Under a proposed bill in the New York legislature, the owners of (say) Marilyn Monroe’s estate would be entitled to prevent the use of her persona in advertising for many years to come. [Trademark Blog]
Posts Tagged ‘New York’
“Parents Who Won’t Vaccinate Kid Sue Catholic Preschool”
“A Rockland County family filed suit against the New York Archdiocese after a Catholic preschool wouldn’t accept their child because she has not been fully vaccinated, according to the Post. The couple — who filed the suit anonymously — claim they are the victims of religious discrimination and are seeking a court order so their 4-year-old can attend the St. Margaret School in Pearl River after the preschool rejected their request for a religious exemption.” [Gothamist]
December 7 roundup
- Woman jailed for “camcordering” after recording four minutes of sister’s birthday party in movie theater [BoingBoing]
- Senate hearing airs trial lawyer gripes against Iqbal [Jackson and earlier, PoL, Wajert, Beck & Herrmann (scroll)] Franken and other Senators sidestep substance, browbeat witness re: “study” terminology [Alison Frankel, AmLaw]
- Still time to cancel? “2009 is also the first year of global governance” — new EU president [Small Dead Animals]
- Miller-Jenkins battle: judge orders custody switch to law-abiding spouse [Box Turtle Bulletin, background]
- Speedy by government standards? 17 years ago DoT proposed Southeast high-speed rail on existing rights of way, ruling on environmental impact statement is expected next year [McArdle]
- “New York’s New DWI Bill: Compounding Stupidity” [Greenfield; felony to drive intoxicated with passenger 15 or younger]
- “Apple Told To Pay Patent Troll OPTi $21.7 Million” [Business Insider]
- This year’s ABA Blawg 100 listing left out some legal blogs that aren’t half bad [Turkewitz]
New at Point of Law
Stories you may be missing if you’re not following our sister site:
- Administration now seeks to take credit for med-mal reform as part of health care plan. How believably? (related here, here, here, here, etc.)
- Also related, if less closely: health care bill packed with goodies for labor;
- Trial lawyers continue push in Congress to restore minimally demanding notice pleading standard by overturning Supreme Court’s Iqbal, Twombly decisions;
- Imprisoned exec of Union Bank of Switzerland wants billions as whistleblowing bounty for assisting federal tax investigators;
- “Right and Left Join Forces on Criminal Justice” — the NYT coverage;
- “New Connecticut Law Tries to Trip Up ‘Runners’ and the Lawyers Who Hire Them”; Connecticut AG Blumenthal to push mandatory hospital error disclosure;
- Third-party litigation finance is getting more controversial;
- “The ethics counsel to the New York state senate told senators to hand-deliver ethics filings, rather than mailing them, to avoid coverage under the federal mail fraud statute.”
- More on public pension funds, securities class-action lawyers, and campaign contributions.
November 23 roundup
- “Ten Ways Lawyers Rip Off Clients” [Lawrence Delevingne and Gus Lubin, Business Insider]
- White House visitor logs contain more entries for trial lawyer lobbyist Linda Lipsen (5x) than for Hillary Clinton (3x) (h/t ShopFloor)
- Time magazine has a cover story on child overprotectiveness [Free-Range Kids]
- “Why so many talented people give up on moving to the US”: one immigrant’s 7 year journey through the legal paperwork [Pete Warden]
- Speaking for the whole New York profession? “New York Bar Association president decries tort reform proposals” [Rizo, Legal NewsLine]
- Chamber of Commerce “needs to develop thicker skin” in response to Yes Men parody [LA Times]
- New York: “Judges collect pension and regular pay, and it’s perfectly legal” [Jonathan Bandler, Journal News]
- Cook County “out $14K for toilet paper injury” [Chicago Sun-Times]
September 24 roundup
- Florida man and attorney file multiple ADA complaints against businesses in Seminole-Largo area [Tampa Bay Newspapers]
- “The growing ambitions of the food police”:
dietary paternalism in Bloomberg’s NYC and Washington, D.C. doesn’t go over well with writers at Slate [William Saletan, Jacob Weisberg, Katherine Mangu-Ward, Glenn Reynolds] - Assumption of risk is alive and well in New York cases over sports and spectator injuries [Hochfelder first, second, third posts, NYLJ]
- Favorable review of William Patry, “Moral Panics and the Copyright Laws” [BoingBoing]
- Kentucky high school case: “Coach Acquitted in Player’s Heatstroke Death” [ABA Journal]
- Olivia Judson on the Singh case and the many problems with British libel law [NYT; earlier here, here, etc.]
- Kids behave stupidly with girlfriends/boyfriends or dates, then the law ruins their lives [Alkon, Balko, Sullivan]
- “Report a bad doctor to the authorities, go to jail?” [Orac/Respectful Insolence, Texas; disclosure of patient and official information alleged against nurses]
“Shrimp suit doesn’t hold water”
The New York Post reports on a putative class action brought by Marc Verzani complaining that Costco’s 16-oz shrimp platter doesn’t hold 16 ounces of shrimp. The SDNY judge noted that the platter holds other materials such as sauce and lemon wedges, and simultaneously denied and ridiculed the preliminary injunction motion. Verzani was alleging $40 million in annual damages.
“New York court says golfers aren’t required to yell ‘fore!'”
At a Dix Hills, Long Island golf course, Dr. Azad Anand was injured when his golfing buddy hit the ball flying without yelling the traditional cry of “fore”. A New York appellate court, however, “said getting hit by an errant ball is an ‘inherent risk of the game of golf.'” [AP/Staten Island Advance] More: John Hochfelder discusses the concept of the “foreseeable danger zone“.
“Sewer service” and civil defendants
If allegations by New York attorney general Andrew Cuomo are true, one of the most fundamental elements of due process for civil defendants — notice of a pending legal action through service of process — simply gets ignored in thousands of instances. “Sewer service” was a major concern of court reformers in the 1960s; it sounds as if the problem may never actually have gone away. [Newsday, Popehat]
Carelessness for millions in New York City
Dustin Dibble was intoxicated when a Manhattan subway train ran over him in 2006, but a jury found the transit authority 65% responsible in February: $2.3 million for the lost right leg.
James Sanders stumbled onto the tracks and was hit by a train in 2002, but a New York City jury again found him only 30% responsible: $7 million for a lost right leg and eye.
Gloria Aguilar did not look both ways when she crossed the street; there was a dispute whether she was in the crosswalk. A Manhattan jury–after a seven-week trial–found the transit authority 100% responsible, and awarded $27.5 million for her lost left leg; a judge refused to reduce that figure.
Clearly a left leg is more valuable than a right leg. Or, as I’ve noted several times in the past, noneconomic damages are essentially random jackpots.
New York City is appealing all three verdicts. (Liz Robbins, “Woman Run Over by Bus Is Awarded $27.5 Million”, New York Times, Apr. 16).