Florida lawyer Dan Gelber quit his law firm, Akerman Senterfitt, after BP hired the firm to represent it in the oil claims process. This will undoubtedly help him in his campaign for Florida Attorney General (Gelber is currently a state senator). His decision to resign is a very prudent and ethical one, but not for the reason most Floridians will think. Continue reading
litigation
The Center for Science in the Public Interest=Self-Righteous Bullies of the Month
We will begin with a proposition: “Toys do not make children fat.” Certainly eating too much makes children fat. Eating exclusively high-caloric foods makes children fat. Failing to exercise and sitting around playing video games all day can make children fat. Over-indulgent or unassertive parents, who allow their children to develop and continue bad eating and exercise habits, can help children get fat. But toys will not make children fat. Even if the kids eat the toys, they won’t get fat.
Nonetheless, the Center for Science in the Public Interest is threatening to sue MacDonald’s if it doesn’t stop putting little toys in its “Happy Meals.” The “You’re Going To Eat Tofu and Like It!” consumer group has sent a letter to the fast-food company, long a convenient villain for those who want to control our basic right to eat what we want to, giving them due notice that either they take those “Shrek” promotional toys out of the “Happy Meals,” or it’s “see you in court.” Continue reading
Ethics Dunces: The Staff of Milford, Ohio Elementary School
A sixth grade boy informed his mother that his teacher and an aide at the Milford Elementary School had forced him to him to stand before his sixth-grade classroom as they put his shoulder-length hair in ponytails, and then introduced him to his classmates as a new female student. Then the aide took him to other classrooms and did the same thing.
The mother has filed a federal lawsuit in the U.S. District Court in Cincinnati, seeking damages for the alleged violation of her son’s constitutional rights and intentional infliction of emotional distress. Continue reading
Ethics Alarms 