Overlawyered http://overlawyered.com Chronicling the high cost of our legal system Tue, 14 Oct 2008 13:01:56 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5.1 en October 14 roundup http://overlawyered.com/2008/10/october-14-roundup/ http://overlawyered.com/2008/10/october-14-roundup/#comments Tue, 14 Oct 2008 04:09:02 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=7677
  • Don’t miss Roger Parloff’s tour de force coverage in Fortune blowing whistle on that dodgy suit in Moscow against Bank of New York Mellon, adorned by participation of lawprofs Dershowitz and Blakey [PoL overview, main article]
  • Digital remixes and copyright law [Lessig, WSJ]
  • Surgeon at Connecticut’s Greenwich Hospital revealed as drug abuser, Koskoff, Koskoff & Bieder now pressing suit on behalf of general class of patients, which sounds like it means “whether harmed or not” [Greenwich Time, Newsday via TortsProf weekly roundup]
  • Chicago sheriff halting foreclosures, or maybe not, reportage is confused [Reuters, big discussion at Steve Chapman blog] And is Obama taking the idea national with bid for 90-day moratorium on foreclosures? [AP]
  • Foie gras-style financial gavage? “None of banks getting government money was given a choice about it, said one of the people familiar with the plans.” [Bloomberg, Bernstein @ Volokh]
  • Trey Allen law firm in Dallas agrees to pay $840,000 restitution after profiting from staged car crash scheme, but Allen’s lawyer says client wasn’t aware of any fraud [ABA Journal]
  • Smoking bans, alcohol taxes contributing to steep decline of English village pubs [Newsweek]
  • Bias-law panel rules Wal-Mart within its rights not to hire a female applicant for Santa Claus position [eight years ago on Overlawyered]
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    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2008/10/october-14-roundup/feed/     Microblog 2008-10-13 http://overlawyered.com/2008/10/microblog-2008-10-13/ http://overlawyered.com/2008/10/microblog-2008-10-13/#comments Tue, 14 Oct 2008 03:59:59 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/2008/10/microblog-2008-10-13/
  • Don’t kvetch about Krugman Nobel, it’s for his work in economics not his politics [Cowen, MargRev] #
  • “Law Grad Cited for Frivolous Suits is Source of Obama Muslim Rumors” [ABA Journal] #
  • Garrison Keillor reads a poem on product warnings [Point of Law] #
  • Last will and testament, handwritten on a shopping list [Giacalone] #
  • Fast, fast relief from troublesome teens, just drop ‘em in Nebraska [Houston Chronicle] #
  • Michael Arrington: “suing someone to get them to return your calls is not exactly a sign of brilliance” [TechCrunch via Blawg Review #181 at Mediation Channel] #
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    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2008/10/microblog-2008-10-13/feed/     Corrections dept.: too good to be true http://overlawyered.com/2008/10/corrections-dept-too-good-to-be-true/ http://overlawyered.com/2008/10/corrections-dept-too-good-to-be-true/#comments Tue, 14 Oct 2008 00:06:01 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=7675 The other day we relayed an account of a Ralph Nader rally at Dartmouth whose attendance was said to be eight persons. Other coverage now indicates that the number eight is the approximate number of Dartmouth students in attendance, and that other attendees brought the crowd count up to forty. Sorry.

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    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2008/10/corrections-dept-too-good-to-be-true/feed/     Critical lab value? Gotta page the doc http://overlawyered.com/2008/10/critical-lab-value-gotta-page-the-doc/ http://overlawyered.com/2008/10/critical-lab-value-gotta-page-the-doc/#comments Mon, 13 Oct 2008 14:47:41 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=7674 We’ve often touched on the subject of lab testing and defensive medicine, but as Happy Hospitalist points out [Oct. 11], ordering needless testing is by no means the only way the various parties endeavor to avoid liability. Another is the superfluous communication of not-really-urgent abnormal test results, sometimes on a doctor’s pager at 4 a.m.:

    Unfortunately, patient safety is rarely an issue. It’s a giant game of shifting liability. The lab documents they notified the nurse–>lab off the hook if something bad happens. The nurse notifies the doctor —> nurse off the hook if something bad happens. Doctor is left with a critical value called 10 or 20 times a day, interrupting the entire flow of patient evaluations and discharges. Every time, I must stop what I’m doing and answer a page for a critical lab value, I lose valuable face time with patients. And it all adds up over the course of a day. I wouldn’t have a problem with the system, except that critical thinking has been removed from the equation. The nurse is not allowed to make judgments as to whether a phone call is warranted or not.

    As a default protocol of calling all critical lab values, the liability is shifted up the educational food chain, landing ultimately on the physician’s lap. Often times a nurse is not allowed to not call a critical lab value. The problem is, what the hospital has defined as critical, does not apply to the vast majority of critical lab values reported. What’s considered critical by hospital standards, is a normal or chronic value for [that particular] patient.

    Whole thing here.

