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Thursday, December 12, 2002
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The Husain case
There is nothing in the news today about this 9th Circuit decision (PDF). Only the weblog universe mentions it. The Court Cases site has a very informative writeup based on the trial verdict ($700,000 for plaintiff after reduction for comparative negligence), explaining how a man was killed by second-hand smoke in an airliner and how a gross dereliction of duty on the part of flight attendants materially contributed to this result.
The 9th Circuit opinion includes an interesting analysis of the term "accident" as used in the Warsaw Convention. In essence, the court concluded that the negligence of a flight attendant constitutes an "accident" and that the death did not occur as a result of "internal reactions to the usual, normal, and expected operation of the aircraft", the standard established in other cases. The comparison of this factual situation to others denying compensation (for such physical ailments as hiatal hernia and heart attack) is of interest.
Also intriguing is the interplay between the finding of an "accident", essential to permit liability, and the finding of "willful misconduct", needed to avoid the otherwise-applicable limit of $75,000 under the Convention. In most factual situations familiar to litigators, these terms are mutually exclusive. An occurrence is either accidental, a result of negligence, or the result of willful misconduct, usually characterized as either recklessness or an intentional act. It is a little disconcerting to see a particular episode fit both definitions.
Just because it's the 9th Circuit doesn't mean that it is necessarily wrong each and every time.
11:10:18 PM
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Timing is everything
George W. Bush, today:
"Any suggestion that the segregated past was acceptable or positive is offensive and it is wrong. Recent comments by Senator Lott do not reflect the spirit of our country. He has apologized, and rightly so."
An excellent comment. Would that he had said it on Sunday.
10:45:13 PM
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New Lott revelation
The new revelation today is that Lott was in the forefront of resistance to integration of the Sigma Nu fraternity in the 1960s.
This one does not bother me too much -- considered on its own. Many of our political leaders, including Thurmond, Hollings, Helms, Byrd and Miller, asserted positions against the civil rights movement in the 1960s but did not continue to espouse them in later life. Whether they overtly repudiated segregation and racism (very few), or simply quietly left their earlier positions behind (most), they no longer embrace those long-reviled attitudes.
Even George Wallace, the most prominent of the several defiantly segregationist Southern governors (Democrats, every one of 'em) abandoned these positions later in life, and enjoyed surprisingly widespread black support, as noted by the Washington Post in its 1998 obituary:
In 1982, he ran for governor a fourth time. In a watershed moment, he admitted that he had been wrong about "race" all along. He was elected by a coalition represented by blacks, organized labor and forces seeking to advance public education. In that race, he carried all 10 of the state's counties with a majority black population, nine of them by a better than two-to-one margin.
5:19:49 PM
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Problems with Radio
In contrast to Blogger, Radio has been stable and reliable -- for the most part. For the last two or three days, though, upstreaming has been delayed for many hours. The last item, for instance, was posted yesterday morning, but still is not up by this morning.
8:24:32 AM
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© Copyright
2003
Franco Castalone.
Last update:
1/6/2003; 11:31:59 PM.
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