Overlawyered » banks

Sending a remittance to Zimbabwe

Walter Olson — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 16:01:18 +0000

The U.S. government really doesn’t believe in making it easy, which is why you might think of using a financial institution in Singapore, where they will be happy to do business. “The whole affair was just another friendly reminder of why I try to avoid doing anything in the US at all. Regulations, financial tracking, consumer protection… it’s just too damn difficult to get anything done.” [Simon Black, Sovereign Man]

Tags: Africa, banks, regulation and its reform

“Battered bank syndrome”

Walter Olson — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 20:27:58 +0000

Bank of America keeps funding its racial-demagogy tormentors. [Investors Business Daily]

Tags: banks, discrimination law

October 17 roundup

Walter Olson — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 12:24:23 +0000

“Convicted King of Class Actions Builds Aviary, Regrets Nothing” [Lerach, Bloomberg profile]
Teva/Baxter suits: Latest Nevada you-made-the-vials-too-big propofol verdict makes no more sense than first [Glenn Lammi, Forbes; Ted at PoL]
EPA malicious prosecution in Hubert Vidrine case won’t be “isolated” unless we change our thinking [Ken at Popehat]
Title IX coordinator training: “How federal regulations are making college ‘risk management’ lawyers rich” [Robert Shibley, Daily Caller] A lawyer spots more problems with Department of Education regulations on campus sexual assault [Robert Smith, RCP]
Time to admit: on consequences of protecting big banks from capitalism, “Occupy” has a point [Nicole Gelinas, City Journal]
Lawsuits accuse Boeing of engine-air-in-cabin “fume events” [MSNBC]
About those “Topeka decriminalizes domestic violence” stories [Lowering the Bar]

Tags: banks, Bill Lerach, colleges and universities, Nevada, pharmaceuticals, Title IX

“If every global bank in New York can be subpoenaed globally…”

Walter Olson — Sat, 08 Oct 2011 17:08:00 +0000

“…We’ll just do our business in London.”

Tags: banks, extraterritoriality, subpoenas

October 7 roundup

Walter Olson — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 05:39:50 +0000

Prodded by UNICEF and the Hague Convention, countries cut back on international adoption, leaving kids to future of orphanage life [Reason.tv video, interviewing among others Harvard's Elizabeth Bartholet; more]
Critics: lawyers are main winners in NYC rent settlement [NYDN] NYC rent stabilization rules gave landlords incentive to do luxury conversions [FWIW]
Breast-aurant rivals in court: “Hooters Suing Twin Peaks, Which Previously Sued Grand Tetons” [Lowering the Bar, earlier]
Jonathan Chait: it’ll be “useful” for debate if CEOs “fear for their personal safety” [Matt Welch, related, similar (see "Patterns of Intimidation"), also related to "occupation" as tactic]
Ethics complaint charges that boilerplate affidavits led to fee approval for lawyer in Bronx Surrogate’s Court [ABA Journal]
“Widow allowed to sue tobacco companies [whose products] husband didn’t use” [Florida, DBR] Appeals court: manufacturer not under legal duty to warn of asbestos injury caused by another manufacturer’s products [Business Insurance]
Debit card fee: made in D.C. [Glenn Reynolds; related, Joe Weisenthal]

Tags: asbestos, banks, family law, NYC, product liability, tobacco

October 6 roundup

Walter Olson — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 05:39:43 +0000

Dodd-Frank, arms-trade laws serve to entrench bigger business against smaller [Tim Carney, Rand Simberg] Similarly with automakers and coal producers [David Henderson]
One guess as to why: “Many Physicians Feel They’re Delivering Too Much Care” [WSJ health blog, CJAC] Insurers report incidence of med-mal claims has dropped, severity has increased [National Underwriter] Roundtable on defensive medicine [Orthopedics Today]
Pinball Hall of Fame adversary doesn’t like being called a vexatious litigant [Las Vegas Weekly via @loweringthebar]
U.K. “Solicitors from Hell” gripe site has so far defied multiple efforts to shut it down [Independent]
WTC dust inhalation suits grind on on despite doubts on scientific effect [PoL, more] “Improbable Chain of Events Dooms Con Ed’s 9/11 Lawsuit” [Mark Hamblett, NYLJ]
Nathan Glazer’s work in perspective, and an interview [City Journal];
In the mail: Curtis Wilkie’s Dickie Scruggs book, “The Fall of the House of Zeus.”

