Posts Tagged ‘Australia’

Australia: satellite data to spy out pool-safety scofflaws

Authorities in Queensland, Australia, intend to use spy-satellite photos to catch homeowners not in compliance with strict new safety rules on swimming pools, which include the mandatory clearing of trees near pool fences so that determined children cannot climb their way over. [Courier-Mail] More: Popehat.

In the United States, incidentally, there are some indications that a crackdown may be underway to enforce the new federal pool safety act passed last year and administered by the Consumer Product Safety Commission [Aquatics International, earlier] And (via AI) Billings, Montana is pulling the plug on a big public pool project, since “the city wasn’t willing to accept the financial risk and legal liability of owning a large aquatic center”. [Billings Gazette]

Filed under: Australia, pools, privacy

Around the web, September 16

Online game purveyor Evony threatens to sue UK critic in Australian court [GameSetWatch, Ken at Popehat, Patrick at Popehat]
106: number of (counted) cases filed since 2005 that blame errant grapes for slip-fall injuries [ABA Journal]
Bayonne, N.J.: “Connolly suing county for $1M over job switch” [Jersey Journal; background (city councilman took six months off from job as coordinator of 9/11 emergency call center; “doctors won’t let him go back because it’s too stressful.”)]
“Lessons from Andrew Sullivan’s pot bust” [Sullum, Reason] More: Patrick at Popehat.
“The Appraisal Debacle: How Not to Regulate” [Jack Guttentag, Yahoo Finance, via Fountain]
Bizarre: “Paralegal Guilty in Fake-Libel-Suit Scam That Briefly Won $3M” [ABA Journal]
Idea for immigration reform: “Let the smart people in”. [Farhad Manjoo, Slate, via Alkon] More: “Free the H-1Bs, free the economy” [Vivek Wadhwa, TechCrunch]
Academic finds that depending on whom you ask, “It’s not about the money” or maybe it is [Relis, SSRN/Pittsburgh 2007, via Burch, Mass Tort Lit]

Filed under: Australia, food safety, forum shopping, immigration law, libel slander and defamation, mortgages, New Jersey, not about the money, public employment, slip and fall, videogames

July 21 roundup

“Plaintiffs’ Attorneys to Get $800,000 in Preliminary Settlement, Class Members Receive Zero” [Calif. Civil Justice covering Bluetooth settlement in which Ted was objector; earlier here and here]
“Lawyer Jailed for Contempt Is Freed After 14 Years” [Lowering the Bar, earlier]
Money makes the signals go ’round: another probe of red-light cameras yields few surprises [Chicago Tribune, Chicago Bungalow, Bainbridge on Washington, D.C.]
Previously little-known company surfaces in E.D. Tex. to claim Apple, many other companies violate its patent for touchpads [AppleInsider via @JohnLobert]
Child endangerment saga of mom who left kids at Montana mall is now a national story [ABC News; earlier post with many comments; Free Range Kids and more]
Meet Obama Administration “special adviser on ‘green’ jobs” Van Jones [“Dunphy”, McCarthy at NRO “Corner”]
Irrationality of furloughs at University of Wisconsin should provide yet another ground to question New Deal-era Fair Labor Standards Act [Coyote]
Australia’s internet blacklist is so secret you can’t even find out what sites are on it [Popehat – language] Oz to block online video games unsuitable for those under 15 [BoingBoing]

Filed under: Apple, Australia, class action settlements, contempt, Eastern District of Texas, online speech, patent litigation, red light cameras, wage and hour suits

Australian prosecutors’ brief: 24,736 pages

Oz taxpayers spent more than $A1 million securing the conviction of murder defendant/jailhouse lawyer Hugo Rich, who employed many colorful and wearying tactics in his defense on charges of murdering a security guard during a holdup. [Melbourne Herald-Sun]

Filed under: Australia, prisoners, prosecution

Australia’s banned websites

Even linking to one of them can get you A$11,000 a day in fines [BoingBoing]

Filed under: Australia, free speech, online speech

June 23 roundup

In case you were waiting for it: update on “toxic-bra” litigation [OnPoint News, Kashmir Hill, Above the Law (noting that rashes can have many different causes); earlier]
Parts 5 & 6 of White Coat’s malpractice-suit saga [opposition’s expert witness; emotional support]
“Global Insurance Fraud by North Korea Outlined” [Washington Post]
British cops aren’t saying which famous buildings you can be stopped/searched for photographing [BoingBoing]
FBI said to probe whether construction-defect lawyers have improper ties to Nevada homeowner associations that give them business [Carter Wood at Point of Law]
With junk science in even criminal prosecutions, is there hope of keeping it out of civil cases? [Coyote]
“Remember when you could fight with a sibling and not face arrest?” [Obscure Store, 10-year-old Texas girl]
Australian man obtains patent on “circular transportation facilitation device”, otherwise known as “the wheel”, to make point about ease of obtaining weak patents [eight years ago on Overlawyered]

