Miscellaneous

January 24 roundup

By Walter Olson, Ted Frank, and David Nieporent

• Longtime Overlawyered favorite Judy Cates, of columnist-suing fame, is using large sums of her own money to outspend incumbent James Wexstten in hard-fought race for Illinois state judgeship; Democratic primary is Feb. 5 [Belleville News-Democrat, Southern Illinoisan]
• City council told: we'll cancel your liability coverage if you throw all meetings and city records open to public [Seattle Times]
• Attorney member of Canadian Senate in spot of bother after revelation that she billed client for 30 hours in one day [Vancouver Province, edit]
• A public wiki just for Scruggsiana? After Keker's minions swoop in to do their edits, the Mississippi attorney may wind up portrayed as the next Mother Teresa, and not the Hitchens version either [WikiScruggs]
• Same general category of point, my Wikipedia entry now suddenly describes me as "controversial", when but a month ago I wasn't;
• $28 to $52 million in 18 months for serving as a DoJ "corporate monitor" sounds like nice work if you can get it, and former AG Ashcroft got it without competitive bidding [Lattman, St. Pete Times edit, PolitickerNJ, NJLJ]
• The Amiable Nancy (1818), admiralty case that could prove crucial precedent in Exxon Valdez punitive appeal, has nothing to do with The Charming Betsey (1804), key precedent on international law [Anchorage Daily News; Tom Goldstein/Legal Times]
• "First do no harm... to your attorney's case" [Cole/Dallas Morning News via KevinMD]
• Probers haven't come up with evidence of more than middling tiger-taunting, and attorney Geragos says he'll sue zoo's p.r. firm for defaming his clients [KCBS; SF Chronicle; AP/USA Today]
• UK's latest "metric martyr" is Janet Devens, facing charges for selling vegetables in pounds and ounces at London's Ridley Road market [WSJ; earlier]
• Lawyer can maintain defamation suit over being called "ambulance chaser" interested only in "slam dunk" cases, rules Second Circuit panel [eight years ago on Overlawyered]

Full post as published by Overlawyered on January 24, 2008 (boomark / email).