Okay, so we’re going old school today with All-American Comics #62, published way, way back in December of 1944.  According to Wikipedia, All-American Comics was the brainchild of All-American Publications, a predecessor company of the more well known DC Comics. On the cover, we see the original Green Lantern presiding as a judge with gavel in hand while Doiby Dickles, a Green Lantern sidekick, is acting a prosecutor, apparently, although we’re not certain of the identity of the witness, presumably the defendant.

The Drug and Device Law blog doing Throwback Thursday is the best thing ever. See here.

The Hollywood, Esq. blog brings us this story: “Teller Wins Lawsuit Over Copied Magic Trick Performance.”

Heads up! Yesterday, the senior resident superior court judge of the Mecklenburg County, North Carolina superior court division issued the following administrative order:

In order to promote the efficient and timely disposition of matters appealed from the Clerk of Superior Court and to prevent the development of a backlog of pending appeals, the undersigned Senior Resident Superior Court Judge for the 26th Judicial District enters the following Order.

IT IS ORDERED that, in all appeals from decisions of the Office of the Clerk of Superior Court of Mecklenburg County, the appellant shall contact the Caseflow Management Division of the Trial Court Administrator’s Office of the 26th Judicial District not later than 30 days from the date of the appeal to schedule a hearing before a Superior Court Judge. A failure to comply with this Order shall result in a summary dismissal of the appeal, and the matter shall be remanded to Clerk of Superior Court.

Finally, we were saddened to hear the news of the recent death of character actor James Rebhorn. Two years ago, he kindly agreed to an interview with us on the occasion of the twentieth anniversary of the release of My Cousin Vinny, in which he appeared as an expert witness. You can read that interview here. In fact, The Guardian quoted a paragraph of our interview in its obituary of Rebhorn. Rest in peace.

Okay, so we don’t usually write about family law cases here at Abnormal Use, and it’s been a while since we wrote about events from the state of Nebraska. Yesterday, while perusing cases mentioning Facebook, we stumbled across In re Interest of A.W. & L.W., No. A-13-540 (Neb. Ct. App. Feb. 25, 2014), a recent case in which the court of appeals found “that the evidence clearly and convincingly established that termination of [the father’s] parental rights was warranted pursuant to [the relevant statute] and that termination was in [the children’s] best interests.” Yes, this is a case involving a father’s appeal of the trial court’s termination of his parental rights and the appellate court that affirmed that decision.

Chiefly, the case concerns the frequency of the father’s contacts with his children – or the lack thereof. This being the modern age, some of those contacts occurred via social media. Here’s some excerpts from the opinion itself:

After moving to Las Vegas, [the father] claimed that he attempted to maintain contact with his children through his uncle’s “Facebook” account. However, according to [the father], 2 weeks after he moved, [the mother] learned that [the father] had been using the uncle’s “Facebook” account and blocked the uncle from her and the children’s “Facebook” accounts. [The father] made no other attempts to contact his children during the time that he resided in Las Vegas until he moved to Larchwood, Iowa, in 2012, at which point he had two visits with his children: a 2–hour supervised visit on March 31, 2012, and a 1 1/2–hour therapeutic visit on January 4, 2013, supervised by [another adult]. [The father] did not see his children after the January 4 visit, despite his requests to have visits.

[The father] claimed that he did not contact his children while he was in Las Vegas after [the mother] blocked his uncle’s “Facebook” account because he thought that [the mother] had a protection order against him and he would have to contact his children through her. During the time that [the father] was in Las Vegas, [the mother] did not receive any communications from [the father], his friends, or relatives regarding arranging visitation with the children, even though [the father] had [the mother’s] e-mail address which was known to [the father] prior to his move to Las Vegas and remained the same. Further, [the father] did not send the children any letters, cards, or presents during that timeframe.

…

[The father] first contends that the county court erred in finding that he had abandoned his children pursuant to § 43–292(1). He contends that he did not abandon his children for the relevant 6 months immediately prior to [the mother’s] filing of the complaint for modification, which requested termination of his parental rights, because he continued to pay child support and attempted to contact his children through “Facebook” during that 6–month time period.

