Legal Commentary

Frozen Assets: Court To Decide Distribution of Bullmastiff Semen as Estate Asset

Posted on April 11, 2009
Family Court Judge Cheryl Matthews had a logical question when Anthony and Karen Scully appeared in his court with a lingering estate asset question left over from their divorce: “Am I Being Punk’d?” The court and lawyers were presented with the rather novel question of who gets the frozen semen of AKC-registered bullmastiffs [...

International Blasphemy: The Free World Bars Free Speech

Posted on April 11, 2009
Here my column in Sunday’s Washington Post on the increasing prosecutions in the West for insulting religion. The rise of international blasphemy prosecutions (and the proposal of the international criminalization of blasphemy) has sacrificed free speech in the name of free exercise...

Faith Groups Facing Liability Over Discriminatory Faith-Based Policies

Posted on April 11, 2009
Faith organizations and individuals have increasingly been sued over their exclusion or discrimination against homosexuals based on their religious beliefs. As the federal and state governments enforce anti-discrimination policies, they are turning against religious organizations which exclude members based on what they view as immoral practices...

Tomlinson Tape: Video Contradicts Police Claims and Shows Man Being Struck Without Provocation

Posted on April 10, 2009
British police are facing many question over the death of Ian Tomlinson, 47, who died of a fatal heart attack during the April 1st protests. While police insisted that they had no contact with police after witnesses accused them of attacking him without provocation, new pictures and the video below have emerged that seem [...

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Latest Weapon in The War On Terror: Manila Envelopes

Posted on April 10, 2009
Britain?s leading counterterrorism, Assistant Commissioner Bob Quick of the Metropolitan Police Department, has resigned after being photographed holding a classified document in the open that revealed details of an anti-terror operation. Photographs and videotapes showed clearly the front page of the secret document as Quick got out of a car...

No Duty to Rescue Rule: Court Holds That New York Transit Workers Had No Obligation To Help Woman Being Raped in Station

Posted on April 10, 2009
Under the common law, one of the more controversial rules is the “no duty to rescue rule” that says that, if you were not responsible for placing someone in danger or risk, you have no obligation to help them even when it would cost little to save their life...

Legal Forecast: Overcast With a Chance of Falling Bodies

Posted on April 10, 2009
In the same week as a teenager who was injured at a mall by a falling suicide jumper, bodies are also flying in Russia and China in an expanding area of body torts. In Russia, a man repeatedly through himself out of a high window without success while in China a teenager was hit [...

Crucifixion Day: Dozens of Filipinos Flogged and Crucified For the Glory of God

Posted on April 10, 2009
It is crucifixion day again in the Philippines as dozens of Catholics allowed themselves to be nailed to crosses as people cheered every nail pounded into their hands. A far greater number of devotees beat themselves bloody with whips to experience the torments of Christ...

Family Announces Intent to Sue Over Police Forcing Accused Child Killer to Remove Her Scarf for Mugshot

Posted on April 10, 2009
Illinois police have been accused of violating religious sensitivities by forcing Nour Hadid, a 26-year-old woman accused of beating her 2-year-old niece Bhia Hadid to death over four days. She demanded to be photographed wearing her veil covering her face and her husband Alaeddin Hadid has announced an intention to sue the police for [...

Teenager Hurt After Suicide Jumper Lands On Top of Him at New York Mall

Posted on April 09, 2009
There is an interesting potential torts case in New York. A woman in her fifties apparently decided to commit suicide at a Mall by jumping from an upper level. She landed on 17-year-old Derrick MuInoz who was knocked unconscious and suffered a large gash on his head...

Egyptian Court Bans Literature Journal For Publishing Blasphemous Poem

Posted on April 09, 2009
A respected literature journal, Ibdaa (or Creativity) has been banned by an Egyptian court for publishing blasphemous poem by poet Helmi Salem that compared God to a villager who feeds ducks and milks cows. It is only the latest crackdown on poets who have used the Koran or references to God in artistic ways...

Oly Ivy: Texas Sheriff Arrested After Allegedly Tasering His Wife

Posted on April 09, 2009
Oly Yahnson Ivy, 30, the chief of police of Oakwood, Texas, has been arrested for aggravated assault in the use of his Taser on this wife. He was fired after only two months on the job. An APB was sent out after the incident informing Texas peace officers that “wanted individual was a peace officer [...

Better Wright Than Wong: Texas Legislator Wants Asian-Americans to Adopt Names That Are Easier to Pronounce

Posted on April 09, 2009
Texas State Rep. Betty Brown (R) finally hit on the problem that she has with Asian people: they are just a bit too . . . well . . . Asian — at least in terms of their names. Brown has caused a firestorm in suggesting that Asian-Americans change their names [...

Vegan License Plate Barred by Colorado DMV As Offensive

Posted on April 09, 2009
Now, here is an interesting free speech case. Kelley Coffman-Lee is a vegan who wanted to proclaim her love for bean curd with a license plate “ILVTOFU” for her Suzuki SL-7. The DMV read the plate as an proclamation of a more sexual than culinary proclamation...

Alaska Legislators Demand Apology to Stevens And Federal Lawsuit

Posted on April 09, 2009
Former Sen. Ted Stevens (R., Alaska) and his allies are continuing their implausible campaign to rehabilitate the disgraced Senator and portray the Justice Department’s gross negligence as a vindication of the ethically challenged Stevens. Alaskan legislators in the House passed a resolution demanding not only an apology from the federal government but a [...

