Overlawyered » alcohol

May 20 roundup

Walter Olson — Mon, 20 May 2013 04:05:50 +0000

“The IRS Abuse Scandal Keeps Growing” [M.D. Kittle, Reason] Where were the lawyers? [John Steele/Legal Ethics Forum, more, yet more] “IRS Abuses Past and Present” [Chris Edwards, Cato] Allegation: IRS questions to Hawaii Tea Party suggest coordination among probes of conservative nonprofits [Patrick Howley, Daily Caller] Who does more to “delegitimize government”: libertarian critics, or government itself? [Ben Boychuk, Sacramento Bee]
If you’re looking to gain quick approval of your IRS application, try these #safec4names from Twitter: Club For Civility and Bringing Criticism of Our President Under Reasonable Control [@david_m_wagner], Reject Those Voices [Michael Cannon], Not the Tea Party You Are Looking For [@FricosisGuy], Hollywood Helps! [Dale King]. My own contributions: Grateful Taxpayers for Public Investment and Working Americans Against Wingnut Scandal-Mongering.
“Expert” Reports in George Zimmerman Case Disclosed [Jeralyn Merritt, TalkLeft; Radley Balko]
Texas judge: kick partner out of your home or lose your kids [Dallas Voice]
Socialist Venezuela government blames “excessive demand,” not price controls, for toilet paper shortage [Guardian]
Even MADD, NHTSA haven’t backed NTSB’s idea of dropping BAC limit to .05 [Bloomberg via @radleybalko]
“The dumb war on political intelligence” [Jack Shafer]

Tags: alcohol, child custody, Martin-Zimmerman case, taxes

May 20 roundup is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

NYC proposes expansion of black market

Walter Olson — Wed, 08 May 2013 12:06:18 +0000

“Young New Yorkers would not be able to buy cigarettes until they were 21, up from the current 18, under a proposal advanced [last month] by Dr. Thomas A. Farley, the city’s health commissioner, and Christine C. Quinn, the City Council speaker.” [New York Times via J.D. Tuccille] Or at least would not be able to buy them legally: according to estimates from the Mackinac Institute, New York state already has the nation’s highest rate of smuggled cigarette consumption, at more than 60 percent of its total market. [Catherine Rampell, NYT; Mackinac; Tax Foundation; Christopher Snowdon, "The Wages of Sin Taxes" (CEI, PDF)]

More: As the legal drinking age has been pushed upward in recent years, the average age of first use of alcohol has fallen markedly [Tuccille]

Tags: alcohol, NYC, taxes, tobacco

NYC proposes expansion of black market is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

“Oregon police officer fired after drunken driving crash sues city, cites disabilities law”

Walter Olson — Fri, 03 May 2013 11:14:31 +0000

“A police officer fired for driving drunk in an unmarked police car while off-duty has filed a $6 million lawsuit against the city of Gresham, the police chief and others, alleging his rights were violated under the Americans with Disabilities Act. The lawsuit filed in Portland alleged the officer, Jason Servo, was suffering from alcoholism, a recognized disability under the act, and shouldn’t have been dismissed.” [AP] In my book The Excuse Factory I sketched some of the history of how alcoholism (at least when the subject declares a willingness to participate in rehab) came to be protected under the ADA.

Tags: alcohol, disabled rights, Oregon, police

“Oregon police officer fired after drunken driving crash sues city, cites disabilities law” is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Food roundup

Walter Olson — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 04:05:22 +0000

Colony collapse disorder, the honeybee ailment, was expected to have a dire effect on U.S. agriculture. Market-driven adjustments have helped prevent that [Walter Thurman, PERC]
Adieu, Mimolette? Feds may be readying crackdown on imports of artisanal cheeses [Baylen Linnekin] “Food Safety Modernization Act Far More Costly Than Supporters Claimed” [Hans Bader, earlier here, here]
“There may be no hotter topic in law schools right now than food law and policy” [Harvard Law School, quoted by Baylen Linnekin] New book, haven’t seen yet: Jayson Lusk, “The Food Police: A Well-Fed Manifesto About the Politics of Your Plate” [Amazon]
Further thoughts on hot coffee injuries and lawsuits [Ted Frank]
The gain in plains is mainly due to grains: residents of mountains and high-altitude areas have less obesity [Edible Geography] Restaurant labeling: per one study, “some evidence that males ordered more calories when labels were present” [Tim Carney] NYT’s Mark Bittman endorses tax on prepared food [SmarterTimes] “Michael Poppins: When the nanny acquired a police force” [Mark Steyn, NR on Mayor Bloomberg]
Who’s demonizing Demon Rum these days, together with Wicked Wine and Baleful Beer? Check out an “alcohol policy” conference [Angela Logomasini, Open Market] Scottish government lobbies itself to be more prohibitionist [Christopher Snowdon]
Bill filed by Rep Aaron Schock (R-Ill.) would cut off taxpayer funding of food-bashing propaganda [Michelle Minton; earlier here, etc.]

