Prophylactic policing

11/9/12

By Peter Rudegeair

It may not sound as momentous as the ballot initiative that asked California voters whether the death penalty should be repealed, but a public-health measure that Los Angeles County residents approved on Election Day may cause a $1 billion industry -- the adult film business -- to exit the state, Bloomberg reports.

The new law, supported by the American Medical Association and the American Public Health Association, requires adult film stars to wear condoms when shooting pornographic films and requires producers to acquire public health permits. Pornographers, however, say the measure is unnecessary because there hasn't been an HIV cases in the industry in eight years. Moreover, they argue that the condom requirement would turn off performers, producers and viewers. Enforcement could also be an issue.

But not every pornographer thinks the law will have a big effect. "It doesn't change anything -- we'll simply shoot in Hawaii, Mexico or the desert," Hustler magazine publisher Larry Flynt told Bloomberg. "We'll fly to Cabo for a week or 10 days. It's not a big deal."

Tobacco road

11/9/12

By Dan Brillman

Arthur Gallagher really likes to smoke. So much so that the resident of Clayton, Missouri,sued the city in district court last year over a ban on smoking in its parks, saying the ordinance was a violation of his free speech and due process. Smoking is a fundamental right, he claimed, because of "tobacco's ancient traditional role in American history" and because it is an "intimate part of life," akin to a woman's right to an abortion or consensual sex.

The case made its way to the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals, which yesterday affirmed the district court's initial decision to dismiss, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Gallagher said he "ecstatically enjoys" smoking in public parks (we don't want to know what that means exactly) and that tobacco smoke can't be harmful outside because it dissolves in the air. As the court's decision notes, however, a 2006 surgeon general's report found that any amount of secondhand smoke is dangerous anywhere. In fact, it was that report the city of Clayton partially based its decision on in the first place. The court found that the city has leeway to make public health decisions based on a "strong presumption of validity."

New gig for Holder?

11/9/12

By Erin Geiger Smith

As Reuters reported, Attorney General Eric Holder said Thursday that he was unsure whether he would stay on for President Barack Obama's second term. "Do I have some gas left in the tank?" is the question he said he is asking himself.

If Holder decides to step aside, The Atlantic's legal analyst, Andrew Cohen, has a lengthy column (but well worth the read) with an idea for the AG's next gig. He should lead a commission on election reform that Obama should impanel to investigate voter suppression, voter fraud and all other threats to voting rights, writes Cohen. As you may recall, challenges to new voter ID laws have been a huge topic this election season, and the long waits voters experienced on Tuesday even got recognition from Obama in his victory speech. "We have to fix that," the president said.

Cohen notes that Holder has already showed he is on the side of voter rights, pointing to Texas v. Holder, where the Justice Department fought so that Texans didn't have to travel hundreds of miles for state ID cards.

Should Holder decide to take the lead of this not-yet-created division, he would of course need a big-name support staff. The Atlantic article suggests that former Supreme Court justice Sandra Day O'Connor and "former star prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald" also take roles. Holder might have to do a little work to recruit Fitzgerald --- Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom announced in late October that he was coming aboard as a partner.

PETA ads banned

11/9/12

By Suhrith Parthasarathy

The European Court of Human Rights has upheld a German court's ban of a PETA campaign that uses images from the Holocaust in an animal rights poster, reports the Jurist.

In March 2004, PETA planned to launch "The Holocaust on your plate," a campaign protesting livestock conditions. Images of concentration camp inmates were juxtaposed with those of animals in mass stocks.

Members of the Central Jewish Council in Germany filed a petition in a Berlin court arguing the campaign was offensive and violated their basic human dignity. The court agreed and banned the campaign on grounds that PETA's right to express an opinion did not trump the plaintiffs' right to dignity.

After appeals in two higher German courts failed, PETA switched tactics and petitioned the human rights court in Strasbourg on freedom of expression grounds. But on Thursday, the European Court on Human Rightsupheld the ban, ruling that the historical and social context of the expression cannot be ignored and the lower courts had honored a special obligation towards Jews living in Germany.

Big law goes to Washington

11/9/12

By Peter Rudegeair

Big law didn't only contribute money to this year's House and Senate races, it also had some skin in the game. Morgan, Lewis & Bockius; Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe; Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld; Thompson Hine all had former partners competing in this year's election, Am Law Daily reports.

So who were the winners? Republican Ted Cruz, an appellate litigation partner at Morgan, Lewis, is headed to Washington, D.C. after receiving nearly 57 percent of votes in the race for Texas's open Senate seat. Texas voters didn't seem to be turned off by opposition ads run criticizing the Cruz's affiliation with a firm that allegedly donated over $200,000 to President Barack Obama. In New York, Democrat Sean Maloney won a House race for the 8th District, which includes parts of Westchester and Rockland Counties. Maloney started his legal career as an associate at Willkie Farr & Gallagher and will leave his post as an energy partner at Orrick before heading to Capitol Hill.

As for the losers, they include Senate bid of Tommy Thompson, a former Republican governor of Wisconsin, a health care partner at Akin Gump from 2005 until this past January. The victor, Tammy Baldwin, had hammered Thompson for working at a "powerful Washington lobbying firm" in ads, even though Akin Gump employed him as an attorney, not a lobbyist. In Ohio, Democratic candidate and former Thompson Hine corporate partner Sharen Neuhardt failed to unseat incumbent Mike Turner for the congressional seat for the state's newly created 10th District, which includes Dayton.

School daze

11/9/12

By Dan Brillman

A June class action settlement against www.classmates.com awarded $2.75 million to customers duped into joining via deceptive ads, but after attorney's fees and administrative costs, each of the 700,000 plaintiffs will get a check for only $3.93. (The lawyers' cut was initially $1 million, but after complaints from the Center for Class Action Fairness, U.S. Judge Richard Jones clipped it by $200,000, reports Ars Technica.)

The suit was filed after spam-style ads led users to believe old school chums were actively looking for them, when in fact they were not. They were forced to pay registration fees to find out for sure.

The class, as one might imagine, wasn't pleased with the result (on Twitter, one person asked if she should "get it all in pennies and roll around on the bed in it) and neither was Judge Jones, who had thrown out an initial 2010 settlement offering $2 coupons towards the site. "Class actions ... are supposed to be about class members," he said in his final order. "From their perspective, it is difficult to muster much enthusiasm for this settlement." A fine sentiment, but somewhat hollow words for plaintiffs who had paid as much as $40 to join the site in the first place.

Moral of the story: When you have 700,000 classmates, perhaps it's time to find cheaper lawyers.

Summary Judgments for November 8

Summary Judgments for November 7

Summary Judgments for November 6

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