The Heartland Institute

The sponsor of the Stop Online Piracy Act, Rep. Lamar Smith announced in late January he’s deferring action on the bill “until there is wider agreement on a solution.” Maybe he’s just trying to save face after the Internet uproar against the bill at Wikipedia and elsewhere, but Smith, a Texas Republican, still seems to assume ...

The law school at Harvard has a new building, where even the men’s room is named after a donor. Berkley law professor William A. Falik donated $100,000 to the law school. As a way of saying “thanks,” the school gave him naming rights to the men’s room, now known as the “Falik Men’s Room.” Yes, Falik rhymes with Alec ...

A San Antonio brewpub calls a step in its brewing process “Hopasaurus Rex,” a play on the name of the Tyrannosaurus Rex dinosaur. Evidently, a brew pub in another state calls its actual end-product beer the same thing. The latter pub wrote to the founder and CEO of Freetail Brewing Co., Scott Metzger, in San Antonio ...

An Illinois church is being sued for negligence by a woman who alleges she was knocked unconscious by other churchgoers who fell as they “received the ‘spirit’” during the service. The incident occurred as the pastor laid hands on churchgoers who lined up. Ushers caught some, but others allegedly fell on her. She alleges ...

A party in New Jersey cost a lot more than the young host expected. And uninvited guests will pay for it as well. One of the invited guests was a former drug store employee who stole prescription Xanax while employed there and brought the drugs to the party. He then gave some to another guest, who immediately fell into ...

An Iowa man was arrested recently for assaulting a police officer with a stuffed monkey. The man was caught after stealing items from a Des Moines convenience store, including a pair of sunglasses, two stuffed monkeys (one pink and one orange), and two packages of smokeless tobacco. Police were summoned immediately, and an ...

A prison inmate serving a life sentence for murder has sued prison officials in New Jersey, alleging they failed to give him soft food after a cyst was removed from the roof of his mouth. The lawsuit was dismissed, but not because it lacked merit. The judge ruled the prisoner had failed to pursue his rights in the ...

In the kind of legal hair-splitting that makes saner heads explode, Occupy DC inhabitants are suing the U.S. Interior Department over the definition of the term “camping” under a federal rule banning it in Washington, DC parks. The rule defines “camping” as the erection of “temporary structures” in DC parks used for: living ...

A man who had to pay $1,000 for admission to a “Leather Meets Lace” party at the Playboy Mansion, while “gorgeous ladies” were admitted free, is suing Playboy for sex discrimination. The lawsuit alleges the practice “promotes harmful, negative stereotypes.” Source: TMZ, “Men File Lawsuit ; Claim Women Favored at Playboy Mansion ...

A Maryland man now has a criminal record for connecting a sewer line discharging from a backed-up sewer pipe inside a military retirement home in Washington, DC to an outside storm drain. The home’s manager said staff there had understood the storm drain discharged to the local sewage treatment plant, and it had been ...

Two companies are being sued for employment discrimination against the disabled by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission over a prohibition on hiring an epileptic for a construction project in Georgia. Garney Construction Co. was awarded a contract with Georgia Power Company for a power plant construction project ...

Here’s a vivid example of how far lawyers will go to explain their clients’ actions--even when they shouldn’t. The lawyer of accused pedophile Jerry Sandusky was quoted as saying the former Penn State assistant football coach might have showered with young boys to teach them how to get clean. “Teaching a person to shower ...

Schools may violate anti-bullying policies by letting students sing “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” or view the 1964 film, according to a Long Island University professor. Some parents agree. “We just watched it the other night and I was telling my kids that’s not how we treat our friends,” one parent said. But a psychologist ...

Pope Benedict XVI is being sued in Germany for violating German law by not wearing his seatbelt in the Popemobile during a visit there earlier this year. The fine for such a law violation is 2,500 euros (or maybe it’s zero euros if the euro becomes extinct). The suit was brought by a private citizen in Germany, so the ...

A New York jury found in favor of a prisoner who claimed his religious rights were violated when prison officials touched his “sacred” dreadlocks and “slightly tore” them. But the jury awarded the prisoner total damages of $1.00. And due to a federal law restricting attorney fees in such cases to 150 percent of damages ...

The mother of a seven-year-old boy says her son is being investigated by officials of his school for sexual harassment of a schoolmate. The mother says her son was being choked by another boy as they rode on a school bus. She says her son defended himself by punching the other boy “below the belt.” School officials ...

A Georgia man is suing his lawyer for forcing him to go to law school. The Georgia law student alleges he consulted the lawyer about whether he could sue his employer, a subsidiary of a Japanese-owned company, for allegedly discriminating against him and favoring his Japanese co-workers. The question was complicated by a ...

A newlywed Kansas couple is being sued for $250,000 for breaching an oral agreement they allegedly had with the man who kidnapped them. The kidnapper, wanted for murder at the time, alleges he entered the couple’s house and threatened them with a knife. A neighbor said the couple gained the kidnapper’s trust by sharing ...

A Chicago lawyer has been suspended by the Illinois Supreme Court from practicing law for a year for conduct tending “to bring the legal profession into disrepute.” The lawyer advertised for an “energetic woman” for a “secretary/legal assistant position.” The advertisement was posted on Craigslist under “adult gigs” and said ...

A Madison, Mississippi family is being threatened with litigation by city officials unless they remove some of their Christmas decorations. The family put a large Santa Claus figure and two smaller peacocks on the roof of their house. The Santa Claus can stay, but the peacocks have to go because neighbors don’t like them ...