CMLawLibraryBlog

Those of you studying for the bar should get a smile out of this one ...

Thanks to Nova City Law Blog.

From the halls of justice in Portland, Oregon...

Latasha Curry was in court recently for allegedly tossing her Starbucks coffee beverage at one of its managers. The manager testified that Curry pitched the coffee at him, and lobbed whipped cream at another employee. Curry testified that she and the manager grabbed the cup of coffee at the same time, and when she let go, the manager spilled the coffee on himself. The prosecutor cross-examined Ms. Curry, asking,"Is it or is it not true that you flung the iced venti mocha with extra hazelnut and caramel at the defendant (sic) out of anger?"

The dispute arose when Ms. Curry purchased a coffee beverage and later called the store to complain that the drink was bitter. The employee told her they would be happy to replace the beverage. Two days later she went to back to get her replacement beverage and was accused by the manager of running a scam. According to the manager, Curry directed racial and homophobic epithets at him, besides throwing the coffee.

The judge found Curry not guilty of misdemeanor harassment. See Oregon Revised Code 166.065. According to this Knight-Ridder Tribune article on the BusinessWeek website, the prosecutor's office was criticized for bringing the case to trial. The prosecutor said he brought the case in part because Curry had a prior conviction for theft, and she is currently charged with harassment in another case.

Do you think the prosecutor was right to pursue this case?

Thanks to Above the Law.

Can dogs sue for injuries inflicted upon them? The following Ohio case held that the owners must sue on the dog's behalf:

"In this regard, the court noted that despite Boomer’s fine qualities as a dog, his status as “personalty” deprived him of the legal capacity to sue. Again, this is consistent with Oberschlake, in which we held that dogs cannot directly recover for their injuries. In particular, we stressed evidentiary problems that would arise if animals are allowed to sue directly. Id. at ¶ 18."
Pacher v. Invisible Fence of Dayton, 154 Ohio App.3d 744, 2003-Ohio-5333 at ¶21. (Thanks to Attorney Anne McFarland).

If dogs could be plaintiffs, there is already a lawyer for them! See the YouTube video, below. (Thanks to the Law Librarian Blog)

Willie Campbell, a homeless gentleman from Dallas, TX, was recently sentenced to 35 years in prison for harassing a public servant with a deadly weapon. His deadly weapon of choice...his spit. See, Mr. Campbell is HIV positive. Police responded to a call of an unconscious man lying outside a downtown building. When they approached, Mr. Campbell began kicking and finally spitting in the eye and mouth of an officer, yelling he was HIV positive. According to the Center of Disease Control, saliva has not been shown to transmit HIV. Mr. Campbell has been convicted previously of attacking officers and biting inmates. In Texas, habitual-offender statute, section 12.42 mandates that he serve half of his sentence before he is eligible for parole.

LeBron James and Brady Quinn

Richard Peltz, known free speech authority and Professor of Torts and Constitutional Law at the University of Arkansas Little Rock, recently sued some of his former black students and UALR’s Black Law Association for defamation. He claims the students falsely accused him of racism. The situation began in 2005 in a con law class, when Professor Peltz, according to a letter written to the Law School Dean, spoke of friends not getting into law school because of affirmative action. Prof. Peltz also discussed an article from the Onion, Now We Can Finally Put Civil Rights Behind Us. The satirical article was about the death of Civil Rights icon Rosa Parks. That issue was apparently resolved in 2005 but racial issues have arisen again on campus. The recent controversy surrounds the Law Review and the absence of black students on its editorial board. Professor Peltz became part of this issue because of his support of the editor in chief in that decision.

The irony of it all…the suit may in fact limit free speech on campus, the very thing for which Professor Peltz is recognized as an expert.

Source: Above the Law

Steve Shellhorn, of Seattle, was recently sued for giving NEUTRAL feedback for a purchase he made on EBay. Mr. Shellhorn purchased some Silver dollar coins from a seller in North Carolina. When the purchase arrived, the coins were placed in an envelope, without any additional packing. The seller requested feedback. While the price was fair, the packaging was sub par, so Mr. Shellhorn gave neutral feedback. Next thing he knows he is being sued for $10,000 for tarnishing the seller's reputation. The case was eventually tossed but not without Mr. Shellhorn having to spend another $500 hiring an attorney. Interesting tidbit about the seller...he is a wanted man in North Carolina.

