Overlawyered » arbitration

Consumer finance arbitration

Walter Olson — Thu, 10 May 2012 18:20:54 +0000

Many trial lawyers yearn to get rid of arbitration clauses in credit card and other consumer finance contracts, which (among their other effects) block them from rolling many small claims into large class actions. Will the new Consumer Protection Finance Bureau (CPFB) go along with their wishes? [Daniel Fisher, Forbes] Related: Alison Frankel, Reuters.

Tags: arbitration, debtor-creditor law

Consumer finance arbitration is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

March 23 roundup

Walter Olson — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 04:05:34 +0000

Tips for those facing vexatious-litigant proceedings [Lowering the Bar; U.K.]
Credit card arbitration: “Plaintiffs’ lawyers protect their cartel by bringing antitrust suit” [Ted Frank, PoL]
Just what European business needs: gender quotas for corporate boards [Bader, CEI]
“Food sovereignty” movement: next, rediscovering freedom of contract? [Alex Beam, Ira Stoll]
Much-assailed group for state legislators: “ALEC Enjoys A New Wave of Influence and Criticism” [Alan Greenblatt, Governing]
Symposium on David Bernstein’s Rehabilitating Lochner [Law and Liberty, earlier here and here]
Because rent control is all about fairness [Damon Root]

Tags: arbitration, eat drink and be merry, Europe, freedom of contract, NYC, serial litigants

March 23 roundup is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Clarifying Florida lawyers’ position

Walter Olson — Sat, 17 Mar 2012 15:19:47 +0000

According to what seems to be the sense of many in the Florida legal profession, doctors and their patients should not have the right to enter enforceable arbitration agreements before the fact to resolve disputes, but lawyers and their clients should have the right to enter enforceable agreements before the fact to limit liability for excessive charging of legal fees. Thanks for clarifying! [White Coat, scroll; earlier]

Tags: arbitration, attorneys' fees, Florida, medical malpractice

Clarifying Florida lawyers’ position is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

February 8 roundup

Walter Olson — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 05:15:22 +0000

Popular proposal to curb Congressional insider trading (“STOCK Act”) could have disturbing unintended consequences [John Berlau, CEI "Open Market"] A contrary view: Bainbridge.
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, yet 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: arbitration, Baltimore, campaign regulation, Daubert, expert witnesses, federalism, hospitals, securities litigation, Twitter

February 8 roundup is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

January 23 roundup

Walter Olson — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 11:51:41 +0000

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: arbitration, Canada, copyright, litigation finance, pharmaceuticals

January 23 roundup is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

January 16 roundup

Walter Olson — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 15:42:18 +0000

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: arbitration, beer and brewers, Chevron, Minnesota, nastygrams, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., schools, United Kingdom, Washington D.C.

January 16 roundup is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Labor and employment law roundup

Walter Olson — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 05:12:05 +0000

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: arbitration, Connecticut, discrimination law, labor unions, New York, NYC, prosecution

Labor and employment law roundup is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

November 8 roundup

Walter Olson — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 05:07:26 +0000

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]

November 8 roundup is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

The “Halliburton rape” case: setting the record straight

Walter Olson — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 13:21:17 +0000

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: arbitration, Dahlia Lithwick, litigation lobby, media bias

The “Halliburton rape” case: setting the record straight is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

“Cal Court of Appeal to US Supremes: ‘Oh yeah, says who?’”

Walter Olson — Fri, 15 Jul 2011 10:00:35 +0000

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: arbitration, California, Supreme Court

“Cal Court of Appeal to US Supremes: ‘Oh yeah, says who?’” is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system