Above, you’ll find the cover of Superboy #90, published way, way back in 1961.  With all this talk of surveillance and privacy in the news these days, we feel compelled to share this issue, which features Lana Lang using a “time-telescope” to spy on future Superman and Lois Lane. “This horrid time-telescope which looks into the future!” Lana exclaims to herself. “It reveals that when Superboy grows up into Superman, he’ll forget me for that reporter, Lois Lane. I’d better do something about it now!” The question: Would the images set forth on the time telescope be admissible in a court of law? We doubt it.

The former members of the historic punk group Black Flag are suing each other. Those are some depositions we’d like to see.  For more, read here.

Adam Davidson of The New York Times had an interesting piece recently on the practice of keeping and billing time. Of course, it goes back to lawyers. An excerpt:

The notion of charging by units of time was popularized in the 1950s, when the American Bar Association was becoming alarmed that the income of lawyers was falling precipitously behind that of doctors (and, worse, dentists). The A.B.A. published an influential pamphlet, “The 1958 Lawyer and His 1938 Dollar,” which suggested that the industry should eschew fixed-rate fees and replicate the profitable efficiencies of mass-production manufacturing. Factories sold widgets, the idea went, and so lawyers should sell their services in simple, easy-to-manage units. The A.B.A. suggested a unit of time — the hour — which would allow a well-run firm to oversee its staff’s productivity as mechanically as a conveyor belt managed its throughput. This led to generations of junior associates working through the night in hopes of making partner and abusing the next crop. It was adopted by countless other service professionals, including accountants.

Friend of the blog Walter Olson, himself of the Overlawyered blog, had a letter to the editor published in The Washington Post. Check it out.

Here’s a warning label on one company’s football helmet: “No helmet system can protect you from serious brain and/or neck injuries including paralysis or death. To avoid these risks, do not engage in the sport of football.” How about that? For more on that label, see this piece at the ABA Journal by Debra Cassens Weiss.

Finally, don’t forget that today is THE LAST DAY to submit your nominations to the ABA Journal for its Blawg 100 competition. For information on how to submit, see here.

Above, you’ll find the cover of Kid Eternity #16, published way, way back in 1949.  Note that Kid Eternity, apparently, “helps balance the scales of justice.” But what the heck is going on in the cover? Apparently, he doesn’t just metaphorically balance the scales of justice, he literally does it! Here’s what Wikipedia has to say about this hero:

The Kid was originally a nameless boy (who only ever remembered being called ‘Kid’ by his ‘Gran’pa’) who was killed when a U-Boat sank his grandfather’s fishing boat during World War II. Due to a supernatural mix-up, however, he was killed 75 years too soon (similar to the plot of the 1941 film Here Comes Mr. Jordan) at the time.To rectify the error, the Kid was brought back to life for another 75 years with the mission of upholding good in the world. He was given the power to summon any good historical or mythological figure or animal by saying the word “Eternity” as well as to use the same word to make himself material or immaterial and invisible. Kid Eternity was further assisted on his duties by the clerk who’d made the error, Mr. Keeper. He is sometimes shown summoning fictional figures, like Jean Valjean or the Witches in Macbeth. In Kid Eternity #2 he shows time travel ability.

Those are some pretty odd powers, we must say.

No fair! Taylor Swift now apparently knows the identify of the person who inspired Carly Simon’s “You’re So Vain.”

Without a doubt, the grossest news story of July is this one. The headline: “Flesh-eating maggots discovered in vacationing woman’s ear.”  Be forewarned. We read it earlier this week, and we’re still recovering. Can we sue anyone for mental anguish?

Lastly, Kristopher Tapley of Hitfix, in a prescient tweet, foresees the future of products liability litigation. Here we go again.

Today sees the release of The Wolverine, the latest Marvel Comics movie blockbuster (once again featuring Hugh Jackman as the title character).  We’re torn over whether to see it after the disaster that was 2009’s X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Above, you’ll find the cover of Wolverine #2, published way, way back in the golden age of X-Men comics in 1982. (Yes, we bought this issue and enjoyed it back in the 1980’s.). Though not legally themed (and thus, technically off topic for Friday Links), nostalgia prompts us to post this cover in light of the release of a major motion picture featuring the same character. Don’t worry; it’s okay to go off topic sometimes.

