Legal Commentary

Fifth Circuit to Review Santeria Animal Slaughter Case

Posted on April 09, 2008
Jose Merced, a Santeria Oba or priest, has appealed his challenge to a city ban on animal slaughtering in the home as a violation of his free exercise rights under the First Amendment. At issue is the refusal of the city of Euless, Texas to allow his religious practice...

Two Organ Recipients Die and Two Others Develop Cancer After Being Given Cancer Victim?s Organs

Posted on April 08, 2008
Litigation is expected in a terrible tragedy developing over the use of cancerous organs mistakenly given to organ transplant patients who later died or developed cancer. The organs were harvested from 15-year-old Alex Koehne, who was erroneously diagnosed with bacterial meningitis when he really died from a rare form of lymphoma...

Wife and Mother Go to Court Over Dead Soldier?s Sperm

Posted on April 08, 2008
Kynesha Dhanoolal, the widow of a soldier killed in Iraq this week, has had to go to court to secure a restraining order against her mother-in-law to prevent the embalming of her husband’s body before she can harvest her husband sperm. This posthumous insemination is becoming more common with the advancement of science and [...

De-Accrediting the Electoral College: The Real Costs of a Constitutional Relic

Posted on April 08, 2008
Hillary Clinton’s superdelegate strategy has highlighted the flaws in our electoral college system — as well as a some contradiction in her own calls for democratic systems for presidential selections. The column below explores the controversy...

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Rob Lowe and Wife Sues Former Nanny for Defamation

Posted on April 08, 2008
Actor Rob Lowe and his wife Sheryl have gone to Los Angeles Superior Court to seek damages against their former nanny, Laura Boyce on claims of defamation, intentional infliction of emotional distress, breach of contract and other claims. They are seeking both compensatory and punitive damages...

Doh! Hugo Chavez Cracks Down on the Simpsons

Posted on April 08, 2008
A major first amendment crisis is emerging from Venezuela. The government of Hugo Chavez has taken “The Simpsons” off the air as inappropriate for children. Until this moment, I did not see how dangerous this man really is to world peace...

State Court Ends Texas ?Pole Tax? on Strip Clubs

Posted on April 07, 2008
Recently, this blog has featured a number of states targeting strip clubs for special taxes — raising serious constitutional concerns. Now a federal court has agreed and struck down such a tax in Texas. Travis County District Judge Scott H. Jenkins has ruled that such laws are unconstitutional under the first amendment...

Obi-Won, Lucas Zero: English Court Faces Financial Demand Over Stormtroopers

Posted on April 07, 2008
It appears that the final battle from Star Wars will happen in an English court. In this legal sequel, Andrew Ainsworth, a prop designer, is up against the empire headed by director George Lucas and his massive company, Lucasfilm. The dispute is over the rights to the stormtrooper costumes...

Eleven-Year-Old Boy Paralyzed in Alleged Bully Attack

Posted on April 07, 2008
Another disturbing case has arisen over bullying. Mathew Mumbauer, 11, is paralyzed int Massachusetts General Hospital after allegedly being pushed down the stairs by a bully, according to his mother, Alyssa Cormier. This is only the latest such case of an injury or suicide tied to reported bullying...

California Police Officer Shoots and Kills DUI Suspect

Posted on April 07, 2008
In what could well prove the basis for a lawsuit, a Sheriff’s sergeant in Sacramento shot and killed a driver believed to be drunk. The shooting Saturday around 5 p.m. When the officer arrived, the driver was parked nearby. “When the driver of the vehicle ignored the sergeant’s directives, the sergeant reached into the [...

Swear Once and Only Once So Help You God: New Yorker Fined for Swearing in Deposition

Posted on April 07, 2008
You are only allowed to swear once in deposition — at the start and to God. This is a lesson being taught to New York mortgage company owner, Aaron Wider. Federal Trial Judge Eduardo Robreno hit Wider with a $29,323 fine for swearing 73 times in the deposition, shown in an excerpted video [...

Socratic vs. Sadistic Method: Video of Canadian Destroys Student?s Computer

Posted on April 06, 2008
There is a wide amount of latitude given to academic freedom in a classroom but destruction of a student’s computer falls a bit outside of the norm. For Professor Justin Leroux, of the HEC Montreal (Institute of Applied Economics), however, it appears part of the lesson plan — though it would seem rather inefficient [...

The $5 Million Judge: Wisconsin Race Sets Record in Money and Meanness

Posted on April 06, 2008
This week, Michael Gableman celebrated a considerable victory: the first defeat of an incumbent judge in 40 years for the Wisconsin Supreme Court. His opponent Louis Butler was also the first African American on the Court. Yet, the $5 million race shows the steady trend toward high-priced campaigns to change the make-up of [...

Aqua Tiger: Just When You Thought It Was Safe to Go Back Into The Water . . .

Posted on April 06, 2008
As part of our expanding library of big cats at play and prowl, consider this new water danger. These pictures of a white tiger under water challenges your usual list of “things to fear in the water.” Tiger with coat of dissimilar stripes, When he?s angry, tiger swipes, Tiger cautious, guarding his lair, Danger lurking, tiger aware...

Toxic Roads and Turkish Cancer

Posted on April 06, 2008
A North Dakota town is facing a health crisis over its playground and other states are concerned over their roads. The city elders used a common gravel in the area for base material, only to learn that it is composed of erionite that can cause lung cancer...

