Bizarre, Society, Torts

Question of the Day: Are Farmers Liable for Cows Falling From Great Heights?

black-and-white-cow-3As anyone who has taken my torts class can attest, I collect bizarre torts cases, often falling body cases and res ipsa loquitur cases. One appears to have gotten away a few years ago that a current student just sent in. Charles Everson Jr. and his wife Linda barely escaped injury when a cow fell out of the sky and landed on the hood of their moving minivan. What is most amazing is that I can actually top this story in the airborne bovine category.

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Constitutional Law, Courts, Lawyering, Society, Supreme Court

Sotomayor Joins Conservative Colleagues Over Possible Constitutional Claims by Corporations in Class Action Cases

250px-Sonia_Sotomayor_in_SCOTUS_robeIn light of today’s column on cases testing Sotomayor’s views (and possible alliance with conservatives in key areas), this story may be of some interest. Sotomayor joined Chief Justice john G. Roberts, Jr. and Justice Anthony Kennedy in raising concerns over whether courts are violating the constitutional rights of corporations in class action cases.
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Bizarre, Courts, Lawyering, Society

Attorney Orly Taitz Fined $20,000 for Frivolous “Birther” Litigation

orly2The bill is in for Orly Taitz, the California lawyer leading the “Birther” litigation: $20,000 for sanctionable conduct. U.S. District Court Judge Clay Land previously issued a stern warning to attorney Orly Taitz and others in the so-called “birther” campaign: do not file another such “frivolous” lawsuit or you will face sanctions. Land threw out the lawsuit filed on behalf of Capt. Connie Rhodes who is an Army surgeon challenging her deployment orders due to President Barack Obama’s alleged ineligibility to serve as President. Land (a Bush appointee) noted that “[u]nlike in ‘Alice in Wonderland,’ simply saying something is so does not make it so.” In the most recent order, Land said that Taitz’s conduct “borders on delusional.”

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Bizarre, Constitutional Law, Criminal law, Lawyering, Politics, Society

Murder, She Spoke: Court Overturns Convictions Due to Prosecutors Use of Defendant’s Nickname “Murder”

gavel2There is an important decision out of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit where the conviction of Laval Farmer was overturned due to the prosecutors’ repeated use of his nickname “murder.” After all, his nickname is not “Attempted Murder” Farmer, which is what he was tried for. My only regret is that he was not represented by Richard “Racehorse” Haynes so that the prosecutors could have told the jury not to let “a race horse clear murder.”
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Academia, Bizarre, Media, Politics, Society

School Suspends Six-Year-Old For Bringing Cub Scout Kit to School

t25183aSchool officials in Newark, Delaware have given the nation another example of mindless “zero-tolerance” abuse. In this case, officials suspended 6-year-old Zachary Christie because the boy brought his new cub scout camping utensils to school to eat his lunch. Because the utensil had a small knife, he was suspended and ordered to spend the next 45 days in the district’s reform school.

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Bizarre, Congress, Constitutional Law, Criminal law, Media, Politics, Society

Tall Tale or Felony Crime? Colorado Man Charged With “Stolen Valor” After Making Up Heroic Stories

strandlof-richRichard Strandlof lived a life of distinction. He spoke to children and the media as a survivor first of the attack on the Pentagon on 9/11 and then survived a roadside bomb that killed four fellow Marines. He will now add a further distinction as a defendant in a rare “stolen valor” prosecution after his claims of service were proven false.

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Academia, Congress, Constitutional Law, Courts, Justice, Media, Politics, Religion, Society, Supreme Court

Simply Sonia: Sotomayor’s Colleagues Pick Docket Virtually Tailored To Force Her To Choose Sides

250px-Sonia_Sotomayor_in_SCOTUS_robe Here is this week’s column from Roll Call. It explores the interesting selection of cases this term for the Supreme Court. Justice Sonia Sotomayor’s colleagues could not have selected cases more carefully to address areas of uncertainty from her confirmation hearing. Whether by accident or design, this docket is front-loaded with cases that will force Sotomayor to show her true colors in the first few months of her tenure as an associate justice.
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Bizarre, Criminal law, International, Media, Politics, Society

Question of the Day: Besides Woody Allen, Who Is The Last Guy Polanski Would Want as a Character Witness?

