Massachusetts: “A livery company and its driver are liable in a fatal car accident caused by a drunk passenger after he left the livery van, the state’s highest court ruled yesterday. … The court said [the hired driver] should not have dropped off a drunk passenger at a location where he would probably get into a car and drive.” (Denise Lavoie, “SJC rules livery firm negligent in crash”, AP/Boston Globe, Nov. 27).
Posts Tagged ‘alcohol’
Breathalyzer readings are racist
Well, at least that’s one theory cited by a DUI defense lawyer on behalf of his Connecticut client. (Defending PeopleA Public Defender, Nov. 20, via Above the Law)(blog misattribution corrected).
Microblog 2008-11-25
- Why real estate agents make you sign 1,000 silly forms [Christopher Fountain] Michigan requires acknowledgment that nearby farms “may generate noise, dust, odors” [Land Division Act h/t Sean Fosmire]
- Albuquerque police take out want ad seeking snitches [AP]
- “A prez must know S of S has no agenda other than his own” Chris Hitchens flays the Hillary pick [Slate]
- Not all British nannies are charming: U.K. regulators may ban “happy hour” in bars [AP h/t Jeff Nolan]
- As Georgia “sex offender” horror stories go, Wendy Whitaker case may outdo Genarlow Wilson’s [Below the Beltway; more on Wilson case]
- U.K. juror polls her Facebook friends to help decide on case [AllFacebook h/t @lilyhill and @Rex7; Greenfield]
- Looking for political conservatives on Twitter? Here’s a long list [Duane Lester, All American Blogger; and I have a comment on ways to use Twitter]
- New page of auto-feeds from leading Canada & U.S. law & politics blogs [Wise Law Reader]
- Bailout’s a lot bigger than you think, try $7.8 trillion with a “t” [John Carney]. Claim: with $ sunk since ’80, GM and Ford could have closed own plants and bought all shares of Honda, Toyota, Nissan and VW [David Yermack, WSJ via Cowen]. What if Citi gives up Mets naming rights? Gary’s Bail Bonds Stadium just doesn’t quite have the same ring to it [Ray Lehmann]
- Australian class action could derail because overseas funders didn’t register as investment managers [The Australian h/t @SecuritiesD]
Had one too many to drink?
Lawyer-directory firm Avvo has an iPhone app by the name of “Last Call” that
allows you to calculate your blood-alcohol level to determine if it’s safe for you to drive after drinking. If not, use Last Call to call a cab. Last Call also provides a list of top local DUI lawyers on Avvo to call for help if you need it.
(h/t Denise Howell). More from Scott Greenfield:
I wonder whether some developer at Avvo field tested the concept at the local bar and grill, numerous times, before declaring it a winner? There are many areas where this app could fail, from inputting error (hey, you’re drunk, right?) to claims of encouraging drunk driving by the false sense of security of knowing that a list of DUI attorneys are only a click away. This is a far cry from “just say no.”
On the other hand, when the cop grabs your iPhone at the time of arrest and sees that you’ve used the application, input information that showed you to be intoxicated and drove anyway, even the best DUI attorney will have his hands full explaining that away. …
If you read the marketing language with care, however, you find this: “Last Call is provided for entertainment purposes only.”
It’s always amusing as well to contrast the marketing with the legal disclaimers, as it would be wrong to expect the app to serve the purpose for which it’s sold. No detrimental reliance here.
“Pub-goers to be tested for drugs”
The spirit of liberty seems to have been numbed in Scotland: “Pub-goers in Aberdeen are facing a drugs test before entering bars as part of a crackdown by Grampian Police. … The test is voluntary, but customers will be refused entry if they do not take part.” The tests will be conducted using a new technology that takes swabs of hands and analyzes them instantly for drug residues, which will be grounds for search or arrest. (BBC, Oct. 31, via Massie (“ghastly”)).
More: Per commenter Mike Blackburn, “As I understand it, the campaign was run by clubowners who wanted to find a way of keeping drugs out of their clubs. The police were only really involved as administrators.”
