There is an interesting ruling on the scope of the emergency rule out of New York. Brittany Lahm, 24, was sued by a passenger in her car after it crashed on the way back from the beach — killing Brandon Berman, 19, and injuring others. The appellate court however ruled that the jury could properly conclude that she was faced with an emergency when Berman suddenly untied her bikini top while she was driving — causing her to let go of the wheel to cover up herself. The question turns on whether the act of Berman was truly sudden and unanticipated. It is a novel claim: Berman was acting so badly that Lahm should not have been surprised by his untying of her bikini top.
For days, there has been much outrage on the blogosphere about a couple who refused to give a lesbian waitress a tip because they refused to support her “lifestyle.” Dayna Morales, an ex-Marine and server at Gallop Asian Bistro in Bridgewater, N.J., produced a receipt that said “I’m sorry but I cannot tip because I don’t agree with your lifestyle and how you live your life.” People flocked to the restaurant to leave big tips for Morales and she received national acclaim for donating the tips to the Wounded Warrior charity. Now the couple has come forward and claims that it is all a hoax. Worse yet, they say that they have proof.
A new World Health Organization report contains a truly shocking claim: roughly a half of new HIV infections in Greece are self-inflicted to get the monthly 700 euro payment for those with AIDS. It is the sign of the desperation felt by many in the country to get government benefits after the austerity measures required under European bailout agreements. The report also says that suicides are up 17 percent between 2007 and 2009 and then another 25% in 2010. In 2011, they were up another 40%. Now WHO has withdrawn the claim and says that there is no evidence to support it.
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has filed a lawsuit that, if true, would stand as one of the most grotesque and vicious cases of police abuse in recent memory. Marlene Tapia says that she was arrested and forced to strip naked for a contraband examination. The officers at the Metropolitan Detention Center (Bernalillo County New Mexico) claimed that she had a plastic baggie in her vagina and, according to the lawsuit, forced her to bend over and as punishment sprayed mace inside of her vagina.
The Florida Gators appear to be so good that they have to play against themselves to keep the game interesting against Georgia Southern. It worked. The lower ranked Georgia Southern beats Florida 26-20 . . . but it didn’t do it alone.
Continue reading “Florida Plays Florida . . . Florida Loses”
I am very happy to report that our blog has been inducted into the ABA Journal’s Hall of Fame for legal blogs around the world. We just received word this afternoon with the start of this year’s competition for the top News/Analysis blog. This is also our sixth year in being selected as one of the top 100 legal blogs in the world. Of course, this is the closest that an endomorphic law professor can get to any Hall of Fame. I am grateful to the ABA Journal staff not just for this distinction but for holding this competition each year to feature the wide variety of legal blogs. For all of us who were the last to be selected on sports teams growing up, this is our pudgy, wheezing victory lap. While people like Pete Rose may be a hundred times more athletic, we made it into the Hall of Fame (pending any last minute gambling scandals).
The selection for the Hall of Fame is latest distinction given this site which has strived to offer an alternative forum for those interested in passionate but civil discourse over the legal cases and issues of our day. Special thanks go to our talented and popular weekend team of guest bloggers: Mike Appleton, David Drumm, Mark Esposito, Gene Howington, Elaine Magliaro, Larry Rafferty, Darren Smith, Mike Spindell, and Charlton Stanley. I owe them a great debt for their insightful and gifted postings. The greatest thanks however goes to our readers and commenters who have placed this blog in the top ten most visited legal blogs in the world according to AVVO. We have strived to maintain a civility rule while discussing issues that may divide us. We do not want to be another echo chamber for one ideology or viewpoint. There are ample conservative and liberal sites that cater to that desire for reaffirmation. We value dialogue and different views. While we occasionally have some who stray into personal remarks, we have been remarkably successful in maintaining a high level of discourse. We even have some fun with the more bizarre legal and social stories.
We hope that all of our regulars will take the time to go and vote for the blog in the heavily competitive News/Analysis category. You only have to do a quick registration (used only to prevent vote stuffing) and then you can VOTE HERE.
Continue reading “TURLEY BLOG SELECTED BY ABA JOURNAL FOR HALL OF FAME”
We previously discussed an Ohio judge who chastised a jury and threatened a defendant that his acquittal would not end the matter for her. Now Texas visiting Judge Jerry Ray has joined the ranks of judges who express their anger at juries for not ruling as they expect. Ray told a jury that it violated its oath and acted like the jury in the O.J. Simpson case.
