Overlawyered » Bay Area http://overlawyered.com Chronicling the high cost of our legal system Tue, 14 Feb 2012 11:28:52 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 en hourly 1 Divorce detective’s DUI entrapment http://overlawyered.com/2011/10/divorce-detectives-dui-entrapment/ http://overlawyered.com/2011/10/divorce-detectives-dui-entrapment/#comments Tue, 18 Oct 2011 05:23:36 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=25188 “A whistle-blower tells how a private detective arranged for men to be arrested for drunk driving at the behest of their ex-wives and their lawyers — and that entrapment using decoys was only one of many alleged misdeeds.” [L.A. Times; Contra Costa County (Bay Area), Calif.]

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]]> http://overlawyered.com/2011/10/divorce-detectives-dui-entrapment/feed/ 0 Ban on smoking by renters http://overlawyered.com/2011/04/ban-on-smoking-by-renters/ http://overlawyered.com/2011/04/ban-on-smoking-by-renters/#comments Fri, 15 Apr 2011 05:09:59 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=22531 The Bay Area town of Larkspur plans to forbid most apartment and condominium tenants from smoking in their own units. [Marin Independent Journal; related]

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]]> http://overlawyered.com/2011/04/ban-on-smoking-by-renters/feed/ 2 Radio: Dennis Prager show today, Ronn Owens show tomorrow http://overlawyered.com/2011/04/radio-dennis-prager-show-today-ronn-owens-show-tomorrow/ http://overlawyered.com/2011/04/radio-dennis-prager-show-today-ronn-owens-show-tomorrow/#comments Tue, 12 Apr 2011 11:31:27 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=22485 I’m scheduled to be a guest on two of the nation’s leading radio programs, both California-based: Dennis Prager’s today (Tuesday) (broadcast times vary; find a station), and Ronn Owens at San Francisco’s KGO AM 810 tomorrow (Wednesday) at 11 a.m. Pacific. Tune in and listen!

P.S. Both shows were a pleasure; host Prager generously singled out the book as “so devastating” and “mandatory reading,” and said it was “difficult to overstate the importance of this book.”

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]]> http://overlawyered.com/2011/04/radio-dennis-prager-show-today-ronn-owens-show-tomorrow/feed/ 1 Judge tosses exploding-snail case http://overlawyered.com/2010/12/judge-tosses-exploding-snail-case/ http://overlawyered.com/2010/12/judge-tosses-exploding-snail-case/#comments Thu, 16 Dec 2010 20:59:09 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=20660 The complainants never established what the restaurant did wrong, or how it breached a legal duty, in the unfortunate episode of squirting garlic butter. [Marin Independent Journal, earlier]

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]]> http://overlawyered.com/2010/12/judge-tosses-exploding-snail-case/feed/ 3 “In San Rafael, ‘exploding’ escargot ignite saucy lawsuit” http://overlawyered.com/2010/11/in-san-rafael-exploding-escargot-ignite-saucy-lawsuit/ http://overlawyered.com/2010/11/in-san-rafael-exploding-escargot-ignite-saucy-lawsuit/#comments Tue, 16 Nov 2010 05:14:11 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=20136 The little-known dangers of snails as a menu item: it seems the interior can be under pressure and squirt hot garlic butter. [Marin County, Calif. Independent Journal]

More: Legal Blog Watch (citing “no less robust a source than Overlawyered”); Cal Biz Lit (with proposed “Danger: Snails May Explode” warning)

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]]> http://overlawyered.com/2010/11/in-san-rafael-exploding-escargot-ignite-saucy-lawsuit/feed/ 6 Oakland: “Suspect shot by cops sues” http://overlawyered.com/2010/06/oakland-suspect-shot-by-cops-sues/ http://overlawyered.com/2010/06/oakland-suspect-shot-by-cops-sues/#comments Mon, 21 Jun 2010 11:58:03 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=17884 “A drug suspect who was shot and critically wounded after he crashed his car into another vehicle and struck a police officer at the end of a chase in East Oakland is suing the city for $1.5 million.” [Henry K. Lee, San Francisco Chronicle]