Tags: autos, banks, defensive medicine, Dickie Scruggs, Ground Zero dust lawsuits, September 11, serial litigants, small business

September 9 roundup

Walter Olson — Fri, 09 Sep 2011 15:29:13 +0000

Not a parody: economics professor sets off debate on “ugly rights” with suggestion of making unattractiveness of appearance a protected discrimination-law category [Daniel Hamermesh/NYT, PoL, Eric Crampton, Jon Hyman] Apparently Niall Ferguson needn’t worry [Telegraph]
Feds sue banks and more than 130 executives, demanding billions over their role in the mortgage crisis; new “tobacco/asbestos” predicted [Biz Insider, more, yet more] Takes some cheek to cast Fannie and Freddie as victims [John Berlau, CEI]
Also on mortgages: Rahm Emanuel’s unsound new “lender must cut the grass” ordinance [Funnell] California AG sues lawyers, telemarketers over class action loan modification scheme; lawyer fires back with civil rights suit [AP, ABA Journal] New York chief judge wants state to fund more lawyers to resist enforcement of mortgages [PoL]
Related to last, on Civil Gideon’s “‘impossible dream’ of giving every civil litigant a lawyer” [Benjamin Barton & Stephanos Bibos, SSRN via Instapundit]
Fallen tree damage from all these storms? Think twice before taking your neighbor to court [Ilya Somin]
Stories you read here first: wider coverage for EEOC suit against trucking company for not letting alcoholic drive [Fox, earlier]
Illinois advocates plan push for punitive civil suits against johns, strip club owners, sex-ad websites [NYT]

Tags: banks, civil gideon, discrimination law, mortgages, strippers and exotic dancers, trees

August 10 roundup

Walter Olson — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 05:34:24 +0000

Maine Supreme Court agrees that not having to show up in court might be reasonable accommodation for plaintiff claiming PTSD disability [Volokh]
Guess how much Richard Kreimer, the New Jersey homeless guy, has made in his many lawsuit settlements [Newark Star-Ledger, PoL]
Given the problems with business-method patents, you can see why banks would want to dodge them [Felix Salmon]
Contempt: “Calling the jailing of a person ‘civil’ doesn’t mean they put curtains on the cell windows.” [Greenfield]
“Class Counsel Request $90.8M In Fees In Black Farmers Case” [BLT]
Law school accreditation, recusal standards, international law among topics in new issue of Federalist Society’s ABA Watch;
Electricity-wise, EPA puts the squeeze on the juice [Andrew Grossman, Heritage; Weston Hicks, AgendaWise; Tatler]

Tags: banks, contempt, disabled rights, international law, Maine, patent law, recusals, Richard Kreimer

Law schools roundup

Walter Olson — Fri, 05 Aug 2011 15:05:46 +0000

Law profs (some of them, anyway) bristle at “impractical scholarship” critique from Chief Justice Roberts [Ifill, ConcurOp; Adler; Chiang, Prawfs; Markel]
Noisy exit by University of Baltimore law dean calls attention to law schools’ role as cash cows for universities [Caron]
There’ll always be a legal academia: redefining banks as public nuisances [Lind via CL&P] “Disability as a Social Construct” [Areheart, Yale Law and Policy Review] North Dakota’s fiscal health? Nothing to do with shale boom or budget prudence, it’s that they’ve got a state-owned bank [Pasquale/Canova]
“Why Does Pedigree Drive Law Faculty Hiring?” [Paul Caron] Using the accreditation process to mandate more tenure for lawprofs? [same] “ABA to Continue as Law School Accrediter, Despite Noncompliance With 17 Regs” [same]
“Have Law Schools Violated Consumer Protection Laws?” [Jeff Sovern, CL&P] Villanova keeps mum after embarrassing revelations [Inquirer]

Tags: Baltimore, banks, colleges and universities, John Roberts, law schools

July 25 roundup

Walter Olson — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 18:16:01 +0000

Nice going, sex offender registries [Brian Dickerson, Detroit Free Press] And I’m quoted in a syndicated column by Lenore Skenazy (and thence by Cory Doctorow at BoingBoing) on the registries’ tendency to sweep in much wider circles of offender than many advocates originally had in mind. More: a tale of child-abuse registries [Skenazy];
New York Times exposes scandal: businessman holds seat in Congress. Quick, replace him with another lawyer! [Ribstein]
Race separation’s unlawful for school attendance. So why’s it OK for school voting districts? [Quin Hillyer, Mobile Press-Register]
Speech and property rights in peril: “Fear of a Muslim America” [Cathy Young, Reason]
Before blaming bank dereg for “Too Big To Fail,” read this [Mark Calabria, Cato at Liberty]
After fatal one-car crash, drunk driver’s survivors sue popular Irish bar that served him [NJLRA; Trenton, N.J.]
Scotland: Thief wants victim prosecuted for keeping gun in her house [Daily Record]

Tags: banks, churches, dramshop statutes, guns, Michigan, New York Times, United Kingdom, Voting Rights Act

Overlawyered » banks

Sending a remittance to Zimbabwe

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