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Legal News

Legal Blog Watch

Tracks the daily musings of Law.com bloggers.
By Lisa Stone

Post Frequency: 34.5/day

Last Entry: March 31, 2011 at 17:07:51

South Carolina Case Will Turn on Whether Poker Is a Game of Luck or Skill

Posted on October 20, 2010
Yesterday, the South Carolina Supreme Court heard oral argument on an issue that my empty wallet and I already know the answer to: Is poker a game of luck or skill? The Post and Courier of Charleston reports (via How Appealing) that if the answer is "skill," then South Carolina residents will be permitted to hold poker games in their own homes without violating the state's anti-gambling laws...

Short Fuse at Anger Management Class Leads to Stabbing

Posted on October 20, 2010
I sometimes write about legal matters I find on the awesome FAIL Blog, so let me return the favor by offering a clear "Anger Management Class FAIL" that FAIL Blog is welcome to run with. Surely we will be seeing this in an upcoming episode of some cop drama on TV...

Life Imitates Art in 'Shards O' Glass' Recall

Posted on October 20, 2010
I found the "Shards O' Glass" commercials (see one below, and many more here) from the Truth anti-tobacco campaign to be pretty amusing and effective. But I didn't anticipate that life would imitate art so quickly, with a real company issuing a real recall because its food products contain ...

Common Sense and Delicious Tater Tots Prevail in Hot Coffee Case

Posted on October 19, 2010
Yesterday we reported on the suit filed by the family of a kid who claimed to have been injured by hot sauce that was too hot at a Tennessee Steak 'N Shake. In coming up with other examples of suits against restaurant chains for food-related injuries and distress, I purposefully omitted the most well-known variety: the hot coffee case...

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Grigorieva Brings In 40th Lawyer for Mel Gibson Child Support Case

Posted on October 19, 2010
Ever heard a partner tell a client or a junior associate that the firm "staffs matters leanly?" That phrase is designed to fool the client into believing that his bills will be reasonable and to fool the associate into believing that he will actually get to do some meaningful work...

Blogging Jury Foreman Turned In by Uptight 'Law Prof'

Posted on October 19, 2010
I, as a law geek, am one of approximately three people nationwide who legitimately laments the fact that he's never had the opportunity to serve on a jury. Most people find the prospect about as attractive as an unanesthetized root canal. So I'm not sure what led blogger, librarian and Mets fan Bruce Slutsky to believe that people would be interested in reading his daily musings on his jury duty experience in New York Supreme Court, Queens County...

'So You Want to Go to Law School' Sets a New Bar for Anti-Law School Videos

Posted on October 19, 2010
Right up front, let me say that Above the Law has scooped us on this one. Last evening, Elie Mystal whipped up a post on an animated YouTube video called "So You Want to Go to Law School." The video was posted to YouTube last Thursday by someone calling himself "dwkazzie...

Reader Poll: Favorite Legal-Themed Song

Posted on October 18, 2010
So I'm not sure I'm gonna get a lot of votes in this one, but on my way to the office this morning, I heard Aaron Watson's "Off the Record" on the radio. Here, enjoy the live version: Country music is rife with songs about divorce and the like; see here for a nice rundown...

Kentucky Coroners Want You Out of Their Way

Posted on October 18, 2010
Via Fark.com, I learned of pending legislation so important that it's been "pre-filed" for the 2011 session of the Kentucky General Assembly. What's the urgent issue? Coroners statewide want to be able to use lights and sirens when responding to the scene of a death...

Lawsuit of the Day: Kid Injured by 'Deleterious' Hot Sauce

Posted on October 18, 2010
What started out as a nice family dinner at the local Steak 'N Shake has turned into a lawsuit. The incident in Cleveland, Tenn., though, wasn't your typical condom on burger or finger in chili deal. No, this lawsuit, as reported by OnPoint News, claims that a Steak 'N Shake waiter pulled the old switcheroo on little Caleb Gann...

'The American Lawyer' Interviews the Attorney Credited With Discovering Robo-Signers

Posted on October 18, 2010
To ease you all into another week of . . . whatever it is all of you do . . . I thought I'd link out to some easy, feel-good reading on The American Lawyer magazine's website. Every day, new, more disturbing allegations about the "robo-signers" employed by mortgage lenders to process foreclosures are coming to light...

