Overlawyered » Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com Chronicling the high cost of our legal system Tue, 14 Feb 2012 18:22:52 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 en hourly 1 “Indian court forces Facebook, Google to censor content” http://overlawyered.com/2012/02/indian-court-forces-facebook-google-to-censor-content/ http://overlawyered.com/2012/02/indian-court-forces-facebook-google-to-censor-content/#comments Tue, 14 Feb 2012 18:22:52 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=27549 “The Delhi High Court has ordered 21 companies, which have already been asked to develop a mechanism to block objectionable material in India, to present their plans for policing their services in the next 15 days.” A private complaint had charged the internet firms with permitting the dissemination of material offensive to Hindus, Muslims and Christians. [Emil Protalinski, ZDNet]

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]]> http://overlawyered.com/2012/02/indian-court-forces-facebook-google-to-censor-content/feed/ 0 When federal defendants settle lawsuits http://overlawyered.com/2012/02/when-federal-defendants-settle-lawsuits/ http://overlawyered.com/2012/02/when-federal-defendants-settle-lawsuits/#comments Tue, 14 Feb 2012 16:11:47 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=27585 Jenna Greene reports in the National Law Journal (reg) on the Judgment Fund, an obscure entity within the federal government that last year paid to settle more than 5,000 lawsuits against federal agencies. For the most part, its payouts are not subtracted from agency budgets, and overall dollar figures tend to be dominated by a few special situations such as (most recently) lawsuits by utilities over alleged Energy Department breach of contract for nuclear fuel storage, and by Indian tribes against the Department of the Interior and Department of Agriculture over financial mismanagement and alleged discrimination. A smaller, but controversial, category of payouts that has attracted Congressional attention consists of settlements with “cause” organizations such as environmentalists that sue to force policy change.

“The strange thing is the lack of transparency,” said Walter Olson, a senior fellow at the Cato Institute’s Center for Constitutional Studies. “Settlements deserve scrutiny.…There’s no reason why as a public process there shouldn’t be fine-grained disclosure.”

In April, Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) introduced the Judgment Fund Transparency Act of 2011, which would require Treasury (unless barred by a court order or law) to make public the names of plaintiffs and counsel, plus a brief description of the facts that gave rise to the payments and a breakdown of principal and attorney fees.

However, Greene reports, the Issa measure has attracted no co-sponsors and is stuck in House Judiciary with no apparent plans for action.

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]]> http://overlawyered.com/2012/02/when-federal-defendants-settle-lawsuits/feed/ 0 Bribing states to spend and regulate http://overlawyered.com/2012/02/bribing-states-to-spend-and-regulate/ http://overlawyered.com/2012/02/bribing-states-to-spend-and-regulate/#comments Tue, 14 Feb 2012 05:12:34 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=27583 In the earlier and sounder conception of federalism, local and national government were meant to check each other’s overweening power. Nowadays, unfortunately, the two often interact in a cooperative way to encourage bigger government at both levels, as Washington bribes the states to spend and regulate more. I explain at Cato at Liberty (& Damon Root, Reason).

