L.A. Times] Earlier here (Santa Clara County votes to ban). More: Cal Biz Lit (predicting that CSPI faces “darned near impossible burden” proving injury in fact/loss of money or property in its claims under California’s s. 17200 statute), When Falls the Coliseum (via Gillespie). Two views from Britain: Daily Mail (CSPI’s creepy imagery); Zoe Williams/Guardian.
June 23 roundup
- Judge blocks sweeping Obama administration ban on new offshore drilling [Roger Pilon, Cato] Some reasons judge may have found ban irrational [Lowry, NRO, scroll to reader comment; Gus Lubin, Business Insider] More on Jones Act waivers in the Gulf [Bainbridge, earlier]
- Connecticut AG Blumenthal launches investigation of Google Street View [Rick Green, Courant]
- Florida judge tosses out $10 million libel verdict against St. Petersburg Times [St. P.T.]
- Lawyer in British Columbia suspends practice after bizarre jury tampering charges [CBC]
- “Disclosed to death”: why laws mandating disclosure are so overused and overbroad [Falkenberg, Forbes on work of Omri Ben-Shahar and Carl E. Schneider, via PoL]
- Judge dismisses controversial Pennsylvania case against Johnson & Johnson over Risperdal marketing, Gov. Rendell had hired major donor to run suit on contingency [LNL, McDonald/NJLRA, earlier]
- Rick Hills vs. Ilya Somin on federalism and constitutional enforcement of property rights [Prawfsblawg, Volokh]
- Beware proposed expansion of Federal Trade Commission powers [Wood, ShopFloor]
“In Law Schools, Grades Go Up, Just Like That”
Just like magic! Loyola Law School-Los Angeles “is retroactively inflating its grades, tacking on 0.333 to every grade recorded in the last few years. The goal is to make its students look more attractive in a competitive job market.” At least ten law schools, including Georgetown and NYU, have deliberately made their grading systems more lenient in recent years, the Times reports. [NYT]
In my forthcoming book Schools for Misrule: Legal Academia and an Overlawyered America — due out next spring from Encounter — I collect some examples of the tactics law schools use in search of a competitive edge for themselves and their graduates, which might sometimes land them in hot water were they conventional businesses.
“Law Firms Sanctioned Over Billionaire Perelman’s ‘Frivolous’ Estate Claim”
“A New Jersey judge has sanctioned two firms, Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison and Lowenstein Sandler, for pursuing a ‘frivolous’ and ‘ridiculous’ legal claim on behalf of billionaire Ronald Perelman against his 85-year-old ex-father-in-law.” [NYLJ]
Newport, R.I.’s Cliff Walk
The tourist-friendly town may fence off a famed scenic path after an adverse lawsuit ruling. [NYT]