Yes, It's an FDCPA Violation to Threaten to Harm a Debtor's Children

Posted on October 15, 2010
Please allow me to present Exhibit A from the "Why do debt collectors get a bad rap?" file. From Evan Brown's Internet Cases blog, I learned of the recent opinion in Sohns v. Bramacint, out of the District of Minnesota. Cases in which a plaintiff alleges that a debt collection agency violated the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act by engaging in one form of harassing conduct or another are a dime a dozen...

Law School Hiring Committee Member: Practical Experience? 'Scratch That.'

Posted on October 15, 2010
It is probably, at best, a footnote in the ongoing debate about law professor skills and qualifications (see here for some of our prior coverage), but I couldn't help but notice it. In a post yesterday on the Faculty Lounge blog, Professor Michael Lewyn of Florida Coastal School of Law ran through a "mock email exchange" with a would-be law professor concerned that he hadn't gotten enough interviews...

D.C. Prosecutor Grading 'Law & Order: SVU' Episodes on Authenticity

Posted on October 15, 2010
Via a post on the Volokh Conspiracy, I was made aware of a new blog being maintained by Allison Leotta, a sex crimes prosecutor in Washington, D.C. Leotta's Prime-Time Crime Review has a synopsis of each of this season's episodes of "Law & Order: SVU," with an analysis of how realistic the depiction of investigating and prosecuting sex crimes is...

Heavily Armed Canadian Feared Elves, Made Death Threats on Facebook

Posted on October 15, 2010
That's the sort of headline you just kind of want to leave alone, floating pristinely on the page for all to ponder. But that's not what we do here, so enjoy the quick and dirty: Via Karl's Weird News (no, I don't know who Karl is) and CTV News, comes the tale of David Abitbol, a 28-year-old Montreal resident who appeared at a bail hearing on Wednesday, after having been charged with threatening -- on Facebook -- to kill certain former teachers and classmates...

Ga. Supreme Court: Ordinance Requiring Lawncare Does Not Equal Slavery

Posted on October 14, 2010
Via the Meeting the Sin Laws blog, I learned of a woman named Linda Gasses who was convicted and fined $150 under a local ordinance by the City of Riverdale, Ga., for refusing to cut her grass. Rather than break out the lawn mower, however, Gasses elected to take her version of a "you can't make me" defense all the way to the Georgia Supreme Court...

Law Students and Associates: Beware of the Red Pen

Posted on October 14, 2010
According to research by three psychology and social sciences professors, the grade or feedback that you receive on your next law school exam or legal memorandum could well depend on an unexpected variable: the color of the pen used to evaluate your work...

Is the Overly-Snarky Judge in Your Case Secretly Making an Audition Tape?

Posted on October 14, 2010
Lawyers, the next time the judge hearing your client's case seems particularly grandiose or snarky, ask yourself this: is he or she secretly making an audition tape today? In California, the Commission on Judicial Performance has opened an investigation into whether San Diego Superior Court Judge DeAnn Salcido acted improperly when she secretly filmed the proceedings in her courtroom on at least two occasions...

Judge Can't Write Letter Recommending Kid Be Allowed to Play Football

Posted on October 13, 2010
Sometimes judicial ethics opinions deal with interesting, cutting edge topics. And sometimes, they come out of South Carolina. Via the Legal Profession Blog, comes this gem from the state Advisory Committee on Standards of Judicial Conduct. The opinion is concise, at four paragraphs, yet I'm not entirely sure I grasp the situation (typos aside)...

Long Island County Passes Animal Abuse Registry Bill

Posted on October 13, 2010
In what's being reported as a nationwide first, the Suffolk County, N.Y., legislature has approved a bill requiring those convicted of animal abuse to register, much the same way sex offenders do, making that registry available to the public. The Sentecing Law & Policy blog excerpted the article from the North Shore Sun, which contains the money quote from the local SPCA Chief: ?Most serial killers began as animal abusers,? [Suffolk County SPCA Chief Roy Gross (pictured, far left)] said...

