Well, this is all too exciting. And just when things were starting to get dull in the local media arena. You see: last Friday Judge Marla Miller "said...she's inclined to boost a jury's damages award against the SF Weekly to $15.6 million" and order them to knock it off with the below-cost ad sales. Ouch. VVM's Andy Van De Voorde, via the Snitch, responded, going on (and on) to say that this is nothing......

This week we mentioned that eBay filed lawsuit against Craigslist because CL founders Craig Newmark and Jim Buckmaster had "unfairly diluted eBay’s economic interest in the company." What happened was that CL reduced eBay's economic interest in Craigslist by more than 10 percent. Why? To stave off a potential takeover. At least according to CL blog: We are surprised and disappointed by Ebay’s unfounded allegations, which came to us out of the blue, without......

You're so mean, eBay. What did they do this time, you ask? Well, today they filed a lawsuit against Craigslist in a Delaware court. Why? According to the New York Times, Craig Newmark and Jim Buckmaster "took actions that unfairly diluted eBay’s economic interest in the company." (EBay snatched up a 28.4 percent minority interest in the company back way in 2004.) EBay Senior VP Mike Jacobson goes on to tell the NYT: "The......

Looking to get a few bucks out of the city for the Christmas Day tiger attack that claimed the life of their (alleged) friend Carlos Sousa Jr., Amritpal and Kulbir Dhaliwal have filed claims against the city. Finally. And our sources sent SFIst a copy of the claim! (We'll try to get that up for you shortly.)...

The maker of those little tree-shaped air fresheners you find dangling from rear view mirrors have sued Gap Inc. over Old Navy's use of the iconic image in a t-shirt, emblazoned with the slogan "Keeping it Fresh." The federal lawsuit, according to the Examiner, was brought against the local retail mammoth in U.S. District Court in Syracuse, N.Y. The company, simply titled Car-Freshener Corporation of Watertown, claims that "the design on the T-shirts is......

Delicious, effervescent cold remedy Airborne, it seems, exaggerated their sniffle-fighting prowess. Turns out they faked their clinical trials, and are now offering you, the customer, some cash back. According to a 2006 ABC report: Airborne said that a double-blind, placebo-controlled study was conducted with “care and professionalism” by a company specializing in clinical trial management, GNG Pharmaceutical Services. GNG is actually a two-man operation started up just to do the Airborne study. There was......

After a local jury found SF Weekly guilty of illegal predatory pricing and awarded the local alt weekly a cool $6.39 million (the verdict subject to "treble damages," which bring the total award to $15.6 million), SFBG Executive Editor Tim Redmond tells the harrowing tale of the five-week trial in his own words: But the verdict sends a clear signal to small businesses, independent newspapers and the alternative press that a locally owned publication......

With regard to the SFBG vs. SF Weekly (VVM) lawsuit -- you know, the one where the Guardian sued the Weekly and its parent company for predatory pricing practices? where the Guardian's Publisher, Bruce Brugmann, claimed that the competition was so unreasonable that it could force the Guardian out of business? -- our sources confirm that: Word just came that Guardian won the lawsuit and were awarded 6.3 million [the Gate is claiming $15M]......

Sigh. A reader writes in to ask? What's the deal with the Guardian going up against the SF Weekly in court? For a multitude of reason, we're not personally touching this lawsuit. (The main reasons being it's confusing, plodding, doesn't involve Barron Hilton.) But seriously, readers, why are mommy and daddy fighting?......

S.F. files against the Cosco Busan...

Like the bad ass she is, occasional San Francisco resident and current House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has written to the "Homeland Security Department's inspector general requesting an investigation of preparation for and response to last month's oil spill in San Francisco Bay," according to CBS 5. In a wordy missive to Inspector General Skinner, she fired off over a dozen issues she wants taken care of right-quick. A couple of points she needs to......

