Category: law
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I can breathe clearly now, the smoke is gone
In a shock to smokers and anti-smoking advocates alike, Ireland’s government has announced a ban on smoking in pubs, effective January 2004. This is, from what I understand, a first throughout all of Europe. Indeed, I selfishly wish other European countries that I frequent (such as Germany and Sweden) would join Ireland in banning smoking…
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Pink, Plastic, and Pissed off
Barbie’s not happy. Or at least her ‘parent’ company, Mattel, has not taken kindly to Aqua — the singing group that penned the infectious and goofy “Barbie Girl” parody song. Mattel’s lawsuit against Aqua recently made it all the way to the Supreme Court, and the judge there had some sage wisdom to offer: “The…
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Short People Got… No Reason to Live
So this afternoon, against my better judgement, I got drawn into an online discussion about racism. I added my two cents (bringing up the McWhorter Interview I mentioned in my blog here), and then also added my concerns about and frustrations with heightism. As shown on this Web site, short folks are not only the…
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Lawyers, 938; Personal Responsibility, 0
For example, an employee crossing the street might be typing so vigorously into a two-way pager that he would never notice an approaching bus. Would that employee be covered by workers’ compensation? Probably, unless a company policy forbade wandering around typing into pagers, said Lawrence Lorber, a partner at Proskauer Rose in Washington. – from…
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When your lawyer won’t let you say "I’m Sorry"
As I read more about the sorry state of affairs with regards to the “Catholic priest scandals” it occurs to me that what most of the victims would have liked — and probably still would appreciate — is a simple, heartfelt apology. Imagine if folks in the Catholic leadership would have said early on: “You…
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Lawsuits — Greed or Need?
In an earlier entry, I called attention to “yet another example” of an American legal system run absurdly amuck. In this example, a lawyer had sent a cease and desist letter insisting that a journalist stop using his own name in his byline, due to theoretical confusion over the lawyer’s similarly named (famous) client. Of…