Wednesday Writs for 12/12

Em Carpenter

Em was one of those argumentative children who was sarcastically encouraged to become a lawyer, so she did. She is a proud life-long West Virginian, and, paradoxically, a liberal. In addition to writing about society, politics and culture, she enjoys cooking, podcasts, reading, and pretending to be a runner. She will correct your grammar. You can find her on Twitter.

Related Post Roulette

12 Responses

  1. Oscar Gordon says:

    L1: You would think that they had enough without the international chemical weapons charge. I swear it’s like a Craftsman with a new tool that they just have to use on something, even if it’s not really what the tool was meant for.Report

    • PD Shaw in reply to Oscar Gordon says:

      Apparently, the State only prosecuted her for “harassing telephone calls and letters,” not for the attempted poisoning, which would be some form of criminal assault. I’m not sure why, maybe there were some evidentiary complications and the punishment for the assault added nothing to an easier case based upon correspondence?

      Kind of hard to do certain types of criminal justice reform if prosecutors can just apply the ratchet to whichever federal or state jurisdiction it chooses.Report

  2. Saul Degraw says:

    Lawyer achivement unlocked: a case I am working on got mentioned on a legal newsletter/blog. Snide mention though because the newsletter is very pro-pharma. I don’t know how anyone lives by being such a corporate lickspittle. They buried the lede that I was given motion to leave until the last paragraph.Report

  3. Richard Hershberger says:

    L4: The underlying cultural questions of this sort of lawsuit are actually quite interesting. Is “champagne” a type of sparkling wine, or is it sparkling wine from the Champagne region of France? Similarly with any number of types of cheeses, sausages, etc. In the US we generally answer that it is a variety, not a place of origin. Italian immigrants from Parma settle in America, manufacture the cheese they enjoyed at home, and refer to it accordingly. We don’t expect Parmesan cheese to actually be manufactured in Parma. We don’t expect bologna to come from Bologna, frankfurters from Frankfurt, and so on.

    On the other hand, it would be odd (and possibly illegal?) to see oranges from Chile labeled “Florida oranges” on the grounds that they were varieties also grown in Florida. We aren’t entirely devoid of geographic expectations in food labels. It is just very culturally specific when we do and do not have such expectations.

    Processed snack food? Probably no such expectation, for me personally. But it isn’t ridiculous on its face. Potato chips have no particular association with Hawaii. I expect the idea they are conveying is the seasoning. But suppose it was dried pineapple (which is very good, in a high-sugar way) chip. If they were labeled as Hawaii dried pineapple, I would expect that they actually come from Hawaii.Report

    • Aaron David in reply to Richard Hershberger says:

      For what it is worth, I believe that Kings Hawaiian Bread is baked in Torrance CA.Report

      • Kolohe in reply to Aaron David says:

        Plus the monarchy was deposed over a hundred and twenty years ago. They should be Hawaiian Republican Rolls.

        (But seriously, I was somewhat disappointed when I learned all the Kona brewing company beers available on the mainland are all made under contract at various Anheuser Busch facilities)Report

    • Aaron David in reply to Richard Hershberger says:

      Also, as far as French wine is concerned, due to Phylloxera and the crisis it caused in French wine production circa 1865, nearly all Gallic vineyards consist of grafted on American rootstalk. So it may be fairer to say that the Napa has a better claim to the varietal Champagne.

      This is still debated.Report