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]]> http://overlawyered.com/2010/06/oakland-suspect-shot-by-cops-sues/feed/ 3 28 felony counts in California crash-faking indictment http://overlawyered.com/2010/04/28-felony-counts-in-california-crash-faking-indictment/ http://overlawyered.com/2010/04/28-felony-counts-in-california-crash-faking-indictment/#comments Wed, 14 Apr 2010 23:06:56 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=16937 “For several years, [defendant Susana] Chung ‘acted as the conduit’ of fraudulent insurance claims filed in connection with staged crashes in Northern California, said Larry Blazer, an Alameda County assistant district attorney.” Nearly 100 persons, mostly “victims” of bogus accidents but also including three chiropractors, have been found guilty in the scheme. [San Francisco Chronicle, Oakland Tribune via ABA Journal]

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]]> http://overlawyered.com/2010/04/28-felony-counts-in-california-crash-faking-indictment/feed/ 3 Illicit Christmas woodburning http://overlawyered.com/2010/01/illicit-christmas-woodburning/ http://overlawyered.com/2010/01/illicit-christmas-woodburning/#comments Fri, 01 Jan 2010 13:11:38 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=15362 A Bay Area crackdown nets 47 holiday violators of the fireplace ban [Contra Costa Times via David Freddoso, Examiner] Earlier here, here, etc.

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]]> http://overlawyered.com/2010/01/illicit-christmas-woodburning/feed/ 11 Oakland: “City Council Members Settle Legal Dispute Over Right to Parking Space” http://overlawyered.com/2009/06/oakland-city-council-members-settle-legal-dispute-over-right-to-parking-space/ http://overlawyered.com/2009/06/oakland-city-council-members-settle-legal-dispute-over-right-to-parking-space/#comments Mon, 22 Jun 2009 04:38:05 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=11883 The issue generated a five-page legal memo from the City Attorney before being resolved in March. [Matier & Ross, SF Chronicle via Lowering the Bar, California Beat CBS5 with link to City Attorney opinion]

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]]> http://overlawyered.com/2009/06/oakland-city-council-members-settle-legal-dispute-over-right-to-parking-space/feed/ 1 ApartmentRatings.com commenters sued http://overlawyered.com/2008/12/apartmentratingscom-commenters-sued/ http://overlawyered.com/2008/12/apartmentratingscom-commenters-sued/#comments Fri, 05 Dec 2008 13:13:19 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=7960 ApartmentRatings.com is a site that invites users to post their opinions about good and bad experiences as renters with particular buildings, complexes and landlords. The owners of two Bay area apartment complexes, Parkmerced in San Francisco and Larkspur Shores in Larkspur, have now sued eighteen unnamed defendants over negative comments such as “Construction noise, poor management, tacky decor, and an indifferent staff”, “I do not think the new management is sincerely trying to improve anything”, “stay far away and never look back,”, “worst place I’ve ever lived”, and “a real dump”. The real estate firms, Parkmerced Investors Properties LLC and Stellar Larkspur Partners LLC, claim libel, tortious interference with contract, and perhaps most creatively violations of the federal Lanham Act (their basis for getting into federal court). The Lanham Act is more usually encountered in complaints of false advertising, but the plaintiffs say it applies here “because Defendants misrepresent the nature, characteristics and qualities of the Apartments”. (Sam Bayard, Citizen Media Law, Nov. 24). According to CalBizLit (Nov. 20):

The two plaintiffs allege that “on information and belief” the posting reviewers included persons who were not tenants, but were employees, agents, etc. of competing apartment house communities. “On information and belief.” That’s often lawyer language for “I got no idea whether it’s true or not, but let’s do some discovery and see what happens.”

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