Filed under: Australia, insurance fraud, junk science, medical malpractice, patent quality

Judge hands down 2,643-page judgment

It’s thought to be the longest judgment ever handed down in Australia [Andrew Main, “Banks must pay $1.58bn in compensation for Bell asset grab”, The Australian, Apr. 30]

Filed under: Australia, judges

March 27 roundup

Find me someone who speaks Mixtecan, fast: under new California law health insurers must provide patients with certified language interpreters [Ventura County Star]
“Law Prof’s Article on His Jury Experience Leads to Overturned Verdict” [ABA Journal]
Quick, lock up the Internet: Harvard Law’s John Palfrey wants to unleash child-endangerment suits against online providers [Citizen Media Law]
“Another Lesbian Visitation Case has Liberty Counsel Spouting Nonsense” [Ed Brayton; earlier Miller-Jenkins case]
“Jury awards need to be fair, not lucrative” [Jackie Bueno Sousa, Miami Herald]
Aussie strip club disagrees with exotic dancer on whether faulty pole caused her injury [Brisbane Courier-Mail]
Hasbro nastygram over “Little Mr. Monopoly” use [Bob Ambrogi, Ron Coleman]
No, “crash of ’09” doesn’t refute “capitalist system”, any more than “car wreck” refutes “auto-based travel”.

Filed under: Australia, California, Crisis of 2008, Italy, juries, language bias, Miller-Jenkins case, nastygrams, strippers and exotic dancers

March 22 roundup

No back-alley bikini lines: New Jersey consumer affairs director rejects proposed ban on Brazilian waxing [Asbury Park Press, JammieWearingFool, Jaira Lima and protest site, Popehat, News12 video] Florida, however, won’t let you get a fish-nibble pedicure [WWSB]
Kids doing well in homeschool but divorcing dad disapproves, judge says they must be sent to public [WRAL, Volokh]
Al Franken comes out for loser-pays in litigation (well, in this case at least) [MSNBC “First Read”]
U.K.: “A man who tried to kill himself has won £90,000 in damages from the hospital which saved his life but hurt his arm in the process” [Telegraph]
Life in places without the First Amendment: “Australia’s Vast, Scattershot Censorship Blacklist Revealed” [Slashdot, Volokh, Popehat]; British Telecom passes all internet traffic through “‘Cleanfeed” filters to identify (inter alia) racist content [Glasgow Herald]
More on that suit by expelled student against Miss Porter’s School; “Oprichniki” said to be not identical to Keepers of Tradition [NYTimes; our December coverage]
“Why We Need Cop Cameras” [Steve Chapman, Chicago Tribune] Shopkeepers terrorized in Philadelphia: “The thugs had badges.” [Ken at Popehat]
Counting former lobbyists in Obama Administration? Don’t forget Kathleen Sebelius [Jeff Emanuel, RedState]
Wisconsin: “$50,000 claim filed over girl’s time-out in school” [Milwaukee Journal Sentinel]

Filed under: Al Franken, Australia, First Amendment, Kathleen Sebelius, lobbyists, loser pays, Milwaukee, nanny state, New Jersey, online speech, Philadelphia, police, school discipline, United Kingdom

February 1 roundup

A “retired Reserve captain is threatening to sue her local California school board if the board’s members do not address her by her military title” [Navy Times, Popehat]
Members revolt at Florida bar’s selling their email addresses to marketers; general counsel of bar suggests they maintain multiple email addresses [Daily Business Review]
“Panel Upholds $17M Attorney Fee Award, Cites Bad-Faith Patent Litigation by Drug Companies” [NLJ; fees awarded to Takeda Chemical Industries against Mylan Laboratories and Alphapharm Pty. Ltd.]
Much of what you think you know about the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act is wrong [Stuart Taylor, Jr./National Journal; Point of Law, more]
Not only prejudicial, but a whiskery urban legend to boot: fictional “Winnebago tale” (man thinks cruise control function will drive RV for him, sues after crash) makes its way into an Australian lawyer’s courtroom argument [Rees v. Bailey Aluminium Products]
Posner was scathing about the class action lawyers’ conflicts of interest in the Mirfasihi v. Fleet Mortgage Co. case, but Max Kennerly thinks the judge got the case wrong [Litigation and Trial, earlier]
Fight erupts over fee split in Blue Cross eating-disorder class action settlement [NJLJ, earlier]
“Many attorneys from both parties also marvel at the sheer number of lawyers Obama has picked so far” in staffing White House [Washington Post]

Filed under: ADA filing mills, Australia, bar associations, Barack Obama, class action settlements, Florida, Lilly Ledbetter, sanctions, urban legends about lawsuits