Tags: alcohol, food safety, hot coffee, Michael Bloomberg, obesity, restaurants

Food roundup is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

“I don’t understand why more winemakers aren’t libertarians”

Walter Olson — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 04:15:19 +0000

Land use regulations “seem to be the bane of their existence.” Shouldn’t they perhaps draw a wider lesson? [Prof. Bainbridge]

P.S. “Also their bane includes the estate tax and attempts in DC to repeal LIFO accounting” [@sggunase]

Tags: agriculture and farming, alcohol, environment

“I don’t understand why more winemakers aren’t libertarians” is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

How much political clout do liquor wholesalers have?

Walter Olson — Mon, 08 Apr 2013 10:31:39 +0000

Enough that 33 states have so-called enacted At Rest laws, requiring that bottles spend time in an in-state warehouse before being sold to consumers. Although the laws limit competition, drive up prices to consumers, and make it harder to special-order less common labels, New York may join the list following generous donations to politicians from an in-state wholesaler. [New York Post] FTC attorney David Spiegel analyzed anti-competitive liquor laws in this 1985 article (PDF) in Cato’s Regulation magazine.

And: I’ve posted an expanded version at the Cato blog. (& Michelle Minton, CEI “Open Market,” who cites an informative column by Tom Wark, WineInterview.com, to the effect that the New York bill may be dead for now.) (Edited for accuracy 4/9: licensed New York wholesalers already own warehouses in both New York and New Jersey, and the bill would have protected the former from competition from the latter)

Tags: alcohol, Andrew Cuomo, competition through regulation, New York

How much political clout do liquor wholesalers have? is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

S.F.: police push customer surveillance, bar resists

Walter Olson — Wed, 03 Apr 2013 11:32:50 +0000

If this account from DNALounge is to be believed, San Francisco police are highly eager for bar owners to install surveillance cameras to monitor everything customers do, and to commit to hand over the resulting footage to police without a warrant. Raise objections, and (according to the report) you might find the requirement being added as a condition to your permit. More: SFBay.ca.

Tags: alcohol, Fourth Amendment, restaurants, San Francisco

S.F.: police push customer surveillance, bar resists is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

N.M.: “Driver who killed 2 sisters suing restaurants, friend”

Walter Olson — Mon, 11 Mar 2013 10:44:33 +0000

“A repeat drunken driver convicted in a crash that killed two teenagers has sued his drinking buddy and two Santa Fe restaurants that served him alcohol.” James Ruiz, who has since been convicted and incarcerated, “was out on bond on his fifth DWI arrest” when he slammed into the car of the teens’ family. [AP/WHEC; Albuquerque Journal, with headline above; UPI]

Tags: alcohol, criminals who sue, New Mexico, restaurants

N.M.: “Driver who killed 2 sisters suing restaurants, friend” is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

“Idaho inmates: The beer made us do it”

Walter Olson — Thu, 03 Jan 2013 04:06:49 +0000

“[Keith Allen] Brown and four other inmates at Idaho’s Kuna facility are suing major beer companies, blaming their crimes on alcoholism and claiming that the companies are responsible because they don’t warn consumers that their products are addictive.” The laudatory Nicholas Kristof column practically writes itself, though one should note that the inmates “do not have attorneys and drafted the lawsuit themselves.” [Idaho Statesman]

Tags: alcohol, Idaho, prisoners, third party liability for crime

“Idaho inmates: The beer made us do it” is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

“Bootlegger will continue to thrive” after Repeal

Walter Olson — Fri, 07 Dec 2012 11:43:01 +0000

Or so at least Prohibitionists mispredicted at the time in December 1933. [Jesse Walker, Reason]

Tags: alcohol

“Bootlegger will continue to thrive” after Repeal is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system