News Summary
Tougher sentences for dangerous dog offences
A tougher approach to the way those convicted of dangerous dog offences are treated by the courts is contained in a new guideline from the Sentencing Council published today.
Sentencing Council
Drug addict jailed for stealing elderly woman's wedding ring
Nellie Holliday who had cancer was left 'absolutely distraught' after her neighbour broke in and took her ring off her finger
Guardian
NHS reform risk report veto is sign of freedom of information downgrade, says watchdog
Blocking the publication of a report into the risks of NHS reforms is a sign that ministers want to downgrade freedom of information laws, a watchdog has warned.
Independent
Lie-catching and Deception Detection
Being able to detect deceit is critical in the civil and criminal justice systems as well as in many clinical and applied settings. We all know, however, how difficult this can be.
PI Brief Update
South Belfast dog owner fined over attacks
A Belfast woman has been fined £300 and ordered to pay £600 compensation after her dog attacked two children.
PI Brief Update (Photo of dog bite by Nicor)
Eight PI brands dominate web searches
With the likes of National Accident Helpline and Irwin Mitchell leading the way.
PI Brief Update
And finally…
Push to add drama
A TV company place a big red push button in a Flemish town with the text "Push to add drama". The results are hilarious!
YouTube
Sacha baron-Cohen's 20 best lines
The Telegraph provide a round-up of some of the best lines from the creator of Ali G
Telegraph
LA Slaps Speed Limit On 'Bombing' Skateboards
As the new "Bombing" hype gains popularity on the streets of California, authorities have been doing all they can to prevent impending disasters caused by this risky fad..
Law Brief Update
Villagers put the brakes on boyracer - by hoisting his souped-up car to the top of a tree
Neighbours driven mad by a boyracer devised the perfect revenge - they hoisted it to the top of a huge willow tree.
The Mirror
Row over cold soup leaves husband stranded in frozen forest for a month
A Russian man found himself stranded in the middle of a forest in sub-zero conditions for over a month after storming out of the house following an argument with his wife over her cooking.
Metro
Best of the blogs
Cookie monster
Chambers are in a panic about their website not complying with cookie laws
BabyBarista
Buy a copy of Law and Peace or read an extract on the Kindle.
Cameron, Hunt and Leveson
David Allan green asks whether David Cameron is playing a dangerous game of roulette by pushing the questions over Hunt towards Leveson
Jack of Kent Blog
Dystopic 2012
Charon QC has a dark poem about modern life and the rat race
Charon QC
Censure of councillor was breach of free speech
Censure for "Sarcastic, lampooning and disrespectful blog" breached councillor's right to free speech
UK Human Rights Blog
No to free legal work
A lawyers answer to a standard request for free legal work
Kerry Underwood
News Summary
Comparison websites 'break the law' over disabled users
Some of the nation's most popular comparison websites have been accused of breaking the law by denying access to more than 12m consumers with disabilities.
The Telegraph (photo by Kenneth Allen)
Queen's Speech: Every email and computer click to be stored in huge expansion of surveillance state
Controversial plans to give police powers to secretly access people's internet browsing history came one step closer today after being unveiled in the Queen's Speech.
Mail Online
Should Yahoo's CEO be fired for lying about degree?
Scott Thompson has finally apologised for falsely claiming in his job application to have a computer science degree, but what should Yahoo, who have had three CEOs in three years, do about it?
CNN
Whiten v St George's Healthcare NHS Trust [2011] EWHC 2066 (QB): Part 2
William Latimer-Sayer continues to highlight some points arising from Swift J's judgment.
PI Brief Update
View from the Claimant camp
Solicitor and legal marketer Carl Waring questions recent coverage which suggests that reforms to the claims industry might in some way reduce road traffic insurance premiums.
PI Brief Update
Whiplash doctors to launch war on injury fraudsters to try and cut rising price of insurance premiums
Justice Secretary Ken Clarke will this week declare war on 'spurious' whiplash injury claims in a bid to force down the cost of rocketing insurance premiums.
PI Brief Update
And finally…
Oz Billionaire To Build Working Titanic Replica
A flamboyant Australian billionaire has ordered a shipyard in China to build him an exact replica of the Titanic.
Sky News
'EcoDogs' enlisted against pythons
Bomb-sniffing dogs trained to help fight terrorism are turning their olfactory attention toward a different scourge: Burmese pythons in Florida's Everglades National Park.
CNews
Founder of GGW demands apology from senator for denying internship
Girls Gone Wild founder Joe Francis wants an apology from Sen. Mark Pryor after the politician called his once-in-a-lifetime internship on Capitol Hill a hoax,
Law Brief Update
MPs Call For Bad Teachers To Be Paid Less
Bad teachers could be paid less under new Government proposals aimed at driving up standards in state education.
Orange
Drunk naked taxi driver smashes into 17 cars in Moscow
A drunk taxi driver was caught naked by police in Moscow following a rampage in which he smashed into 17 cars.
Metro
Best of the blogs
Taxing the poor
Chambers starts to question the principle that senior barristers should subsidise the juniors
BabyBarista
Buy a copy of Law and Peace or read an extract on the Kindle.
