Balloon Juice on Sarah Palin and her conservative boosters:
Nothing annoys me more than the conservative myth that to be an ordinary American you have to be a moron. Although it’s probably just a corollary of the myth that to be an ordinary American you have to be conservative.
- Garry J. Wise, Toronto
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Michael Carabash of Dynamic Lawyers has posted an article profiling yours very truly. Here's the link: Profile on Garry Wise: the Employment Lawyer and Legal Tech Guru talks about how technology has changed the legal industry.
- Garry J. Wise, Toronto
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Michael Jackson's will is now posted online for all to see. Have look - the will itself is fairly standard fare, but Mr. Jackson's reference to Diana Ross as alternate guardian for his children will be at least a little tantalizing for celebrity justice junkies.
Even the valuation of Jackson's most valuable asset — his stake in a music catalog whose publishing rights includes Beatles songs — could be subject to protracted debate. Jackson snapped up the catalog for $47.5 million in a 1985 deal that had provided him millions in annual income, and he pocketed $95 million from selling Sony a 50% stake in 2005.
The catalog continued to bankroll a lifestyle that included maintaining the 2,700-acre Neverland Ranch, expensive art purchases and litigation, including a multimillion-dollar out-of-court settlement to the family of a boy who had accused him of molestation. Jackson used the catalog as collateral against assorted loans, with $300 million in debt to Barclays Bank alone.
- Garry J. Wise, Toronto
A “sequel” to The Catcher in the Rye written by Swedish author Fredrik Colting, a.k.a. “J.D. California,” has been kyboshed by Manhattan judge Deborah Batts, the ABA Journal reports..
- Bill Rogers, Student-at-Law, Toronto
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An Ontario man who "threatened and harassed" his ex-spouse after they broke up has been ordered to pay $15,000.00 in damages for intentionally inflicting mental distress, plus nearly a quarter million dollars in legal costs.
Law journalist Cristin Schmitz reports in the Ottawa Citizen that Darko Danicic (also known as Danic) deliberately used abusive tactics in a failed attempt to intimidate Traci McLean, his ex-common-law spouse, into dropping her property and spousal support claims.
He wrote McLean crudely abusive letters, denied their romantic involvement, unsuccessfully attempted to get her lawyer disbarred, and threatened to send private intimate photographs of her to her grandmother. Schmitz calls the ruling “unusual, if not unique” in that it awards mental suffering damages in the absence of “assaultive conduct” such as battery or forcible confinement.
- Bill Rogers, Student-at-Law, Toronto
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Congratulations are due to Overlawyered, quite possibly the first law blog, which marked its tenth anniversary yesterday.
- Garry J. Wise, Toronto
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After successfully passing the New York bar exam, aspiring lawyer Robert Bowman has been denied a license to practice law by the Appellate Division of the State Supreme Court - because of an unpaid, $430,000.00 student loan that had accumulated over twenty years, without a single payment ever being made.
In January, the committee of New York lawyers that reviews applications for admission to the bar interviewed Mr. Bowman, studied his history and the debt he had amassed, and called his persistence remarkable. It recommended his approval.But a group of five state appellate judges decided this spring that his student loans were too big and his efforts to repay them too meager for him to be a lawyer.
...Mr. Bowman, 47, appears to have crossed some unspoken line with his $400,000 in student debt and penalties, accumulated over many years.
Our review of the application indicates that the disbursement dates of the loans cover a 20-year period, from as early as 1985. Applicant has not made any substantial payments on the loans. He has not been flexible in his discussions with the loan servicers. Under all the circumstances herein, we conclude that applicant has not presently established the character and general fitness requisite for an attorney and counselor-at-law.
- Garry J. Wise, Toronto
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This week's must read: It Came from Wasilla, Todd Purdum's Vanity Fair article on Sarah Palin.
- Garry J. Wise, Toronto
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We’re The Best: How Canada Stacks Up Internationally
- Garry J. Wise, Toronto
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Associated Press, on Iran, international attention spans and the real world - as revealed by the modern news cyle:
As the protests dwindle amid intensifying official pressure, the opposition may suffer from a decline in international attention. The protests and violence dominated Western news broadcasts for nearly two weeks, with the reports substantially bolstered by videos gleaned from Internet sites and by commentary from social networking sites.
