Overlawyered.com Mar. 19-May 5
Walter Olson
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LIST MOVE
Due to technical difficulties at our old list managing service, Topica,
we've moved the Overlawyered announcement list over to Google Groups,
starting with this issue. We apologize for any inconvenience this poses
for readers. We encourage feedback or suggestions about any issues
raised by the move: email editor at [overlawyered - dot - com]. Thanks
for bearing with us!
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New since the last update:
* Couple saw a fly in the bottled water; they didn't drink any, but
were awarded C$340,000 for the psychic trauma (Apr. 26)
* Our own Ted Frank lands a "dream job", read all about it (Apr. 27)
* Lawyer falls off his mountain bike, wants a million (Apr. 18)
* What's that finger doing in my chili? Pointing back accusingly (Apr.
8, Apr. 9, Apr. 13, Apr. 20, Apr. 22, Apr. 27)
* Louisiana 30 percent responsible for drunk driver's head-on
collision (Apr. 26)
* What Confucius and his followers said about litigation, harmony and
community (Apr. 18)
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HINT about finding stories: most stories mentioned have scrolled down
and off the front page of Overlawyered. Instead, they can be found via
the archives page(s), such as (for March entries):
http://www.overlawyered.com/archives/2005_03.html
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* Clever way to make money: sell a co.'s stock short before suing
it(May 5)
* "Being involved in a lawsuit is a lousy way to spend your old age"
-- Dominick Dunne (Mar. 21)
* $965,000 awarded for age bias -- inflicted by someone older than
complainant (Apr. 13)
* Batch of reader letters on cop chases, bashing defense lawyers,
class action ads, and a family business caught in the asbestos web
(Apr. 13);
* Ohio lawmakers scramble to change law which requires license to sell
goods on eBay (Mar. 21)
* Food (and free speech) fight: anti-McDonald's lawyer sues director
of Super Size Me over unflattering portrayal (Mar. 23)
* Untraceable copyrights, and how they chill cultural adaptation (Apr.
15)
* Madison County, Ill.: woman says she was hit by bird at garden
center (Apr. 14)
* Childhood bully loses case against Eminem over portrayal in song
(Apr. 18)
* Liability climate affecting med students' choice of specialties
(Mar. 28); midwives (Mar. 23); delivery-room cameras (Apr. 9);
helicopter evacuation on the rise as emergency medicine shrinks (Apr.
18); Sen. John Edwards agrees groundless malpractice suits causing harm
(Apr. 12)
* When lawyers invoke the Bible at trial (Mar. 30)
* New Manhattan Institute report on "Trial Lawyers Inc. -- California"
(Apr. 13)
* New Jersey requires doctors to undergo "cultural training" (Apr. 1)
* Fla. bill would allow students to sue if their beliefs are ridiculed
(Mar. 25)
* U.K. social service agency warned against giving paper napkins to
pensioners -- what if they swallowed them? (Apr. 13)
* Feds seek authority to surveill bank records, but say it's only to
combat terrorism/money laundering -- for now, at least (Apr. 11)
* "Reduced-sugar" cereals not healthier? Let's sue (Apr. 1)
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If you're not keeping up with Point of Law, the Manhattan Institute's
website on litigation, you're missing daily commentaries from Walter
Olson, Ted Frank and others on dozens of hot topics in the law,
including asbestos, medical malpractice, law of the workplace,
corporate governance, international law and much more. Not to mention
humor and outrage. Check it out today: http://www.pointoflaw.com/ .
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* Police chases and the incentive problem (Mar. 29)
* Diver's widow sues his dive buddy (May 4)
* Updates: Va. anti-gay law (Mar. 20), Schenectady BBS defamation (Mar.