Lake Pirate Murder Investigator Assassinated

Posted on October 13, 2010
When my colleague Bruce Carton warned readers to watch out for lake pirates last week, I didn't know how seriously to take him (despite his writing, "No, seriously."). But it seems these guys mean business. One of the Mexican police investigators looking into the murder of jet skier David Hartley (pictured, right, with wife Tiffany) has been assassinated...

Water Cooler Topic of the Day: Repeal of the 17th Amendment

Posted on October 13, 2010
Wanna impress your friends and colleagues today with your seemingly superior knowledge of all things Constitution-related? Start up a casual conversation about the burgeoning movement to repeal the 17th Amendment. Sure, you can take a couple of seconds to click here and find out what the hell that Amendment says...

Tuesday's Three Burning Legal Questions

Posted on October 12, 2010
Here are today's three burning legal questions, along with the answers provided by the blogosphere. 1) Question: A car just knocked me off my bike, then kept driving and dragged my bike two kilometers down the road! What's up with that? Answer: Perhaps the driver thought you were a tree branch? (FAIL Blog, Excuse Fail) 2) Question: An arrestee who we were taking to jail in handcuffs jumped out of the squad car and ran off with his hands cuffed behind his back! We may have some trouble proving a first-degree escape charge, do you have any other ideas on what we can charge him with? Answer: Third-degree theft of the $29 handcuffs...

Nintendo Prevails in 'Flying Wii Controller' Class Action Lawsuit

Posted on October 12, 2010
The Abnormal Use blog has an interesting post today about a recent decision by a federal court in Colorado concerning people who accidentally throw their Nintendo Wii controller through the screens of their television sets, through windows and so on. For the three of you out there who do not know what I'm talking about, playing games on the Wii, like tennis or baseball, involves swinging the controller like a racket or a bat, and sometimes people lose their grip on the controller...

'27 Precautions Before Risking Sex With a Woman'

Posted on October 12, 2010
Building on a list of tongue-in-cheek precautions that have apparently been making the rounds on Brazilian blogs, the Human Stupidity blog offers a 27-point legal checklist for "any man who dares to have sex with a woman." Human Stupidity (which appears to be generally dedicated to proving, often in extreme fashion, the notion that "people who normally are highly intelligent ...

Pursuing Unrelated Interests Can Help Lawyers 'Connect the Dots' in Legal Careers, Too.

Posted on October 12, 2010
Over at the In-House Counsel blog, Melanie Hatton writes about a recent interview she gave on Twitter (yes, such a thing exists) in which she was asked what advice she had for people just now going off to law school. Her response was not the typical wisdom passed on to law students, but rather the following: Find an entirely unrelated interest too...

This Fall's Must Read: 'The Monster'

Posted on October 11, 2010
"Exposes" of the subprime mortgage industry have been done before. But Public Citizen's Consumer Law & Policy Blog posted yesterday about a new book being released in a couple of weeks that sounds particularly juicy. And nauseating. The book is Michael W...

'Pardon Me, Officer, but Could You Just Run My Name Through Your Computer?'

Posted on October 11, 2010
I thought about awarding Selma Elmore the official Legal Blog Watch Dumb Criminal of the Day honors, but thought that was being too kind. Per Lowering the Bar, Elmore, of Lockland, Ohio, flagged down a police officer on the street at about 2:30 a.m. last Friday...

If a Car Rear Ends You, but Nobody's Driving, Will a PI Lawyer Take Your Case?

Posted on October 11, 2010
Yeah, it's a bit of a stretch from the old "If a tree falls in the forest ..." bit, but it's the question being posed by attorney Paul Napoli on the New York Injury Board blog. Napoli's query was sparked by an article in Saturday's New York Times revealing that Google -- who else? -- has been testing self-driving cars in California traffic...

If God Is Your Co-Pilot, Your License Plates May Now Say So

Posted on October 11, 2010
Happy Monday morning everyone. It's an especially happy Monday morning for religious Vermonters, because on Friday, the 2nd Circuit held that the state's prohibition on religious vanity license plates was unconstitutional. Mark Hamblett has the story at the New York Law Journal, and here's a link to the opinion, Byrne v...

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