Daily News Briefs: March  31, 2000
Date: Friday, 31 Mar 2000 10:54:44 -0800

Table of Contents

Subject: NEWS
Date: Friday, 31 Mar 2000 10:54:44 -0800

Top News
Fla. Bill Could Protect Tobacco Industry From Massive Award
Conn. Subpoenas Firms In Gun Antitrust Probe
U.S. senators threaten to sue OPEC for antitrust conspiracy
Federal Judge Says Agents Covered By NFL's Collective Bargaining
Agreement

Cyberlaw News
British Net Co. Settles Libel Suit
Judge Says Old Rule on Libel Suits Applies Online

Criminal Law
Police Corruption Probe Spreads to Other Divisions
Del. lawmakers consider child abandonment without consequences

Unusual Legal News
Women convicted of stealing a giant, inflatable crab from the roof of
a Hooters restaurant
Misspelled words mar ISU protest

Top News - Relevant Hearsay

Fla. Bill Could Protect Tobacco Industry From Massive Award
Los Angeles Times

A campaign is building in the Florida Legislature to save the tobacco
industry from a potentially catastrophic punitive- damages award in the
landmark Engle class-action case in Miami. Under a bill that may be
introduced as early as today, sponsors hope to bar the risk of a lump
sum punitive-damages award to an immense class of current and former
Florida smokers. The effort appears aimed not so much at protecting
tobacco companies as preserving the flow of tobacco industry settlement
payments to Florida and other states, which some officials fear could be
interrupted by a damage award in the Engle case that could reach into
the hundreds of billions of dollars.

http://www.latimes.com/business/20000330/t000029795.html

Conn. Subpoenas Firms In Gun Antitrust Probe
Washington Post

Connecticut officials, suspecting collusion by the firearms industry to
punish gunmaker Smith & Wesson for its promise to improve handgun
safety, yesterday subpoenaed records of other companies in the weapons
trade. New York's attorney general said he would follow suit within days
as part of a coordinated strategy to bolster Smith & Wesson against a
backlash prompted by the company's unprecedented decision to supply gun
locks and restrict gun sales.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/nation/A48445-2000Mar30.html

U.S. senators threaten to sue OPEC for antitrust conspiracy
San Jose Mercury News

The United States should ``seriously consider'' suing the OPEC oil
cartel for antitrust conspiracy in the sharp increase in gasoline prices
this year, two U.S. senators said Thursday. Despite inherent legal
difficulties and dissenting views in Washington that such a suit would
be silly or diplomatically risky, the senators - a Republican and a
Democrat, said the legal action could create new precedents in
international law.

http://www.mercurycenter.com/breaking/docs/079076.htm

Federal Judge Says Agents Covered By NFL's Collective Bargaining
Agreement
Dow Jones

National Football League player agents are covered by the league's labor
contract and can be fined or sanctioned for violating the agreement, a
federal judge ruled Thursday. The league contended that the 49ers and
agents Leigh Steinberg, Jeffrey Moorad and Gary Wichard entered into
secret agreements for payments to quarterback Steve Young, retired tight
end Brent Jones and quarterback Jim Druckenmiller, who now plays for
Miami.

http://dowjones.wsj.com/i/law/SB954437908502725315-d-industry-c1-law.html

Cyberlaw News

Tech-Deals - Internet Contracts - The Details
http://techdeals.findlaw.com
Meg Whitman & eBay, Dr. Koop's deal with drkoop.com & more
Amazon, AOL, eBay, Excite, iVillage, Netscape, TheStreet.com, Yahoo!

