Overlawyered » arbitration http://overlawyered.com Chronicling the high cost of our legal system Tue, 14 Feb 2012 16:11:47 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 en hourly 1 February 8 roundup http://overlawyered.com/2012/02/february-8-roundup-4/ http://overlawyered.com/2012/02/february-8-roundup-4/#comments Wed, 08 Feb 2012 05:15:22 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=27202
  • Popular proposal to curb Congressional insider trading (”STOCK Act”) could have disturbing unintended consequences [John Berlau, CEI "Open Market"]
  • Here’s Joe’s number, he’ll do a good job of suing us: “Some Maryland hospitals recommend lawyers to patients” [Baltimore Sun, Ron Miller]
  • Bribing the states to spend: follies of our fiscal federalism, and other themes from Michael Greve’s new book The Upside-Down Constitution [LLL, more] “Atlas Croaks, Supreme Court Shrugs” [Greve, Charleston Law Review; related, Ted Frank]
  • “… Daubert Relevancy is the Sentry That Guards Against the Tyranny of Experts” [David Oliver on new First Circuit opinion or scroll to Jan. 23]
  • Goodbye old political tweets, Eric Turkewitz is off to trial;
  • State laws squelch election speech, and political class shrugs (or secretly smiles) [George Will]
  • Too bad Carlyle Group got scared off promising experiment to revamp corporate governance to curb role of litigation [Ted Frank, Gordon Smith] AAJ should try harder to use people’s quotes in context [Bainbridge]
    • Tags: , , , , , , , ,

    Related posts

    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2012/02/february-8-roundup-4/feed/ 2     January 23 roundup http://overlawyered.com/2012/01/january-23-roundup-2/ http://overlawyered.com/2012/01/january-23-roundup-2/#comments Mon, 23 Jan 2012 11:51:41 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=27051
  • Copyright violations on PIPA sponsors’ websites? [VICE] “A SOPA Analogy” [David Henderson]
  • DEA agent who mistakenly shot self loses appeal [BLT, earlier]
  • “And people say libertarians lack empathy”: AP adopts pre-emptively disapproving tone toward advances in pain control [Coyote; related, Alkon on Primatene Mist]
  • Cordray, NLRB recess picks allow President to reward key Democratic interest groups [Copland, Examiner] Litigation Lobby gunning for ban on consumer finance arbitration as Cordray priority [CL&P] Mike Rappaport on the recess appointment clause [LLL, earlier here, etc.]
  • Keystone’s just the half of it: US environmental funders push shutdown of Canada energy production [Vivian Krause, Financial Post]
  • Hot potato, or just hot business sector? “Credit Suisse Parts with Litigation Finance Group” [WSJ Law Blog]
  • Speaking of shoplifters in elected office [Harrisburg Patriot-News on Perry County, Pa. case h/t commenter A.A.; earlier on California case]
    • Tags: , , , ,

    Related posts

    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2012/01/january-23-roundup-2/feed/ 1     January 16 roundup http://overlawyered.com/2012/01/january-16-roundup-2/ http://overlawyered.com/2012/01/january-16-roundup-2/#comments Mon, 16 Jan 2012 15:42:18 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=26879
  • Per Chevron, Kerry Kennedy getting undisclosed percentage of the take, potentially in millions, to side with plaintiffs in Ecuador suit [NY Post] Long New Yorker take-out on case [Patrick Radden Keefe]
  • Freetail Brewing fields a nastygram: “How to Comply With a Cease-and-Desist Letter But Still Win” [Lowering the Bar]
  • I.e. boycotts illegal? Odd Minnesota law bans economic “reprisals” based on “political activity.” [Volokh]
  • “Chris McGrath v. Vaughan Jones: An Unpleasant Peek Into U.K. Libel Law” [Popehat; suit over science-and-theology book review] Related: “You Can’t Read This Book: why libel tourists love London” [Nick Cohen, Guardian, on his new book]
  • Business experience isn’t be-all or end-all for presidential qualifications, but might avert some policy howlers [Kling]
  • “Arbitration Is Here to Stay and One Lawyer Says That Is Good for Consumers” [Alan Kaplinsky interview, Mickey Meese/Forbes, PoL]
  • Off-topic random thought: “Iranian nuclear scientist who moonlights in Broadway Spider-Man cast” must be world’s most uninsurable job description;
  • “D.C. Lawmakers Propose Requiring Students to Apply to College” [Fox]
    • Tags: , , , , , , , ,