20), "Apprentice" suit settles (Mar. 23), Geoffrey Fieger misconduct
(Mar. 24), cougar attack (Mar. 29), Phillies foul ball (Mar. 31), Ravi
Batra swivel-chair case (Apr. 15), Rosa Parks (Apr. 15), copyrightable
yoga sequences (Apr. 17), PETA vs. "Happy Cows", and Blockbuster late
fees (Apr. 23), Nikolai Tehin, and Abercrombie & Fitch case (Apr. 24);
Miss. Supreme Court (Apr. 30); "happy hour" antitrust case (May 2); lap
dance class action (May 3)
* Johnnie Cochran Jr., RIP (Mar. 30)
* Lawsuit against Harvard on behalf of "too-pretty" librarian cites
President Summers' remarks on women and science, loses anyway (Apr. 1,
4)
* Asleep in your parked car in your driveway -- then you get arrested
for DUI (Apr. 19)
* Welcome Forbes readers (Mar. 25); Grover Norquist listeners (Mar. 31)
* "Stalingrad" divorce tactics (Mar. 31)
* Fun in the sun? Skateboard park not wheelchair compliant (Apr. 17);
court rules parents can't waive kids' right to sue skateboard park for
injuries (Apr. 5); UK closes its last "cakewalk" carnival amusement
(Mar. 30); schools and sunscreen (Mar. 31)
* * * * * * * Now in paperback! * * * * * * * * * *
Our editor's book The Rule of Lawyers, on mass tort litigation from
guns to asbestos to fast food, is now available in paperback with a
newly written afterword. Robert Lenzner in Forbes.com calls the book "a
truly gripping read about tort lawyers...a brilliant expose of the way
courts are being overwhelmed by mass tort actions." Order from Amazon
(cut and paste URL if necessary):
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0312331193/overlawyerecomam/002-0147859-7732817
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* Shark attack lawsuit (Mar. 28)
* Chase those clients: lawyer gets his paralegal admitted to hospital
as chaplain, the better to solicit patients (Mar. 28); "Gallagher's
girls" (Apr. 21); was a Minn. lawyer ad aimed at getting one particular
family to pick up the phone? (Apr. 29); U.K. emergency room (Apr. 13);
lawyer's TV ad promised to "rip out the hearts of [the defendants]" and
"hand you their severed heads." (Apr. 15)
* Gerry Spence's famed "trial lawyers college" out West? A bold tax
dodge, suggests ABC News (Apr. 5)
* Fen-phen litigation: "veritable catalogue of ignominy" (Apr. 6)
* How lawyers almost killed "The Onion" (Apr. 15)
* Gift card balances and the fishy story of one litigious Madison
County, Ill. family (Apr. 10)
* Smucker's can't patent crustless PB&J sandwich (Apr. 9)
* Regulators eye crackdown on "lawsuit cash advance" industry (Apr. 5)
* She says her husband used Vioxx daily, but the paper trail begs to
differ (Apr. 28)
* Oz: city 75 percent liable because "No Diving" sign wasn't explicit
enough (Mar. 25)
* More on Ford megaverdict: who went around in small town and bought
up all the papers reporting the juicy details? (Mar. 22); Mazda
seat-back verdict: trial by game show (Mar. 21)
* Mom sues hospital for child support because she wound up with
daughter instead of planned abortion (Apr. 27)
* Time for Congress to act on gun suits: letter from our editor (Apr.
7), D.C. v. Beretta: (Apr. 21, Apr. 29), United Mine Workers support
(Apr. 13), Illinois legislative action (Apr. 7, Apr. 17), federalism
angle (Apr. 26)
* Quarrel over Rochester restaurant fare: "Garbage Plate" vs. "Plat du
Refuse" (Apr. 11)
* Plus: cow-pie bingo; where the obesity cases are; Knight Center
seminar; Hevesi and WorldCom; compulsive gambler vs. casino; BlackBerry
squeezed; Wal-Mart; "Ultimate Warrior" nastygrams; regulation of
nonprofits; apology privilege; Canadian copycat tobacco suits; rare
hamburgers; domain-name fights; newspaper's circulation-lotto misprint;
S.F. to regulate blogs?; HIPAA; butter knife an offensive weapon; spare
that tree!; American Justice Partnership; Bank of America class action;
murder case mistrial after juror caught with newspaper; Law Day;
judicial nominations and religion; pharmacists' rights; antiquities
trade; accolades; litigiousness and grace; Melton Mowbray pork pies;
blaming air controllers; pill-splitting; death penalty computer;
traffic-cams; Chicago fire exam; thermometer breaks, close the school;
FOIA's cottage industry; crime pays big for Brit yob; new page on food
and beverage suits; baseball stats; vaccines; the sailor's doxy; and
more.
IMPORTANT NOTICE: readers should be advised that Google Groups, which
distributes this newsletter, inserts ads of its own choosing and does
not give us advance warning of their content.