Horses, Barns, Genies, Bottles… Undo, Undo, Undo

There’s a great story on the NY Times website, T. Zeller Jr. “Documents Borne by Winds of Free Speech“, about a court’s likely misguided attempts to recall information that has found its way on to the web. It’s part of a suit against Eli Lilly concerning Zyprexa, an antipsychotic that Lilly makes. I can understand the court’s indignation that its order to seal documents in the action was either flouted or circumvented, if there’s a difference; but it’s clearly a case of too little power applied to too great a mechanism.

The money quote comes from the title of the entry on the TortsProf Blog of William G. Childs (Western New England School of Law): “Judge Tries to Unring Bell Hanging Around Neck of Horse Already Out of Barn Being Carried on Ship That Has Sailed”