Posts Tagged ‘California’

“Sued for seeking a ZIPcode?”

Overlawyered readers may remember the problem of FACTA lawsuits when a poorly drafted federal law led to attorneys seeking $1000 for every occasion when a credit-card slip showed an expiration date.

Stroock & Stroock’s Daniel A. Rozansky and Scott M. Pearson have an op-ed in today’s San Francisco Chronicle discussing problems with a similar California law. California prohibits businesses from requesting or requiring “personal identification information” while accepting a credit-card payment; this includes address and phone number, but doesn’t specify what else. Entrepreneurial trial lawyers are asking courts to hold that it includes harmless information like ZIP codes: since the statute provides for $1000/violation damages in the absence of a showing of harm without a cap, extortionate lawsuits are easy to create–and a further drag on the already-suffering California economy.

Filed under: California, class actions, harmless lawsuits, legal extortion, privacy

April 3 roundup

Those enviro-hazard warnings plastered all over because of Prop 65? They may be not merely pointless but untrue [California Civil Justice; a still-timely 2000 piece]
Is it somehow wrong for a public medical examiner to testify against cops — even when it’s in another county? [Radley Balko, Reason]
UCLA research scientists fight back against animal rights fanatics’ violence and intimidation [Orac/Respectful Insolence, “Pro-Test”]
Ezra Levant, himself a target of Canada’s official speech tribunals, has written a new book denouncing them, buy before they ban it [Amazon; Andrew Coyne, Maclean’s] Has odious censorship-complaint-filer Richard Warman finally gotten his comeuppance? [Ken @ Popehat] More: another Warman case [Cit Media Law]
Roundup of recent sports/assumption of risk cases [John Hochfelder]
Already in trouble on charges of faking a will, Allentown, Pa. police-brutality attorney John Karoly now faces tax charges including alleged failure to report $5 million in income for 2002, 2004 and 2005 [TaxGirl]
Lawprof’s “Reparations, Reconciliation and Restorative Justice” seminar led to introduction of Maryland bill requiring insurers to disclose antebellum slaveholder policies [DelmarvaNow]
Judge tosses suit by Clarksville, Tennessee officials against activists who called them cozy with developers [Sullum, Reason “Hit and Run”]

Filed under: animal rights, assumption of risk, California, expert witnesses, free speech in Canada, insurers, Maryland, Prop 65, reparations, Richard Warman, sports, Tennessee

Motorcyclist crashes into wild pigs on road

And many happy returns to California taxpayers for the $8.6 million, courtesy of a Monterey County jury. Lowering the Bar: “I can’t remember how many times I have tried to warn people that bad things were going to happen if we didn’t tame our state’s boars and train them to be alert for drunk drivers when crossing the street. Why don’t people listen?”

Filed under: alcohol, animals, California, personal responsibility, roads and streets, taxpayers

March 31 roundup

Litigation over high-tech products is rife, but major benefits for consumers can be hard to discern [Low End Mac]
“United settles with female ex-pilot who found p0rn in cockpits” [Obscure Store]
California suit charges negligent “laying on of hands” at church service [Lowering the Bar]
UN resolution against “defamation of religion” imperils free speech [Paula Schriefer, Freedom House/CSM, Steyn/NR “Corner”, National Secular Society (U.K.), Ilya Somin @ Volokh
DivorceNetwork.com, social networking for those caught up in family law battles? [Ambrogi, Legal BlogWatch]
Prosecutors behaving badly in Wayne County (Mich.), Miami, Santa Clara County [Radley Balko, Reason “Hit and Run”]
After nine years, the notorious Bill Lerach California-unfair-competition-law suit against Kwikset (over several screws from Taiwan in a lock marked “Made in America”) finally winds down [California Civil Justice, earlier]
Oklahoma AG Drew Edmondson to poultry companies: my pals will bankrupt you with massive verdicts unless you settle [Rizo/Legal NewsLine; more]

Filed under: agriculture and farming, attorneys general, aviation, Bill Lerach, California, churches, divorce, family law, free speech, hostile environment, Oklahoma, s. 17200, social networking, technology

“California may ban black cars”

Michael Arrington, TechCrunch: “The California legislature is considering regulating the color of cars and reflectivity of paint to reduce the energy requirements to cool them. …dark colors just don’t reflect well, so they are likely out.” (via Coyote Blog).

P.S. Ian Douglas of the Telegraph (h/t Walker in comments) says reaction to the rules has been exaggerated and that so long as a “cool paint” with infrared reflectivity is used, California drivers can have any color they want, even if it’s black. And yet more from Janet Neilson, Western Standard.

