nastygrams – Overlawyered

Libel and defamation roundup

Walter Olson — Mon, 30 Sep 2019 09:58:33 +0000

Though ruled unconstitutional a half century ago, Louisiana’s criminal defamation law has remained on the books and could still cause you grief, especially if a sheriff’s office thinks you’ve defamed it [Sara Pagones and Katie Moore, NOLA.com]
Certiorari petition filed asking Supreme Court to stop climatologist Michael Mann’s lawsuit against National Review [NR, earlier]
Latest sassy response to a cease-and-desist demand (language) [Mike Masnick, TechDirt; “Diamond and Silk” versus Wonkette] Person “threatens to sue the Guinness World Record folks for removing his records” [same]
Also Techdirt-related: “Defamation lawsuit brought by self-proclaimed email ‘inventor’ settles” [Cyrus Farivar, NBC, related]
New Hampshire high court: inventor and company weren’t defamed by being called patent troll [ABA Journal, earlier here and here] Lawsuit alleging adult defamation of a seventh grader results in liability but no damages [Eugene Volokh; Massachusetts Superior Court]
Council in Peachtree City, Ga. considers proposal to pay legal bills of city workers and officials who sue critics for defamation [George Franco, Fox 5 Atlanta]

Tags: libel slander and defamation, Louisiana, nastygrams, patent trolls

Libel and defamation roundup is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

“Calgary-area mom served with cease and desist letter after going public with classroom concerns”

Walter Olson — Sun, 26 May 2019 15:58:49 +0000

Alberta, Canada: “A Calgary-area mother who spoke out to CBC News over concerns about a large combined Grade 2 class at Red Deer Lake School has been handed a cease-and-desist letter by a law firm on behalf of the school board….Other parents have also received the letter and are not willing to be interviewed as a result.” [Jennifer Lee, CBC]

Tags: free speech in Canada, libel slander and defamation, nastygrams, schools

“Calgary-area mom served with cease and desist letter after going public with classroom concerns” is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

November 14 roundup

Walter Olson — Wed, 14 Nov 2018 11:01:44 +0000

Police show up to enforce gun confiscation order against Maryland man under new “red flag” law, he brandishes weapon, they shoot him dead [Leah Crawley and Ashley Barnett, Fox Baltimore; Colin Campbell, Baltimore Sun]
Claim: “The Kavanaugh debacle cost the Democrats the Senate” [Marc Thiessen] If I cheer for Neomi Rao is it going to hurt her confirmation chances? [Jesus Rodriguez, Politico on nomination of OIRA head for Kavanaugh seat on D.C. Circuit]
“Please conduct yourself accordingly”: Matthew Whitaker letter to man who complained about World Patent Marketing, on whose advisory board Whitaker sat [Mike Masnick, TechDirt]
Upholding FCPA prison term, Third Circuit rejects businessman’s argument that bribery deal helped pull population out of poverty in remote part of Siberia [Matt Miller, PennLive]
Sidetracking a decision on the cy pres merits? Supreme Court calls for supplemental briefing on whether named plaintiffs in Frank v. Gaos “have suffered an ‘injury’ sufficient to create standing under the Court’s doctrine” [Ronald Mann/ SCOTUSBlog, Will Baude, earlier here, here, etc.]
“Fun fact in an opinion today from the Federal Circuit: the Patent Office employs 14 examiners full time solely to examine patent applications filed by a single, prolific inventor.” [Andrew Trask, Gilbert Hyatt v. USPTO]

Tags: Brett Kavanaugh, D.C. Circuit, Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, guns, nastygrams, patent law

November 14 roundup is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

December 20 roundup

Walter Olson — Wed, 20 Dec 2017 14:27:15 +0000

Craft brewery regs, Peter Angelos has another special bill in Annapolis, county council vetoes on development, and more in my latest Maryland roundup [Free State Notes]
Oh, that pro bono: celebrity lawyer’s pro bono contract for sex accusers included up to one-third commission on selling their stories to media outlets [John Solomon and Alison Spann, The Hill]
Forget that Viking cruise down the Mississippi River, Jones Act makes it a no-go [WQAD] “The Jones Act costs all Americans too much” [Bloomberg View editorial; earlier here, etc.]
Cato Daily Podcast with firearms policy expert David Kopel on interstate right to carry and restricting bump stocks;
Not-so-nastygram in beer biz: “As far as cease and desists go, this is about as good as it gets.” [Timothy Geigner, TechDirt]

Tags: asbestos, beer and brewers, free trade, guns, Maryland, nastygrams, pro bono

December 20 roundup is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Cosby accuser can sue Martin Singer over demand letter

Walter Olson — Tue, 28 Nov 2017 05:05:45 +0000

When might libel lawyers face liability themselves for sending threat letters? Perhaps more often than had been assumed. Eriq Gardner, Hollywood Reporter on a new ruling in the Bill Cosby case (“Not only is Marty Singer being dragged back as a co-defendant in this lawsuit, but Dickinson is being allowed to sue Cosby over statements to media outlets. No litigation privilege attaches when demand letters are merely bluffs.”) Related: Max Kennerly, 2013.