Such sites were a key pipeline for the opposition amid the tight restrictions on foreign media in the country.
But along with the diminished action on the streets in Iran, other stories have arisen to siphon away attention — especially the death of pop star Michael Jackson.
Television coverage of Iran's turmoil has fallen since Jackson's death Thursday; on the Twitter micro-blogging site, Iran remained among the most discussed topics, but fell below Jackson and comments about the movie "Transformers 2.
- Garry J. Wise, Toronto
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Vancouver Sun reports that Michael Jackon died toady afternoon in his LA mansion after suffering a cardiac arrest. He was 50.
One of musics most influential and successful artists, Jackson found place in the Guinness Book of World Records for "Most Successful Entertainer of All Time."
While Jackson has been in the news lately for all the wrong reasons; accusations of child molestation , debt problems and his ever changing looks, he remains the King of pop music and an all time great.
- Shashi K. Raina, Toronto
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Another sad day for American justice, as a narrow 5-4 majority of the U.S. Supreme Court holds that the due process clause of the U.S. Constitution's Fifth Amendment does not guarantee prisoners access to potentially-exonerating, post-conviction DNA testing:
[Chief Justice John] Roberts, joined by Justices Antonin Scalia, Anthony M. Kennedy, Clarence Thomas and Samuel A. Alito Jr., said ..."A criminal defendant proved guilty after a fair trial does not have the same liberty interests as a free man," he wrote, and thus states have more "flexibility" in deciding procedures for post-conviction relief.
...The "challenges DNA technology poses to our criminal justice systems and our traditional notions of finality" are better left to elected officials than federal judges, Roberts wrote for the majority in a 5 to 4 decision.The compelling dissenting argument of the Court's moderate wing held little sway with the majority:
Dissenting justices, led by John Paul Stevens, said the right to post-conviction DNA testing should not depend on the widely varying laws enacted by the states. Allowing a prisoner to test DNA evidence at his own expense would "ascertain the truth once and for all," Stevens wrote.
"On the record before us, there is no reason to deny access to the evidence and there are many reasons to provide it, not least of which is a fundamental concern in ensuring that justice has been done," he wrote. He was joined in dissent by Justices David H. Souter, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephen G. Breyer.
The full, Washington Post article is here
- Garry J. Wise, Toronto
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See ABA Journal: Town Requires Job Seekers to Reveal Social Media Passwords:
...job seekers for Bozeman city posts are required to sign a background check waiver. In addition to allowing standard criminal records checks and past employment reviews, the applicant is required to do the following:
"Please list any and all, current personal or business websites, web pages or memberships on any Internet-based chat rooms, social clubs or forums, to include, but not limited to: Facebook, Google, Yahoo, YouTube.com, MySpace, etc."
The city form then offers three lines for applicants to list websites, their user names and log-in information and their passwords, Montana News Station reports.
City Attorney Greg Sullivan is quoted as defending the policy: "We have positions ranging from fire and police, which require people of high integrity for those positions, all the way down to the lifeguards and the folks that work in city hall here. So we do those types of investigations to make sure the people that we hire have the highest moral character and are a good fit for the city."
- Garry J. Wise, Toronto
UPDATE: June 20, 2009
I guess they decided that wasn't such a great idea, after all: City drops request for Internet passwords
GJW
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A Minnesota jury has ordered a Minneapolis woman to pay damages to the music industry of $1.92 million for willful copyright infringement.
- Garry J. Wise, Toronto
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A class action proceeding by bank tellers against the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce for $600 million in unpaid overtime wages has been dismissed by an Ontario Superior Court judge.
Justice Joan Lax ruled the case didn't meet the test to be a class-action lawsuit.
"While some of the certification requirements could be satisfied, the action lacks the essential element of commonality," Lax wrote in the decision released today.
"In my opinion, there is no asserted common issue capable of being determined on a class-wide basis that would sufficiently advance this litigation to justify certification."
