Out There
Long Arm of the Law

For 29 years, George Hartleroad was on the lam.

Hartleroad is a convicted rapist who walked away from a halfway house in Wisconsin in 1995.

His freedom ended in August, when he was arrested by police in West Des Moines, Iowa, after being pulled over for riding a bicycle without a rear reflector.

When police asked Hartleroad to verify his identity, he gave them the name and Social Security number of a dead man.

Hartleroad gave police his real name when another officer showed up.

“You’ve been on the run longer than two of the three officers on this street have been alive,” one of the officers said.

Source: CNN

On the Radar
Bone of Contention

If you sit down to a plate of boneless chicken wings in Ohio, you’d better watch out for bones.

The Ohio Supreme Court ruled 4-3 in July that customers do not have a right to expect that boneless chicken wings do not contain bones.

The case started when Michael Berkheimer ate some boneless wings and felt a chunk of chicken slide down his throat the wrong way.

Three days later, an emergency room doctor discovered a long, sliver-like bone in Berkheimer’s esophagus. The bone had torn the esophagus, causing an infection.

Berkheimer sued the restaurant. But the Ohio Supreme Court held that “boneless” referred to a style of cooking, and that diners eating boneless wings should use common sense and watch out for bones.

Source: AP

Quotable
“Every state looking at this is coming up with very state-specific approaches.” – Oregon Supreme Court Chief Justice Meagan Flynn

Since 2023, graduates of Oregon’s three law schools need not pass the bar exam to practice law.

Instead, they can be admitted after working 675 hours under a licensed attorney and submitting a portfolio of work to the Oregon Board of Bar Examiners. That’s about 17 weeks at 40 hours per week.

Minnesota, Nevada, Utah, and Washington are considering similar attorney licensing schemes. California is studying the issue, and Arizona, South Dakota, and Texas are also interested.

Since 2005, New Hampshire has allowed law graduates who participate in a two-year honors program at the University of New Hampshire Law School to be admitted without taking the bar exam.

Wisconsin remains the only state with the diploma privilege.

Source: USA Today

By the Numbers
$4.7 billion – Damages in NFL “Sunday Ticket” class action

A jury’s $4.7 billion verdict against the NFL in a class action has been overturned by a federal judge.

In June, an eight-member jury in Los Angeles found that the NFL had violated federal antitrust laws by selling DirecTV subscribers out-of-market games at inflated prices between 2011 and 2022.

The jury awarded $4.6 billion in damages to 2.4 million home subscribers and $96.9 million to 48,000 commercial subscribers.

But U.S District Court Judge Philip Gutierrez ruled that testimony from two of the plaintiffs’ witnesses should have been excluded because it was based on flawed methodologies.

Source: ESPN

Good Idea?
Court Nixes ‘Baby Bonus’

A Maryland trial court judge has struck down a proposed initiative that would pay parents of newborns in Baltimore $1,000 per child.

The ballot initiative was brought by a group of teachers. They argued that the payments, though modest, could put a dent in child poverty in the city.

The initiative was modeled on a program in Flint, Michigan. That program pays a woman $1,500 in the middle of a pregnancy and $500 per month for the first year after she gives birth.

Organizers collected the 10,000 signatures needed to place the proposal on Maryland’s November ballot.

But the trial court ruled that the proposed initiative illegally leaves the city of Baltimore with no discretion to implement the measure.

Source: AP