Overlawyered: Chronicling The High Cost Of Our Legal System

Posts Tagged ‘Seattle’

Avvo: Stop rating me or else

Raise your hand if you had “two days” in the “How long before Avvo ran into legal difficulties?” pool. According to the Seattle Times’ blog, on June 7 — just two days after Avvo publicly launched as a lawyer rating service — a local criminal defense lawyer, John Henry Browne, threw the lawyer’s equivalent of a temper tantrum. An excerpt from his demand letter to Avvo:

I wanted to notify you that I have retained counsel and will be exploring a lawsuit against your corporation for the ridiculously low rating you gave my law practice and the practice of other well-known and competent attorneys. We have yet to determine whether it will be a class action lawsuit or not. However, your rating and the attendant publicity has damaged my law practice and will continue to do so. In an effort to limit damages, I request that you remove your profile of me from your website immediately.

You’ve got to love the claim that his law practice was damaged in a total of two days. It’s also questionable as to whether he has a cause of action in any case; Google regularly gets sued by those who want their websites rated higher, and regularly wins these suits (see, e.g., Mar. 1, Mar. 23, Nov. 2002.) These are likely constitutionally protected opinions, although it’s obviously early to judge the merits of a lawsuit we haven’t even seen about a website whose methods are unclear.

We first mentioned Avvo on June 8. In the comments, Ted noted some problems with his ratings under Avvo’s system — but surprisingly, did not threaten to file a lawsuit. (Full disclosure: Avvo apparently hasn’t yet figured out that I’m a lawyer. But I assure you that the state of New Jersey extracts annual dues from me right on schedule.)

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“Spyware maker sues antispyware maker”

“An outfit accused of having a long history of making spyware has sued PC Tools, the maker of Spyware Doctor for preventing its product from working.” (Nick Farrell, The Inquirer, May 21). Reports InfoWorld:

According to a posting on a blog called Spamnotes.com, Zango is seeking at least $35 million in damages, alleging that Spyware Doctor removes Zango’s software without warning users that it will be deleted. The lawsuit was filed Tuesday in King County Superior Court in Seattle, according to Spamnotes.com.

Formerly known as 180solutions, Zango is trying to clean up its tarnished reputation. In November it paid $3 million to settle U.S. Federal Trade Commission charges that its software was being installed deceptively on PCs.

PC users have complained that the software has been installed without warning, forcing them to endure unwanted pop-up ads. The company has also been accused of tracking user behavior and making its software too difficult to remove.

(Robert McMillan, “Zango sues antispyware vendor PC Tools”, May 18; Slashdot thread; Grant Gross, “FTC settles with adware company”, InfoWorld, Nov. 3; Jeremy Kirk, “Reformed adware vendor still under fire”, Jul. 17; Slashdot thread, Jul. 10, 2006).

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May 8 roundup

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Update: Speechless in Seattle

Free speech survives intact: the Washington Supreme Court has unanimously ruled that radio talk show hosts’ urging of listeners to support a ballot measure does not constitute a “contribution” to the yes side for purposes of mandatory reporting under campaign finance law. (Ryan Sager, New York Sun blog, Apr. 26). We covered the charges against KVI hosts Kirby Wilbur and John Carlson Jul. 11 and Jul. 19, 2005. Eugene Volokh has extensive coverage of the new decision. A concurring opinion by Justice James M. Johnson, joined by Justice Richard B. Sanders, terms the enforcement a case of “abusive prosecution”. More: Michelle Malkin; John Fund, OpinionJournal.com, Apr. 30.

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April 19 roundup

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Arizona to Zillow.com: stop estimating homes’ value

“Arizona regulators have ordered a Seattle-based online home price estimator to stop doing business in the state.” Zillow.com has won wide popularity by applying algorithms to publicly available data to come with rough estimates of the value of existing homes, which it makes available for free through its site. The Arizona Board of Appraisal says that Zillow should not be dispensing such information without an appraiser’s license. (“Arizona bars online home price estimator”, AP/Tucson Citizen, Apr. 15)(& Coyote Blog).

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Depends on what the meaning of justice is

It takes a hard person to pick on the family of a dead child — but that’s why I’m here. In 2001, Tegan Rees, a 2-year old boy living in Idaho, was beaten to death by his mother’s fiance. The boy’s father had previously reported to Idado child welfare authorities that he saw bruises when he picked up his son from his ex-wife, but when they investigated, they decided it wasn’t abuse. That was just a few weeks before the boy was murdered. So, naturally, he sued the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare for $1 million.

Last week, the jury ruled 10-2 in favor of the state agency (AP, Mar. 11). The grandmother’s reaction?

“I’m just sickened,” Christie Rees told the Post Register. “I’m embarrassed that I live in Idaho. I thought finally Tegan would get justice.”

Justice? Keep in mind that the person who actually killed the boy was convicted of first degree murder, and sentenced to 22 years to life in prison.

I guess sometimes it really is about the money.

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Prince Charles v. McDonald’s

You don’t want to know how many calories are in one of HRH’s Cornish pasties. The authentic Cornish style of pasty always did seem heavy to me, as one raised on the Upper Peninsula Finnish kind. (Rebecca English and Sean Poulter, “The Royal pasty that’s unhealthier than a Big Mac”, Daily Mail (UK), Feb. 28; “Prince Charles says ban McDonald’s food”, AP/Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Feb. 28).

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November 12 roundup

  • “[W]e can’t develop good drugs … if after the fact somebody comes in and makes a false claim of credit.” Genentech beats Niro firm (Jul. 21) in billion-dollar patent case. [Legal Intelligencer]
  • Excellent new blog on science evidence issues. [Science Evidence; Point of Law]
  • Easterbrook: mandating software be free is not “price fixing” injurious to consumers. Duh. [Seventh Circuit via Bashman; see also Heidi Bond via Baude]
  • Missouri high court upholds reform law barring some types of dramshop liability against equal protection challenge. [Snodgras v. Huck’s; AP/Columbia Daily Tribune]
  • Insurance company profits: the complete story. [Grace]
  • I address Hyman & Silver’s latest paper on medical malpractice. [Point of Law]
  • Seattle cop spends $10,000 of taxpayer money on lap dances in unsuccessful officially-authorized quest for prostitution violations. [Seattle Times]
  • Peter Lattman discovers Willie Gary’s website. Overlawyered readers were there two years ago. Gary himself is being hoisted by a litigation and advertising petard. [WSJ Law Blog; Fulton County Daily Report]
  • Andy Griffith sues Andy Griffith for use of Andy Griffith name. [AP/CNN]
  • The $2.1 million deposition. [Above the Law; Kirkendall; New York Times]
  • Scalia and Man at Yale. [Above the Law; Yale Daily News; Krishnamurthy via Bashman]
  • Wallison: Deregulation works. [AEI]
  • Must-read: An agenda for the Bush White House in the Democratic 110th Congress. [Frum @ WSJ @ AEI]
  • Clegg: Learn from the Michigan Civil Rights Initiative. [NRO]
  • Krauthammer points out that both parties have moved right this election. [WaPo]
  • Will: “About $2.6 billion was spent on the 468 House and Senate races. (Scandalized? Don’t be. Americans spend that much on chocolate every two months.)” [WaPo]
  • At least we’re not Iran: sex video has criminal consequences there. [Daily Mail]

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