New U.K. campaign from Sense About Science, building on widespread outrage over the British Chiropractic Association’s lawsuit against Simon Singh (via Bad Astronomy; earlier).
Posts Tagged ‘United Kingdom’
Don’t
Attention, lawyers in the U.K. (and elsewhere): “billing for time spent actually having sex with the client is definitely frowned upon”. [Lowering the Bar, Times Online]
June 7 roundup
- Pennsylvania Department of Labor launches probe on whether reality-TV show “Jon & Kate Plus 8” violates child labor laws [Pennsylvania Labor & Employment Blog, Hirsch/Workplace Law Prof via Ohio Employer’s Law]
- Dispute over termination of Navy aircraft contract called “Jarndyce v. Jarndyce of U.S. legal system” [WSJ Law Blog]
- Medical tourism, cont’d: “It appears that ‘we’re easier to sue’ is the uniquely American defense to medicine outsourcing.” [KevinMD]
- New Oklahoma law protects farmers from neighbors’ suits complaining of nuisance from farm activity [Enid, Okla., News]
- For unusually bad advice on how to save GM and Detroit, Michael Moore as usual comes through [Popehat]
- Lawyer reprimanded for telling party she should be cut up, shipped overseas [NJLJ, ABA Journal]
- Call for reform of UK laws banning press interviews of jurors after verdict [Times Online first, second articles and commentary]
- Coming soon: campaign against depiction of smoking in Raymond Chandler books, Edward Hopper paintings [CEI “Open Market”]
Wales: “School bans ‘dangerous’ swimming goggles”
“A school has banned children from wearing goggles during swimming lessons for fear they could hurt themselves.” [Telegraph (U.K.) via Cathy Gellis, who writes, “As a swimming teacher — in fact, one who doesn’t actually like her students to use goggles — I feel competent, and confident, in saying this school is insane.”]
NY Times on libel tourism
The Times covers the problem of the British courts’ open door to international libel plaintiffs, and in a follow-on editorial sums up the contrasting view that prevails in America:
If authors believe they are too vulnerable, they may be discouraged from taking on difficult and important topics, like terrorism financing, or from writing about wealthy and litigious people. That would not only be bad for writers, it would be bad for everyone.
May 26 roundup
- U.K.: Disciplinary complaints against lawyers may be thrown open to public and press [Times Online]
- U.S. Chamber adds three new stories to its “Faces of Lawsuit Abuse” series, among them the 7-year-old sued over a ski accident, and the family-owned California restaurant sued for putting a mirror two inches too high. [Chamber mag, Yankee Philip]
- Real estate agent couple: producers of CSI show defamed us in pre-final script [Los Angeles Times]
- Idea of “suburban general store” walkable from homes would require zoning law fix in many localities [Metropolis]
- Gov. Schwarzenegger these days is scourge of violent entertainment, at least when in videogame form [Elizabeth Jacobson, OpenMarket]
- Critique of federal hate crimes bill [Gail Heriot for the Federalist Society]
- Many prosecutors resist potentially exculpatory DNA test matches [NYT, Greenfield, Balko/Reason “Hit and Run”]
- Blogger “Evil HR Lady” is unmasked! (and names some of her favorite health blogs) [linking to Blogs.com]
May 24 roundup
- Souter’s middle-of-the-road views on litigation didn’t fit conventional patterns [Copland, PoL]
- Champerty and maintenance watch: new fund invests in commercial litigation for a share of the payouts [Fortune mag via Zywicki]
- Report: distributor of “Religulous” film “has served a written settlement proposal” to preacher depicted onscreen [OnPoint News, earlier]
- U.K.: “Homeowner Suit May Stop Village Cricket” [Telegraph via Never Yet Melted]
- Overlawyered sparks a discussion across usual lines on EMTALA, the federal law on emergency medicine [Kennerly]
- Federal Circuit: think twice before proceeding with frivolous appeals [David Bennett, Law.com]
- Father-son duo who have served as key expert witnesses in litigation alleging autism-vaccine link push risky and questionable therapy for the condition [Chicago Tribune and second article and PDF graphic via Orac; Kathleen Seidel]. Waste and harm that go on in the name of treating autism should give pause to many sides in health care debate [Tyler Cowen]
- One “deadbeat dad’s” story [Amy Alkon]. Forthcoming Lifetime reality show sounds like it will showcase harassment of fathers in child support arrears [Fathers and Families via Instapundit]
May 22 roundup
- Recruiting municipalities to sue: “Class-action lawyers target online travel sites” [Roger Parloff, Fortune, earlier]
- “New York press shield law would extend to bloggers (and define blogging)” [Turkewitz]
- Keep publishing that paper or else? Arizona Attorney General sues Gannett to make it keep Tucson Citizen alive [Legal NewsLine] More: Ken at Popehat has further thoughts on entanglement of government and press.
- Prediction if the feds bail out Sacramento: “bondholders will get 10 cents on the dollar, and the SEIU will be given 55% ownership of California.” [Coyote, Nick Gillespie/Reason]
- “Top Conservatives on Twitter” organizer takes critic to court [Citizen Media Law, Patrick @ Popehat]
- Louisiana woman sues Wal-Mart over unwanted in-store encounter with nutria (muskrat-like rodent) [Lowering the Bar, On Point News]
- Annals of zero tolerance: student expelled over eyebrow trimmer [KDKA, Pittsburgh, via Obscure Store]
- Program encourages Brits to report their neighbors to the cops if they seem to be living beyond their means [Radley Balko]
“UK chiropractors try to silence critic with libel claim”
“The British Chiropractic Association is using the libel laws to try and silence Simon Singh’s discussion of some of the more, uh, unusual claims they make for Chiropractic treatments (such as curing Colic and Asthma).” [Boing Boing, Orac first and second posts, Jack of Kent] And Dave Gorman writes really carefully about the case.
U.K.: “Old school tie is shunned amid safety concerns”
The Guardian: “In its annual review, the Schoolwear Association reports a surge in schools switching to clip-on ties because of the potential strangulation risks of the older version. More than half of schools choosing new ties are switching to clip-ons.”