…

[The father] admits his efforts at maintaining contact with his children from November 2010 until March 2012 were minimal. He testified that he attempted to contact [the children] through his uncle’s “Facebook” account for about 2 weeks after moving to Las Vegas, but then he claimed that [the mother] discovered he was using the “Facebook” account and blocked his uncle from her account and the children’s accounts. [The father] admits that after the initial 2 weeks that he was in Las Vegas, he did not contact the children but claimed that he did not make additional attempts to contact his children for 1 year because he believed that [the mother] had a protection order filed against him.

Nothing extraordinary there, right? Certainly, it’s not unusual for references to Facebook to make their way into litigation, particularly family law cases, where the parent’s everyday decisions and lifestyle may be at issue. Most of us communicate using the Internet generally, or social media specifically, and a case analyzing one’s communications will likely stray into Facebook, Twitter, and the like.

But here’s the thing: It’s 2014. Why is the court of appeals placing scare quotes around the word Facebook? Isn’t Facebook such a prevalent and prominent website that we can now refer to it without quotation marks? By our count, the court mentions Facebook seven times in the opinion, and each time it does so, it places unnecessary quotation marks around the company name. Why?

Above, you’ll find the cover of Daredevil #36, published in February of this very year. Note that Matt Murdock, Daredevil’s alter ego, sits outside of his former law office with all of his possessions in the hallway. “Closed for business,” the sign on the door proclaims. Quite frankly, we never understood how Murdock could meet his billable hour requirement and moonlight as a superhero. Whatever the case, sad times for Daredevil. We’ve previously written about Daredevil and his alter ego’s career as an attorney. In fact, back in the day, we even published an interview with Mark Waid, the writer of the current Daredevil series. You can revisit that interview here. Apparently, issue #36 was the final issue of this series (although the series was instantly restarted a month later). According to the comic book website Newsarama: “In Daredevil #36, readers saw Matt Murdock put on the stand and forced to fully admit his superhero identity in a place where he can’t argue his way out of it. After the bombshell was dropped, a cascading series of events played out where Daredevil put his origin and his thoughts on secret identity and superheroics in a brand new context, while simultaneously seeing his final battle with the Sons of the Serpent.”

This ABA Journal article about New York City night court becoming a tourist attraction does not mention the old NBC sitcom “Night Court.” Hmmmm.

Advice from Lifehacker: “If you’re feeling a bit low about yourself, turn off all your social media.” (Hat Tip: The Rainmaker Institute).

Headline of the Week: “Lawsuit Ends With 100,000 Tubes of Toothpaste on the Streets of Manhattan.” From The Wall Street Journal’s Law Blog, of all places. Enjoy.

GWB attorneys Phil Reeves, Stuart Mauney, and Steve Buckingham will receive the 2014 Leadership in the Law recognition by South Carolina Lawyers Weekly.  Get this: They are three of only 30 South Carolina attorneys to receive the Leadership in Law recognition this year. Winning attorneys were nominated by peers and colleagues and selected by the publisher and staff of South Carolina Lawyers Weekly.

Have you heard that veteran litigator John Cuttino has joined our firm as a shareholder in our Columbia, South Carolina, office? Well, if you’re not following John on Twitter yet, you can do so by clicking here.

Okay, so, above, you’ll find the cover of Fame: Justine Bieber #1, published not so long ago by Bluewater Productions. Why, why, are we posting a comic book featuring the pernicious Biebs? In case you haven’t heard, Bieber himself was deposed recently, and excerpts of his video deposition have leaked online to the celebrity gossip website TMZ. Let’s just say that Bieber presents as a difficult deponent. You’ve got to see it. TMZ has posted a number of clips online, all of which you can access here (although some of the ads on the TMZ website may be NSFW). While you’re at it, be sure to read Kevin Underhill’s commentary at the Lowering the Bar legal humor blog, which you can access here.

The Celluloid Optimist linked our interview with My Cousin Vinny director Jonathan Lynn this week in a post you can read here. (In fact, in that post, we were reminded of the debunked urban legend that Marisa Tomei did not actually win the Oscar for her performance in that film. By the way, can you believe it’s been two full years since our week long series on the twentieth anniversary of My Cousin Vinny?  Indeed, two years ago this week, we here at Abnormal Use dedicated a week’s worth of posts to the 20th anniversary, including interviews with the director, the writer/produce, and various cast members. That was a mighty fun project, and you can revisit it here.

