Depicted above is the cover of Showcase #44, published way, way back in 1963. That issue was dedicated to the exploits of Tommy Tomorrow of the Planeteers who, at that point, was apparently “wanted for treason.” Treason is apparently a popular crime for comic book super heros. Here’s our question, though: If all the other inmates are wearing traditional prison garb, why does Tommy Tomorrow get to wear his own costume while in custody? No fair! In fact, this is an issue that seems to come up again and again. What gives?

Gallivan, White & Boyd, P.A.’s own Jennifer Johnsen recently published a new article on the Metropolitan Corporate Counsel website offering insights into how in-house counsel should protect their directors and officers in a “5 o’clock bombshell” lawsuit. To read the article, entitled “D&O Insurance In The Dodd-Frank Era: What You Need To Know To Protect Your Directors And Officers,” please click here (PDF).

In case you weren’t aware, most courts here in Charlotte, North Carolina will be closed during the week of the Democratic National Convention.  Quite frankly, of all the DNC related happenings, we’re more concerned about the special Foo Fighters “Rock the Vote” concert, which they say sold out in eight seconds. Wow.

Did you know that you can follow our writer and contributor, Stuart Mauney, on Twitter? Just yesterday, he authored a post on a 76 year old road trip to Texas which, of course, does not have much to do with products liability. But, we’re not just litigators here, we’re also storytellers and chroniclers of the human experience. So, to follow him on Twitter, simply click here.

Depicted above is the cover of Batman: Gotham City Police Department #2, published not so long ago in the halcyon days of 1996.  The cover is dominated by Harvey Bullock, a controversial Gotham City detective.  We know that citizens maintain certain rights when confronted by a police officer. There are many, many criminal procedure law blogs out there that explain these rights to citizens and other lawyers alike. But based on Detective Bullock’s Wikipedia entry, we’re going to stay clear of him and not invoke any legalisms in his presence. We’re too scared. Unless Batman’s around, we guess. But he’s pretty scary, too, no?

According to news reports, there may not be any hot coffee lawsuits against McDonald’s in Mumbai for a while. That’s because the franchise has run out of beans!

This week, we discussed the viral firestorm that has befallen Progressive Insurance Company after one man claimed it “defended his sister’s killer in court” over a UIM claim. (We still maintain that the whole ordeal is premised on a fundamental misunderstanding of the role of UIM insurance and claims over same.). Since that time, news about the underlying trial has come to light. As we expected, at issue was the alleged contributory negligence of the man’s sister. Despite testimony from the police department’s accident reconstructionist and other witnesses that the sister ran a red light, the jury found her not to be negligent. The estate was awarded $760k in damages, but there is still no news on the limits of Progressive’s UIM policy. We will keep you posted as more information surfaces, as it appears that everyone on the Internet is still talking about this one.

Did you know that you can follow our fearless leader, Mills Gallivan, on Twitter? To do so, simply click here.

“Treason punishable by Gaalak,” proclaims the cover of Coneheads #4, published not so long ago in 1994 in conjunction with the previous year’s film of the same name. Treason, of course, is a crime, and our own U.S. Constitution establishes an evidentiary standard for treason prosecutions. We wonder if the planet Remulak similarly requires the testimony of two witnesses to convict a treason defendant. Perhaps, in this issue, the careful reader may discover the answer to that question, But then again, perhaps not, as how many readers of 18 year old Coneheads comics are that careful?

The most recent issue of the Greenville County Bar Association’s newsletter contains a reprint of our editor Jim Dedman’s recent post on the benefits of local bar membership. Check out page 7 of the PDF!

GWB lawyers Childs Cantey Thrasher and John T. Lay recently published an article titled “Potential Liability for Attorneys Engaging Co-counsel and Referrals” in the most recent addition of the International Association of Defense Counsel (IADC) newsletter.  The article discusses professional liability claims against attorneys using outside counsel and initiatives to avoid these claims.  Click here to read the full article in PDF.

Speaking of firm news, Stuart Mauney, a GWB lawyer and a frequent guest contributor here, has been re-elected to serve another two year term representing the 13th Judicial Circuit in the South Carolina Bar House of Delegates. Oh, and if you want to follow Stuart on Twitter, you can access his account here.

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

Who can resist a comic book story entitled “The Death of Superman”? Depicted above is the 1997 graphic novel collecting various issues of assorted Superman titles originally published in 1995 and 1996. We’d never heard of this proceeding, certainly one that could compete for the coveted “trial of the century” moniker. Wikipedia summarizes the story as follows:

Weakened after a titanic battle with the monstrous villain Parasite, Superman inexplicably finds himself shackled and under arrest by a group of intergalactic officers. Taken to another galaxy, the Man of Steel has his powers negated and is instantly put on trial by a fearsome alien tribunal. Discovering that one of his relatives contributed to the annihilation of the Kryptonian race, Superman is found guilty of the crime due to ancestry and sentenced to death. Now with his powers depleted and the jury in, Superman, with the help of Superboy, Steel, Eradictor, Supergirl, Alpha Centurion, and a mysterious fellow prisoner called Mope must find a way to escape his sentence before his execution; but the alien tribunal has enlisted the help of the Cyborg Hank Henshaw to prevent Superman from escaping due punishment.

