Overlawyered: Chronicling The High Cost Of Our Legal System

Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category

Our annual Super Bowl party post

One of the many things I like about my girlfriend is that she’s the one who wants us to get a bigger television. Of course, if we got too big a television, we might not be able to hold our annual Super Bowl party: the NFL is sending around its annual set of scare letters to anyone offering a public exhibition of the Super Bowl on a television larger than 55 inches. (Jacqueline L. Salmon, WaPo, “NFL Pulls Plug On Big-Screen Church Parties For Super Bowl”, Feb. 1). Yes, you’ve seen this story before: Feb. 3 and Jan. 31 last year.

Update: and at the WSJ ($).

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Site maintenance alert

We’re responding to ongoing comment-spam attacks (which knocked us offline for a while this morning) with some site maintenance. Comments will probably be down for a bit while we attempt to upgrade. Update 11:15 a.m. EST: Back up and running again; if you notice anything wrong, please drop us an email.

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February 1 roundup

  • Following public outrage, Spanish businessman drops plans to sue parents of boy he killed in road crash [UK Independent; earlier]

  • Scruggs to take Fifth in State Farm case against Hood [Clarion-Ledger] And how much “home cooking” was the Mississippi titan dished out in the Medicaid-tobacco case that made his fortune? [Folo]

  • More critics assail ABC “Eli Stone” vaccine-autism fiction, with American Academy of Pediatrics calling for episode’s cancellation [AAP press release; Stier, NY Post; earlier]

  • Special ethics counsel recommends disbarment of Edward Fagan, lawyer of Swiss-bank-suit fame whose ethical missteps have been chronicled on this site over the years [Star-Ledger]. As recently as fourteen months ago the L.A. Times was still according Fagan good publicity;

  • In past bail-bond scandals, private bond agencies have been caught colluding “with lawyers, the police, jail officials and even judges to make sure that bail is high and that attractive clients are funneled to them.” [Liptak, NYT]

  • Archbishop of Canterbury calls for new laws to punish “thoughtless or cruel” comments on religion [Times Online, Volokh]

  • Another disturbing case from Massachusetts of a citizen getting charged with privacy violation for recording police activity [also Volokh]

  • Abuse of open-records law? Convicted arsonist files numerous requests for pictures and personal information of public employees who sent him to prison; they charge intimidation [AP/Seattle Post-Intelligencer]

  • It resembles a news program on Connecticut public-access cable, but look more closely: it’s law firm marketing [Ambrogi]

  • Judge says Alfred Rava’s suit can proceed charging sex bias over Oakland A’s stadium distribution of Mother’s Day hats [Metropolitan News-Enterprise; earlier on Angels in Anaheim]

  • Crack down on docs with multiple med-mal payouts? Well, there go lots of your neurosurgeons [three years ago on Overlawyered]

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An ADA right to smoke-free eateries?

Thus argues a lawsuit filed by James Bogden against four restaurants in Alexandria, Va., which “seeks to require the restaurants to become smoke-free, arguing that they must accommodate Bogden’s disability, coronary artery disease, and eliminate secondhand smoke so he can eat at them. Each of the restaurants allows smoking in designated areas.” (Jerry Markon, “Man With Heart Condition Wants Smoke-Free Eateries”, Washington Post, Jan. 31).

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“Katrina Suit Vs. Army Corps Dismissed”

Whatever the failings of the Army Corps of Engineers, the Flood Control Act of 1928 makes clear that federal taxpayers cannot be forced to pay through litigation for the catastrophic collapse of the levees, so there goes the multi-trillion-dollar class action. (Cain Burdeau and Michael Kunzelman, AP/Forbes, Jan. 30). Update: That wasn’t the last word, though: later rulings allowed suits against the Army Corps to go forward.

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January 30 roundup

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Sued for encouraging user-generated content

Suits by businesses over their competitors’ advertising are a staple for us, but this one has a somewhat new wrinkle:

Quiznos, the toasted-sandwich chain, [invited] the public to submit homemade commercials in a contest intended to attack a top rival, Subway. The contest rules made it clear that the videos should depict Quiznos sandwiches as “superior” to Subway’s.

Subway promptly sued Quiznos and iFilm, the Web site owned by Viacom that ran the contest, saying that many of the homemade videos made false claims and depicted its brand in a derogatory way. Subway is also objecting to ads that Quiznos itself created, showing people on the street choosing Quiznos over Subway.

The dispute over an ad is fairly standard — companies often sue one another over advertising claims — but the video contest raises a novel legal question: Quiznos did not make the insulting submissions, so should it be held liable for user-generated content created at its behest? …

If Subway wins, advertisers and media companies may find themselves liable for false advertising claims made by consumers who participate in their contests.

(Louise Story, “Can a Sandwich Be Slandered?”, New York Times, Jan. 29).

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Neuborne dispute not over after all

Professor Burt Neuborne finally received the $3.1 million he requested for achieving a $1.25 billion tax-free settlement of claims brought by Holocaust survivors against Swiss banks. The controversy isn’t over, however; Neuborne has made a standard request for interest (another $300,000), and there is much wailing and gnashing of teeth. [Law Blog; NY Sun; earlier on Overlawyered]

Professor Neuborne’s fee request is based on the hours actually spent on seven years of complex international litigation (29 formal proceedings and 16 successful Second Circuit appeals), and amounts to less than 1% of the amount recovered. There is no evidence that Professor Neuborne inflated his hours. If all contingent-fee requests were as reasonable as Professor Neuborne’s, reformers would have a lot less to complain about.

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Milberg Weiss scandal: plaintiff-for-pay sentenced

Elderly (80) and ailing, retired entertainment lawyer Seymour Lazar drew an unusually light sentence of six months home detention after having “pled guilty to taking secret payments from Milberg Weiss for helping to bring dozens of securities lawsuits by serving as a plaintiff or arranging for his relatives to do so. Three former Milberg partners, William Lerach, David Bershad, and Steven Schulman, have also pled guilty in the scheme,” while the law firm itself and founder Mel Weiss continue to fight the charges and are expected to face trial later this year. “According to a statement from the prosecution, [federal judge John] Walter said he would have sentenced Lazar to a substantial prison term if he were younger and healthier.” (Josh Gerstein, New York Sun, Jan. 29).

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Mustang club calendars

Initial reports had it that the car company’s lawyers were objecting to fans’ putting out a calendar adorned with pictures they’d taken themselves of their beloved Mustangs. Later, the company said it was fine with the fans’ publishing the photos and calendars so long as they didn’t use the Ford logo. (AdRants, Jan. 14; Culture Garage, Jan. 11).

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