Back in November, we wrote about To Kill A Mockingbird author Harper Lee’s trademark infringement lawsuit against an Alabama museum. Well, according to recent press reports, Lee has settled that suit. Reported The New York Times: “One issue raised in the suit was the address of the museum’s website, formerly tokillamockingbird.com. A notice on the museum’s site now notes that the address has changed tomonroecountymuseum.org.”

GWB shareholder John T. Lay, of our Columbia, South Carolina office, was just became president elect of the South Carolina Chapter of American Board of Trial Advocates. For more info, see here.

Well, as you know, we here at the Abnormal Use law blog are attorneys at the Gallivan, White, & Boyd, P.A. law firm, and so, we must bring to your attention our brand new firm website.

Behold:

To check it out, click here.

In our official press release on the unveiling, we offer a quotation from GWB shareholder Gray Culbreath, our website committee chair, who said, “One of the greatest attributes of GWB is the service we provide our clients. We work every day to ensure our clients get the information they need in a timely professional manner. We believe the new website helps us accomplish that goal.”

By the way, you can follow Gray on Twitter here.

Whatever the case, hop on over to our new website, and let us know what you think!

Above, you’ll find the cover of Star Trek #11, published not so long ago in 1990. As you can see, the story continues the story entitled “The Trial of James T. Kirk” which, we assume, was an eventful proceeding. To be honest, we’re not entirely certain what is occurring on the cover (which depicts what appears to be a futuristic courtroom). We’re particularly confused about the gentleman espousing curious dialogue and wearing what appears to be a 20th century suit. Oh, well. We assume there’s some explanation for all of that, and perhaps some day, we’ll track down this issue and learn for ourselves. But not today, dear readers. Not today.

A former member of Steely Dan has sued, well, Steely Dan, seeking past due royalties.

If you’re into property law, The New York Post had a fascinating piece this week on the tale of a hotel recluse who masterfully negotiated a $17 million buy out to finalize a huge Central Park development.

Philip Bump of The Wire has a fascinating piece on who, legally, owns the rights to the “selfie” photograph taken at The Oscars and heavily promoted by the show’s host, Ellen DeGeneres. You probably saw something about that now famous photograph week (likely because it was impossible to escape in the immediate aftermath of the Oscar broadcast). Bump’s piece is a nice read for law nerds; check it out here.

Whoa! Batman was in Charlotte this week! In fact, the picture depicts the Caped Crusader in a neighborhood very, very near our Charlotte office. Alas, we did not run into Batman that day.

Come on, you know you want to “like” the Abnormal Use Law Blog on Facebook. All you have to do is click here!

As you know, we here at Abnormal Use love writing and blogging, so much so that our editor Jim Dedman is now contributing posts to other online venues.  Recently, his piece, “The Pitfalls of Replying to All,” was published by DRI Today.

We’ve written about selfies, and we’ve even written about ill-advised Facebook posts by lawyers. But today, we discuss the most dreaded technological faux pas of all: the reply to all.

Here’s the first two paragraphs of the article:

During those incredibly busy days all lawyers face, it is important to be mindful of the recipients of any electronic communication. There may be nothing more perilous than the “Reply to All” function on one’s email service; so dangerous is the function that the Wall Street Journal has called it “the button everyone loves to hate.”

Certainly it is now an ancient cliché to exclaim that technology has dramatically transformed the way we practice law. Owing to the daily advances in technology, courts and state bars continue to address emails and broader digital communications. For instance, in October, the North Carolina Bar Council issued a formal ethics opinion, the 2012 Formal Ethics Opinion 7, to address the issue of whether a lawyer commits an ethical breach if he or she, in response to a missive from opposing counsel, “replies to all” when that lawyer knows that the opposing counsel’s client was copied on the original email. The North Caroling Bar Council found that this “reply all” may not be an ethical breach, but that it is based on a fact intensive, totality of the circumstances analysis. In essence, the Bar Council found that “the fact that a lawyer copies his own client on an electronic communication does not, in and of itself, constitute implied consent to a ‘reply to all’ responsive electronic communication”). See id. In so doing, the Bar Council noted, “The fact that Lawyer B copies her own client on the electronic communication to which Lawyer A is replying, standing alone, does not permit Lawyer A to ‘reply all.’ While Rule 4.2(a) does not specifically provide that the consent of the other lawyer must be ‘expressly’ given, the prudent practice is to obtain express consent. Whether consent may be ‘implied’ by the circumstances requires an evaluation of all of the facts and circumstances surrounding the representation, the legal issues involved, and the prior communications between the lawyers and their clients.” See id.

