Tort Law
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Courts
Massive Plaintiffs Law Firm Decides To Play Hardball With Insurance Industry
What are firms supposed to do when their opponents are trying to put them out of business? -
Announcements
The American Museum Of Tort Law Needs Your Help
If you or a loved one is a tort law expert, you may be entitled to financial compensation participate in this video series. - Sponsored
Profit Powerhouse: Elevating Law Firm Financial Performance
In this CLE-eligible webinar on April 10th, we’ll explore the most common accounting pitfalls and how to avoid them for your firm. -
Tort Reform
The Truth Comes Out About One Of The Most Maligned Lawsuits In History
Consider this a holiday coping mechanism.
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Morning Docket
Morning Docket: 08.19.16
* “Donald Ducks,” the DNC’s mascot that’s being used to taunt Donald Trump for his undisclosed tax returns, bears a striking resemblance to Disney’s Donald Duck, and people are starting to wonder: “Is Donald Ducks waddling over Disney’s intellectual property rights?” [WSJ Law Blog]
* The Third Circuit declined to re-seal excerpts of depositions in the Bill Cosby case where he admitted to giving women Quaaludes, but included in its opinion an interesting footnote calling out the district court judge’s decision to unseal the records in the first place, saying its “public moralist rational” had “no basis in our jurisprudence,” and that the term itself was “vague and undefined.” [THR, Esq. / Hollywood Reporter]
* This fall, Indiana Tech Law will welcome its largest class ever, with 55 students set to begin their legal studies next week. With only 15 students in its inaugural class, this huge jump in enrollment could possibly be due to the fact that the ABA gave the school a provisional rubber stamp (as it’s wont to do) back in March. [Indiana Lawyer]
* “There is a disconnect between what banks are doing and what consumers want,” and what they want is the ability to sue. More and more big banks — 72 percent of them, in fact — are using mandatory binding arbitration clauses in their contracts to prevent customers from filing suit. Read the find print, people. [DealBook / New York Times]
* “What if somebody gets injured on somebody else’s property? Trip on a rock or get bitten by the neighbor’s dog? There would be a whole host of responsible parties.” A New York firm already filed a class-action suit against the company behind Pokemon Go, but this lawyer thinks there’s a minefield of tort actions available to sue over. [Mlive.com]
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Bar Exams, Law Professors, Law Schools
For Bar Exam Studiers: Tort Law -- Set To Verse!
Some poetic help for tackling Torts on the bar exam. -
Morning Docket
Morning Docket: 09.30.15
* Paul Walker’s daughter, 16-year-old Meadow Walker, filed a wrongful death suit against Porsche, alleging the automaker was negligent and strictly liable because the car her father died in had several design defects, namely that it was too fast, too furious. [CNN]
* The jury on the Dewey & LeBoeuf criminal trial is having a really difficult time this week. Yesterday, on the eighth day of deliberations, jury members asked for the definition of the word “deliberation” and clarification on what their jobs were as jurors. [Am Law Daily]
* If you’d like to know why Hughes Hubbard likely conducted layoffs last week, then look no further than the commentary of this City Private Bank Law Firm Group analyst. Times have officially changed for litigators at large law firms. [Big Law Business / Bloomberg]
* In news that no one should find particularly shocking, Albany Law School has announced an affiliation with the University at Albany. Both schools are struggling with enrollment and hungry for cash, so it’s a match made in heaven. [Albany Times Union]
* “There are 35,000 museums in the U.S. … [b]ut the great legal profession hasn’t gotten around to establishing one.” Spoke too soon: Say hello to the American Museum of Tort Law, Ralph Nader’s house of personal injury horrors. [Wall Street Journal (sub. req.)]
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Morning Docket
Morning Docket: 09.11.15
* Ellen Pao, formerly of Cravath, won’t be appealing her gender discrimination case against Kleiner Perkins. Did she settle? Hell no! “Settlement might have provided me with financial benefits, but only at the great cost of silence.” [Re/code]
* During a time when first-year law school applications are still low, Arizona State Law claims to have just welcomed its “largest class” in law school history. Spoiler alert: The school is counting all of its LL.M. students in that figure. [ASU News]
* BU Law teamed up with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology for clinic offerings that will provide entrepreneurs from both schools free legal advice. MIT students might “change the world,” and BU Law students might… get jobs? [Boston Business Journal]
* Per the latest report from the Chamber of Commerce’s Institute for Legal Reform, East Texas is the nation’s “least fair and reasonable litigation environment.” With its huge tort awards, this pro-business lobby thinks it’s simply the worst. Go figure. [WSJ Law Blog]
* Leaford George Cameron, a man who allegedly practiced law without a license for more than a decade, has been indicted on federal charges. The
“scary man”would-be lawyer reportedly defrauded clients across the country. [Daily Delco / Philadelphia Daily News] -
Tort Reform
Government Doesn’t Have To Give You Your Organs Back
Superstition is not a good foundation for tort law. - Sponsored
Are Small Firms Going Big On Legal Tech?
