Cook County jail lockdown settlement is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

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

“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.

When federal defendants settle lawsuits is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Gulf spill claimants who didn’t hire lawyers will have to pay them anyway is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

November 26 roundup is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Wisconsin considers curbing “one-way” attorney fees is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

November 4 roundup is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

New Jersey: will $650 recovery support $99,000 fee-shift? is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Many attorneys, planners, architects, engineers, scientists, developers, small businesses, business associations and governments in the state, and many environmentalists are agreed that CEQA needs major reform. Delays in the system are causing projects to suffer delays of 2 to 9 years to get EIRs approved, especially for (but not limited to) the failure to compare the project with all “feasible” alternatives, establish vague baseline analysis for existing mitigation, and the tricky determination as to which parts of regional, general and specific plan EIR findings can be incorporated, to eliminate duplication of effort and cost. The law is so confused on these points that it is a miracle that any EIR can survive its first round in the courts without a remand to do it over again. Complicating this result is the establishment of a specialized group of attorneys that initiate litigation at the drop of a hat, primarily because the statute authorizes attorney’s fees for any remand or reversal. Many community associations and no growth environmentalists use the EIR litigation process to delay and in many cases kill projects for little or no environmental substance.

California’s sclerotic CEQA is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

EPA gives millions to environmental groups that sue it is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system