- Divorcing Brooklyn couple has put up sheetrock wall dividing house into his and hers [L.A. Times, AP/Newsday]
- Boston Herald appeals $2 million libel award to Judge Ernest Murphy, whom the paper had portrayed as soft on criminals (earlier: Dec. 8 and Dec. 23, 2005) [Globe via Romenesko]
- Updating Jul. 8 story: Georgia man admits he put poison in his kids’ soup in hopes of getting money from Campbell Soup Co. [AP/AccessNorthGeorgia]
- Witness talks back to lawyer at deposition [YouTube via Bainbridge, %&*#)!* language]
- Prominent UK business figure says overprotective schools producing generation of “cotton wool kids” [Telegraph]
- State agents swoop down on Montana antique store and seize roulette wheel from 1880s among other “unlicensed gambling equipment” [AP/The Missoulian]
- “You, gentlemen, are no barristers. You are just two litigators. On Long Island.” [Lat and commenter]
- Some Dutch municipalities exclude dads from town-sponsored kids’ playgroups, so as not to offend devout Muslim moms [Crooked Timber]
- As mayor, Rudy Giuliani didn’t hesitate to stand up to the greens when he thought they were wrong [Berlau @ CEI]
- Australia: funeral homes, fearing back injury claims, now discouraging the tradition of family members and friends being pallbearers [Sydney Morning Herald]
- Asserting 200-year-old defect in title, Philly’s Cozen & O’Connor represents Indian tribe in failed lawsuit laying claim to land under Binney & Smith Crayola factory [three years ago on Overlawyered]
Posts Tagged ‘Long Island’
Judges reject Shinnecock, Paugussett land claims
In two separate cases, federal judges have rejected high-profile but long-shot claims by Indian tribes asserting ownership of land tracts in the Northeast. U.S. District Court Judge Thomas C. Platt said the Shinnecock tribe of Long Island, New York (see Jun. 13, Jun. 19 and Jun. 27, 2005), had forfeited its potential claim on 3,600 acres of high-value land in the Hamptons by waiting more than 140 years to assert possession. (John Moreno Gonzales, “Ruling aside, tribe plans to build casino”, Newsday, Dec. 5; “Judge cites passage of time in Shinnecock land claim”, Indianz.com, Dec. 6; ruling in PDF format courtesy Indianz.com). And in New Haven, U.S. District Court Judge Janet Bond Arterton brought homeowners’ ordeal nearer an end Nov. 29 by ruling against the federally unrecognized group that calls itself the Golden Hill Paugussetts, which has been asserting land claims in various Connecticut towns for 14 years. (Gale Courey Toensing, “Golden Hill Paugussetts will appeal rejected land claims”, Indian Country Today, Dec. 11).
“$102,009.17 buys an awful lot of pants”
“That is how much the Long Island Rail Road and the Metro-North Railroad have paid over the last four years to customers who have torn clothing” on the armrests of their M7 trains. I’ve torn pants pockets on armrests that weren’t on M7 trains, but never thought to ask for compensation for something that was my own damn fault. I’m apparently a sucker, but at least no one is seeking to add this claim of damages to the obesity lawsuits. Yet. (William Neuman, “M.T.A. Gets Bill When Armrests Chew Up Pants”, NY Times, Dec. 6 (h/t W.F.)).)
Demand: let my service dog onto your nude beach
Mark DelCore, 39, says in his federal lawsuit that he has a medical need to sunbathe at the Fire Island nude beach because of a skin condition. The beach rules allow for seeing-eye dogs, but DelCore’s is an “emotional support” dog (see May 14, etc.) who assists with post-traumatic stress he says he’s suffered since the 9/11 attacks. One big problem: it’s feared a greater dog presence at water’s edge would interfere with the doings of the piping plover, an endangered shorebird whose protection has already been cited as reason to suppress many human activities on Long Island beaches. (The Smoking Gun, Jul. 13). More: Ann Althouse, who has covered service-dog accommodation controversies in the past, is on this one too. Update: Jul. 22 (DelCore thinking of dropping suit).
Assumption of risk (mollusc dept.)
Diners who order shellfish, such as mussels, assume the risk of encountering broken pieces of shell, ruled a New York judge who threw out a Long Island woman’s lawsuit against the Blue Moon restaurant in Rockville Centre attempting to recover for injuries arising from her encounter with the allegedly defective plate of mussels marinara. (“Judge Shucks Shellfish Suit”, WCBS, undated, about Jun. 7). More: Lattman, Jun. 12.
Errant golf balls, cont’d
Reader Matt Manor sums up this Newsday article about a controversy in Hewlett Harbor, Long Island: “Golf club loses suit on errant balls, faces injunction to end them, erects large net to comply, and is promptly sued by homeowners who think the net is ugly. You can’t win.” (William Murphy, “Golf course can’t seem to hit straight”, May 24). More on errant golf balls: May 24, Oct. 6, 2004 (Australia).
Blawg Review #56 at Point of Law
Ted and I join with Jim Copland, Larry Ribstein, Tom Kirkendall, and Sam Munson this morning as co-hosts of the week’s traveling carnival of law-related blogs, Blawg Review, over at Point of Law. A very few highlights:
* Ted comments on the self-unmasking of pseudonymous blogger “Juan Non-Volokh”, on various matters connected with Joe DiMaggio. and on Howard Bashman’s Stakhanovite work pace.