Sigh: “Why do people think the lady who sued McDonald’s over hot coffee is dumb?”  Once again, we direct everyone’s attention to Abnormal Use’s “Stella Liebeck McDonald’s Hot Coffee Case FAQ,” in which we used the original documents from the case and contemporary media accounts to dispel the myths about the case.

Meanwhile: “There seems to be something inherently sad attached to piano bars.

Meanwhile, in movie lawsuit news, we direct you to this article from Austinist entitled “Terrence Malick Can’t Be Bothered With Your Lawsuit.” Malick, of course, is the famed director of Days of Heaven, The Thin Red Line, and Badlands.

Speaking of movies, this is the coolest (and scariest) movie trailers we’ve seen in some time. (Hat tip: Shaun Usher).

Above, you’ll find the cover of Manhunter #21, published not so long ago in the halcyon days of 2006.  We see Kate Spencer, Manhunter’s alter ego, with her costume falling from her briefcase.  Get this! She’s an Assistant United States Attorney by day.  Here’s an excerpt from her character biography on Wikipedia:

Kate Spencer is a federal prosecutor who grows increasingly tired of seeing guilty criminals evade punishment. Copperhead, a supervillain on trial for multiple murders and cannibalism, avoids a death sentence and escapes from custody after killing two guards. An angry Kate takes matters into her own hands, stealing equipment from an evidence room and killing Copperhead. Calling herself Manhunter, Kate blackmails a former weapons manufacturer for numerous villains named Dylan Battles — who is in the Witness Protection Program — into building, maintaining, and upgrading her armor, weapons, and gadgets.

How about that?

Via his Twitter account, our own Stuart Mauney directs us to this article, entitled “Epidemic of Depressed Lawyers!“, by trucking lawyer Mark Perkins. As you may recall, Stuart has written on similar topics right here at Abnormal Use. In fact, not too long ago, Stuart served as the Chair of the SC Bar HELP Task Force, educating lawyers and judges about substance abuse and mental health issues in the legal profession. If you’d like to follow him on Twitter to learn more about these or other legal issues, you can do so here.

More evidence that Susan Saladoff’s “Hot Coffee” documentary is having an effect on the population. Sigh.

Don’t forget! You can follow Abnormal Use on Twitter here and on Facebook here! Drop us a line!

Behold! The cover of Criminals on the Run #4, published way, way back in 1948! This cover is only tangentially related to the law, but it does depict felons in flight. However, since last night saw the television premiere of Sharknado, we had to find a comic book cover with a shark on the cover.  We just had to.

Whoa, yesterday’s post was our 950th in our blog’s history. That’s a lot of posts. Just saying.

We have news from friend of the blog Alberto Bernabe. Here is the relevant excerpt from a missive we received on his behalf:

For those of you who follow Alberto Bernabe’s Professional Responsibility blog, Alberto asked us to let you know that if you want to continue to get the updates by e-mail you will need to subscribe again.  Last night the “feed” that automatically generates the e-mail updates stopped sending e-mails to registered users.  Please take a moment to visit his blog and sign up again for the e-mail update.   If you have any questions or concerns please feel free to e-mail Alberto directly at abernabe@jmls.edu.

And you know what? If you’re not familiar with Professor Bernabe or his blog, check them out!

With respect to this news, all we can say is ouch.

Above, you’ll find the cover of Police Comics #7, published way, way back in the 1940’s. You may recognize Plastic Man prominently depicted on its cover. However, we bring this issue to your attention due to the presence of one of the heroes showcased on the comics left sidebar: #711. Get this: By day, #711 was a lawyer, and a district attorney to boot! Here’s what Wikipedia has to say about him:

Daniel Dyce was a District Attorney who was almost an exact twin of his friend, Jacob Horn. Jacob was in prison, but wanted to see his wife give birth, so Daniel agreed to become a prisoner while Jacob was with his wife. However, Jacob is killed in a car crash on the way to the hospital, so Daniel was stuck in jail. Daniel was able to tunnel himself free, but instead of escaping, he decided to return to his cell. Each night he uses his tunnel to go outside and fight crime, then returns before the morning. Dyce adopts the name #711, a reference to his prisoner number. After two years of adventures Daniel Dyce was killed by the mobster Oscar Jones. The hero Destiny sees this take place, and starts his crime fighting career when #711 died, replacing his feature in Police Comics.

How about that?

Oh, my goodness! There’s a Third Amendment claim being made in litigation!