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    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2008/10/critical-lab-value-gotta-page-the-doc/feed/     Microblog 2008-10-12 http://overlawyered.com/2008/10/microblog-2008-10-12/ http://overlawyered.com/2008/10/microblog-2008-10-12/#comments Mon, 13 Oct 2008 03:59:59 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/2008/10/microblog-2008-10-12/
  • The Brokers with Hands on Their Faces Blog [via Radley Balko] #
  • Still undecided on Calif.’s anti-gay Prop 8? Here’s why every paper of note in the state advises voting no [Box Turtle Bulletin] # Also radio’s John & Ken [same] #
  • Ben Stein 2007, meet Ben Stein 2008 [Felix Salmon] #
  • Everyone was glad to see Anchorage, Alaska restored as a salmon habitat but then… [Anchorage Daily News via Ted] #
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    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2008/10/microblog-2008-10-12/feed/     Microblog 2008-10-11 http://overlawyered.com/2008/10/microblog-2008-10-11/ http://overlawyered.com/2008/10/microblog-2008-10-11/#comments Sun, 12 Oct 2008 03:59:59 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/2008/10/microblog-2008-10-11/
  • Would single-payer fix malpractice woes? Not likely given trial bar political clout [KevinMD] #
  • Prosecuting candidates for crowd-inciting campaign speeches? Now there’s a truly bad idea [Point of Law] #
  • Her busy docket: “For people like Oprah, lawsuits are a part of life” [Roeper, Chicago Sun-Times] #
  • Nebraska hospital sues patient for refusing to leave [Happy Hospitalist; related earlier] #
  • Community covenant craziness: “Dad’s in prison because we can’t afford to sod the lawn” [St. Petersburg Times] #
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    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2008/10/microblog-2008-10-11/feed/     Update: B.C. tribunal dismisses Mark Steyn case http://overlawyered.com/2008/10/update-bc-tribunal-dismisses-mark-steyn-case/ http://overlawyered.com/2008/10/update-bc-tribunal-dismisses-mark-steyn-case/#comments Sat, 11 Oct 2008 14:00:57 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=7671 The provincial government of British Columbia will not punish the magazine Maclean’s for running an article exposing Islam to asperity (coverage at Steyn’s site). Jay Currie, via Steyn at NRO “Corner”:
    …the way I read this decision is that it imposes a two part test a) are your words offensive and hurtful? b) are you a major media organization with deep pockets represented by serious lawyers. If “a” and not “b” you are a hate monger; if “a” and “b” you are engaged in political debate.

    Commenter “Binks” at FreeMarkSteyn:

    The ordinary Joe or Jane Canuck is no safer today than last year when this all started. The Human Rights Commissions have probably learned only two things: the internet bites back when bloggers get rolling on an issue; and don’t chew on famous and well-connected targets.

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    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2008/10/update-bc-tribunal-dismisses-mark-steyn-case/feed/     Update: wrestlers’ class action against WWE http://overlawyered.com/2008/10/update-wrestlers-class-action-against-wwe/ http://overlawyered.com/2008/10/update-wrestlers-class-action-against-wwe/#comments Sat, 11 Oct 2008 05:18:04 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=7670 When guestblogging at this site not long ago, Daniel Schwartz of the Connecticut Employment Law Blog contributed a highly popular post about the class-action lawsuit filed by three professional wrestlers (”Raven”, “Chris Kanyon”, and “‘Above Average’ Mike Sanders”) charging that they had been improperly categorized as independent contractors and in fact stood in the position of employees to Connecticut-based World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. Now he’s posted a couple of substantial updates at his blog (Oct. 4, Oct. 8) introducing the litigants, attorneys and judge, describing how the suit can be expected to unfold, and explaining why its outcome might turn out to be important for those other than wrestlers and their fans.

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    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2008/10/update-wrestlers-class-action-against-wwe/feed/     Signaling the client during cross-examination? Me? http://overlawyered.com/2008/10/signaling-the-client-during-cross-examination-me/ http://overlawyered.com/2008/10/signaling-the-client-during-cross-examination-me/#comments Fri, 10 Oct 2008 19:02:35 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=7667 Lawyer Robert Bundy, representing a key witness at the Ted Stevens trial, is said to be all “torn up” about the judge’s accusation that he was transmitting secret nods and movements to convey to his client what testimony was desirable. Eric Turkewitz says that in his experience coaching during testimony takes three forms: “speaking objections”, nods and head movements (which may be unconscious), and deliberate signaling. (Oct. 7; AP/Google).

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    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2008/10/signaling-the-client-during-cross-examination-me/feed/     Rin Tin Tin lawsuit “is not about money” http://overlawyered.com/2008/10/rin-tin-tin-lawsuit-is-not-about-money/ http://overlawyered.com/2008/10/rin-tin-tin-lawsuit-is-not-about-money/#comments Fri, 10 Oct 2008 18:44:13 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=7666 Prof. Obbie (LawBeat) wonders (Oct. 7) whether an NPR interviewer could have been bolder in challenging the owner of Rin Tin Tin Inc. when she asserted that her trademark lawsuit against a Hollywood studio was not about the you-know-whats.

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