An Ontario Superior Court Justice has refused to certify a $600-million overtime class-action lawsuit against the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce.
It's a ruling that could stymie other overtime class-action suits that are pending in Canadian courts, including one against the Bank of Nova Scotia..
Justice Joan Lax rejected the suit brought by CIBC employee Dara Fresco on the basis that "this is not a proper case for certification and that a class proceeding is not the preferable procedure for resolving the claims of class members for unpaid overtime."
Bloomberg reports that CIBC shares "rose 0.7 percent after the ruling was released. The shares rose C$1.17 to C$54.19 in trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange today."
We previously reported on the case, Fresco v. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, 07-cv-334113PD2, Ontario Superior Court of Justice (Toronto) in November 2007. See: Update: CIBC Employees' Overtime Class Action.
We will post the ruling of Madame Justice Lax when it is available online.
- Garry J. Wise, Toronto
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The rules, as compiled by Time, can succinctly be boiled to one- “Discretion is the better of valor.”
1. Don’t brag.
Your claims of poverty will ring hollow if you brag on Facebook about your purchases of expensive items or post photographs of lavish vacations.
2. Keep the party off-line
Sure you may want to let off some steam, but if you are engaged in a custody fight, the pictures of you holding a bong in one hand and a half empty bottle of “Jack” in the other are not going to win you points with the judge. They probably are not going to be too helpful when lecturing your kids about sobriety or on your next job interview.
3. Guilt by association.
You are who you hang out with. See Rule No 2.4. Keep the details of the divorce private.
Don’t fuel the fire with comments and criticisms on the internet. No one likes their spouse’s divorce attorney or the judge after an unfavorable ruling. But remember, the judge is going to make many rulings in the course of a case- some you will win, others you will lose. Do you really want the judge to rule on your case after you publicly criticized him or her?
5. Don’t Defriend.
As Time points out, unless it is high conflict, “Don't "defriend" in-laws or your ex's friends right away. People need time to adjust.”
- Garry J. Wise, Toronto
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Funny stuff from Sam Seder:
- Garry J. Wise, Toronto
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According to news reports, "Web 2.0" which refers to the second generation of web development became the millionth word in the English Language. MSN news reports that on June 10th 2009 Texas-based Global Language Monitor, which monitors the English Language, announced that Web 2.0 was the millionth word in the English language. Global Language Monitor acknowledges new words once they have been used 25,000 times on media and social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook.
The term Web 2.0 suggests a new version of the World Wide Web, but technically it’s not. It works on the same technical specifications as the first generation internet. The difference is the way software developers and end-users utilize the Web. Common examples of Web 2.0 are social-networking sites, video-sharing sites, wikis or collabrative websites, blogs etc.
- Shashi K. Raina, Toronto
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There are many signs of manipulation or outright fraud in Iran's disputed election results, according to pollsters and election experts, but the case for a rigged outcome is far from ironclad, making it difficult for the United States and other Western powers to denounce the results as unacceptable. Indeed, there is also evidence that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the incumbent president deeply disliked in the West for his promotion of Iran's nuclear program and his anti-Israeli rhetoric, simply won a commanding victory.
Also see Ahmadinejad Won, Get Over it from Politico:
Without any evidence, many U.S. politicians and “Iran experts” have dismissed Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s reelection Friday, with 62.6 percent of the vote, as fraud.
They ignore the fact that Ahmadinejad’s 62.6 percent of the vote in this year’s election is essentially the same as the 61.69 percent he received in the final count of the 2005 presidential election, when he trounced former President Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani. The shock of the “Iran experts” over Friday’s results is entirely self-generated, based on their preferred assumptions and wishful thinking.
Although Iran’s elections are not free by Western standards, the Islamic Republic has a 30-year history of highly contested and competitive elections at the presidential, parliamentary and local levels. Manipulation has always been there, as it is in many other countries.
But upsets occur — as, most notably, with Mohammed Khatami’s surprise victory in the 1997 presidential election. Moreover, “blowouts” also occur — as in Khatami’s reelection in 2001, Ahmadinejad’s first victory in 2005 and, we would argue, this year.