180px-Frédéric_Mitterrand_2008-1It appears that when I suggested Woody Allen was the last person Polanski who want as an advocate (here), I spoke too hastily. As the French continue their campaign to force the return of Roman Polanski to their country (and avoid extradition to the United States for his rape of a 13-year-old girl in 1997), a new controversy has emerged from the Sarkozy government. The culture minister advocating for the famed director is the nephew of the late Socialist French president Francois Mitterand — Frédéric Mitterrand. Mitterrand appears to have more than a platonic interest in the underlying controversy.

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Courts, International, Justice, Military, Politics, Society

Netanyahu Vows to Block Any War Crimes Trial of Israeli Official

225px-BenjaminNetanyahu125px-flag_of_the_united_nationssvgIsraeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed not to allow any Israelis to stand trial for war crimes even if demanded by the United Nations or world court. It is a position that defies the entire basis of international legal process created by the Nuremberg Tribunals since no country has a right to determine its own innocence. As previously noted, the Goldstone Commission found credible evidence of war crimes in the Gaza campaign.

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Bizarre, Constitutional Law, Politics, Religion, Society

Drop Kick Me Jesus Through the Goal Post of Life: School Board to Meet on Christian Cheerleader Controversy

150px-Enloecheer210px-Meister_des_Reliquienkreuzes_von_Cosenza_002This week, the Catoosa County School Board in Ringgold, Georgia will meet on controversy over the cheerleaders of Georgia’s Lakeview-Fort Oglethorpe High School who use Biblical verses as part of their displays to root for the football team to “commit to the Lord” and “take courage and do it.”
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Bizarre, Criminal law, Society

Bountiful Birth: Utah Man Misses Birth of Child After Being Arrested for Groping the Delivery Nurse

20091009__nurseassault_1010~P1_200Adam Jay Manning of Bountiful, Utah is not exactly going to be picked as Daddy of the Year. Indeed, when his kid asks where Manning was when he was born, he will be able to proudly state “I was in jail for groping the delivery nurse.”

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Academia, Bizarre, International, Politics, Society

Teen Happy Hours: Study Proposes a Weekly Alcohol Allowance for the Children

250px-cocktail1Given our earlier story of how English parents are no longer allowed to buy alcohol with their teenagers present at the store, this may be a bit of a mixed message. A study has concluded that parents should supply alcohol to their teenagers at home rather than have them venture out for more dangerous liaisons. The researchers propose a weekly alcohol allowance for teens.

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Bizarre, Criminal law, Society

Something Borrowed . . . : Tennessee Couple Spends Honeymoon in Jail After Burglarizing Wedding Chapel Where They Were Married

DykesBrian.boxMcGheeM.story01Brian T. Dykes, 21, and Mindy K. McGhee, 24, took the “something borrowed, something blue” thing a bit too literally. Hours after their marriage in Sevierville, Tennessee, they returned to the Angel’s View Wedding Chapel at the Black Bear Ridge Resort to burglarize it. They spent their honeymoon in separate cells.
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Bizarre, Military, Society, Torts

“A Dud Pair”: Iraq Veteran Dies After Cancerous Lungs Are Used for Transplant

NTIIraq war veteran Corporal Matthew Millington, 31, of the Queen’s Royal Lancers, thought that he had beaten the odds when he was told that the hospital had located two new lungs for transplant after his lungs were destroyed by an incurable lung condition. However, instead of dying of the original condition, he died of lung cancer. The two lungs transplanted in his body came from a smoker who had a habit of 30 to 50 roll-up cigarettes a day. Millington who served in the army since his 16th birthday told his wife, “They’ve given me a dud pair” before he died of lung cancer in February.
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