Filed under: autos, California, environment

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

CPSIA: “We are sorry to report…”

Fewer options for kids in Santa Rosa, California:

We are sorry to report that Eleven 11 Kids has been forced to close its doors as of February 10, 2009 due to the new federal children’s environmental law, CPSIA, (HR4040) that went into effect on 2/10/09.

And then the store explains in some detail why it felt it had to close. It is too polite, perhaps, to mention that both California senators, Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein, played prominent roles in getting CPSIA passed, with Boxer in particular pushing the retroactive phthalates ban that has been notably harmful to resellers.

Plowed under

At ShopFloor, Carter Wood writes that the Senate version of the bill was (even) more extreme in its provisions than the House version, and that the Senate version unfortunately “wound up playing a bigger role in the writing of the final bill”. The Hospice of Amador and Calaveras Thrift Store, in California’s Sierra Nevada, is still operating but has stopped carrying children’s items.

In Ellensburg, Washington, north of Yakima, Cheryl Smith was “living the American dream” with her store Hailina’s Closet, which “opened last April and [sold] gently used children’s clothing and toys.” But it is just a memory now. The Kitsap Sun reported that Perfect Circle, a Bremerton children’s consignment store, also had to go out of business.

A few more reports from Goodwill: Roanoke, Virginia, Le Mars, Iowa (rare good news, some items being put back on shelves), Rock County, Wisconsin.

Filed under: Barbara Boxer, California, CPSC, CPSIA, CPSIA and Congress, CPSIA and resale, Washington state

March 5 roundup

Uninjured patients of California, unite to demand the money you have coming to you! [Russell Jackson via PoL]
Lawyer’s nastygram to blogger Patterico: how dare you talk to my witnesses as part of your research on my case? [Ken @ Popehat, Sheffner/Copyrights and Campaigns, Volokh, Hricik/Legal Ethics Forum; lawyer Kathy Kelly retracts and regrets her threat; the underlying article by Radley Balko, alleging extraordinary misconduct by Mississippi-based medical examiners in a Louisiana case, is here [caution, disturbing images and videos]; reactions to that from Patrick @ Popehat, BoingBoing, Coyote]
Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) being helpful to trial lawyers? Old news to Overlawyered readers [AmLaw Daily, Wood @PoL, our earlier coverage of Specter]
California lawyers are obliged to pay $500 annual dues to the state bar, which leaves one member irritated when the official bar publication showcases a predictable brand of politics [Bookworm Room on CLAY awards, California Lawyer] More: Discriminations on the Virginia state bar;
So is the New Jersey Law Journal going to start printing regular tutorials on how to take unlawful action against blogs that criticize one’s client, or is it just going to be the one time? [Ron Coleman]
New blogger Andrew Grossman joins Point of Law, expert on the “overcriminalization” of life [intro, proposed we-must-do-something-about-chimps “Captive Primate Safety Act”]
R.I.P. Murray Teigh Bloom, author of The Trouble With Lawyers (1968), whose obituary appeared in the New York Times the other day;
Eric Turkewitz continues his investigations of online solicitation of victims of the Continental #3407 Buffalo crash; might the New York anti-chasing rules be working? [fifth and sixth posts in series]
Stadium patdown case: California constitution “does not grant courts a roving commission to micromanage” security arrangements at private facilities [Egelko, Chronicle]

Filed under: animals, Arlen Specter, bar associations, bloggers and the law, California, chasing clients

California towns ban speedboarding

No doubt there are also other reasons why councilors might vote to keep daredevil and extreme skateboarders off public streets, as the L.A. Times is reporting, but the liability climate can’t help:

In 2004, a 17-year-old boy skating down a Mission Viejo street hit “an alleged defect in the street and took a tumble. In a bicycle he would have rolled right over it,” [self-insurance pool executive Jonathan] Shull said.

The boy suffered a brain injury and his family filed suit, alleging municipal negligence and asking for money to help care for him for the rest of his life.

Under state liability law, a city might have to pay the full settlement if a jury finds it was even 1% liable for the injury, according to Shull.

Filed under: California, deep pocket, joint and several liability, safety, taxpayers

California: “Three Offices of Attorney Declared ‘Vexatious Litigant’ Shut Down”

Mitchell W. Roth had offices in Sherman Oaks, San Diego, and Riverside, per the NLJ. Roth’s appearances on the Internet include CaliforniaSpineInjury.com and the “Middle Class Advocate” blog.

Filed under: California, San Diego