We’re not sure what rules of procedure would apply in that setting, but we bet Superman found his way out of that situation somehow.

Congratulations are in order! Our own John T. Lay was elected as a new member to the International Association of Defense Counsel (IADC) Board of Directors at their Annual Meeting in July. For more information, please see here.

“So what if they probably let a guilty man go free?” writes Mike D’Angelo of The Onion A.V. Club in a piece entitled “Did 12 Angry Men get it wrong?” Very interesting reading, that.

Above, you’ll find the cover of Superman #700, published not so long ago in 2010.  We showcase this cover today because this, today’s installment of Friday Links, is our 700th post here at Abnormal Use. Can you believe that? We’re shocked ourselves.

You know what this means.

We occasionally, well, perhaps more than occasionally, pause to reflect upon our place in the world when we reach such milestones. Back in May of 2010, we remarked upon our very first milestone: 100 posts. Way later, in November of 2011, we celebrated the occasion of our 500th post.  We’ve even held parties for ourselves on our first and second blog birthdays. You know how we are.

Some would say 700 is not an appropriate number for recognition. Perhaps we should have waited until we reached 750, or even 1000 posts, to pat ourselves on the back as we do today. However, to anyone who says that, we must note that Superman never reached issue 750, so what comic book cover would we have used if we waited until that point? So there’s that issue.

Of course, this enterprise would simply not be possible without the support of our firm, Gallivan, White, & Boyd, P.A.. But the real heroes are our lawyer writers: Frances Zacher, Nick Farr, Rob Green, and Steve Buckingham. Week in, and week out, they submit thoughtful and funny posts to the site. Each of them offers a different voice and a unique perspective on the legal issues of the day. As friend of the blog Tony the Tiger would say, “They’re great!” (And yes, we too are surprised that this is the first time we’ve quoted a cartoon cereal mascot).

We also have you, our dear readers, to thank for reaching this milestone. In the two and a half years we’ve been doing this blogging thing, we’ve enjoyed your comments and your friendship. We’ll see you again at 1,000 posts!

Lois Lane and Superman have a troubled relationship, it seems. Superman has cross-examined her during a lie detector test in a murder case, confronted her in jail and secured a confession of some sort, and accused her of murdering Lana Lang while Lois sat on the witness stand in a courtroom. Above, on the cover of Superman’s Girlfriend Lois Lane #84, published way, way back in 1968, we see a bit more of the same. “Superman! Identify Me! Tell him I’m Loise Lane . . . your friend,” she exclaims from her jail cell.  Superman replies: “Officer, I give you my word of honor this girl is a dangerous criminal. She must be imprisoned for life!” These two have serious problems.

A Southwestern University law professor has authored an article entitled “Jay-Z’s 99 Problems, Verse 2: A Close Reading With Fourth Amending Guidance For Cops and Perps” about the famous rap song. We direct that prof to our compilation of songs about lawyers.  (Hat Tip: Gawker).

As we we all know, lawyers thrive on caffeine, so check out this advertisement for coffee – from the year 1652. (Hat Tip: Walter Olson).

Once again, we return to the topic of My Cousin Vinny, that movie of movies. In an interview with Will Harris of The Onion AV Club, Ralph Macchio, the actor who played the title character’s cousin and client, shares some memories of that role.  Published earlier this week, the piece includes these thoughts from Macchio:

We all knew it was a funny script, and obviously Joe Pesci was at a peak there, with Goodfellas and everything going on. And Marisa [Tomei]… Who knew she would be the spectacular talent she is? I mean, we knew when we saw her, but who knew that was going to be an Oscar-winning performance? And Fred Gwynne… The whole cast was great. I had the part that was the least funny, but I had to be in the movie. And I got to say “the two yoots.” [Laughs.] People yell that out to me. I could walk down the street today, and someone could yell that out. That, and “I shot the clerk.” But it’s great to have a couple of those. My Cousin Vinny, The Outsiders, The Karate Kid… When I look back at that time, any one of those, you’d be happy with. So I got pretty lucky.

You can see our earlier My Cousin Vinny twentieth anniversary coverage here.

Lastly, be  honest, dear readers. How many of you are actually at work today, and how many skipped to go see The Dark Knight Rises?

Oh, no! It’s Friday the 13th! Yikes! We shouldn’t even bother writing today due to fearful superstition. But intrepid bloggers that we are, we shall persevere. So, above, you’ll find not a comic book, but the movie poster for Friday The 13th, Part II, released way, way back in May of 1981. By the way, there are a series of Friday the 13th comic books, based on the films, but their covers were far, far too violent to post on a family friendly products liability blog such as ours. Trust us. (By the way, we’ve mentioned Friday the 13th, the day, not the film, previously on Friday Links, but we don’t think we’ve dedicated an image to it before today.).