    Related posts

    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2012/01/january-16-roundup-2/feed/ 2     Labor and employment law roundup http://overlawyered.com/2012/01/labor-and-employment-law-roundup-3/ http://overlawyered.com/2012/01/labor-and-employment-law-roundup-3/#comments Fri, 13 Jan 2012 05:12:05 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=26697
  • NLRB rules employment contracts that specify arbitration for group grievances violate federal labor law even in nonunion workplaces [D. R. Horton, Inc. and Michael Cuda; Ross Runkel, Corporate Counsel]
  • Richard Epstein on “living wage” legislation [Defining Ideas]
  • In Greece, law providing early retirement for “hazardous” jobs was extended to some that are not so hazardous, like hairdressing, pastry making and radio announcing [Mark Steyn via Instapundit, IBTimes, Reuters]
  • “Prosecutor’s double-dippers draw millions from New Jersey pension funds” [Mark Lagerkvist, DC Examiner] Even if convicted on felony charges of misappropriation of public funds, Beverly Hills school superintendent unlikely to forfeit pension [LA Times]
  • “Against Forced Unionization of Independent Workers” [Ilya Shapiro on Cato amicus brief in Harris v. Quinn]
  • Whoops: UAW officials appeal extortion sentence, 6th Circuit sends it back as too lenient [AutoBlog via Kaus]
  • New York appeals court makes it harder to get weak NYC job-bias cases dismissed on summary judgment [Judy Greenwald, Business Insurance] Connecticut’s job-bias commission doesn’t seem to consider any cases frivolous any more [Daniel Schwartz]
    • Tags: , , , , , ,

    Related posts

    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2012/01/labor-and-employment-law-roundup-3/feed/ 2     November 8 roundup http://overlawyered.com/2011/11/november-8-roundup-4/ http://overlawyered.com/2011/11/november-8-roundup-4/#comments Tue, 08 Nov 2011 05:07:26 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=25093
  • Washington Post pundit Dana Milbank’s lament: Obama isn’t doing enough to intimidate opponents [David Boaz, Cato]
  • FDA defends itself against rising criticism on drug and device approval [NYT] NYT approaches the issue with a curious slant [Paul Rubin]
  • California courts: what makes you think we need to follow SCOTUS on arbitration? [Cal Biz Lit, more, Russell Jackson] Senate anti-arbitration hearing could have used more truth in advertising [PoL]
  • Pols want to fast-track favored L.A. stadium against environmental suits under California’s obstructor-friendly CEQA. Hmmm… why not fast-track everyone else too? [Gideon Kanner, Stephen Smith, SCPR, Paul Taylor, Examiner]
  • State law forbids use of deadly force in defense of business property: “Burglar’s family awarded $300,000 in wrongful death suit” [Colorado Springs Gazette]
  • One reason the Ninth Circuit may go off on more frolics: three-judge, one-clerk bench memos [Kerr]
    • Tags: , , , , , ,

    Related posts

    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2011/11/november-8-roundup-4/feed/ 1     The “Halliburton rape” case: setting the record straight http://overlawyered.com/2011/10/the-halliburton-rape-case-setting-the-record-straight/ http://overlawyered.com/2011/10/the-halliburton-rape-case-setting-the-record-straight/#comments Thu, 06 Oct 2011 13:21:17 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=24964 Remember the “Halliburton rape” case, where the national media uncritically passed along claims that a young woman had been viciously assaulted by co-workers while stationed in the Middle East, then confined to a container by beastly managers when she tried to complain, and finally suffered the ultimate indignity when her employment contract required her to submit the claims to arbitration? It’s a tale that was advanced by politicians like Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.), by some of the usual suspects in opinion journalism, and especially by the litigation lobby as part of its campaign against contractually provided-for arbitration (as with the much-reviewed, HBO-aired “Hot Coffee“). Not a few of these advocates — like the left-leaning ThinkProgress — threw “allegedly” to the winds and flatly accused the co-workers of rape.

    Unless you’d read one of the very few skeptical evaluations of the case — many of them written by Ted Frank — you may have been shocked this July when a Houston jury summarily rejected Jamie Leigh Jones’s lawsuit. Now — better late than never — the Houston Chronicle shreds the popular narrative of the affair and its media coverage in particular (ABC News: a tale of “sexual brutality, corporate indifference and government inaction.”) Is it too much to hope that anyone will be embarrassed enough to apologize?

