Legal News

Want a 'Raging Bitch' Beer? Not in Michigan

Posted on March 31, 2011
In September 2009, Frederick, Md.-based Flying Dog Brewery learned that its license application to sell its best-selling beer had been rejected by the Michigan Liquor Control Commission. Why? Because its best-selling beer is called "Raging Bitch," and includes a label with some other choice words...

Will U.K. Authorities Stand Up to Squatters?

Posted on March 30, 2011
It appears that a growing number of members of the U.K. parliament have finally had enough of the odd "squatting" situation in the United Kingdom and may take action. As I noted here back in October, squatting -- which occurs when people decide to occupy an empty property -- is merely a civil offense in the U...

Tuesday's Three Burning Legal Questions

Posted on March 29, 2011
Here are today's three burning legal questions, along with the answers provided by the blogosphere. 1) Question: I'm a judge. One of the defendants in a case I heard today was chewing gum and blew a very large bubble and popped it "whilst looking my direction [sic]!!!" Can you believe this guy? Whilst looking in my direction!! Can I sentence him to 30 days in jail for contempt? Answer: Technically you can do it, but it will probably get appealed...

Painter Goes to Extremes to Have His Forged Artwork Hang in Museums. But Is it Criminal?

Posted on March 28, 2011
Via the PrawfsBlawg, I found this interesting article by Randy Kennedy in The New York Times about a man named Marc Landis. According to the article, Landis, a lifelong painter and former gallery owner, has gone to great lengths -- including dressing up like a priest -- to donate pieces of important artwork from his collection to U...

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Friday's Three Burning Legal Questions

Posted on March 25, 2011
Here are today's three burning legal questions, along with the answers provided by the blogosphere. 1) Question: Sure, I keep a bunch of chickens in my house. But why did the police just roll up to my house in an armored tank holding movie star Steven Seagal and SWAT guys, blow out my windows and arrest me? Why??? Answer: Sometimes authorities break out the tanks and Steven Seagal when they suspect you of cockfighting...

@freeNYTimes Twitter Feed Drives Truck Through Narrow NYT Paywall Exception

Posted on March 25, 2011
On March 17, 2011, New York Times publisher Arthur Sulzberger Jr. made news when he announced that the Times is now rolling out "digital subscriptions" that will require readers of more than 20 articles each month to become paid subscribers. There are some exceptions to this requirement, however...

Moving On From 'Let it Be' to 'Paperback Writer'

Posted on March 24, 2011
At Legal Blog Watch, we turn now from "Let it Be" to "Paperback Writer." The Globe and Mail had an interesting article recently ('The judge who writes like a paperback novelist') (via How Appealing) about Ontario Court of Appeal Judge David Watt, who has become a bit of a sensation in criminal law circles as the result of a stark transformation in the way he writes his decisions...

'Hot-Tubbing' Makes its Way Into Civil Trials

Posted on March 23, 2011
I'm from the United States, home of "The Bachelor" -- so I know enough about "hot-tubbing" to know that, at its best, it doesn't involve old men and women sitting around pontificating about whether some molecular compound is strong enough to support a 10-story building or whether a particular type of fertilizer should be used on Bermuda grass soccer fields located in shady areas...

Tuesday's Three Burning Legal Questions

Posted on March 22, 2011
Here are today's three burning legal questions, along with the answers provided by the blogosphere. 1) Question: I'm an inmate. Sometimes we get our hands on contraband cell phones and we have the chance to update our Facebook status ("still in prison")...

Defining 'Reasonable Doubt'? Appellate Court Tells Trial Courts to 'Let It Be'

Posted on March 21, 2011
At the California Appellate Report blog, Shaun Martin points to the recent case of People v. Moore as the latest example of why the appellate courts really, really wish the trial courts would not try to explain the concept of "beyond a reasonable doubt" to jurors...

Calendar Snafu Leads to Default Entered Against Wachovia in Securities Case

Posted on March 19, 2011
The South Florida Lawyers blog reports that the auction rate securities action filed against Wachovia in federal court in Florida is, well, going poorly for the defendant at the moment. How poorly? On March 9, SFL says, Judge James Lawrence King entered -- sua sponte -- a default against Wachovia for failing to file a response to plaintiff's Amended Complaint in the case...

Does Pot Have a Shot at Being Legalized in the U.S.?

Posted on March 18, 2011
Rhode Island, which legalized medical marijuana in 2006, is now wrestling with the next big question on that front: whether to become the first state in the U.S. to make pot legal for recreational use as well. The motive? Money. The Associated Press reports that, if the proposal goes into law, wholesalers would be on the hook for a $50 per ounce excise tax, and retail licenses would cost $5,000 per year...

And Now, a Bit Less Screaming Over Ice Cream

Posted on March 18, 2011
A pesky legal action by Lady Gaga's lawyers aside, a U.K. ice creamery has one less thing to worry about now that local officials have deemed the business's product made with human breast milk safe for consumption. After having lab tests run, local authorities recently announced they have received confirmation that the product contained no harmful bacteria or viruses...

Friday's Three Burning Legal Questions

Posted on March 18, 2011
Here are today's three burning legal questions, along with the answers provided by the blogosphere. 1) Question: I've had these license plates for months! Why did the Secretary of State Police just come to my office, take my plates reading "GIV ME A" off my car and shred them? Answer: Sometimes it takes a complaint or two from motorists for the state's license plate people to catch on and ban a particular license plate...

Airline Passenger Sues TSA for False Imprisonment

Posted on March 17, 2011
Since the Transportation Security Administration began screening airline passengers with body scans and pat-downs, people have chosen various ways to express their distaste for the measures. One such person is Aaron Tobey, who, when going through security at Richmond International Airport on Dec...