A study in good legal blog writing: NightJack by David Allen Green
The extraordinary "NightJack" outing in the Times dissected with precision by lawyer, blogger and journalist David Allen Green.
Charon QC
New report on worldwide human rights and democracy
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office has launched the Human Rights and Democracy- The 2011 Foreign & Commonwealth Office Report, which aims to provide 'a comprehensive look at the human rights work of the Foreign & Commonwealth Office (FCO) around the world in 2011′.
UK Human Rights Blog
Channel 4 News: Expert testimony leading to family breakups
Social Affairs Editor Jackie Long reveals how flawed evidence from experts - including paediatricians and psychiatrists - can result in devastating consequences for families.
Family Lore
Would You Do This To Prevent A Burglar From Entering Your Home?
A tale of the woman who scared off a would-be burglar by acting like a dog.
Legal Juice
News Summary
Aneurin Bevan Health Board fined £70,000 for data breach.
A Welsh health board has become the first NHS body to be fined for breaching the Data Protection Act after it released sensitive data about a patient to the wrong person.
BBC
Secret justice may be needed to hear 'important' drone case, judge suggests
Secret justice proposals may be needed in an "important" case about the Government's intelligence-sharing agreements with the US, a senior judge has suggested for the first time.
Telegraph
Theresa May rebuked over illegally deported asylum seeker
Rare court order calls on home secretary to find and bring back Turkish national and investigate UK Border Agency conduct
Guardian
Child Car Seats and Contributory Negligence
Lawyers for a wrong-doer are never short of ways of ways of pointing the finger of blame elsewhere and Emma Hughes (by Anne Marie Armstrong) v Estate of Dayne Joshua Williams, deceased (Defendant) and Louise Williams (Third Party) [2012] EWHC 1078 was just such a case.
PI Brief Update
Girl injured at birth awarded £11m in compensation
Milly Evans awarded multimillion-pound sum to pay for lifetime care after suffering severe injuries at Lincoln County hospital.
PI Brief Update
Firefighters ordered into evacuated warehouse died needlessly, trial told
Four firefighters who died in a warehouse blaze were sent into an "obviously dangerous situation" for no good reason after the site had been evacuated, a jury has heard.
PI Brief Update
And finally…
Feisty runaway beaver bemuses owner
A runaway beaver who has wreaked havoc for more than three years has finally been caught.
Metro
Girl swallowed by sidewalk
A teenage girl walking on a sidewalk in Xi'an, the capital of the China's northwest Shaanxi Province, fell six metres into a sinkhole.
CNews
Minister claims exempt from traffic tickets
A judge in Edmonton, Canada has rejected a challenge against three traffic tickets launched by a woman who claims that she is exempt from the law and is only bound by God, the Queen of England and the Constitution Act of 1982.
Law Brief Update
Naked biker booked for no helmet
A Romanian policeman pulled over a woman who was riding pillion naked on a motorcycle - and booked her for failing to wear a helmet.
Orange
Traffic Officer Clings On As Bus Speeds Off
A traffic officer in Vietnam has gone the extra mile by clinging onto a bus doing more than 30mph as he tried to issue a ticket.
Sky News
Best of the blogs
With prejudice
Judges don't like having their integrity impugned
BabyBarista
Buy a copy of Law and Peace or read an extract on the Kindle.
Law Review guest post: Careless talk costs jobs...
Over 30 million people in the UK now use Facebook as a way of sharing their lives with friends. But as our attitude towards social networking relaxes, it's easy to forget the comments we post can have serious consequences.
Charon QC
Irrational, inhuman and degrading: detention of a mentally ill asylum-seeker was unlawful
The detention of a mentally ill person in an Immigration Removal Centre (IRC) amounted to inhuman and degrading treatment and false imprisonment, and was irrational, the High Court has ruled.
UK Human Rights Blog
A pointless referendum
Should there be a referendum on reforming the House of Lords?
Heresy Corner
Theft Of $1 Soda Results In Felony Charge
So you're saying that stealing a $1 soda can lead to a felony charge? Well, yes. Here's how, as reported by the Naples Daily News:
Legal Juice
News Summary
Two guilty of £2.3m Olympic authority fraud
Two men have been found guilty of money-laundering charges following a £2.3m fraud against the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA), the Crown Prosecution Service has confirmed.
BBC (picture by Roosterrulez)
Sex attack victims sue cabbie John Worboys and his insurers
Women who were sexually assaulted by cabbie John Worboys are suing him and his vehicle insurers, arguing he used his taxi to attack them.
BBC
Naked men started flat fire in Wiccan ritual to get rid of negative vibes
Two naked men started fires in a flat as part of a pagan ritual to get rid of "negative vibes", a court heard.
Telegraph
Expert Statistical Evidence on Life Expectancy: Cooper v McGann
Tom Gibson discusses whether expert statistical evidence on life expectancy should be allowed, in addition to expert clinical evidence, in high-value personal injury claims.
PI Brief Update
Dangerous dog laws to be widened to cover attacks on private land
Government has promised extra protection to postal workers and others attacked by dogs while lawfully on private property
PI Brief Update
Victims of international terrorist attacks can claim compensation
The victims of six international terrorist attacks can claim compensation from the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority from today, the Ministry of Justice has announced.
PI Brief Update