British Net Co. Settles Libel Suit
FindLaw News

An Internet service provider here apologized and agreed to pay damages
Thursday to settle a libel suit by a man who said his name was falsely
associated with items posted on a Web site. Demon Internet Ltd., a
subsidiary of Thus PLC, said it had agreed to pay damages to Laurence
Godfrey, who accused the company of failing to respond to his complaints
about false postings. The case ``has established a firm precedent that
ISPs can be publishers in English libel law,'' said Nick Braithwaite,
one of his attorneys.

http://news.findlaw.com/news/s/20000330/demon.html

Judge Says Old Rule on Libel Suits Applies Online
New York Times

In libel cases, there is a hard rule in many states that a lawsuit must
be brought within one year of the date of the offending article's
publication. Miss the one-year statute of limitations period by even one
day, and your libel suit is barred forever. But what happens when the
offending material does not appear on a page, but on a Web site that is
available indefinitely for all the world to view? Is the libel clock
reset to zero every day that the article is on the Web? In one of the
first rulings of its kind, Judge Francis T. Collins of the Court of
Claims in Albany ruled that the continuing presence of a report or
article on the Internet constitutes a single publication that begins
life on the day it was first posted. For purposes of the one-year
statute of limitations in New York, the court said, an Internet libel
plaintiff must file his suit within 365 days of the day the article was
originally put online.

One exception to the single publication rule covers the republication
of old material, as in the issuance of a paperback edition of a
hardcover book. The plaintiff in the case hadargued that because a Web page can be
changed or updated at any time, it is essentially republished every day.

But in reaching its decision, which resulted in the dismissal of an old
libel claim against the State of New York by a state employee, the court
noted that the single publication rule had been applied for decades to
newspapers, magazines and books, which, after all, might very well be
published on one day, but continue to exist as dusty copies that are read days or years later.

"This court sees no rational basis upon which to distinguish publication
of a book or report through traditional printed media and publication
through electronic means by making a copy of the text of the report available via the
Internet," wrote Judge Collins in the case, Firth v. State of New York, on March 8.

 Experts in the law of libel generally applauded the court's decision.

http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/00/03/cyber/cyberlaw/31law.html

-
Criminal Law

Police Corruption Probe Spreads to Other Divisions
Los Angeles Times

The Los Angeles Police Department's corruption probe has spread beyond
the boundaries of the gritty Rampart Division and now includes alleged
crimes or misconduct in at least three other areas of the city,
according to interviews and documents obtained by The Times. Internal
LAPD and district attorney's documents show for the first time that
authorities are exploring allegations that police crimes or misconduct
occurred in the department's Central, 77th and Southeast divisions.

http://www.latimes.com/news/state/reports/rampart/lat_rampart000331.htm

Del. lawmakers consider child abandonment without consequences
Court TV

Delaware lawmakers are considering legislation to prevent newborn deaths
by allowing parents to escape child abandonment charges if they drop off
their baby at a hospital emergency room. Two different bills are being
drafted in the General Assembly, but both do the same thing: Give those
who don't want their newborns another option besides abandoning the
child.

http://www.courttv.com/national/2000/0330/abandoned_ap.html

Unusual Legal News

Women convicted of stealing a giant, inflatable crab from the roof of a
Hooters restaurant
The Columbus Dispatch

The two women had been eyeing the king crab at the restaurant for some
time. In the early morning hours of Nov. 9, 1998, the women crept up to
the Hooters at 5901 E. Main St. and stole the crustacean -- all 75 feet
of him sprawled across the top of the restaurant's roof -- and strapped
him to their car. They had cut the rope holding down "Buster,'' an
inflatable promotion for crab legs, and disconnected his air supply
before tying him to the door handles and the car's spoiler. Then the
crabmobile crawled off down Main Street, the quickly deflating sea
creature enveloping the landlubbers' car.

http://www.dispatch.com/news/newsfea00/mar00/223470.html

Misspelled words mar ISU protest
Ames Tribune

Lobbying efforts by Iowa State University students who want to protect
higher education funding ended up with a failing grade for spelling. The
students sent large plywood postcards opposing proposed budget cuts to
top Republican lawmakers on Monday. The cards included hundreds of
signatures - and three spelling errors.

http://www.amestrib.com/news.cfm?num=1088

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