The Sandusky child molestation scandal at Penn State continues to be the biggest legal news in Pennsylvania. One lawsuit against Penn State and the Second Mile has already been filed, presumably because the victim was either nearing, or had already passed, the statute of limitations. A civil lawsuit can be filed at any point after a criminal act, though in that case the civil litigation is usually put on hold until the criminal case is finished. I've already discussed most of the issues in the cases that could be filed by sexual abuse survivors in my previous post, linked above, ... Continue Reading

Writing has always been a tough business, one dependent upon unorthodox forms of compensation. Charles Dickens' novels used to come with advertisements for alpaca umbrellas and quack medical treatments. One of Toni Morrison's books was loaded with ads for cigarettes, the New York Times just put up an expensive but easily avoided paywall. Which brings us to the Huffington Post, long despised by other writers who resented its obsession with search engine optimization and by SEO professionals who resented its success in repackaging other's content. But nobody hated the Huffington Post as much as its own bloggers, the folks who generated a ton of its content ... Continue Reading

The Wall Street Journal Law Blog points us to a typical deposition transcript out of Cleveland about a copy machine: Plaintiffs’ lawyer: During your tenure in the computer department at the Recorder’s office, has the Recorder’s office had photocopying machines? Deponent’s Lawyer: Objection. PL: Any photocopying machine? Deponent: When you say “photocopying machine,” what do you mean? PL: Let me be — let me make sure I understand your question. You don’t have an understanding of what a photocopying machine is? D: No. I want to make sure that I answer your question correctly. . . . D: When you say “photocopying ... Continue Reading

I've sued several multinational banks for breaches of fiduciary duty and breaches of contract, and have always been amazed their lack of any accountability or responsibility. It's not just a handful of instances of banks selling a company's loan to their competitor and bank lawyers lying to federal regulators. They live in a different world from you and I. In one of my cases, a bank fired a financial adviser because he was covering his gambling losses by stealing from clients. All well and good, until the bank covered up the whole mess and didn't tell any of his clients ... Continue Reading

As The Legal Intelligencer reported, When a top-level executive suddenly quits to take a job at a competing firm, the courts have the power to block the start of the new employment if the evidence shows that such an injunction is needed to prevent a likely misappropriation of trade secrets, the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled. The ruling came in Bimbo Bakeries USA Inc. v. Botticella, in which the appellate court considered whether the manufacturer of Thomas' brand English muffins was entitled to an injunction that barred one of its top-level executives from taking a new job ... Continue Reading