We swear, this guy is one step away from strapping road flares to his chest. Now, it's increasingly difficult for us to explain the conceptual art that is Michael Savage's work. Its genius lies in its demented complexity. But according to Bay City News (via CBS 5), Savage recently "sued the Council on American-Islamic Relations in federal court in San Francisco Monday over the group's use of his words on its Web site." Apparently,......

Audet & Partners, LLP filed a class action lawsuit on behalf of commercial fishers and crab-based (?) businesses in San Francisco on November 20. Today on their site they claim the following, "Breaking News: Cosco Busan Vessel Arrested." Which? Okay then. We have yet to see footage of the vessel getting cuffed by the fuzz with its shirt off, and we can't imagine it heard its Miranda rights being read, but seeing as how......

-- Should MUNI boss Nate Ford get a raise? Gavin says sure. [N Judah Chronicles] -- Starting the holiday season later to get shoppers in the stores? Genius! [Tim] -- "Joe Alioto-Veronese doesn't belong on the same stage as Leno or Migden." Heh. [SFBG] -- Your Street on YourStreet. [The Snitch] -- And finally, a (used?) condom on a MUNI seat. [What I'm Seeing] -- Oakland Tribune editor succumbs to cancer. [Oakland Tribune] --......

The supernatural forces behind the Ed Jew storyline are not pleased with Halloween and earthquakes hogging all of the attention. As of today, Ed Jew officially has his fourth legal suit brought up against him. After asking Jerry Brown if he could get all litigious on Jew a few months ago, today SF City Attorney Dennis Herrera finally filed the lawsuit we've all been waiting for -- or not -- that he didn't live where he was supposed to live when he ran in 2006 and took office in early 2007....

State Attorney General Jerry Edmund G. Brown gave the OK for SF City Attorney Dennis Herrera to sue Ed Jew today. A civil lawsuit like this would permanently remove Jew from office. What's more, according to the Chronicle, Brown said: We find that it would be in the public interest, particularly for the (Board of Supervisors) and the residents and voters of District Four, to have a prompt judicial resolution of whether (Jew) has......

Here's a few random sports stories for the day...

-- RIP: Chronicle cartoonist Phil Frank dies. [Chron] -- Busted water pipe downtown = Bay Bridge entrance difficulties. [ABC 7] -- What a good idea! MUNI cop ride-alongs. (Oh, you know you also love to see fellow riders get busted for no transfer/pass.) [The Snitch] -- Google's crusade for international privacy. Yay, Google! [Examiner] -- Yusuf Bey sexual assault lawsuit settled. [Oakland Tribune] -- US online video popularity soars. [Macworld, via IDG] -- The Cinematic......

-- SF Macarons versus Macaroons. [Gridskipper] -- East Bay movie studio/shopping center deal? Fin. [Chron] -- #70: Early morning Hunters Point murder. [SF Crime] -- Lawsuit over AT&T Wireless' ability to suck. [Examiner] -- OMG: High School Musical 2 premieres tonight! (It seems Zac Efron's a huge Giants fan. And probably a Castro Street fan, too. What?) [Chron] -- Sierra Nevada Brewing Company executive's body found in Sacto River. [Chron] -- Patti Smith singing......

There's big legal news concerning the Barry, none of which involves Curt Schilling or Grand Juries. Oh no. Barry has just been slapped with a lawsuit by an inmate in a South Carolina prison, Jonathan Lee Riches (aka "the White Suge Knight), for fraud. No, not for breaking the record while on the juice, but for perpetuating a "Fraud Against Mankind," which Lee Riches calls "Batman and Identity Robbin." The Smoking Gun has the details, but from a quick perusal here are some of the claims made: ...

Here's a Moment Of Zen for you: local company YouTube has indicated (.pdf) in the copyright infringement lawsuit filed against it by Viacom that it intends to call fake news hosts Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert to testify in pre-trial depositions about uploaded clips from their Comedy Central shows (Comedy Central is owned by Viacom). Do you swear that your testimony is the truthiness, the whole truthiness, and nothing but the truthiness? It's unclear what......

