Lott v Levitt- Tom Knuckles

The legal system of the United States is designed to punish those who have done wrong and help those who feel they have been wronged. Such is the case in the civil trial of Lott v Levitt (37 Media L. Rep. 1257). In this case, the plaintiff, John R. Lott, JR. filed a suit against the defendant, Steven D. Levitt. In his suit, Mr. Lott claimed that Mr. Levitt defamed him in the book Freakonomics. The plaintiff claims the defendant hurt his reputation by referencing his theories in More Guns, Less Crime: Understanding Gun Control Laws, a novel written by the plaintiff. In the book, Mr. Lott contends that by giving more law-abiding citizens guns, the possession and sale of illegal weapons, as well as the number of violent crimes, will decrease. Mr. Levitt states in Freakonomics that based on the findings of other scholars, Mr. Lott’s work is not valid. According to Mr. Lott, Mr. Levitt implies in his book that Mr. Lott falsified his own data and therefore defamed his reputation and subsequently the reputation of his book and findings. As a result of the original suit, Mr. Levitt and the publishers of Freakonomics, HarperCollins, both filed motions to dismiss the suit claiming that the statements were not defamatory, but rather protected under the First Amendment. Both motions were dismissed, so the case went to trial. This specific trial was actually the appeals trial, after the district court originally ruled that Mr. Levitt had not defamed Mr. Lott. In the original trial, both plaintiff and defendant agreed to contest the trial according to Illinois state law. However, upon appealing the decision, Mr. Lott argued that the trial should have ran according to Virginia law, which is where his book was published originally. The appellate court denied this request, stating that he is not allowed to pick whichever state’s laws would give him the better outcome when things don’t go his way the first time. Because of this, the case was tried once again under Illinois law. According to Illinois law, the plaintiff must provide significant evidence that the statement was both false and caused damage to his reputation. Mr. Lott argued in the first trial that the statements made by Mr. Levitt were false and significant enough to damage his reputation, which the district court did not agree with and ruled in favor of Mr. Levitt. However, Mr. Lott once again changed his opinion when he filed for appeal. In the appeals court, Mr. Lott argued that he should be entitled to special damages that he did not reference in the original trial. Once again, the appellate court argued that Mr. Lott was not allowed to simply pick and choose whatever statements would benefit him the most on the second go around. As a result, the appellate court shot down all of Mr. Lott’s new arguments. The appellate court reviewed the district court’s decision based upon the original statements and rules that were given in the first trial, rather than the new, altered statements and rules Mr. Lott proposed. Because of this, the appellate court found no sign of defamation of Mr. Lott by Mr. Levitt, and upheld the district courts decision in favor of Mr. Levitt.

Band Of The Week- 4/25

This week's "Band of the Week" came a little early, but I write the blogs, so I can make the rules. This week its "Minus The Bear." During first semester, I discovered the band by working for WCRD's Music Team. Basically, my job was to listen to music and then decide if it was worth listening to on the radio. Most of the stuff we got would be sub-par demos from below average bands, but every once in awhile we would get a gem of a CD. Such is the case with Minus The Bear's "Omni." The entire album is amazing and it is easily one of the best albums I have listened to in a very long time.

For the sake of time, here is the lone single from the album. Keep in mind that as amazing its this song is, its one of the worse ones on the album. THAT is how good this band is.

You Should Follow Me

After reading Brandon's post about Twitter, I decided to share my two cents on the website. I personally love Twitter. I can find out about my friends, companies, and celebrities all in one place. It also seems to lack the drama and constant fighting that I have recently noticed has been plaguing Facebook.

Long story short, if you have a Twitter, follow me @tcrazyknuckles.

Band Of The Week- 4/20

The band of the week for this week is "Circa Survive."I listened to them a ton when I was younger, but for some reason I kind of just quit. That is until a few days ago. My neighbor, who is a music nut, gives me all sorts of amazing CD's every once in a while and in this last batch was Circa Survive's newest album "Blue Sky Noise." I listened to it and was completely blown away. Since that point, I have not listened to anything else. Every single song is amazing and so beautifully done.

Here is my personal favorite song on the album (not to say that every song isn't good.)

Tonight...

Tonight shall be interesting to say the least. It is the ATΩ formal so I'm expecting things to get a wee bit crazy. Let's hope no one dies....

The Band of the Week- April 13th

I don't really know why I didn't think of this earlier. Since I'm so into music, I figured I might as well share some of my personal favorites. From now on, I am going to share with you a new band every Wednesday. Today's band: CLUTCH.

These guys are nowhere "new" but that doesn't mean they aren't awesome. I
completely forgot about this band for awhile, until my roommate started playing some a few days ago. Immediately, I remembered how good these guys were and I haven't stopped listening to them since.

Here is the video for one of their more popular songs (and the song that got me interested in them in the first place.)

Spring!

I can finally say that it is spring! I kinda wish that it was a little bit warmer, but I can't complain. And only a few more weeks of school left! Woo!