Please help us benchmark your firm against your peers through this (always) brief and anonymous survey and enter for a chance to win a $250… -
Cars, Tort Reform
When Robot Cars Attack
When the roads are full of self-driving cars, vehicular manslaughter is going to get real interesting. -
Technology, Tort Reform
New Drone Rules Are Trying To HELP Business, Not Destroy It
Amazon might be huffy, but these new drone regs are going to help businesses. -
Tort Reform
Getting Hit By A Train Isn't All It's Cracked Up To Be
Getting hit by the subway is not an easy way to make money. -
Baseball, Fast Food, Food, Quote of the Day, Sports, State Judges
Quote of the Day: Watch Out for Batted Balls Wieners
Injured by a flying hot dog at a ball game? You may still have a case! -
Cars, Lawsuit of the Day, Suicide
Lawsuit of the Day: Good Samaritans Sue Woman They Rescued
Before you've been through 1L Torts, this story is shocking. After you've been through 1Ls Torts, it's not that surprising. Two men saved a woman from the wreckage of a burning car, and now they're suing....
Sponsored
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Early Adopters Of Legal AI Gaining Competitive Edge In Marketplace
Profit Powerhouse: Elevating Law Firm Financial Performance
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Document Automation For Law Firms: The Definitive Guide
Are Small Firms Going Big On Legal Tech?
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Movies, Politics, Tort Reform
InJustice: Tort Reform's High Cost Documentary Infomercial
In Above the Law’s last film review, we spoke about Hot Coffee, a documentary film about the evils of tort reform in America. The film, which received rave reviews from publications like the New York Times and the Washington Post, was produced by former trial lawyer Susan Saladoff. Now, just two weeks later, InJustice, a […] -
Movies, Politics, Tort Reform
Hot Coffee: Spilling Our Way to the 'Evils' of Tort Reform
Watch Hot Coffee and decide for yourself. -
Bar Exams, Perverts, Quote of the Day, Sex
Perverted Bar Prep Example of the Day: If You've Ever Been 15, You'll Get It
Dick intentionally spits on Prudence while she is asleep. Several weeks later, Prudence learns of Dick’s act. Dick is liable for battery. — hypothetical in a bar exam review outline for Torts. A reader posits: “I truly do not think the writer of this example, with an infinite number of possible battery examples at his […] -
California, Lawsuit of the Day, Weirdness
Jokes / Torts 101: A California Woman, A Banana Peel, And...?
Legendary humorist Charlie Chaplin was once asked to describe “funny.” He famously responded: “You take a woman walking down the sidewalk. Show the audience a banana peel in front of her. Everyone knows that she is going to step on the banana peel and do a pratfall. At the last instant, she sees the banana […] -
Deaths, Police
Good Samaritan Liability? Reflexive Trust of Police Costs a Man His Life
Joke about Good Samaritan liability all you want, but we’re about to talk about an interesting case that is right on point. The Philadelphia Daily News reports on a lawsuit that has been filed in New Jersey. Keith Briscoe was killed during a scuffle with Winslow Township police officer Sean Richards and other men who […] -
Airplanes / Aviation, Disasters / Emergencies, Litigators, Plaintiffs Firms, Tort Reform
Will the Great Blizzard of 2010 Lead to a Storm of Lawsuits?
Here in New York City, the headquarters of Above the Law, we’re still dealing with the aftermath of the Great Blizzard of 2010. Check out our slideshow for some images (like the one at right). Although the snowstorm ended on Monday, and it’s now Wednesday night, many streets remain unplowed and many sidewalks uncleared. Mayor […] -
Celebrities, Fame Brief
Fame Brief: Requiem for a Sheen
While bedbugs continued their silent attack on the Waldorf Astoria, this Tuesday morning, The Plaza hotel also came under assault by a creature equally insidious: Insectus Charliesheenus. The police found the “star” of Two and a Half Men three and a half sheets to the wind, naked in his trashed suite at the Plaza, after […]