The Obama Administration has been widely criticized for being captured by the pharmaceutical industry, which has gotten the White House to block efforts to guarantee lower cost drugs and increase profits for these companies. Pharmaceutical lobbyists have in turn given huge amounts of campaign money to President Obama and Democratic members as well as jobs to former members. Even with this record, however, many are shocked by the White House pushing of a trade agreement that would undermine international efforts to reduce the cost of drugs and extend the patents for these companies to further increase their profits. The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) allows for techniques like “evergreening” to extend patents for the industry, which in turn has continued its own evergreen record of high-paying jobs for political allies and massive campaign contributions for the White House and Congress. Everyone wins . . . except the tens of millions who cannot afford medicine. While these companies have valid interests in recouping their investment and making profits on new drugs (which are expensive to develop), the secrecy and sweeping impact of the TPP deserves far greater attention in the media.
We previously saw a father and his son arrested for ripping off a lottery winner at their New York convenience store. Now, we have a second case out of New York where a Long Island deli owner and his son allegedly tried to cheat a millon-dollar lottery winner out of his prize. Where the earlier convenience store family tried to rip off a drug addict, Karim Jaghab, 26, and his father Nabil Jaghab, 57, are accused of trying to tip off a 34-year-old man who did not speak English.
Continue reading “Long Island Deli Owner and Son Arrested For Allegedly Ripping Off Lottery Winner”
There is an interesting case out of St. Cloud, Florida where a woman is charged with hitting another woman who she believed is having an affair with her husband. That is unfortunately not uncommon. However, the attacker is police officer deputy sheriff Edeania Nettles and the victim is another officer, Jennifer Hoyos, and the husband is police sergeant, Elbert John Nettles. It was the charge that I found interesting in this case.
David Noel James, Baron of Blackheath, and his wife were horrified. The conservative Tory peer and his wife (who is a youth justice officer) were driving to Twickenham for a rugby game when they drove past a bus of children mooning them. Lord James wants the government to mete out punishment and not simply turn the other cheek at the little hoodlums.
Continue reading “Cheeky Children: British Lord Demands Punishment For Children Who Moon”
The wonderful thing is that his brother fixes windows locally.
Respectfully submitted by Lawrence E. Rafferty (rafflaw)- Guest Blogger
We have all heard the cries that so-called entitlement programs like Social Security need to be cut in order to “save” them from extinction. Now that I am 62 years of age, I have become more interested in the issue of Social Security’s solvency.
CEO’s have gotten involved in the process through the now infamous Fix the Debt campaign initiated and funded by Billionaire Pete Peterson and the parallel campaign started by the Business Roundtable. Both of these campaigns are supported by big business and CEO’s of large corporations with no concern where their retirement funds are going to come from. Continue reading “Fix Social Security By Expansion”
Submitted by Elaine Magliaro, Guest Blogger
My attention turned toward public schools once again this week when I read reports about Education Secretary Arne Duncan’s apologizing for using “clumsy phrasing” when he made comments about some critics of the Common Core Standards—which he has championed. (Note: Common Core—a set of educational standards developed for public school students in kindergarten through twelfth grade—has been adopted by most of our states.) Duncan was speaking to a group of superintendents recently and just couldn’t help himself—it appears—when he said the following:
“It’s fascinating to me that some of the pushback is coming from, sort of, white suburban moms who — all of a sudden — their child isn’t as brilliant as they thought they were and their school isn’t quite as good as they thought they were, and that’s pretty scary. You’ve bet your house and where you live and everything on, ‘My child’s going to be prepared.’ That can be a punch in the gut.”
By Mark Esposito, Guest Blogger
Author’s Note: Grace Under Pressure is an ongoing series of posts honoring everyday people who courageously make positive differences in their own lives and consequently in the lives of others. It is my own personal affirmation that unexpected heroes live among us and that their service is quiet but unshakable proof that virtue really is its own reward – and ours, too.
“I heard a rumbling,” he says. “I just thought it was thunder and a few minutes — actually a few seconds later — it kept getting louder, and I looked out the front window of my house and I saw the tornado about 300 yards away from me. And I just ran into my basement.” And so began Illinois high schooler, Kevin Scott’s weather borne ordeal that left his home shattered and his dream of a state football championship in about the same shape. Kevin plays for Washington Community High School who had celebrated an undefeated season on Saturday and qualified for the playoffs starting next weekend. They were looking forward to a match against perennial football power Springfield’s Sacred Heart Griffin High School.
Scoot was alone Sunday when the tornado struck but he was not alone in his despair: “Football here is such a community thing,” Washington athletic director Herb Knoblauch said. “Players’ dads played here. For us to get over that hump and reach the semifinals was such a joy. People were so high from that game. People were so happy. Then, by 1 o’clock Sunday, it was the worst devastation that ever could happen. I can’t tell you the emotion.”
Continue reading “Grace Under Pressure: In Illinois, Champions All”