    More: As commenter E-Bell notes, journalist Stephanie Mencimer, with whom we’ve had our differences in the past, deserves due credit for this July coverage in the unlikely venue of Mother Jones. And quoth @Popehat: “‘Putting the victim on trial’ is code for ‘defending yourself and testing the evidence.’”

    Tags: , , ,

    Related posts

    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2011/10/the-halliburton-rape-case-setting-the-record-straight/feed/ 10     “Cal Court of Appeal to US Supremes: ‘Oh yeah, says who?’” http://overlawyered.com/2011/07/cal-court-of-appeal-to-us-supremes-oh-yeah-says-who/ http://overlawyered.com/2011/07/cal-court-of-appeal-to-us-supremes-oh-yeah-says-who/#comments Fri, 15 Jul 2011 10:00:35 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=23864 On upholding consumer and employee agreements to arbitrate, as in the days before the telegraph, it can take a while for the word to get from D.C. to the West Coast. [Cal Biz Lit]

    Tags: , ,

    Related posts

    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2011/07/cal-court-of-appeal-to-us-supremes-oh-yeah-says-who/feed/ 0     July 10 roundup http://overlawyered.com/2011/07/july-10-roundup/ http://overlawyered.com/2011/07/july-10-roundup/#comments Sun, 10 Jul 2011 05:53:52 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=23767
  • Jury rejects Jamie Leigh Jones rape claim against Halliburton/KBR. Next, a round of apologies from naive commentators and some who used the case to advance anti-arbitration talking points? [WSJ; Ted Frank/PoL and more; WSJ Law Blog (plaintiff's lawyers sought shoot-the-moon damages)]
  • Time magazine vs. James Madison on constitutional law (spoiler: Madison wins) [Foster Friess via Ira Stoll]
  • Andrew Trask reviews new Curtis Wilkie book on the Dickie Scruggs scandal;
  • “Right to family life” evolution in human rights law deters UK authorities from deporting various bad actors [Telegraph]
  • Paging Benjamin Barton: How discovery rules enrich the legal profession at the expense of the social good [PoL]
  • USDA heeds politics, not science, on genetic crops [Henry Miller/Gregory Conko, PDF, Cato Institute Regulation]
  • “Legal Questions Raised by Success of Monkey Photographer” [Lowering the Bar]
    • Tags: , , , , , , ,

    Related posts

    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2011/07/july-10-roundup/feed/ 7     “Why The Times Is Wrong About the AT&T Class Action Case” http://overlawyered.com/2011/05/why-the-times-is-wrong-about-the-att-class-action-case/ http://overlawyered.com/2011/05/why-the-times-is-wrong-about-the-att-class-action-case/#comments Mon, 16 May 2011 16:02:59 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=23007 Contractually stipulated arbitration works less poorly than the NYT editorialists seem to think — and lawyer-driven class action litigation not nearly as well [Daniel Fisher, Forbes, more]

    Tags: , ,

    Related posts

    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2011/05/why-the-times-is-wrong-about-the-att-class-action-case/feed/ 2     May 4 roundup http://overlawyered.com/2011/05/may-4-roundup/ http://overlawyered.com/2011/05/may-4-roundup/#comments Wed, 04 May 2011 05:10:06 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=22832
  • “You Will Be Relieved to Know it is Now Harder To Discipline Bad Cops in Arizona” [Coyote]
  • NYT runs Title IX “roster management” through a feminist echo chamber [Heather Mac Donald, Secular Right] Even with the slant, colleges’ willingness to contort their programs to comply with quotas tends to prove critics’ case [Althouse, Wendy Parker, College Sports Council, more]
  • “AT&T v. Concepcion: ‘Consumers Win in Allegedly Anti-Consumer Supreme Court Ruling’” [PoL] Will Elizabeth Warren partly undo the outcome? [Fisher/Forbes] More on case: Trask, Karlsgodt;
  • “[Entertainer] Prince Wants Laws Changed To Eliminate Song Covers” [Hollywood, Esq./THR]
  • Consulting firm accused of racketeering in Chevron suit has U.S. gulf spill contract [ShopFloor]
  • Point out flaws in DoJ’s legal case against you, and get branded “uncooperative” [Koehler/FCPA Professor]
  • NYC might ban buying fake handbags [WSJ Law Blog] Bill sponsor’s curious political trajectory to city council [Rick Brookhiser, many years back in City Journal]
    • Tags: , , , , , , , ,

    Related posts

    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2011/05/may-4-roundup/feed/ 0