alienation of affection – Overlawyered

August 8 roundup

Walter Olson — Wed, 08 Aug 2018 09:54:48 +0000

North Carolina’s heartbalm law strikes again, as judge orders man who slept with married woman to pay jilted husband $8.8 million [Virginia Bridges, Raleigh News & Observer, more on homewrecker tort]
Cornell economist Rick Geddes explains the federal government’s postal monopoly [David Henderson]
Trademark swagger: “Chicago Poke Chain Sends C&D To Hawaiian Poke Joint Demanding It Not Be Named ‘Aloha Poke'” [Timothy Geigner, Techdirt] “Shipyard Brewing Loses Its Lawsuit Over Ships and The Word ‘Head'” [same]
“Man files lawsuit under False Claims Act against manufacturer of batteries for use in intercontinental ballistic missile launch controls, asks for $30 mil, settles for $1.7 mil. What follows is—in the trial court’s words—a “hellish” dispute over the man’s attorneys’ fees. Third Circuit: We feel you; the order reducing requested fees is affirmed in almost every respect.” [John K. Ross, Short Circuit, on U.S. ex rel. Palmer v. C&D Technologies]
Using the law to suppress one’s competition: New York Taxi Workers Alliance cheers City Council’s move to cap Uber and ridesharing [Reuters] It’s totally normal and not at all suspicious that the city council president who wants tougher enforcement against Airbnb is also president of the state’s hotel lobby [Eric Boehm, Reason; Biloxi, Mississippi]
For those still keeping score, it’s improper and prejudicial for the head of the nation’s law enforcement apparatus to declaim publicly against a criminal trial in progress, whether or not the defendant happens to be his own campaign manager [David Post, Volokh; April Post and podcast on inapplicable “fruit of the poisonous tree” claim]

Tags: alienation of affection, Department of Justice, Donald Trump, hotels, Mississippi, North Carolina, qui tam, taxis and ridesharing, trademarks

August 8 roundup is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

September 27 roundup

Walter Olson — Wed, 27 Sep 2017 10:01:33 +0000

Welcome news: U.S. Department of Education withdraws notorious Dear Colleague letter on Title IX and misconduct accusations [Hans Bader, CEI; ABA Journal]
Kaspersky Lab turns tables, forces E.D. Tex. patent claimant to pay to end case [Joe Mullin, ArsTechnica] Following unanimous SCOTUS ruling easing fee awards for ill-grounded patent litigation, firm told to “pay $1.6 million in attorney’s fees for filing an unwarranted patent lawsuit against a competitor.” [same, Octane Fitness vs. Icon]
Activist litigation with taxpayer imprimatur: “University Of North Carolina Law School’s Civil Rights Center Closes Following Board Of Governors Vote” [Paul Caron/ TaxProf, Bainbridge, earlier]
Another positive review for Ben Barton and Stephanos Bibas’s Rebooting Justice [Jeremy Richter, earlier]
Appeals court rejects constitutional challenge to North Carolina homewrecker tort (“alienation of affection”) [ABA Journal, Eugene Volokh, earlier]
Social engineering often seen as intrinsically anti-liberty. Rightly so? [Cato Unbound: Jason Kuznicki, Alex Tabarrok and others]

Tags: alienation of affection, law schools, North Carolina, patent litigation, patent trolls, Title IX

September 27 roundup is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Suit over outside-Mississippi adultery turns on awareness of boyfriend’s domicile

Walter Olson — Mon, 29 Jun 2015 04:15:57 +0000

Mississippi, along with North Carolina, has preserved the tort of “alienation of affections,” which enables lawsuits by married persons against a spouse’s lover for undermining a marriage. Exercising long-arm jurisdiction, it even allows suits against alleged paramours who have never set foot in Mississippi but (it is claimed) engaged in trysts with a married Mississippian outside the state. In a recent case, however, the Mississippi Supreme Court ruled 7-2 that a woman sued under the law could move to dismiss the case for lack of personal jurisdiction on the grounds that she had no idea her boyfriend resided in Mississippi over the course of a relationship conducted in other states. [Nordness v. Faucheaux via Volokh]

Tags: alienation of affection, Mississippi, procedure

Suit over outside-Mississippi adultery turns on awareness of boyfriend’s domicile is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

N.C. man files alienation of affection suit against online business

Walter Olson — Tue, 17 Dec 2013 14:11:11 +0000

“A Charlotte man blames the breakup of his marriage not only on the other guy, but also on the online infidelity service that he says made it happen. … North Carolina remains one of only a half-dozen states that still awards punitive damages when a marriage fails and someone other than the husband and wife is to blame. The so-called alienation of affection/criminal conversation laws have survived numerous efforts by judges, lawyers and some legislators to repeal them, and in recent years they have led to million-dollar judgments for wronged spouses.” [Charlotte Observer]