Bottom line is that opinions aside, at this point we in the West have very little idea as to the will of the Iranian electorate or what the facts will eventually disclose.
Thus, a bit of analytical caution is urged here, and U.S. President Barack Obama's measured approach strikes me as entirely appropriate:
Speaking to reporters at the end of a meeting with Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi at the White House, President Obama stressed that it is difficult for the United States to pass judgment on the running of the Iranian election. He stressed that "it is up to Iranians to make decisions about who Iran's leaders will be."
"We did not have observers there," he said. "We did not have international observers on hand, so I can't state definitively what happened one way or another with respect to the election. But what I can say is there appears to be a sense on the part of people who were so hopeful and so engaged and so committed to democracy, who now feel betrayed."
..."What I would say to those people who put so much hope and energy into the political process, I would say to them that the world is watching and inspired by their participation - regardless of what the ultimate outcome of the election was," said President Obama.
Let's just wait and see.
In the meanwhile, CBC reports that Iran orders partial vote recount. And to be clear, I doubt we will know much more thereafter.- Garry J. Wise, Toronto
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Twitter has jumped into the political fray, acknowledging the critical role it is playing in Iran, with this announcement:
Perhaps, in taking this step, Twitter has chosen to become more than a mere, neutral conduit for information - it has embraced a proactive role as an advocate for change.Down Time Rescheduled
A critical network upgrade must be performed to ensure continued operation of Twitter. In coordination with Twitter, our network host had planned this upgrade for tonight. However, our network partners at NTT America recognize the role Twitter is currently playing as an important communication tool in Iran. Tonight's planned maintenance has been rescheduled to tomorrow between 2-3p PST (1:30a in Iran).
Iranians are blogging, posting to Facebook and, most visibly, coordinating their protests on Twitter, the messaging service. Their activity has increased, not decreased, since the presidential elections on Friday and ensuing attempts by the government to restrict or censor their online communications.
On Twitter, reports and links to photos from a peaceful mass march through Tehran on Monday, along with accounts of street fighting and casualties around the country, have become the most popular topic on the service worldwide, according to Twitter’s published statistics.
A couple of Twitter feeds have become virtual media offices for the supporters of the leading opposition candidate, Mir Hussein Moussavi. One feed, mousavi1388, (1388 is the year in the Persian calendar) is filled with news of protests and exhortations to keep up the fight, in Persian and English. It has more than 7,000 followers.
Mr. Moussavi’s fan group on Facebook has swelled to over 50,000 members, a significant increase since election day.
CBC is also following this story: Twitter emerges as news source during Iran media crackdown
- Garry J. Wise, Toronto
Update:
Welcome Twitter Blog readers.
A reader makes a good point that Twitter may be helping save lives with this delay of its scheduled downtime. Perhaps, in that sense, the change is akin to a phone company ensuring that its lines remain open in an emergency.
What is unique in this circumstance, however, is that emergency or not, the leaders of Iran apparently would prefer it if the lines all went dead.
And Twitter's not buying in.
(Compare that with Google's "deal" with China).
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Via CBC:
Canadian billionaire Jim Balsillie's bid to buy the Phoenix Coyotes and move the NHL team to Hamilton was rejected Monday by an Arizona bankruptcy judge.
Balsillie, the co-CEO of Research In Motion Ltd., maker of the BlackBerry smartphone, had imposed a June 29 deadline to complete the sale — hoping to speed up the process and have the team ready to play in Hamilton for the 2009-10 season.
But in a ruling handed down late Monday, Judge Redfield Baum said "this court is unconvinced that it should order that the NHL must decide the relocation application to meet the June 29 deadline."
"The motion is denied, without prejudice," Baum wrote.
Judge Baum's ruling is now online in PDF format.
- Garry J. Wise, Toronto
UPDATE:
Judge Baum's ruling notwithstanding, Mr. Balsillie indicates his bid to purchase the Coyotes will be moving forward.
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I caught the Facebook url bug today, so you can now find us @:
www.facebook.com/garryjwise
And for those who prefer to tweet:
- Garry J. Wise, Toronto
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A California arbitrator has awarded a marketing executive compensation of $4.1 billion in a wrongful dismissal claim.