Crashworthiness: Amazing Video of Texas Motor Speedway Crash

Posted on April 05, 2008
This is simply amazing video of the crash of NASCAR Sprint Cup driver Michael McDowell Friday during qualifying races for Sunday’s Samsung 500 at Texas Motor Speedway. The fact that McDowell walked away is a testament to the design of these vehicles...

Good Body But Over Manured: Italian Wine Found to Be Heavily Laden with Many Things But Little Actual Wine

Posted on April 05, 2008
The Italian mob appears to be getting into the burgeoning wine market with its own off-label vino. The problem is they mafia vintners is that they not only rejected oak-aging, but apparently wine itself. The Italian government has seized over 70 million litres of cheap wine containing acid, manure and fertilizer...

Pentagon Accused of Editing Out Wikipedia Reference to Solider?s Sexual Orientation

Posted on April 05, 2008
There is a controversy brewing over at Wikipedia. Someone at the office of the Army Deputy Chief of Staff for Intelligence appears to have edited out an article about Major Alan Rogers, who died serving this country in Iraq. The Pentagon editor apparently objected to the recognition of the fact that Rogers was [...

Illinois Supreme Court Denies Appeal Against Parents of AIDS Carrier

Posted on April 05, 2008
The Supreme Court has ruling in the Dilling case where a woman sued the parents of her deceased finance for not disclosing to her that he had AIDS. The “Jane Doe” plaintiff had won $2 million in 2004, but the Supreme Court said that she had reason to question the health of Albert Dilling [...

The Arkansas Greenbacks: The Clinton Rake in $109 Million Since Leaving White House

Posted on April 05, 2008
The Clintons waited until Friday to finally release their tax returns — a well-known technique in Washington to try to burn out a story over a weekend to reduce public attention. It will not likely work when the papers show that the Clinton, who always complained of being financially strapped, have acquired almost $110 [...

$800 Billion Up in Smoke: Court Throws Out Massive Class Action on Light Cigarettes

Posted on April 04, 2008
The tobacco industry won a major appeal today when the Second Circuit threw out an $800 billion class-action lawsuit based on allegedly misleading light cigarettes ads. While light or low-tar cigarettes have proven the most promising area of litigation for plaintiffs, there is a strong trend against massive class actions...

Video: Streetwalking Lawyers

Posted on April 04, 2008
The video below shows the less known, more seedy aspect of our work. It is true that times are tough for lawyers. Congress is failing over itself about homeowners, wounded troops, and even broke Wall Street firms. But what about the lawyers who have been reduced to hunter and gatherers for clients and business? Hopefully, [...

West Virginia Supreme Court Sides with Mining Company Amidst Criticism of Bias

Posted on April 04, 2008
The West Virginia Supreme Court has again voted 3-2 to support a mining company despite a controversy over the possible bias of some of its members, including one justice who refused to recuse himself despite massive campaign contributions from one of the interested parties...

Atlanta Police Lieutenant Caught in Prostitution Tapes

Posted on April 04, 2008
Atlanta Lt. John Oglesby was caught in the video version of a citizen arrest after a resident videotaped him allegedly cruising for sex in a red light district. The resident stated that Oglesby was a regular customer in the area known of its cross dressers and prostitutes...

Victoria Secret Sued Over Bra Malfunction

Posted on April 04, 2008
Jessica Lang, a South Carolina woman, is suing Victoria’s Secret for a product defect claim involving a bra. Lang claims that the bra in 2005 “malfunctioned,” leaving a 3-inch long, ¼-inch deep laceration on her left breast. The case appears to be brought in negligence rather than strict liability as “negligently and [...

Senior Priest Sued Over ?Fraudulent? Exorcisms

Posted on April 04, 2008
It seems that everything today is a cheap knock-off, even exorcisms. Officials in Florence believe that Father Saverio Bazzoffi has amassed £3 million by performing staged exorcisms. From a legal perspective, I can understand how one could prove a staged exorcism but how does one prove a fake one? Father Bazzoffi appears to have [...

Math Madness: Leading Rabbi Says Every Jewish Life is Worth 1000 Arab Lives

Posted on April 04, 2008
Former Sephardi chief Rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu used the one month anniversary of the massacre at Mercaz Harav rabbinical seminary by offering his own unique take on the value of a human life: insisting that the life of a single Jew should be re-paid by 1000 Arab lives...

A Bit Too Outstanding: Inspector General Investigating Whether Justice Fired Successful Because She Is A Lesbian

Posted on April 03, 2008
Leslie Hagan, it appears, was a bit too outstanding for the Justice Department. The attorney worked as a liaison between the Justice Department and the U.S. attorneys’ committee on Native American issues and received consistent “outstanding” marks on her evaluations...

Post-Cambrian Fifth Grader Corrects Smithsonian on Pre-Cambrian Error

Posted on April 03, 2008
Michigan fifth-grader Kenton Stufflebeam can now claim something few academics can muster: finding an error in a Smithsonian display. The 11-year-old spotted the error on the museum’s Tower of Time, a display involving prehistoric time, which refers to the Precambrian as an era...

Very Nice: Borat Wins Defamation Case

Posted on April 03, 2008
Borat can now claim “Legal Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan.” A judge in New York has dismissed a defamation case against Sacha Baron Cohen and the producer, Twentieth Century Fox, of the movie “Borat...

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