The folks at Reddit are now discussing the infamous Stella Liebeck McDonald’s hot coffee case. We’ve talked about that case a time or two, we think. Haven’t we?

FYI: The new clerk of court for the U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina is Robin L. Blume.

And the award for worst copyright lawsuit of the years is already decided, apparently.

The founder of the rock band Boston must pay his opponent’s costs in his unsuccessful defamation lawsuit. “More Than A Feeling,” indeed.

“All rise for Marge Simpson, TV’s Latest Judge!” Above, you’ll find the cover of Simpsons Comics #64, published not so long ago in 2001 (which seems a bit late, actually, to parody the TV judge thing). That said, we wouldn’t mind appearing before Judge Simpson, although perhaps not for a dispositive motion hearing. That would be too risky, we think. Oh, well.

Reports The Huffington Post: “A $675,000 verdict against a former Boston University student who illegally downloaded and shared songs on the Internet has been upheld.” Wow.

In Tennessee, the war on bacon-infused liquor has begun in earnest. (Hat tip: Radley Balko).

For a sad story in Buncombe County, North Carolina in 1883, please see here.

If you are a fan of HBO’s “Game of Thrones,” or the books upon which they are based, this flowchart is for you.

Above, you’ll find the cover of COPS #1, published way, way back in 1988.  “Fighting Crime in a Future Time,” proclaims the cover, although we suspect that the constitutional case law must have evolved in the future, as the cops appear to be recklessly and indiscriminately shooting up their jurisdiction.  This comic series, of course, was a tie-in with an animated television series of the same name, which was itself essentially a weekly commercial for a Hasbro line of toys produced during the late 1980’s. Those were the days.

There are process servers, and there are process servers.  We often write about the law, and we sometimes write about music. But we’ve never heard of a musician being served with process while on stage performing a concert.  For more on this unusual story (including video of the service in question), please see here. It’s a sight to see.

So, did everyone see Man of Steel this past week? Any thoughts? (We’ve still not yet seen it. Alas.).

Martha Neil of the ABA Journal asks: “Did Superman have a legal duty to save lives?”  Beware, the article contains Man of Steel spoilers.

This is our 936th post, by the way. Can you believe that?

Above, you’ll find the cover of Man of Steel #1, the famed Superman reboot by John Byrne published way, way back in 1986.  (If you can believe it, at least of our Abnormal Use writers here bought that issue the very day it was released, although we bet you can’t guess which one of us it was.). Although the cover is not legally themed, we’re bringing this to your attention today because Man of Steel, the 2013 movie reboot of the Superman franchise, opens today. We trust you’ll see it. Friend of the blog Ryan Steans of The Signal Watch caught the midnight showing last night.  He’s the world’s foremost Superman fan, and his preliminary, presumably spoiler-laden thoughts can be found here. We can’t bring ourselves to read his review until after we’ve seen the movie ourselves. But we’ll keep you posted.

The law nerd in you will need to read this amusing Amazon.com review of the latest edition of The Blue Book. (Hat tip: Stephen Dillard).

How long has it been since you’ve read the Abnormal Use mission statement, published in January of 2010?

Something tells us that the confinement depicted above on the cover of Ghosts #76 may constitute cruel and unusual punishment. We’re just saying. (Note: This issue was published way, way back in 1979).

From The Hollywood Reporter: “10 Celebrity Courtroom Hairdos (and Don’ts).” How many of them can you guess before you actually click on the link to confirm? Yes, yes, everyone will get Phil Spector, so don’t feel too special for identifying that one.

Can it be true? A 1990’s nostalgia cable channel is in the works? We cannot tell you how long we’ve waited for such a development. Well, since the 1990’s.

Celebrities no longer immune to litigation or the threat thereof: Pee Wee Herman and Stone Temple Pilots. Is nothing sacred?

Whoa! Our story on the South Carolina witch house case got picked up by The Volokh Conspiracy.

Tiger Lawyer #3 is on the way, apparently. As you might recall, we’ve mentioned the Tiger Lawyer character before here, here, here, and here.

Congratulations to our own Breon Walker, who has been chosen to receive the prestigious Nation’s Best Advocates: 40 Lawyers Under 40 award presented by the National Bar Association (NBA) and IMPACT.  This award recognizes distinguished attorneys within the African American legal community who have earned the highest level of respect and distinction in their legal practice through unrelenting dedication to their profession and community. Walker joined GWB as an associate in 2011 and became a partner in 2013.