This parody of "Project Runway" made me laugh out loud. Join advocates Chris, Jillian, Romy and Christian (he's so fierce!) to find out who is guilty, and who is not.

Thanks to Jan Novak and the Law Librarian Blog.

If you are interested in why American judges wear robes and why judges in other countries wear wigs, the Legal Writing Professor Blog has some great links for you. My favorite is Judges of the World,from the Canadian site FilibusterCartoons.com. This site has lots of pictures of judicial garb from around the world.

Beware Bloggers...You may get Cyber-Slapped...Kathleen Seidel runs a personal blog, neurodiversity.com. On her blog she discusses autism issues, as one of her two children has been diagnosed. Recently, she posted comments on her blog about the drug Thimerosal, a preservative previously found in vaccines, thought to cause autism. While she is somewhat leery of the thimerosa position, she also commented on lawyers that are eager to cash in with lawsuits.

Last month, Ms. Siedel was subpoenaed by one such lawyer. The subpoena requests documents pertaining to her blog, its' financing, research and maintenance. Also any and all communication she has had with the feds, pharmaceutical companies, PACs, and the list goes on. In response, Ms. Siedel filed a motion to quash, citing violation of her First Amendment rights and a ploy to intimidate and harass, amongst other things.

This raises some serious issues concerning blogs, which are everywhere, and the rights of the public individuals who run them. This may just be a case of Ms. Siedel being cyber-SLAPPED (strategic lawsuit against public participation).

What Entertainment Esquire would you like representing you??? Entertainment Weekly has compiled a list of their favorites. Some Big Screen lawyers making their list include...

Atticus Finch-To Kill A Mockinigbird

Jake Brigance-A Time To Kill

Lt. Daniel Kaffee-A Few Good Men

Jack McCoy-Law & Order

Victor Sifuentes-L.A. Law

Personally I would add, Patty Hewes of Damages...Who would you add?

The Borings, of Pittsburgh, PA are suing Google for “intentional and/or grossly reckless invasion” because their home can be seen using Google Maps. The lawsuit contends their privacy has been infringed upon, thus decreasing the value of their home. They are seeking $25,000 in damages. In an ironic twist, it is now easier to find their home using Google maps, their home address is on the first page of the lawsuit.

Three Mississippi state representatives sponsored a bill that would have prohibited restaurants from serving obese people. The legislators never intended the bill to pass, they just wanted to raise awareness about obesity. For the story, go to AELR Blog, "Proposed Mississippi Law to Target the Obese is a Farce", Mar. 21, 2007. The Mississippi Legislature's website shows that HB 282 bill died in committee.

In a recent post, the Friends: Social Networking Sites for Engaged Library Services blog asks readers what are their favorite library-related Facebook apps and starts off the discussion with a list of forty-odd apps. Three of my personal favorites – JSTOR Search, WorldCat and Visual Bookshelf – made the list.

Libraries are expanding their reach and starting to connect with users through Facebook. Next time you log on, check out the Cleveland State University Library’s page with photos, blog, and general library info.

It’s a longstanding tradition to find personal knickknacks like family photos, vacation snapshots, souvenirs, posters, paper airplanes, signed baseballs, fuzzy dice – you name it – in professors’ office space. These precious artifacts of humanity can tell you a lot about your professor. I still remember sitting in one of my law professor’s offices looking at a photo and thinking, “Hey, that’s my professor with Yasser Arafat!”

In Stephanie Rosenbloom’s NYT article “The Professor as Open Book,” psychologist and associate professor Sam Gosling of the University of Texas at Austin suggests that some professors are transferring this tradition to virtual environments through blogs, personal webpages, and Facebook or MySpace pages. Students are mining these pages to find out the personal information that their professors are readily sharing with the virtual public, with some professors hoping to appear more approachable to their students.

Would Professor Kingsfield from “The Paper Chase” approve?