For the full article, please see here.

Rest in peace, Harold Ramis, the famed comedian, Ghostbuster, and director of Groundhog Day, one of our favorite, favorite films. Above, you’ll find the cover of The Real Ghostbusters #180, published way, way back in the halcyon days of 1991. Pictured prominently on the cover is Dr. Egon Spengler, the character immortalized by Ramis in the film. (Note: The character of Spengler has his own Wikipedia entry, which you can read here.). Like many in our generation, we first encountered Ramis in Ghostbusters, one of the biggest films of 1984. Those were the days. But it was 1993’s Groundhog Day that was his masterpiece. Has any comedy ever captured the existential dilemmas of life so well? We think not.

Friend of the blog and Georgia lawyer Michael Scaljon put it this way:

Whether as a writer, director or actor, Harold Ramis touched many people’s lives with a sense of humor that was both subversive and sweet for over three decades.  There aren’t many comedians, comedic actors or writers with a success rate quite like his.  That’s the most amazing thing, not that he was funny, but that he was really funny for a really long time, and without ego.  His passing sucks.

Indeed. For another good Egon related comic book cover, please see here.

Friend of the blog Jill Wieber Lens, a law professor at Baylor University, has published a new article on products liability issues.  Specifically, the article discusses the post-sale duty to warn and how the version of same that most states have adopted is likely a burden to small businesses.  If you’re interested, please take a look here. You might recall that we have interviewed Professor Lens not once but twice, first here in December 2010 and again here in September 2013.

Don’t forget! You can follow the Abnormal Use law blog on Facebook here and on Twitter here!

Above, you’ll find the cover of Batman Annual #1, published not so long ago in 2012. “Featuring The Torment Of Mr. Freeze!” the cover proclaims, and after last week’s snowpacalypse, we can relate. Sure, our neighbors to the North can chuckle about our inability in the Carolinas to cope with frozen inclement weather. But we’re not used to such things. Cut us some slack!

Our friend Kevin Underhill of the Lowering The Bar blog has been chronicling the tale of Kayla Finley, a South Carolina citizen who was arrested recently for allegedly failing to return her rented copy of Monster in Law to her local video store . The interesting point: The arrest occurred in 2014, the alleged offense occurred nine years before in 2005. (Cue your favorite VHS joke.). Well, Kevin is continuing to chronicle the saga of this ordeal, so please see his posts here, here, and here for more information. And remember, be kind and rewin.

If you practice in Charlotte, Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, you might be interested in this bit of news from the local bar:

As of the term beginning March 3, 2014, the weekly clean up calendar for Mecklenburg County District Civil Court 6330 will move from 10:30 am on Mondays to 2 pm on Fridays.  The clean up calendar will be conducted in courtroom 6330 by the Trial Court Administrator’s Office, without a judge presiding.

There’s more news from Charlotte. According to The Charlotte Observer, Charlotte may be getting Google Fiber. Way, way back in March of 2010, we wrote about Greenville, South Carolina’s attempt to woo Google to bring Google Fiber to that city. To revisit that story, and see the amazing photographs of the accompanying publicity stunt, please see here and here.

We must confess that we have been negligent of late in failing to link the Drug and Device Law blog’s Steve McConnell’s wonderful post about The Beatles and the Sixth Circuit. Just go to that post now and enjoy it; it is full of Beatles references and song titles. He even managed to throw “Helter Skelter” in there!

Rest in peace, Devo guitarist Bob Casale.

Here we are again on Presidents Day (or, as the federal government officially refers to it, Washington’s Birthday).  As we once noted on this festive occasion:

5 U.S.C.A. § 6103(a) sets forth that today, the third Monday in February, is Washington’s Birthday, and thus, a legal public holiday. George Washington was born on February 21, 1732 (although confusingly, under the old calendar in effect at the time of his birth, he was actually born on February 11, 1731). Perhaps that’s an issue that will be litigated someday.

Above, for this special day, you’ll find the cover of George Washington: The Rise of America’s First President #1. Pretty cool, eh?