Friend of the blog Max Kennerly of the Litigation and Trial blog responded to our earlier post this week on food product warnings. In so doing, Max, a Plaintiff’s lawyer, contends that we “said something careless.”  Ouch. To see Max’s full post, click here.

Our old friend Professor Alberto Bernabe of The John Marshall Law School in Chicago and the Torts blog discusses the recent Farias case from the 11th Circuit. That’s the one on bilingual product warnings. You’ll recall that we blogged about it here. In the past, we’ve had a back and forth discussion with Professor Bernabe on these issues, and he’s collected a series of links in his post to those discussions.

Whoa! We made last week’s Legal Blog Watch! Click here to take a look at that!

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

It’s been a while since we mentioned She-Hulk, the lawyer superhero. Above, you’ll see the cover of She-Hulk #8, published not so long ago in 2004.  Note that She-Hulk, clad in her lawyer attire and carrying her law books, finds herself on a crowded elevator with a number of heroes, including Howard the Duck and Matt Murdock (a blind lawyer who moonlights as the superhero Daredevil). We wonder if the occupants of that elevator are all traveling to She-Hulk’s law office as a part of the same case. If so, that is some litigation we would like to see.  (To see our previous coverage of She-Hulk, please see here, here, here, and here.).

Happy birthday to Walter Olson’s Overlawyered blog, which turns 13 years old this week, if you can believe it. Let us tell you something: that is quite an accomplishment. In fact, we here at Abnormal Use were early readers of Overlawyered, and we can remember perusing its pages in the law school library in 2000. We wish Walter and the site our most sincere congratulations, and we must confess that we are now looking forward to our own site’s 13th birthday in January 2023.

It’s been a big week here at Abnormal Use and Gallivan, White, & Boyd, P.A. with us adding not one but two new partners into the mix in South Carolina.  We’d like to welcome Todd R. Davidson to our Greenville office and Curtis Ott to our Columbia office. Todd, with 23 years as a transactional attorney, joins our office’s Business and Commercial Group, while Curtis, with 20 years of experience litigating commercial, transportation and product liability cases, joins our Litigation Group.

We hope and trust that you had a fine and fun Fourth of July holiday this past week (despite the challenge of having the holiday fall on a weekday rather than the weekend!). To keep the celebration going, we direct you to The Charlotte Observer’s collection of photographs of the fireworks display from downtown Charlotte, North Carolina this past Wednesday evening. It was something to see. Check it out!

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

Behold, the cover of Archie #618, published not so long ago in 2011. Note that Archie, somehow transplanted back in history to the days of Robin Hood and Sherwood Forest, is now “Robbing Arch” and a wanted criminal to boot. Here’s our question: The wanted poster is affixed to a tree, and the only thing holding it to the tree is an arrow, which must have been shot at a distance. Who was the guy who was holding the poster to the tree waiting for the arrow to be shot into it? Wouldn’t a hammer and nail have been far, far easier?

Apparently the U.S. Supreme Court released some big opinion yesterday. Here it is, if you haven’t read it yet.

Music writer Caryn Rose of the Jukebox Graduate blog and the Backstreets magazine reflects on the one year anniversary of the death of Clarence Clemons, famed saxophone player for Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band.  Our own obituary, published in June 2011, can be found here.

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

Behold, the cover of Showcase #96, published by DC Comics way, way back in 1978.  This issue of the series focused on the Doom Patrol, one of whom’s members, Negative Woman a/k/a Valentina Vostock, faces arrest on the cover. “Your team can call it quits, Robotman . . . Valentina Vostock is under arrest,” proclaims someone who must be a state actor of some sort. Now, Ms. Vostock was a Soviet defector, so maybe there is some late 1970’s Cold War era politics going on here, but this is still more than a decade after Miranda. You’d think Robotman could at least raise that issue with the arresting officer. Thanks for nothing, Robotman.

Here is a funny tweet about courtroom sketch artists.

Colin Miller of the EvidenceProf Blog remarks upon Adam Sandler. And Adam Sandler litigation. And litigation with similar themes to Adam Sandler films. Read it here. (Oh, and if you haven’t seen Red Letter Media’s ultra harsh video review of Sandler’s Jack and Jill, you’re missing out. Really, seriously, you should check out that movie review.).

The always great Letters of Note blogs publishes the famous 1988 legal letter from Laramie, Wyoming attorney Becky Klemt to a California lawyer who asked for a $100,000 retainer and a $1,000 per hour rate to collect a partially unsatisified judgment of $4,239.84.  If you’ve not read Klemt’s letter, please do so, as you can’t help but enjoy it.

William K. Berenson, a Plaintiff’s lawyer blogging at the Fort Worth Injury Lawyer Blog, offers “McDonald’s Hot Coffee Case: Bet You Didn’t Know That . . . .” (Warning: A graphic image of Stella Liebeck’s burn injuries is embedded in the entry.).