A terrible tragedy has befallen the University of South Carolina after sophomore Nicholas Anthony Donofrio, 20, was shot and killed on the front porch of a house in Columbia. He was reportedly trying to enter the wrong home near the campus around 2 am. Donofrio lived at a house on the same street. It is an all-too-familiar pattern that we often discuss in my torts class where people are confused and try to enter the wrong home. Continue reading “University of South Carolina Student Killed in Possible Castle Doctrine Case”
Category: Torts
I previously wrote a column on what I described as Alex Baldwin’s greatest imitation of Donald Trump . . . in a lawsuit. Baldwin was sued for a reprehensible attack on on the family of Marine Lance Cpl. Rylee J. McCollum, killed in the Aug. 26 suicide attack in Kabul during the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan.. He falsely accused the marine’s sister Roice McCollum of being an “insurrectionist” but insisted that his rhetoric was protected political speech and that he was not responsible for how third parties responded to his inflammatory postings on social media. Baldwin’s channeling of Trump arguments in court has proven equally successful. As expected, a court has ruled for Baldwin after finding that the sister of the fallen Marine was a limited public figure.
Continue reading “Alec Baldwin’s Trump Defense: A Torts Case Where Imitation Merged With Litigation”
Below is my column in the New York Post on the riot caused by Kai Cenat in New York. Torts has long struggled with the vicarious liability of promoters and celebrities for accidents. However, the use of criminal charges, in my view, is neither needed nor wise.
Here is the column: Continue reading “Kai Cenat is a Fool, Not a Felon”
We previously discussed the controversy over President Biden’s prior German shepherd, Major, biting people at the White House. Now it appears that Major’s replacement, Commander, has continued to nosh on Secret Service agents. The question is not the responsibility of Commander but his master in this pattern of dog attacks. Continue reading “Master and Commander: What is the Liability for President Biden in the Latest Dog Attacks”
A University of Notre Dame sociology professor, Tamara Kay, is suing a college newspaper for defamation after the students wrote articles on her advocacy for abortion rights. The Irish Rover is an independent, conservative publication and the students are standing by their coverage. Continue reading “Notre Dame Professor Sues Student Newspaper Over Her Pro-Abortion Advocacy”
Seattle-based ice cream company, Molly Moon’s Homemade Ice Cream, is in a dilemma. It wants to continue to support Black Lives Matter but it wants to recoup loses from the “CHOP” zone created by BLM activists and others in 2020. It is suing the city over the abandoning of part of the city to the groups to form the Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone (CHAZ) but was later renamed the Capitol Hill Occupied protest (CHOP). While first supporting the autonomous zone as part of a “summer of love,” Democratic politicians like then Mayor Jenny Durkan later distanced themselves from the massive damage and crime in the zone. Continue reading “Chopped: Seattle’s Molly Moon Sues Over Autonomous Zone that the Ice Cream Shop Once Heralded”
Teaching torts, it is easy to develop a sense of the macabre. Torts involves every possible thing that can happen to people from finding a toe in chewing tobacco (Pillars) to being killed by a flying coffin at an amusement park (Chueng). Since I was a law student, I have also noted bizarre “flying body” cases of torts. This week a former student named Ben sent a personal account of a truly bizarre run-in with an airborne cow. Fortunately, the family was unharmed in the incident. The same cannot be said for the cow.
Continue reading “Mooving Violation: Family Hit By Flying Cow in North Carolina”
Fox News has reached a settlement with Dominion Voting Systems for a reported $787 million. That was roughly half of the $1.6 billion originally sought in the defamation case, but represents a massive payout to the company which claimed to have been defamed by the network. Continue reading “Fox Reportedly Agrees to $787 Million Settlement in Dominion Defamation Lawsuit”
Joseph E. Foreman, a rapper also known as “Afroman,” is the subject of a filing in Ohio (below) by seven police officers alleging that he has misused their images to sell merchandise and place them in a false light. The images, however, were taken during a raid on Foreman’s home, which failed to turn up any evidence of criminal conduct. I am skeptical of the claims, but there are novel elements that could lead to some important clarifications under Ohio tort law.
