It seems the concern is “to prevent ‘heavy and wet’ clothing from falling onto people below.” An earlier letter to housing tenants complaining of the clotheslines as an “eyesore” went ignored, so there are suspicions the Croydon council is pursuing its beautification goals by other means. [Telegraph, link now dead; Croydon Today]
Posts Tagged ‘United Kingdom’
September 13 roundup
- “Court Vacates $99,000 Fee to Counsel for Plaintiff Who Won $650” [NJLJ]
- Libel-suit target: “Author Simon Singh Puts Up a Fight in the War on Science” [Wired]
- No, they weren’t “worst”: RIP injury lawyer who hyped “10 Worst Toys” list each Christmas [WSJ Law Blog]
- New credit card regulations squeeze small business [John Berlau letter in Washington Post]
- District attorney’s case intake desk should screen out many unjust prosecutions, but often doesn’t [Greenfield]
- AGs’ campaign to drive sex pros off Craigslist has failure built in [William Saletan, Slate; LNL; Declan McCullagh]
- “Nursing Home Company Settles $677 Million Lawsuit for $50 Million” [AP]
- “Judge accused of sexual harassment once helped women sue” [Orlando Sentinel]
U.K.: Great moments in international human rights
A West Yorkshire man who gardens in the nude says the building of houses nearby would violate his human rights. [BBC]
U.K.: Great moments in legal aid
“The widow of a July 7 suicide bomber yesterday launched a High Court bid to be represented at the victims’ inquest – saying she had also suffered the loss of a loved one in the atrocity. Hasina Patel, whose husband was terrorist mastermind Mohammad Sidique Khan, is seeking legal aid to challenge the coroner’s decision to exclude Khan’s death from the hearing for the 52 victims of the 2005 London bombings.” [Daily Mail via Amy Alkon]
“A Litigious U.S. Might Be Driving Business to Law Firms Abroad”
Hoist on their own petard? “Are U.S. law firms losing international business opportunities because a surprising number of in-house lawyers prefer to seek counsel in other countries? That’s the conclusion of a survey that suggests global companies would rather be advised by British firms.” One of the apparent factors involved is that international firms often prefer dealmaking that specifies British or European rather than American jurisdiction in case of later dispute. [David Hechler, Corporate Counsel]
August 6 roundup
- “Vision Media Suit Over Criticism on 800Notes Dismissed” [Paul Alan Levy, Consumer Law & Policy, more; earlier here and here]
- “In Search Of a Definition for the term ‘Patent Troll'” [Gene Quinn, IP Watchdog]
- U.K.: “The end of ‘have-a-go’ litigation?” [Guardian, Telegraph]
- “Lessons in Blogging”: it won’t kill you to link to opposing views [Turkewitz]
- Briefing and fairness hearing in Volkswagen sunroof leak settlement [CCAF]
- Troublesome treaty signed by US on ADA anniversary: “Ratification of the Disabilities Convention Would Erode American Sovereignty” [Steven Groves, Heritage]
- Abolish summary judgment? Now hold on a minute [Ronald Miller]
- A strong liability-reform advocate on a Democratic national ticket? It happened when Gore slated Sen. Lieberman as VP pick [ten years ago on Overlawyered]
July 28 roundup
- “N.J. High Court to Review Drunken Drivers’ Right to Sue Bars That Served Them” [NJLJ]
- Recipe for Oakland-style public unionism: “Public Safety Employer-Employee Cooperation Act” pending on Capitol Hill would impose public-service collective bargaining and labor arbitration on local governments nationwide [Cavanaugh/Reason, more, effects on police misconduct accountability]
- iPhone class action of doubtful benefit to consumers [Hahn & Passell, Regulation 2.0]
- U.K.: “Fired Top In-House Lawyer Testifies She Was Bullied by Underling” [ABA Journal]
- Due this fall: Norma Zager book “Erin Brockovich and the Beverly Hills Greenscam” [Pelican Publishing] Weitz firm invokes Brockovich association to drum up Gulf spill business [Michael Daly, NYDN]
- Paperwork nightmare: “Health Care Reform’s Terrible, Tiny Tax” [Megan McArdle]
- Three views of Sherrod fiasco [Rick Esenberg, Radley Balko, John Derbyshire]
- This time the feds look serious about foisting low-flow showerheads on unwilling consumers [Heritage Foundry]
UK historian who salted Amazon with self-serving reviews loses legal case against rivals
It is unclear from the BBC’s account whether the sock-puppetry amounted to anything that would have been actionable in an American court. A detail worth noting, though: “Initially, when confronted by the allegations of his involvement, Prof Figes instructed his lawyer to threaten legal action.”
“Humiliated” talent-show reject wants to sue host
“A woman who blames illness for her failure on Britain’s Got Talent wants to sue the TV show for discrimination because she felt humiliated by the judges.” Emma Amelia Pearl Czikai says she was jeered after health problems related to fibromyalgia hurt her performance. [Sky News]
June 10 roundup
- Compensation awards to soldiers in the UK: £161,000 for losing leg and arm, but £186,896 for sex harassment? [Telegraph]
- Judge in banana pesticide fraud case says threats have been made against her and against witnesses [AP, L.A. Times]
- Teacher plans to sue religious school that fired her for having premarital sex [Orlando Sentinel]
- Now sprung from hoosegow, class-actioneer Lerach on progressive lecture circuit and “living in luxury” [Stoll, Carter Wood at PoL and ShopFloor (Campaign for America’s Future conference), San Diego Reader via Pero]
- Connecticut law banning “racial ridicule” has palpable constitutional problems, you’d think, but has resulted in many prosecutions and some convictions [Volokh, Gideon]
- Gone with the readers: newsmagazines, metro newspapers facing fewer libel suits [NY Observer] More: Lyrissa Lidsky, Prawfs.
- Having Connecticut press comfortably in his pocket helped Blumenthal turn the tables against NY Times [Stein/HuffPo] Must not extend to the New Britain Herald News, though;
- Interview with editor Brian Anderson of City Journal [Friedersdorf, Atlantic] I well remember being there as part of the first issue twenty years ago.