Tags: alienation of affection, North Carolina, social media

N.C. man files alienation of affection suit against online business is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

N.Y. trial lawyers: bowling-shoe exemption must not stand

Walter Olson — Thu, 23 May 2013 11:23:32 +0000

In the New York legislature, bowling alleys are hoping to win a law protecting them from slip-fall liability arising after their customers wear store-rented shoes outside the building and either slip there or track snow or other slippery matter back inside. Weather hazards have been tripping up more customers of the ordinarily indoor sport, it seems, since the state enforced a complete indoor smoking ban. The trial lawyer association is dead set against the bill; its president claims that the bill “undercuts the constitutional right to a trial by a jury” — presumably on the theory that it somehow undercuts trial by jury for a legislature to roll back any instance of liability for anyone anywhere. That’s sheer nonsense, of course — otherwise, it’d have been unconstitutional for legislatures around most of the country to have abolished the old heartbalm torts of breach of promise to marry and alienation of affection. [Albany Times-Union via Future of Capitalism] More: Lowering the Bar.

Tags: alienation of affection, breach of promise to marry, New York, recreation, slip and fall, smoking bans

N.Y. trial lawyers: bowling-shoe exemption must not stand is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Alienation of affections in North Carolina

Walter Olson — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 14:38:58 +0000

Kyle Graham asks why that variety of “heartbalm” action remains a vital and frequently used tort in the Tarheel State, but not elsewhere, though it remains on the books in ten or so other states. “The popularity of the tort in North Carolina suggests, at least to me, the importance of inertia and claim consciousness in tort law.”

Distantly related: demise of Breach of Promise to Marry laws linked to rise of engagement rings [Margaret Brinig via Matthew O’Brien via Sullivan]

Tags: alienation of affection, North Carolina

Alienation of affections in North Carolina is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

North Carolina’s throwback “heartbalm torts”

Walter Olson — Sun, 27 Mar 2011 05:10:54 +0000

This time they’ve ensnared a judge accused of seducing another man’s wife. Maybe that will be enough to get the causes of action abolished at last. On John Edwards’s possible worries about legal liability, see this post from last year. [OnPoint]

Tags: alienation of affection, North Carolina

North Carolina’s throwback “heartbalm torts” is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

September 21 roundup

Walter Olson — Tue, 21 Sep 2010 13:29:08 +0000

Facing four harassment claims, embattled Philadelphia housing chief files his own suit for $600K+ [Inquirer]
“Ohio State Abuses Trademark Law to Suppress a Fan Magazine and Website” [Paul Alan Levy, CL&P]
“Judge Dismisses Baltimore Blight Suit Against Wells Fargo, Will Allow Refiling” [ABA Journal]
Trial lawyer taking behind-the-scenes hand in Louisiana politics [OpenSecrets via Tapscott]
“Are hedge funds abusing bankruptcy?” [Felix Salmon and WSJ]
North Carolina alienation-of-affection law strikes again: “’Mistress Ordered to Pay $5.8 Million’ to Wronged Wife” [Volokh, Althouse]
“Lawyers take a haircut on a contingency fee in Colorado” [Legal Ethics Forum]
ADA lawsuits close another beloved eatery [Stockton, Calif.; six years ago on Overlawyered]

Tags: alienation of affection, Baltimore, bankruptcy, fans as infringers, Louisiana, North Carolina, Philadelphia, trademarks

September 21 roundup is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

$9M alienation of affection award in NC

Ted Frank — Sat, 20 Mar 2010 16:31:25 +0000

The defendant wasn’t at trial and didn’t have a lawyer, and plans to appeal; the judgment might as well be for $73 gazillion, as the ex-husband is already in contempt of court for failure to pay spousal support. (Greensboro News-Record March 18 and March 17 via Volokh). We’ve been covering the issue for years, as a click on the tags will reveal.

Tags: alienation of affection, family law, jackpot justice, North Carolina

$9M alienation of affection award in NC is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Alienation of John Edwards’ affections?

Walter Olson — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 17:02:28 +0000

Per ABC News, Andrew Young says that Elizabeth Edwards has threatened him with a lawsuit under North Carolina’s law permitting lawsuits against third parties — not limited to paramours — who helped break up a marriage. We’ve been covering the workings of this law for years at Overlawyered, and Ted may have been the first to spot its possible application to the Sen. Edwards squalor-ama. Much more at Death by 1000 Papercuts. (Rewritten somewhat for clarity 1 p.m. Eastern; & welcome Mickey Kaus readers)

Tags: alienation of affection, John Edwards, North Carolina

Alienation of John Edwards’ affections? is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system