Tags: libel slander and defamation, nastygrams

Cosby accuser can sue Martin Singer over demand letter is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Annals of nastygrams: Roy Moore’s lawyer to Alabama press

Walter Olson — Thu, 16 Nov 2017 05:04:52 +0000

Lawyers, grammarians and connoisseurs of nastygrams will be studying this one for a long time: attorney Trenton Garmon, representing Alabama Senate candidate (and longtime Overlawyered favorite) Roy Moore, has sent a demand letter to Alabama press outlets instructing them that they had better not run certain negative stories. [Elliot Hannon, Slate; Ed Kilgore, New York mag] More: Kevin Underhill, Lowering the Bar.

Tags: Alabama, libel slander and defamation, nastygrams, Senate

Annals of nastygrams: Roy Moore’s lawyer to Alabama press is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

September 20 roundup

Walter Olson — Wed, 20 Sep 2017 10:06:06 +0000

Relatively funny, clever, and pleasant nastygram, as nastygrams go, on Netflix “Stranger Things” pop-up [BGR]
“Taser: Can’t say our weapons killed somebody unless the autopsy says so. Also Taser: If the autopsy blames our weapon, we might sue you.” [@bradheath on Jason Szep, Tim Reid, and Peter Eisler Reuters investigation]
Fourth Circuit asked to overturn forfeiture of antiquarian coins seized under “cultural patrimony” law [Peter Tompa, Antique Coin Collectors Guild]
Videos from April conference at Scalia/George Mason on due process and the administrative state: Neomi Rao, Philip Hamburger, Gary Lawson, Ronald Cass, Jonathan Adler, Hon. Doug Ginsburg, and many other stars;
Nice try, censorship fans: study from Stanton Glantz et al. tries to link teen smoking to movie depictions of smoking, resulting in epic fail [Brad Rodu]
Facebook weeds out a million accounts a day, some in error. Takedown laws will lift false positive rate [Mike Masnick]

Tags: administrative law, antiquities, Facebook, movies film and videos, nastygrams, police, tobacco

September 20 roundup is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

August 1 roundup

Walter Olson — Tue, 01 Aug 2017 04:05:16 +0000

Truly good news for both individual liberty and harm reduction: FDA grants reprieve for now to e-cigarettes/vaping [New York Times, Jacob Sullum/Reason, related; earlier on vaping, tobacco harm reduction, and the FDA here, here, and generally. Update: I’ve got a longer treatment up now at Cato;
HUD seems finally to be backing off its long dispute with Westchester County, N.Y., long chronicled in this space and elsewhere [Howard Husock, City Journal]
“Which side of the case is the federal government coming in on?” “Both, Your Honor.” [Rob Rosborough on DoJ’s intervention on opposite side from EEOC on question of whether Title VII covers sexual orientation, earlier on which here, etc.; Tony Mauro on DoJ split from NLRB on arbitration in Murphy Oil case; Thaya Brook Knight in March on constitutionality of CFPB] See also Marty Lederman, SCOTUSBlog, 2014;
“Michigan Juror Rights Pamphleteer Free From Jail Pending His Appeal” [Jacob Sullum]
Many satirical limericks later, Olive Garden’s parent company says its nastygram to a blogger “was auto-generated, and the company will take no further action.” [Charlotte Allen, Weekly Standard; earlier]
There’s a delivery out front: “Florida man who drove dead body to lawyer’s office won’t be charged” [AP/ClickOrlando]

Tags: Department of Justice, FDA, nastygrams, tobacco

August 1 roundup is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

“To: brandenforcements@… Mr. Forcements — may I call you Branden?”

Walter Olson — Sat, 22 Jul 2017 18:59:50 +0000

California blogger Vincent “Vino” Malone, who writes about his visits to the Olive Garden, penned this retort to a (possibly robotic) takedown notice/infringement-gram from the restaurant chain. [AllOfGarden via Cyrus Farivar, ArsTechnica]

Tags: bloggers and the law, nastygrams, restaurants, trademarks

“To: brandenforcements@… Mr. Forcements — may I call you Branden?” is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Teens develop videogames, receive nastygram over their name

Walter Olson — Thu, 18 Aug 2016 04:05:13 +0000

A game named after the Irish prehistoric site Newgrange drew a letter from a lawyer representing a rights owner to the mark “Grange.” [Seth Barrett Tillman, New Reform Club]

Tags: Ireland, nastygrams, trademarks, videogames

Teens develop videogames, receive nastygram over their name is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system