An arbitrator recently awarded $4.1 billion in favor of the former chief marketing officer of iFreedom Communications Inc., finding that iFreedom breached his employment contract by firing him without cause. You read that right: $4.1 billion, with a "b." U.S. Dollars, not Zimbabwean. Don't believe us? You can read the opinion yourself: Chester v. iFreedom Communications Inc.
...So, how did Chester rack up $4.1 billion in damages? The employment agreement guaranteed him a salary of $12,000 a month plus commissions of 5 percent of gross sales; if he was fired without cause, he would continue to receive commissions. iFreedom also was supposed to provide Chester with 1.1 million shares of common stock upon hiring and another 600,000 shares if he met certain sales targets . Apparently, iFreedom did really, really well. Sales, stock and interest added up, and in a big way.
- Garry J. Wise, Toronto
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In response to an enquiry today, I thought it would be useful to post the folllowing links from the Ministry of Justice, detailing the nations with which Ontario and other Canadian provinces have reciprocal child support enforcement arrangements:
- Garry J. Wise, Toronto
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Writer Kirk Makin profiles Madame Justice Rosalie Abella of the Supreme Court of Canada in today's Globe and Mail:
See Mr. Makin's article: Justice tempered with a soft heartFive years after Judge Abella arrived on the court, the jury is in. Having largely silenced critics of her public profile and vocal support of social causes, Judge Abella has emerged as a tower of strength in her favoured fields - family law, employment law, youth criminal justice and human rights.
In addition, the growing number of majority judgments that she writes has stifled any suggestion that Judge Abella aspires to be a squeaky wheel.
"Justice Abella certainly started slowly, but I see a judge who is starting to assert herself as a distinct judicial personality on the court," said Bruce Ryder, a professor at York University's Osgoode Hall Law School. "I see her emerging as a leader on the court."
- Garry J. Wise, Toronto
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The Commission is mindful of the changing nature of hate activity, especially with regard to hate on the Internet. The Commission is also aware of the criticism by some of how the Commission deals with section 13 cases. Both the Criminal Code and the CHRA could be amended to better deal with current realities. This section reviews the Commission’s observations and recommendations.
13. (1) It is a discriminatory practice for a person or a group of persons acting in concert to communicate telephonically or to cause to be so communicated, repeatedly, in whole or in part by means of the facilities of a telecommunication undertaking within the legislative authority of Parliament, any matter that is likely to expose a person or persons to hatred or contempt by reason of the fact that that person or those persons are identifiable on the basis of a prohibited ground of discrimination.
(2) For greater certainty, subsection (1) applies in respect of a matter that is communicated by means of a computer or a group of interconnected or related computers, including the Internet, or any similar means of communication, but does not apply in respect of a matter that is communicated in whole or in part by means of the facilities of a broadcasting undertaking.
(3) For the purposes of this section, no owner or operator of a telecommunication undertaking communicates or causes to be communicated any matter described in subsection (1) by reason only that the facilities of a telecommunication undertaking owned or operated by that person are used by other persons for the transmission of that matter.
R.S., 1985, c. H-6, s. 13; 2001, c. 41, s. 88.
RECOMMENDATION 1It is recommended that both the Criminal Code of Canada and the Canadian Human Rights Act continue to contain provisions to deal with hate on the Internet.
RECOMMENDATION 2
It is recommended that the Canadian Human Rights Act be amended to provide a statutory definition of "hatred" and "contempt" in accordance with the definition applied by the Supreme Court of Canada in Taylor.
RECOMMENDATION 3
It is recommended that the Canadian Human Rights Act be amended to allow for an award of costs in exceptional circumstances where the Tribunal finds that a party has abused the Tribunal process.
RECOMMENDATION 4
It is recommended that section 41 of the Canadian Human Rights Act be amended to include a provision that allows the dismissal of section 13 complaints when messages do not meet the narrow definition of hatred or contempt.
RECOMMENDATION 5
It is recommended that the penalty provision in section 54(1)(c) of the Canadian Human Rights Act be repealed..
- Garry J. Wise, Toronto
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