Articles Posted in Miscellaneous

I have been in Destin the last few days.  KATA and TTLA had a joint seminar at the Hilton.  I spoke Tuesday morning, had dinner with friends last night, and came back today.

Back to work!

Slate has published this article about Monica Goodling and the Regent University School of Law. 

Did you know that "[u]nder Ashcroft, career lawyers were systematically fired or forced out and replaced by members of conservative or Christian groups or folks with no civil rights experience. In the five years after 2001, the civil rights division brought no voting cases on behalf of African-Americans. It brought one employment case on behalf of an African-American. Instead, the division took up the "civil rights" abuses of reverse discrimination—claims of voter fraud or discrimination against Christians."

Poor Comcast.  With its blood-sucking monopoly threatened by pending legislation it (a) decides to lower prices; (b) promise that all future employees will have no less than a room temperature IQ; or (c) have technical problems and not broadcast the Lady Vols National Championship basketball game in Williamson County?

It chose (c).

Apparently the Bush Administration has nationalized Comcast and is bringing all of its management skills to bear in running the organization.  The good news is I now know where to address my complaint letter.

The Beasley Allen law firm summarized a report on the number of civil jury trials in Alabama.  Here is my summary of their summary concerning civil jury trials in 2006:

Motor Vehicle Negligence Cases:  126 trials    Verdict for plaintiff – 59

Products Liability Cases:  6 trials         Verdict for plaintiff – 3

The highest court in Maryland has ruled that the economic loss doctrine did not bar a lawsuit against General Motors alleging that their front seats were unsafe because they collapsed rearward in rear-impact collisions.  The claimants sought recovery of the cost of repairing the seats.

A quick summary of the 69-page opinion:  "Maryland has joined those jurisdictions that recognize an exception to the rule which bars economic loss in tort. As we have seen, the reasoning behind the exception is that the likelihood is so great that severe bodily harm or death will result from the product defect, that we substitute actual present injury or product malfunction with the cost to repair the problem. Assuming that plaintiffs can adequately prove the substantive elements of their claims and objectively quantify the measure of their damages, Maryland has determined that the exception to the economic loss rule advances the practical goal of providing a remedy before the significant loss of life o r limb. To b e sure, in light of the general distaste for aw arding eco nomic losses in tort, if a petitioner has presented enough facts to qualify for the exception to the rule, then he or she has surmounted the grea test hurdle for pleading injury and this court cannot fathom why such economic losses would not qualify as a sufficient injury, or in the case of the Consumer Protection Act, loss for the purpose of pleading those claims."

The case is Lloyd v. General Motors Corp., No. 10 (Md. Ct .App.Feb. 8, 2007).  Read it here.

Watch this story  from the Washington Post increase the heat on the Justice Department, folks.  There will be hearings on this, without a doubt.

A sample:  "The leader of the Justice Department team that prosecuted a landmark lawsuit against tobacco companies said yesterday that Bush administration political appointees repeatedly ordered her to take steps that weakened the government’s racketeering case.

Sharon Y. Eubanks said Bush loyalists in Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales’s office began micromanaging the team’s strategy in the final weeks of the 2005 trial, to the detriment of the government’s claim that the industry had conspired to lie to U.S. smokers.

Tony Snow has a different opinion about the use of the "executive privilege" defense today than he did almost a decade ago.

Here is a sample from the folks at The Swamp: ""Evidently, Mr. Clinton wants to shield virtually any communications that take place within the White House compound on the theory that all such talk contributes in some way, shape or form to the continuing success and harmony of an administration,” the columnist wrote. "Taken to its logical extreme, that position would make it impossible for citizens to hold a chief executive accountable for anything.”

Read it all here.

Cardinal Mahoney from LA.  You read the story from the LA Times and decide for yourself.

An excerpt:  "In a letter to then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger before Ratzinger became pope in April 2005, Mahony said [Father] Caffoe had videotaped "partially naked" boys in a state of sexual arousal. The tape was "objective verification that criminal behavior did occur," Mahony wrote, according to papers filed last week in Los Angeles County Superior Court in a lawsuit by four plaintiffs who allege that Caffoe abused them.

In October 2005, in what Mahony told parishioners was the "fullest possible disclosure" about the scandal, he reported that a videotape had been discovered in 1992 in Caffoe’s bedroom, depicting "improper behavior" with high school boys. But the cardinal said the boys were "fully clothed" and there was no sexual activity."

I am pleased to report that this blog received its 500th comment the other day.   We are approaching 1000 posts, a milestone that will be reached in June.

This blog began in February 2005.  I truly enjoy writing it and wish I had even more time to devote to it. 

Thank you for your wonderful comments and your words of encouragement.  Please let me know what topics you would like me to cover more frequently and I will do my best to accomodate you.

The President’s daughter Jenna has written a book that she "very, very modestly" hopes will have the influence of  Anne Frank’s The Diary of Anne Frank.

Like Jenna, I too find myself tightly bound by humility.  Her willingness to reveal her hopes despite her extreme modesty  compel me to reveal one of my own hopes:   that this blog will have the influence of the Declaration of Independence.

There.  I said it.  I feel better already.   Many of you plaintiff’s lawyers simply cannot comprehend the burden of  being "very, very modest."  Indeed, I felt extreme anxiety for weeks calling this blog "Dayontorts"  and took this step only after discovering, much to my dismay, the "Humbleontorts" was not available.