Alcohol wholesaling laws
Laws in most states ordain an artificial niche for the business of beer and liquor wholesaling, and it gets worse:
Some states, for example, give wholesalers exclusive rights to distribute alcohol in a particular region, effectively creating government-enforced monopolies. Other states (including Arizona) have enacted “franchise termination laws,” which make it more difficult for retailers and/or producers to switch distributors once they’ve started doing business with one. Producers and/or retailers get locked in. If they feel their existing distributor is taking too much of a markup, isn’t offering a wide enough variety, or is otherwise performing poorly, there’s little they can do.
(Radley Balko, “How Your Beer Bought John McCain’s $500 Loafers”, Reason, Oct. 15). Cited in the article is an Independent Institute monograph by Glen Whitman, “Strange Brew: Alcohol and Government Monopoly“, which sounds like it’s worth reading on the subject.
October 14 roundup
- Don’t miss Roger Parloff’s tour de force coverage in Fortune blowing whistle on that dodgy suit in Moscow against Bank of New York Mellon, adorned by participation of lawprofs Dershowitz and Blakey [PoL overview, main article]
- Digital remixes and copyright law [Lessig, WSJ]
- Surgeon at Connecticut’s Greenwich Hospital revealed as drug abuser, Koskoff, Koskoff & Bieder now pressing suit on behalf of general class of patients, which sounds like it means “whether harmed or not” [Greenwich Time, Newsday via TortsProf weekly roundup]
- Chicago sheriff halting foreclosures, or maybe not, reportage is confused [Reuters, big discussion at Steve Chapman blog] And is Obama taking the idea national with bid for 90-day moratorium on foreclosures? [AP]
- Foie gras-style financial gavage? “None of banks getting government money was given a choice about it, said one of the people familiar with the plans.” [Bloomberg, Bernstein @ Volokh] More: Ann Althouse, Kuznicki/Cato at Liberty.
- Trey Allen law firm in Dallas agrees to pay $840,000 restitution after profiting from staged car crash scheme, but Allen’s lawyer says client wasn’t aware of any fraud [ABA Journal]
- Smoking bans, alcohol taxes contributing to steep decline of English village pubs [Newsweek]
- Bias-law panel rules Wal-Mart within its rights not to hire a female applicant for Santa Claus position [eight years ago on Overlawyered]
Whoops: “DUI attorney explains her own DUI charge”
Janiece Lacross, a drunk-driving defense lawyer in Washington state, has lately run into her own trouble with the law: “Last November she drove drunk with her three young children in the backseat. She hit a boy on his bike in Kitsap County, breaking his leg and sending him into the bushes. But the vehicular assault charge against her was dropped and reduced to just a DUI, which brought Mothers Against Drunk Driving to court to find out why.” Lacross entered rehab and will accept home monitoring and attend victim impact events as part of her plea in Tacoma to DUI and three counts of reckless endangerment; her repentant statements in court even made a relatively favorable impression on MADD, not the easiest thing to do. The passing bit of the story that induced a momentary double take: as part of her penitence, it is said that Lacross “even helped the young victim, Joseph Griffith, with his civil suit for personal injuries”. Against herself? (Keith Eldridge, KOMO, Oct. 1).
Drunken ride on mechanical bull
“Things are supposed to be fun, not injury-producing,” says attorney Lawrence Saftler, whose client, Manhattan screenwriter Aaron Schnore, didn’t succeed in staying on the raging mechanical bull at Johnny Utah’s restaurant in midtown. (Jose Martinez, “Raging bull rider suing restaurant”, New York Daily News, Sept. 5; Popehat).
“Zapped Amtrak trespasser sues”
Brian Hopkins, 25, of Astoria, Queens, New York City, “who survived an electric shock and fire two years ago when he climbed atop an empty, stopped Amtrak train after a night of bar hopping in Boston is suing the railroad – because Amtrak didn’t do enough to protect trespassers like him.” (Kathianne Boniello, New York Post, Aug. 31).