Continue reading “Police Officers Sue “Afroman” for the Use of Their Images from Raid on his Home”
Nina Jankowicz is back. After a public outcry forced the Biden Administration to kill its infamous Disinformation Government Board, Jankowicz became famous or infamous as the head of the board. She became an instant Internet sensation due to a musical number in which she sang “You can just call me the Mary Poppins of disinformation” in a TikTok parody of the song “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.” After her brief stint in the Biden Administration, Jankowicz reportedly registered as a foreign agent with an British group to continue her disinformation work. She is now reinventing herself as the Mary Poppins of defamation and ostensibly seeking $100,000 to sue Fox News for defamation.
Continue reading “The Mary Poppins of Defamation? Nina Jankowicz Solicits Funds to Sue Fox News”
Just when you thought that the Kyle Rittenhouse case was over . . . it is back. Gaige Grosskreutz who was shot in the arm by Kyle Rittenhouse during the Kenosha riots in 2020 is now suing him as well as Wisconsin police and officials. Grosskreutz effectively repeats his earlier rejected claims that he was merely trying to protect others and had his hands up when Rittenhouse shot him. The difference is that this civil lawsuit will be resolved under the lower standard of proof by a preponderance of the evidence (rather than beyond a reasonable doubt). Nevertheless, the case could prove messy for Grosskreutz whose criminal background and actions that night could undermine his claims. Indeed, the most damaging witness against Grosskreutz may prove to be himself. Continue reading “Grosskreutz v. Grosskreutz? Survivor from 2020 Kenosha Shooting Sues Kyle Rittenhouse”
In my torts class, I teach “Dram Shop” cases where bars and restaurants are subject to civil liability for “overserving” customers. These lawsuits are generally brought by third parties who are injured in car accidents by drunk drivers. In that sense, a Texas case has all of the classic elements of a Dram Shop case: Dylan Molina drank eight high-alcohol drinks in roughly three hours before leaving and getting into a wreck that killed a police detective and seriously injured his family. The difference is that the bartender, Cala Richardson, 26, is being criminally prosecuted for overserving Molina.
Various intelligence and defense figures including former Defense Secretary Mark Esper have suggested trying to capture the Chinese surveillance balloon to analyze its equipment and any content. China admits that this may be its balloon but denies that it is used for surveillance. It says that it was lost accidentally due to weather. So the balloon may be ours but it was lost. However, the government is likely to oppose anyone collecting or using information from the balloon. That sounded vaguely familiar. Indeed, Abbe Lowell may have a new client (Indeed, a client with past dealings with his current client, Hunter Biden).
Update: After the United States shot down the balloon, China appeared to send out a Lowell-like message that “China will resolutely uphold the relevant company’s legitimate rights and interests, and at the same time reserving the right to take further actions in response.”
Recently, Matt Schlapp, the head of the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), was accused by a former Hershel Walker campaign worker of “aggressively fondling” him during the campaign. The man is described as “a Republican strategist, a male in his late 30s. Schlapp and his wife Mercedes Schlapp have vehemently denied the allegations and raised issues from the man’s past to question his veracity and motivations. Now, the worker has filed a lawsuit alleging four counts battery, defamation (2), and conspiracy. However, it was the anonymous element that stood out in the filing. Continue reading “Former Walker Campaign Worker Sues Matt Schlapp for Defamation . . . Anonymously”
“It didn’t happen.” According to published excerpts, President Joe Biden is denying an account of the Secret Service about an agent being attacked by his German Shepherd, Major, at the White House. The statement from the President raises some interesting legal questions after he effectively called an agent a liar about an official report on one of many bite incidents with the Biden dogs. Continue reading “President Bites Agent: Book Claims Biden Insisted Secret Service Lied About Dog Attack”