Federal Judge Appoints Special Prosecutor To Investigate Mishandling of Stevens Prosecution

Posted on April 08, 2009
In a remarkable order, U.S. District Court Judge Emmet Sullivan appointed a special prosecutor to investigate the Justice Department lawyers who mishandled the prosecution of former Sen. Ted Stevens (R., Alaska). The order reflects a degree of dissatisfaction and distrust over the Justice Department’s own internal investigation...

Lost in Translation: Turkish Anchor Appears in Blackface on Air in Coverage of President Obama

Posted on April 08, 2009
There is a great deal of chatter on the Internet today about an anchor who appears in blackface in the coverage of President Obama’s trip to Turkey. The rough translation from the appearance is “Welcome, Mr. Obama. You took our hearts with your hospitality...

Vermont Becomes Fourth State To Recognize Gay Marriage

Posted on April 08, 2009
Vermont’s legislature voted Tuesday to override the veto of Governor Jim Douglas (R) and become the fourth state to recognize gay marriage. This follows Iowa only last week, which achieved the same result through a vote of its Supreme Court. On the same day, the District of Columbia voted to recognize such marriages [...

Tarasoff Revisited: Federal Court Rules That Hospitals May Be Liable for a Murder Committed By a Former Mental Patient

Posted on April 08, 2009
There is an interesting case in Detroit on the liability of hospitals for the actions of third parties — a case with striking similarities to the famous 1976 ruling in Tarasoff v. Regents of the University of California. The Detroit case involves a woman murdered by her husband, Christopher Howard, 10 days after [...

Mother Wins Motion to Compel Retrieval of Sperm from Dead Son In Order to Produce Grandchild

Posted on April 08, 2009
In Texas, Travis County Probate Judge Guy Herman has issued what may be a fairly unique order. He has agreed to a motion from Marissa Evans to have sperm collected from the corpse of her son, Nikolas Colton Evans, to allow her to have a grandchild through a surrogate mother...

Stoned Crabbe: Actor Found Harry Potter Series Arrested for Pot Farm

Posted on April 08, 2009
Vincent Crabbe already had a poor reputation as a member of Sytherian House at Hogwarts and a thuggish sidetick to Draco Malfoy (with his equally vile friend Gregory Goyle). Now, he is heading to a muggle jail under his real name Jamie Waylett, 19, for allegedly maintaining a pot farm in his bedroom...

Virginia School System Moves To Expel Teenage Girl For Taking Birth Control Pill at Her High School

Posted on April 07, 2009
The Fairfax County school system has added yet another example of how ridiculous the “zero-tolerance” drug policy can become when officials refuse to apply a modicum of common sense or judgment. A teenage girl at Oakton High School took her pill at lunch and was immediately seized by a teacher, accused of violating the [...

Rare Megamouth Shark Found in Philipines ? And Promptly Sautéed with Coconut Milk and Eaten

Posted on April 07, 2009
The Megamouth shark (Megachasma pelagios) is so rare that only 41 has ever been seen or captured in history. The 41st was found off the Bicol peninsula on Luzon island. It was promptly carved up, sautéed and eaten by the locals. This comes only a couple months after an endangered bird was [...

Scientology Sued Again By Former ?Sea Org? Member Alleging Abuse and Coerced Abortion

Posted on April 07, 2009
The Church of Scientology has been sued again. This time former “Sea Org” member Laura DeCrescenzo (aka Laura Dieckman) has filed a complaint on April 2, 2009 alleging a long pattern of abuse that began when she was just 10. This is the third such lawsuit filed this year against the organization and alleges [...

Friar Tuck: Minister Charged With Stealing Church Funds For Botox, Plastic Surgery, and Other Personal Expenses

Posted on April 07, 2009
The Rev. William Blasingame, 66, really need some work. He is accused of stealing tens of thousands of dollars from the North Shore Episcopal church for plastic surgery and Botox injections and prescription drugs. Theft of botox, liposuction, and other cosmetic work seems to be on the rise...

?Congressman Kickass? Arrested . . . Again

Posted on April 07, 2009
The congressman that George Bush nicknamed “Congressman Kickass” and one of his favorite members has been arrested . . . again. Former Rep. John Sweeney was charged with driving while intoxicated for the second time in 17 months. Sweeney garnered national attention and controversy for his role in the he 2000 Florida recount where [...

NASA Captures Hand of God Reaching Across Space . . . As Stevens Goes To Court To Declare Victory

Posted on April 07, 2009
NASA has captured a picture of what appears to be the hand of God reaching across space. Notably, the picture was taken as former Sen. Ted Stevens (R., Alaska) is about to appear in federal court to declare victory after the Justice Department drops its case against him...

Federal Judge Rules Justice Department Withheld Evidence That Key Witness in Detainee Cases Was Mentally Disturbed

Posted on April 07, 2009
The Justice Department is once again being threatened with contempt of court after United States District Court Judge Emmet Sullivan found that they withheld evidence from the defense that a witness in a “significant” number of cases was mentally disturbed...

Obama Administration Invokes State Secrets To Kill Lawsuit Over Unlawful Surveillance Program

Posted on April 07, 2009
In yet another break with its campaign promise to fight to restore civil liberties and privacy, the Obama Administration has made a breathtaking claim of state secrets to block a public interest organization from suing the government for illegal surveillance...

Another Texas Judge Accused of Wrongdoing

Posted on April 06, 2009
Judges in Texas recently have found themselves defendants in a slew of criminal, tort, and disciplinary cases, here, here, here, here, here and here. You can now add El Paso Judge Manuel J. Barraza, 53, who is accused of taking money and asking for sex from defendants...

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