The meat purveyor is asserting trademark rights: “Claiming dilution of the trademarked name Spam, the company has filed complaints against Spam Arrest LLC, a Seattle technology company that provides spam-blocking software for e-mail users.” (Jonathan Krim, “Hormel Foods challenges Spam Arrest’s trademark bid”, Washington Post/Chicago Tribune, Jul. 7).
Samuelson on Nike v. Kasky
Washington Post columnist Bob Samuelson chastises the U.S. Supreme Court majority for ducking the recent free-speech-for-business case (see Ted Frank’s post of Jul. 1, as well as Feb. 13 and May 3-5, 2002). Sample: “Just about the last people you’d want to put in charge of the First Amendment are trial lawyers, whose business is suing large companies on any available pretext. … What’s occurring here is that trial lawyers are road-testing a new form of corporate shakedown. First, advocacy groups would attack a company or industry. Next, companies would face a dilemma: be silent and let the attacks stand, or respond and face an expensive and embarrassing suit. Finally, companies that ended up in court might face a daunting standard of proof — not whether what they said was true, but whether it might be misleading.” (Robert Samuelson, “A Tax on Free Speech”, Jul. 9). Before the Court issued its ruling, interesting columns about the case also appeared from Jonathan Rauch (“Corporate Lying is Bad”, National Journal/Reason.com, Jun. 9) and Dan Kennedy (“The Silent Swoosh”, Boston Phoenix, May 2-8). Update Sept. 14: Nike settles case.
Back from vacation
Kudos and thanks to Ted Frank for the excellent job he did as guest blogger over the last week. Regular posting should resume shortly, and watch for more experiments in guest blogging soon.
Firestone II
The National Law Journal also has coverage of a “groundbreaking” Judge Easterbrook decision out of the federal appellate court in Chicago, In re Bridgestone/Firestone Inc. Tires Products Liability Litigation, holding that a federal decision against the creation of a nationwide class precludes state courts from deciding to the contrary. (John Beisner of my law firm, O’Melveny & Myers, represented Ford Motor Company and argued for the defense.) The decision is important because it limits the ability of class action plaintiffs’ attorneys to judge-shop; if a federal court denied the certification of a nationwide class, the same attorneys could go from state to state seeking a state court that would in a game of “heads I win, tails don’t count.” (Gary Young, “7th Circuit Limits State Court Certification of Class Actions,” National Law Journal, July 8.)
Many thanks to Walter Olson for giving me the keys to the website for the week. I greatly enjoyed the experience.
Nursing home damages
Some states have changed laws to cap noneconomic damages–and, in some cases, limit the use of inspection records as evidence–in lawsuits against nursing homes. (Cherie Song, “States Move to Curb Nursing Home Suits,” National Law Journal, July 8).
Class action firm subject to judgment
A federal jury in Chicago awarded $36 million ($8.3 million compensatory, the rest punitive) to the former client of class action plaintiffs’ firm Ness, Motley for breach of contract and fiduciary duty. The law firm negotiated a settlement (over the objection of its clients, which it fired at the behest of the defendant) with a convicted felon with tens of millions in frozen assets that gave the firm $2 million in fees, but “next to no compensation” for the ostensible injured parties. (Ness, Motley has since broken up.) (Adam Liptak, “Big Litigation Firm Found to Have Acted Unethically,” NY Times, July 4). The Manhattan Institute issued a press release and a study of the case last August.
Zyprexa
Michael Fumento laments that a single study is being misconstrued to justify perverse lawsuits over anti-psychotic medication Zyprexa. (Michael Fumento, “Lawyers Exploiting the Mentally Ill,” Scripps-Howard News Service, June 26).
Daubert debate
Peter Nordberg and David Bernstein debate the study on Daubert discussed in this post. If I can take up Mr. Nordberg’s challenge to identify problems with the SKAPP report, I’ll just identify a handful that immediately came to mind as I read it. (This is long, so I’ve moved it off the main page. Click the link below.)
New York gun suits
As earlier discussed by Walter, a Manhattan appellate court has affirmed the dismissal of Attorney General Eliot Spitzer’s state lawsuit against gun manufacturers. Spitzer had sued under a theory of “public nuisance.” The opinion is now on-line and the court’s language is interesting:
[P]laintiff would have us summarily ignore: […]
2) the importance and fairness of considering such concepts as remoteness, duty, proximate cause and the significance of the indisputable intervention of unlawful and frequently violent acts of criminals — over whom defendants have absolutely no control — who actually, directly, and most often intentionally, cause the cited harm;
3) the significance and unfairness of holding defendants accountable even though their commercial activity is wholly lawful and currently heavily regulated, and that their products are non-defective; and
4) the plain fact that courts are the least suited, least equipped, and thus the least appropriate branch of government to regulate and micro-manage the manufacturing, marketing, distribution and sale of handguns.
An identical federal suit filed by the NAACP is pending before Judge Jack Weinstein in Brooklyn. (Samuel Maull, “Appeals court affirms dismissal of state’s lawsuit against gun makers,” AP, June 24).
Weinstein is perhaps best known for his work on the Agent Orange class action settlement, which the U.S. Supreme Court recently allowed to be reopened when it split 4-4 in its review of a Second Circuit opinion holding that the settlement did not preclude veterans from seeking additional damages. There are obvious implications, since now class action defendants risk losing the benefits of finality in the Second Circuit. (Tony Mauro, “Vets Win Chance At Agent Orange Damages,” Legal Times, June 10).
(Full disclosure: My firm filed an amicus brief on behalf of the Product Liability Advisory Council in Dow Chemical v. Stephenson.)
Fast food second update
You can never have too much information about fast food lawsuits department: The Center for Consumer Freedom is running humorous ads on news channels showing a lawyer cross-examining a Girl Scout for selling Girl Scout cookies. (Marguerite Higgins, “Food companies use humor as defense in ads,” Washington Times, June 26). Thing is, plaintiffs’ lawyers are immune to parody: John Banzhaf threatens to sue the Seattle school district if it agrees to renew a $400,000 contract with Coca-Cola for vending machines. (Deborah Bach, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, July 2).