Some of you may have heard the story of a 35-year-old Kansas woman who spent 2 years in her boyfriend's bathroom. The County Attorney has filed charges against her boyfriend for mistreatment of a dependent adult, Kansas Statute 21-3437. Although the woman stayed in the bathroom voluntarily, it is possible her boyfriend was charged under the "omitting or depriving treatment" section of the statute. The woman's body fat had grown attached to the toilet seat, and she needed to be pried off. It appeared she stayed on the toilet seat continually for a month.

Should he be charged...What do you think?

Thanks to Sue Altmeyer for her input.

A Pennsylvania federal court judge fined a CEO and his attorney $29,000 for the CEO's hostile and abusive conduct during a 12 hour deposition. The CEO used the f-word 73 times, interrupted counsel, gave unnecessarily protracted answers, interposed his own objections and wrongfully refused to answer questions. His attorney did nothing to stop his client's conduct, and in fact, chuckled at his client's behavior. See Memorandum re. Motion to Compel and for Sanctions: GMAC Bank v. HTFC Corp. (Feb. 29, 2008), E.D. Pa. Case No. 06-5291. Source: Dan Slater, Curses! Client Swears his Way Through Deposition, Pays Price, Wall Street Journal Law Blog Mar. 5, 2008.

To see another example of a deposition gone wrong, check out the following video:

Note that a non-examining attorney does have the right to register objections to questions posed to a deponent, whether or not that deponent is a client. See Lisnek, Paul; Kaufman, Michael, "Depositions: Procedure, Strategy & Technique", 3rd ed., Section 11.9.

Attorney Jack Thompson filed motions containing images of a kangaroo court, swastikas and photos of celebrities. The pleadings were filed in a disciplinary case pending against Thompson in the Florida Supreme Court. Thompson went so far as to state the pleading was a children's book, necessary because the Court did not understand his arguments. The Florida Supreme Court issued a show cause order and threatened sanctions for the filing of this pleading, as well as 46 other meritless and abusive filings. Debra Cassens Weiss, Lawyer Could Face Sanctions After Adding Images of Kangaroos, Swastikas to Filing ABA Journal Law News Now, Feb. 22, 2007.

Here is the filing, courtesy of GamePolitics.com. See their post: Did this Document Bring Florida Supreme Court's Wrath Down Upon Jack Thompson?

• Main
• Archives
• Folders
• Dashboard
• Links

«	August 2008					»
Su	Mo	Tu	We	Th	Fr	Sa
					1	2
3	4	5	6	7	8	9
10	11	12	13	14	15	16
17	18	19	20	21	22	23
24	25	26	27	28	29	30
31

Search This Blog:

• RSS 2.0

Enter your email address:

Delivered by FeedBurner

• Ohio Bill Would Help Decorated Veterans Earn Degree
• Open Access Doesn't Mean More Citations
• RTA - Schedule Changes, Public Hearings, Involvement in the Public Sector
• On the Foreclosure Front - H.R. 3221 Signed
• C-M Law Library Blog Widget
• Ohio Employer's Law Blog
• Facebook Friends with HeinOnline
• Telltale Smell Upheld as Justification for Warrantless Search
• Saving Money on Law School Textbooks
• Visual Ways to Brief Cases

• Career Information [27]
• Community Events [15]
• Faculty Teaching and Scholarship [43]
• From The Director [3]
• Government Information and News [18]
• International [29]
• Law Library News and Events [50]
• Law Student News [20]
• Law-Zarro [18]
• Legal Research & Writing [98]
• Library Resources and Databases [54]
• National [74]
• Ohio and Local [61]
• Speakers and Visiting Scholars [11]
• Study and Exam Tips [16]

• Blog Directories
  • Law Professor Blogs
  • Law X.0: A Taxonomy of Legal Blogs
  • Justia Blog Search
  • Blawg Republic
• Blogs by C-M Professors
  • Comparative Racism and the Law - Canada/U.S.
  • Before the Law
• Blogs for Law Faculty
  • Legal Scholarship Blog
• Blogs for Law Students
  • The Frugal Law Student
  • JD2B
  • WishIWouldHaveKnown
• Blogs of General Legal Interest
  • SCOTUS Blog
  • Ohio Supreme Court Opinion Summaries
  • Ohio State Supreme Court News
  • Wall Street Journal.com Law Blog
  • Above the Law
  • Law School Innovation
  • Supreme Dicta
  • The Volokh Conspiracy