Below is my column in the New York Post on the California verdict against Google and Meta. Google’s “Don’t Be Evil” went from a motto to a jury verdict. The jury clearly believed that these companies were malicious and manipulative toward minors, but there remain considerable questions over the basis for the liability of social media companies.
Here is the column: Continue reading ““Don’t Be Evil”: Google’s Motto Becomes a Jury Verdict in Calfornia”
Erika Kirk, the widow of Charlie Kirk, has been the subject of a shocking level of personal attacks and conspiracy theories. The latest such example involves a site called Project Constitution, which posted an allegation (with a recording of the purported voice of Erika Kirk) that she helped recruit underage girls for Jeffrey Epstein. It is untrue, but other posters soon spread the viral claim.
Continue reading “Erika Kirk and the Perils of Being a “Public Figure””
Last year, I wrote a column expressing concerns over the move to release the Epstein files en masse, including grand jury material. The files include a wide range of tangential figures and unsupported allegations common to criminal investigations. Politicians eager to capitalize on the scandal would likely show little concern for the underlying facts in “outing” names and repeating unproven allegations.
That fear was realized this week with the chest-pounding speech of Rep. Ro Khanna (D., Cal.) on the House floor in which he took credit for outing six “wealthy, powerful men” who he suggested were actively shielded by the DOJ from public exposure. After the DOJ unredacted the names at his request, he read them on the floor. It turns out that four have nothing to do with Epstein. Continue reading “Ro Khanna and the Impunity of “Wealthy, Powerful Men””
There is a major verdict out of Texas where a mother and an attorney were ordered to pay millions for perpetuating an alleged hate crime hoax that was eagerly spread by the mainstream media. Asher Vann, a minor at the time, was labeled a racist maniac who tortured SeMarion Humphrey, his black classmate, with other classmates. After the jury found that the allegations constituted the intentional infliction of emotional distress, the same media that spread the story remained conspicuously silent. Crickets. Continue reading “Alleged Hate Crime Hoax Leads to Major Civil Award . . . Media is Silent”
For years, criticizing gender reassignment surgeries for minors would unleash a cancel campaign over being “transphobic” and intolerant. The media amplified such attacks. Then the issuance of the Cass Independent Review of Gender Identity Services for Children and Young People led countries to significantly curtail such procedures in Europe. However, many academics in the United States continue to push back on the Cass Report and the effort to curtail transitioning procedures for children. Now, the American Society of Plastic Surgeons has published a position statement recommending that surgeons delay gender reassignment surgeries until a patient is 19-years-old. Continue reading “Major Medical Group Comes Out Against Gender Reassignment Surgeries for Minors”
There is an interesting controversy brewing at Starbucks after a former executive, Janice Waszak, sued the company over her firing as wrongful termination due to her exposure of alleged defects in new store equipment, including a coffee maker that has an alleged maggot problem. She also alleged sex discrimination. Starbucks insists that the allegations are “entirely without merit.”
In the last week, protesters in Minneapolis began putting up barricades to create checkpoints that bar federal immigration officers from entering certain neighborhoods. It is all too familiar to those of us who remember what the mayor in 2020 called “the Summer of Love” in Seattle and the establishment of an autonomous area known as the Capitol Hill Organized Protest (CHOP). Ironically, these barricades are being set up after a jury ruled against the City of Seattle for negligence after the killing of 16-year-old Antonio Mays Jr. in CHOP. Continue reading “Chopped: Seattle Found Liable for $30 Million Over Death During the “Summer of Love””
In New York, a jury has now handed down what it viewed as the first successful lawsuit against doctors accused of malpractice over a gender transitioning surgery. The jury awarded $2 million to Fox Varian, 22, over the double mastectomy performed on her while she was a minor. Psychologist Kenneth Einhorn and surgeon Simon Chin were held responsible in Westchester County Supreme Court in White Plains for failing to follow the standards of care of reasonable doctors.
Continue reading “New York Jury Awards $2 Million in Malpractice Case Over Gender Transitioning Surgery”
There is a notable torts verdict in Maryland where a jury handed down a multi-million dollar verdict against Walmart for selling a shotgun to an employee who used it to commit suicide. The verdict raises difficult questions over Walmart’s responsibility for the suicide of Jacob Mace, who lied to store employees, under common law torts. Continue reading “Maryland Jury Rules Walmart Liable for Selling Shotgun Used in Employee Suicide”
Former Secretary of State and two-time presidential loser Hillary Clinton has triggered yet another question of defamation in the political arena with an attack on President Donald Trump on the fifth anniversary of the January 6 riot. Clinton claimed that Trump “urged” supporters to “attack Congress.” That is untrue. However, Clinton can rely on tort doctrine to shield her from potential defamation liability.Continue reading “Can Hillary Clinton Be Sued for the False Claim About Trump’s J6 Culpability?”
A district court in Delaware this week handed down McGillvary v. Grande, a case with some interesting tort elements — and a heck of an underlying story. Judge Jennifer Hall ruled against Caleb McGillvary (aka “Kai the Hatchet-Wielding Hitchhiker”) in his defamation claim against Todd Grande. McGillvary brought the action despite currently serving a 57-year sentence in a New Jersey state prison for first-degree murder. Continue reading ““Smash, Smash, SUH-MASH!”: Court Axes Case of Kai the Hatchet-Wielding Hitchhiker”
Years ago, I called the pandemic arguably the greatest case of negligence in the history of torts. However, with millions dead and hundreds of billions expended, it was unlikely that China would ever be truly held accountable for its actions. Those failures include not only the alleged release of the virus from the Wuhan lab but also China’s concealment of the release until it had spread globally. A $24 billion judgment was secured in Missouri earlier this year, but China defied the verdict.
Now, it has countersued, naming former Missouri Attorney General and now Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., among others as defendants. Even by the standards of the Chinese legal system, this action is legally absurd. However, in the CCP-controlled court system, the verdict is little in doubt. Continue reading “China Sues Sen. Schmitt and Others For Defamation Over COVID-19 Lawsuit”
Many years ago, as a law student, I had the honor of working with the great prosecutor William J. Kunkle Jr., who put away John Wayne Gacy. I was a young intern at the litigation firm of Phelan, Pope & John and loved listening to Bill’s stories about his famous cases. I even had to take a couple of calls from Gacy from prison when Bill was out. (I was asked to write down everything that he would say in the routine calls. On one call, Gacy told me, “Tell Bill he was wrong. I was not guilty of homicide. I was guilty of running an indoor funeral parlor without a license.”). One story of Bill’s came to mind last night when Democrats released their latest tranche of “bombshell” photos from the Epstein files to suggest that Trump is implicated in the scandal. Continue reading “Cover-Up or Frame-Up? How the Democratic Epstein Releases are a Classic Example of False Light”
This week, the lingering allegations over the marital history of Rep. Ilhan Omar (D., Minn.) took an ominous step when Border Tsar Tom Homan publicly acknowledged that the government is looking into the matter. Rep. Omar has long denied that she married her brother to gain his entry into the United States, but the allegation has continued to rage on the Internet and among her critics. The question is whether this is a substantive case of fraud or defamation. Continue reading “Border Tsar Homan Announces Investigation into Rep. Omar: A Case for Fraud or Defamation?”
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) just issued a report on a bizarre case involving the death of a transplant patient after he was given a kidney from a donor with rabies. The report would suggest a strong case for liability under the existing tort doctrine.
Continue reading “Patient Dies After Being Given Organ from Donor With Rabies”