Excited Utterances

Let's say you are in the liquor store, looking for a bottle of wine to kick off the weekend. Among the labels reading "dry, crisp" and "robust, full-bodied" is a bottle of Pinot Grigio that catches your eye: " easily digestible ." Based on the label, you buy it, thinking that you might be spared a hangover. But the next day, you wake up in a scene reminiscent of the movie The Hangover. This potential scenario is why I think the European Court of Justice did German wine cooperative  Deutsches Weintor  a favour when it ordered them to change their labels a few weeks ago. The labels described the wine as  bekömmlich,  which translates as "easily digestible" or "wholesome." But EU law prohibits companies from making health claims about alcoholic products. The company argued unsuccessfully in its defense that the word was not a health claim but instead referred to general well-being, and was easier to digest because it contained r...

What is going on with lawyers and inappropriate uses of Facebook lately? A couple of articles in the news recently cannot go unmentioned: First, in the Miami Herald yesterday: a state defense attorney snaps a photo of her client's underwear, and posts it on Facebook. The accused's family had brought him the leopard-print underwear along with fresh clothes to wear during his trial. The lawyer apparently posted the photo and a smart-ass caption about the family thinking this was appropriate attire for court. She was fired and a mistrial was declared. It was the murder trial of a man accused of stabbing his girlfriend to death in 2012. Second, Daily Business Review reported that two defense lawyers are facing ethics charges for having their paralegal add the plaintiff as a Facebook friend in order to gain access to non-public information. The 18-year old plaintiff sustained a fractured femur when he was struck by a police car in a driveway. His Facebook photos showed him w...

Just finished reading the true story of Shon Hopwood’s journey from bank robber to law student. Very good read.  As a young man, Shon is a college dropout, disillusioned by his failure at college basketball, bored and generally lacking motivation and direction. This leads him to rob 5 banks in rural Nebraska between 1997 and 1998. His amateur (but armed) robberies ultimately end with his arrest and earn him a 13-year sentence in a federal prison. Shon’s prison stories are engaging: he matures while behind bars, grows from a stoner to a peacekeeper (but knowing that when tested you cannot show weakness), and his book provides a fascinating first-hand glimpse into the racism and mental illness that permeates the prison system.    While in prison, Shon begins working at the law library. He reads legal books, and begins writing briefs for his fellow inmates, to help reduce their sentences. He develops a love – and a talent – for criminal procedure. The Supreme...

If you are a Florida lawyer, like everyone else in the game you are probably eager to expand your online professional network by adding as many connections as possible to your LinkedIn profile. Should you add the judge who heard your last matter? You won the case, and you might have the opportunity to appear before him in future trials. The answer is NO. According to a May 9 opinion by Florida's Judicial Ethics Advisory Committee (JEAC), it is not permissible for a judge to approve a lawyer who may appear before him as a LinkedIn connection. This is considered a violation of Canon 2B of the Florida Code of Judicial Conduct, which prohibits a judge from conveying or permitting others to convey the impression that they are in a special position to influence the judge. A 2009 opinion by the JEAC had already deemed it impermissible for a Judge to add a lawyer who may appear before him as a friend on Facebook or MySpace. (Does anybody sti...

 Image from The Lawyers Weekly  The Supreme Court of Canada (SCC) will release its answer to this question tomorrow. The federal government posed the reference question to the court: is securities regulation subject to provincial or federal jurisdiction as set out by the Constitution Act, 1867 ? The Constitution Act sets out the division of powers, which determines what issues are under the control of the provinces- like education health- and what things are governed by the federal government- such as criminal law and copyrights. In reality there is a lot of overlap between the two. If securities regulation is a matter of “property and civil rights”, it is subject to provincial jurisdiction. If it is a matter of “trade and commerce”, it will fall within the domain of the federal government.  Not all the provinces are happy with the idea of a nationwide securities regulator, which was proposed by Finance Minister Jim Flaherty in May 2010. In fact, Ontario seems...

Have you ever been enticed by a movie trailer to watch a film, only to be disappointed by the actual movie? You may have legal recourse for this.  A woman in Michigan saw the trailer for the movie Drive  (starring Ryan Gosling), went to see the movie, and then filed a lawsuit when the movie did not meet her expectations that it would be similar to the Fast and the Furious series. Sara Deming is suing the studio that distributed the film and the cinema where she saw the movie, claiming that the film misled the public; there was very little driving in the actual film and it “bore very little similarity to a chase, or race action film.” She also claims that the film contains anti-Semitic content. Deming wants her money back. I too have found myself feeling ripped-off after seeing certain movies . But to file a lawsuit seems both frivolous and vexatious, just the criteria a judge needs to throw this case out the second he/she hears it.  Or is this legal action part...

T he issue of whether assisted suicide should be allowed in Canada is back in the courts and in the news. Gloria Taylor Gloria Taylor is a 63-year-old British Columbia woman who suffers from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as ALS, or Lou Gehrig’s disease. She is challenging the laws that make it a crime, with a maximum sentence of 14 years, to assist anyone with suicide. The BC Civil Liberties Association, on behalf of Taylor and several others, has brought a lawsuit arguing that banning assisted suicide violates ss. 7 and 15 of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. This past week, Taylor’s motion to have her case expedited was approved, which means that her case will be heard in November and following that, the law could potentially be overturned.    One of the few things I recall from Constitutional law class is the 1993 case of Sue Rodriguez . In a 5-4 decision, the Supreme Court of Canada rejected Rodriguez’s appeal and found that there was no right to assis...