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]]> http://overlawyered.com/2012/02/bribing-states-to-spend-and-regulate/feed/ 0 February 14 roundup http://overlawyered.com/2012/02/february-14-roundup-2/ http://overlawyered.com/2012/02/february-14-roundup-2/#comments Tue, 14 Feb 2012 05:08:05 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=27567
  • “Brazil Sues Twitter in Bid to Ban Speed Trap and Roadblock Warnings” [ABA Journal]
  • Obama nominates Michigan trial lawyer Marietta Robinson to vacancy on Consumer Product Safety Commission, ensuring aggressively pro-regulatory majority [Bluey, Heritage]
  • “AMA reports show high cost of malpractice suits” [HCFN] “Average expense to defend against a medical liability claim in 2010 was $47,158″ [American Medical News, more] Survey of 1,200 orthopedic surgeons finds defensive medicine rife, at cost of billions, accounting for 7 percent of all hospital admissions [MedPageToday]
  • “Sue us only in Delaware” bylaws would kill off forum-shopping and what fun is that? [Bainbridge]
  • Trial by media: Lefty “SourceWatch” posts, then deletes, docs from Madison County pesticide suit [Madison County Record]
  • Think you’ve beaten FCPA rap? Meet the obscure “Travel Act” [Mike Emmick, Reuters] Federal court expands “honest services fraud” in lobbying case [Paul Enzinna, Point of Law]
  • “On the horrors of getting approval for an ice-cream parlour in San Francisco” [NYT via Doctorow/BoingBoing]
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    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2012/02/february-14-roundup-2/feed/ 1     Fordham Law School tomorrow http://overlawyered.com/2012/02/fordham-law-school-tomorrow/ http://overlawyered.com/2012/02/fordham-law-school-tomorrow/#comments Mon, 13 Feb 2012 05:38:50 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=27545 I’ll be speaking about my book Schools for Misrule tomorrow (Tuesday) at 12:30 at Fordham Law School in New York City. The Federalist Society is sponsoring, and Prof. Zephyr Teachout will provide critical commentary. The event is open to the public, so feel free to introduce yourself afterward as an Overlawyered reader.

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    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2012/02/fordham-law-school-tomorrow/feed/ 0     “The most plausible route to the death of football…” http://overlawyered.com/2012/02/the-most-plausible-route-to-the-death-of-football/ http://overlawyered.com/2012/02/the-most-plausible-route-to-the-death-of-football/#comments Mon, 13 Feb 2012 05:30:16 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=27543 “…starts with liability suits.” As concussion suits mount, will broadcast networks and high school referees need to worry about being named as defendants along with team franchises, schools, helmet manufacturers and other more obvious defendants? [Tyler Cowen and Kevin Grier, Grantland, via Ilya Somin]

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    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2012/02/the-most-plausible-route-to-the-death-of-football/feed/ 2     As FDA and Congress fiddle http://overlawyered.com/2012/02/as-fda-and-congress-fiddle/ http://overlawyered.com/2012/02/as-fda-and-congress-fiddle/#comments Mon, 13 Feb 2012 05:08:08 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=27553 “Supplies of Critical Child Leukemia Drug Are Almost Gone” [Atlantic Wire] Earlier on the shortage of hospital and community drugs, and Washington’s role in it, here, here, here, here, and here.

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    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2012/02/as-fda-and-congress-fiddle/feed/ 1     Getting a bad judge off the bench http://overlawyered.com/2012/02/getting-a-bad-judge-off-the-bench/ http://overlawyered.com/2012/02/getting-a-bad-judge-off-the-bench/#comments Mon, 13 Feb 2012 03:47:01 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=27551 Sinking deeper into substance abuse, a prominent Tennessee judge spins ever further out of control. How long does it take before he’s removed and the public alerted to his problem? Way too long for comfort [Knoxville News Sentinel]

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    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2012/02/getting-a-bad-judge-off-the-bench/feed/ 0     Long-arm blasphemy prosecution http://overlawyered.com/2012/02/long-arm-blasphemy-prosecution/ http://overlawyered.com/2012/02/long-arm-blasphemy-prosecution/#comments Sun, 12 Feb 2012 05:03:36 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=27533 Islamists are demanding the execution of Saudi journalist Hamza Kashgari over tweets, since retracted, that they say are blasphemous toward their religion. Malaysia has detained Kashgari and may extradite him to face the charges; according to reports, the international police organization had put out an order for his arrest at the behest of the Saudi government [Guardian, Nina Shea/NRO, Daily Beast, Reason, Facebook support page, blog, #FreeHamza]

    []

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    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2012/02/long-arm-blasphemy-prosecution/feed/ 2     O lawmakers, heed not the mob’s wrath http://overlawyered.com/2012/02/o-lawmakers-heed-not-the-mobs-wrath/ http://overlawyered.com/2012/02/o-lawmakers-heed-not-the-mobs-wrath/#comments Sat, 11 Feb 2012 15:53:10 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=27527 They understand not the wisdom of SOPA [Julian Sanchez, Cato at Liberty]

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