'Human Guinea Pig' Gets Payback as Jury Awards MLB Umpire $775K for Defective Mask

Posted on March 17, 2011
The trend is clearly against people who are injured by reasonably foreseeable events that occur at sporting events (errant golf balls shanked into the side of your head; hot dogs thrown by team mascots straight into your eye, etc.). But Major League umpire Ed Hickox beat that trend this week when a jury in the District of Columbia found that the Wilson Sporting Goods Co...

Twitter Defamation Lawsuit: NBA Referee Edition

Posted on March 15, 2011
It worked for the designer who sued Courtney Love to the tune of a $430,000 settlement, and now we'll see if an NBA referee can similarly recover for "defamation by Twitter." The Minneapolis-St. Paul Business Journal reports that NBA ref Bill Spooner has filed a defamation suit in federal court in Minneapolis against Associated Press writer (and Timberwolves reporter) Jon Krawczynski following a Krawczynski tweet back in January...

Tuesday's Three Burning Legal Questions

Posted on March 15, 2011
Here are today's three burning legal questions, along with the answers provided by the blogosphere. 1) Question: My neighbor's lawn is a mess. Turning brown, sprouting weeds, outrageous! Can I go water it even though he doesn't want me to? Answer: First of all, that is trespassing, so no...

'Social Media Guru' Becomes a Real Job at BigLaw

Posted on March 14, 2011
For all of you us who were convinced that "Social Media Guru" wasn't a real job ... now what? Via the Twitter feed of Lance Godard I see that BigLaw stalwart Latham & Watkins is now seeking a "Social Media Specialist" to help develop and implement the firm's social media strategy...

Legal Industry Does Not Exist on 'LinkedIn Today'

Posted on March 11, 2011
LinkedIn announced Thursday that it has launched "LinkedIn Today," which some have described as an effort to become "The Wall Street Journal of social news." LinkedIn describes LinkedIn Today as a site that "delivers the day?s top news, tailored to you based on what your connections and industry peers are reading and sharing...

Friday's Three Burning Legal Questions

Posted on March 11, 2011
Here are today's three burning legal questions, along with the answers provided by the blogosphere. 1) Question: I'm a paramedic. I'm at the scene of a grisly car accident and, well, I just found the driver's foot, which is now severed and all mangled...

No Gavels Allowed! Picking Better Stock Images for Your Law Firm Website

Posted on March 10, 2011
On Lawyerist, Karin Conroy has an interesting post pointing out that, while certain types of stock images seem like likely fits for your law firm website, it is time to let some of the most clichéd images rest in peace. The wrong stock images, Conroy writes, "can ruin an otherwise great website by making it look generic, while creative and customized stock images can evoke emotion and support your messaging and branding...

How Much Toilet Paper Must Be 'Left Behind' on a Cartoon Bear's Butt and Other Key Advertising Rules

Posted on March 10, 2011
Advertising Age has an interesting article here (via Consumerist) describing how advertising "law" is created, in part, by decisions of the National Advertising Division of the Council of Better Business Bureaus, a self-regulating body established in 1971 to deal with false or misleading advertising claims...

The Key to Lawyer Happiness: The '2/3 Rule'

Posted on March 09, 2011
On the Slaw.ca blog, Dan Pinnington writes about a "simple and profound" rule that, if followed, can help lead to the ever-elusive concept of a "happy lawyer." Pinnington says this rule -- known as the "2/3 Rule" -- was passed on from a Belgian lawyer to an Ottawa family law lawyer he knows, and ultimately on to Pinnington as part of a presentation he did with the Ottawa lawyer many years ago...

Injured Car Passenger Gets $1.6 Million due to 'Optical Illusion'

Posted on March 08, 2011
When can a passenger in a car with a driver who fails to observe a left-hand curve in a road and instead continues straight and plunges over an 8-foot embankment into a ditch recover from the county for her significant injuries caused by the crash? When modifications to the road create an "optical illusion" that the road continues straight...

Baby on Board: Flight Attendant Grounded After Putting Child in Overhead Compartment

Posted on March 08, 2011
A Virgin Blue flight attendant has lost his job after reportedly putting a couple's 17-month-old child in an overhead luggage compartment during a flight from Fiji to Australia Reports differ as to what preceded the unorthodox use of airplane facilities...

Lady Gaga's Lawyers Tell Breast-Milk Ice Creamery to Cool It

Posted on March 08, 2011
Attorneys for pop sensation Lady Gaga have sent a cease-and-desist letter to the Icecreamists, a London enterprise that has been doing a bang-up business selling ice cream that's made with breast milk and marketed under the name "Baby Gaga." Mishcon de Reya has given the ice creamery until Wednesday to change the name of the product -- which the law firm refers to as "deliberately provocative and, to many people, nausea-inducing" --"if you wish to avoid proceedings for trademark infringement...

'Crimebook:' Anti-Social Network Shut Down by U.K. Authorities

Posted on March 07, 2011
You know about Facebook, aka "The Social Network," but what about "Crimebook"? The Age reports that two young men in the U.K. have been convicted and face up to five years in prison "for running a $26 million Facebook-style website for criminals described in court as 'Crimebook...

British Authorities Give Cold Shoulder to Breast-Milk Ice Cream

Posted on March 04, 2011
I have a pretty bad memory for events that occurred years ago. One memory that has proven to be indelible, however, came many years ago when one of my college friends who had recently given birth confessed that the brownies she served at a get-together (that I happily did not attend) were made with her breast milk because she had run out of cow milk...

Friday's Three Burning Legal Questions

Posted on March 04, 2011
Here are today's three burning legal questions, along with the answers provided by the blogosphere. 1) Question: We are trying to do a breathalyzer test on this driver but he keeps burping. Our protocol requires a 20-minute wait after a burp because it can skew readings by drawing alcohol into the mouth...

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