Last week this site’s editor visited the Sooner State to speak to the Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs, in conjunction with which visit commentator/radio host Brandon Dutcher recorded this informal Q & A which touches on the tobacco and fast food litigation, the prophetic role of former Okla. Sen. Fred Harris, and more (“No Joke: Lawsuit Abuse Hurts Us All”, interview with Walter Olson, OCPA Perspective, August)
From the monthly archives:
August 2003
Numerous proposals abound to extend the right to vote to children of any age. Micah Schwartzman thinks it’s a questionable idea, but stops short of condemning it entirely. He asks:
Place yourself in the original position and ask: if I didn?t know how old I would be when the veil is lifted, what principles of political representation would I favor? One-(adult) person, one vote?
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Is litigation weakening American Culture? Kevin McGuiness says no (see update) but Senator Mitch McConnell says yes. (Via Southern Appeal)
(Registration Required): Citizens of Riverside are considering suing because the OC called them “White Trash” but Eugene Volokh thinks that they have no chance.
One North Carolina political commentator’s view (Todd Morman, Monkey Media Report, Aug. 25)(more on Edwards).
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…tell us what he thinks about California’s bounty-hunting s. 17200 law? Timothy Sandefur wonders (Aug. 27)(see Jul. 28, Aug. 4, Jul. 22). And the Manhattan Institute (with which our editor is affiliated) has just published the proceedings of an Oct. 24, 2002 conference on state unfair competition statutes, of which California’s s. 17200 is perhaps the most extreme. Among the conferees: prominent attorneys Sheila Birnbaum and Elizabeth Cabraser, Duke law prof Francis McGovern, and Federation of Defense and Corporate Counsel president Robert V. Dewey, Jr. Our editor moderated a panel (“Unfair Competition and Consumer Fraud Statutes: Recipe for Consumer Fraud Prevention or Fraud on the Consumer?“)(PDF)
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Ethics-challenged former New Jersey Sen. Robert Torricelli is back in business: “A federal judge who was appointed to the bench after being recommended by Mr. Torricelli has assigned him as special master of an environmental cleanup site in Jersey City, a position that allows him to control millions of dollars in contracts and collect an estimated $500,000 a year in administrative fees.” (David Kocieniewski, “Hardly in Disgrace, Torricelli Emerges as a Trenton Power”, New York Times, Aug. 26). Julian Sanchez at Reason “Hit & Run” comments.
“A lawyer’s attempt to save a time-barred malpractice suit by wrapping it up as a federal RICO and civil rights case has drawn an unorthodox sanction [under federal Rule 11]: Rather than dock the lawyer for fees, the judge ordered him to take courses in federal practice and procedure, professionalism and legal ethics.” We still prefer fees, though (Charles Toutant, New Jersey Law Journal, Aug. 26).
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Illinois has passed a new dog law, which seems like a really complicated solution to a fairly simple problem.
Nick Tarasen of “Chicago Report” explains (pretty convincingly) why he thinks that the law is a bad idea.
Col. Kassem Saleh has apparently been making himself a little too popular with the ladies. It’s a fascinating question of whether one can get in trouble for “just talking” if one didn’t actually engage in any harassment at all. Indeed, the women seem to be complaining that they wanted more Saleh, not less.
The Curmudgeonly Clerk has laudably detailed (if slightly disturbing) coverage of the case of Municipal Judge Charles Maestas, convicted of exchanging reduced sentences for sexual favors. The CNN report is available here.
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Clarksburg, W.Va.: “Three prisoners who were trapped in a van after it was hijacked in 2001 by a fellow prisoner have filed a lawsuit against the van’s transport company and two of the company’s former employees.” (“Prisoners trapped in hijacked van sue transport company”, AP/AccessNorthGeorgia, Aug. 13). The lawsuit claims Tennessee-based TransCor America, Inc. should have prevented the Sept. 2001 escape, in which prisoner Christopher Paul Savage faked illness, overpowered guards and took off in the correctional van before abandoning it and its eight other prisoner-occupants at a closed restaurant nearby. “The prisoners were denied proper food and drink, were deprived of medication and were denied bathroom breaks, the lawsuit alleges.” (Matt Harvey, “Three prisoners file lawsuit over fourth prisoner’s 2001 escape”, Clarksburg (W.Va.) Exponent Telegram, Aug. 14). No word in the latest stories about how long this deprivation lasted, but AP’s 2001 coverage says Savage abandoned the van only a quarter mile from where he hijacked it. (“Prisoner overpowers van guards, escapes”, Sept. 29, 2001, and “Armed prisoner still on the loose after early scuffle”, Citizens Against Private Prisons — scroll down about 2/3 on page).
I don’t know how many of y’all remember the King murder trials from last summer. Prosecutor David Rimmer was pursuing cases against both Mr. King’s two sons and an outsider named Mr. Chavis, and created a huge stir because the theory he was pursuing in one case was inconsistent with the theory he was pursuing in the other. Given that prosecutors are supposed to prove their cases beyond reasonable doubt, a lot of people were skeptical– if one tries to prove two contradictory things, surely it’s reasonable to doubt either or both?
Hello all. My name is Will Baude and I’m very thankful to Mr. Olson for letting me blog here. I’m a student at the University of Chicago, and normally you’ll find me at the group-blog Crescat Sententia.
What with Howard Bashman on vacation, I’m happy to get email about any interesting law-related news, so if you see anything interesting, don’t hesitate to drop me an email.
Another newcomer will be arriving tomorrow to contribute a week’s worth of guest posts. Drop by and see for yourself.
One subtheme at the Association of Trial Lawyers of America’s annual meeting, held this summer in San Francisco, was ATLA’s big plans to develop influence within the Republican Party to go with its strong clout among the Democrats. A trial lawyer/GOP caucus expects soon to have chairpersons in all fifty states. “Asked by the lawyers how to talk to representatives who see them as the enemy,” a pollster and former Newt Gingrich aide offered several pieces of advice including, as a National Law Journal reporter paraphrases it, “tell them you want to give them money”. (David Hechler, “The Elephant and the Trial Lawyer”, National Law Journal, Aug. 5). Scheduled speakers at the meeting included Sens. Tom Daschle (D-S.D.), John Edwards (D-N.C.), John Kerry (D-Mass.), Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) and Bob Graham (D-Fla.) and Reps. Dick Gephardt (D-Mo.) and Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.).
Houston attorney Gary Pitts has filed a lawsuit in Brooklyn on behalf of veterans of the first U.S.-led war with Iraq “alleging that companies that exported chemicals to Iraq in the 1980s, and the banks that financed those deals, are liable for illnesses the U.S. veterans sustained from exposure to chemical weapons stockpiles that were blown up during the 1991 war.” (Phil Hirschkorn and Deborah Feyerick, “Gulf War veterans sue banks, firms over chemicals”, CNN, Aug. 20; Hartford Courant; Newsday)(& letter to the editor, Sept. 18).
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