* Jim discusses the tax consequences for plaintiffs of confidentiality agreements in settlements, via Evan Schaeffer’s other weblog; a new way for the plaintiff’s securities bar to get around PSLRA; and a Court TV reality show set in New York City’s real-life night court.
* Larry, Tom and Sam round up posts on corporate law, on the Enron trial and other prosecutorial matters, and on a variety of subjects including law review style.
* And I discuss an on-the-job love triangle that eventuated in a Title VII lawsuit alleging sex discrimination; liability headaches for online enterprises and software manufacturers; the case in which the Cleveland bar association is trying to get a dad penalized for unauthorized practice of law after he successfully represented his own son in special-ed proceedings; Long Island legislator Jeffrey Toback’s demagogic suit against Google for allegedly interfering with children, as dissected by Eric Goldman; and the fast-rising number of cases filed under ERISA, the federal pension and employee-benefits statute.
It’s all here. Next week’s Blawg Review will be hosted by Lawyerlike.
Filial Overreaching Run Amok
Manhattan trusts and estates lawyer Edward F. Campbell Jr., counsel in the New York office of Chicago’s Vedder, Price, Kaufman & Kammholz, acted as “mediator, attorney and financial advisor” to his elderly parents in the 1996 sale of their home to….him.
Campbell “purchased” the 7 bedroom, 2 acre home in Lloyd Harbor, Long Island from his failing parents for no down payment and $1,000 a month, reserving to the parents a life estate, which isn’t turning out to be much of a consolation to the elder couple. A Suffolk County Supreme Court judge is skeptical.
No word on how Campbell’s eight siblings are taking the news.
N.Y.: Hotel safety standards for sharehouses?
“In a decision that could have ripple effects across Long Island’s East End summer playground, a Suffolk Supreme Court justice hearing a swimming pool accident case has ruled that a sharehouse owner may be held to the same liability standards as the owner of a hotel, motel or inn.” After Flavio Fornaro injured himself diving, his lawyers argued that the owner of the house in Quogue should have mounted decals on the swimming pool to indicate relative depths, a step that might be standard for a hotel or motel pool but which is not expected of homeowners. A judge ruled that the claim could go to trial. “The decision could create a whole host of new and previously unanticipated duties for both rental property owners and others who have pay-to-attend events at their homes.” One Riverhead attorney wondered whether the hiring of lifeguards might be required, and a realtor called the decision “quite disturbing”, with its implication that prudent private owners might need to mimic the safety precautions of commercial establishments: “You can’t take a person’s residence and make it a Starbucks.” (Andrew Harris, “Sharehouse Owners Held to Public Accommodations Standards in Pool Accident Case”, New York Law Journal, Nov. 2).
Piping Plovers Cancel Fireworks
The piping plover is a neurotically fragile bird that abandons its low-lying nests on beaches in response to noise, and suffers from being prey for dogs, raccoons, foxes, and skunks, its only defense being relatively ineffective camoflauge. Though the Fish & Wildlife Service under the Reagan, Bush, and Clinton administrations did not believe it necessary to create critical habitats for the thousands of plovers that remain, the Clinton administration eventually settled a lawsuit brought against it by agreeing to establish a critical habitat in 2001. (The efforts may be for naught, since plovers migrate to Canada, and not even Canada provides such dramatic protections for endangered species, much less “threatened” species.) Now, a number of towns up and down the East Coast have been required to cancel their fireworks ceremonies on the grounds that the noise might interfere with the nesting. Jerry Della Femina, the inventor of the “Meow Mix” theme-song used to “torture” Guantanamo prisoners, is especially unhappy that his annual fireworks party has been cancelled, and has been using his advertising wiles to generate publicity on the issue; in response, a local Fish & Wildlife official has threatened him with prison rape, but that hasn’t stopped Della Femina from publishing his recipe for Garlic Piping Plover. (Paul Vitello, “Clash of Beach-Nesting Species: Plover and Human”, NY Times, Jul. 2; Julia C. Mead, “Those Little Birds on the Beach Mean No Fireworks in the Sky”, NY Times, Jun. 23; Kai Ma, “Plovers force cancelation of July 4th fireworks in East Hampton”, Newsday, Jun. 24; Seth Harkness, “Fireworks canceled to keep birds safe”, Portland Press Herald, Jul. 2; Marina McGowan, “Piping Plovers Cancel Fourth of July Fireworks”, Long Island Press, Jul. 3; Kitty Merrill, “Indy Goes Inside: The Great Plover Controversy Of 2005”, The Independent, Jun. 29; Jerry Della Femina, “The Grinch Who Stole The Fourth Of July”, The Independent, Jun. 29). In Stone Harbor, New Jersey, the federal government required dredging to protect the plovers, with a cost to local taxpayers of $3 million. In exchange, nine pairs of plovers were able to establish nests, four of which produced young, and one plover of these young fledged—a three-million dollar bird. (Richard Degener, “Settlement on table in Cape spoils case”, Press of Atlantic City, Mar. 22; DOJ press release, Feb. 12, 2003).