-- 4.2 tremor slightly moves the Bay Area, donuts. [Chron, Yahoo, Examiner, FCJ] -- Ron Russell on Chron business writer David Lazarus' new LA Times gig. [The Snitch] -- One Rincon Hill tops off. [KGO] -- Cal swim coach/Olympic gold medalist gets job back, $3.5 million in gender-discrimination lawsuit. [Chron] -- Antioch police accused of racism. [Courage Campaign] -- Final Harry Potter installment arrives tomorrow; controversy surrounding spoilers today. [Valleywag] -- Seagulls still reigning......

In case you haven't heard, tonight, at precisely 12:01, THE VERY FINAL HARRY POTTER BOOK WILL BE RELEASED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! OH MY GOD!! OH MY GOD!! OH MY GOD!! And by final, we mean final. The end. Finito. And with it, all the answers to all those pressing questions will be answered: will Harry die? Is Snape good or evil? Will Ron and Hermione finally get it on? And by the way, we just discovered Hermione is in Microsoft Word’s spell check. That’s crazy. ...

A four-year-old boy drowned to death in the 2-foot deep section of the wave pool at Great America in Santa Clara yesterday. There were six lifeguards on duty at the time, but there are no age limits on who can use the pool. Authorities have not identified the boy, or said whether or not he was supervised at the time of the accident. This is the first drowning at Great America but not the first......

City Attorney Dennis Herrera took a break from harassing that nice Ed Jew today, introducing a lawsuit against three gangs. Our knowledge of streetgang etiquette is pretty much zero, but we can't imagine the "Knock Out Posse" will be giving him the courtesy of an RSVP. At any rate, the plan is to use an injunction to impose stiffer penalties for gang activity in certain areas. In the past, this technique worked against the......

More LOLJEW pictures!!! Ha ha ha ha!!! Keep 'em coming, folks -- keep 'em coming! More of these fine LOLJEWs at The Sweet Melissa. WUR AT ZWEET MELIZA, LAFFING AT JOO! Here's your evening Tapioca Ed update: --Do you live in District 4? Do you want to be a plaintiff in a lawsuit to get Ed Jew out of office? Prerequisites for this job include: running water, garbage pickup service, a cable bill. --There's two......

--...and as promised, here's the back of the Ed Jew calendar, from reader Jake. Thanks, Jake! Irony alert! Can you guys see the "please contact me if you have problems or if issues concern you" tagline? --Fog City has heard rumors that Peskin might make Daly give up his position as chair of the Budget and Finance Committee. Meanwhile, the Sentinel reports that Daly misread the press release that Newsom's people sent out, and......

Have you guys seen all those "Click It Or Ticket" signs they've had up on the LED signs on the highway about how they're enforcing the seat belt laws this month? Well, Oakland City Attorney John Russo didn't, and got nabbed on Piedmont Avenue for going beltless. We pretty much always wear a seat belt now because that dinging noise that the dashboard makes if you don't have it on drives us mad. Russo says......

Esther Hwang picked a bad day for a press conference -- normally, the media would be all over the former Willie Brown secretary turned cheesecake model turned San Francisco Law School student discussing the $1 million lawsuit she's filed against the SFPD for alleged brutality against her outside a North Beach bar -- but with everyone distracted by Ed Jew's flight from the law, Carole Migden's cancer-related bad driving, and in a city that now......

Oh man -- first the Arlene lawsuit, now this! It's been a fascinating news-dump Friday, hasn't it? Details are few, but check out this quote in the Chron: "'The FBI executed sealed search warrants involving potentially federal criminal allegations,' said FBI spokeswoman Patty Hansen." Sealed warrants?! POTENTIALLY FEDERAL?! PATTY HANSEN?! Let the wild speculation commence! THRILLING UPDATE! An eyewitness on the scene reports hearing Bevan Dufty say, "send that cute FBI agent to my office......