Overlawyered » Chevron

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

January 15 roundup

Walter Olson — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 16:09:19 +0000

Self-referent notice required by law on Florida vending machines might baffle onlooker [Popehat] More from Lowering the Bar: “Please Report Me If I Am Missing. Thank You.”
Bryan Walsh at Time magazine happily spun by Chevron/Ecuador plaintiffs. Not so Roger Parloff at sister magazine Fortune;
Doubts re: foster mom’s conviction following youngster’s salt-poisoning death [Texas Monthly via Ted Frank; controversy over science behind "shaken-baby" cases] Charges against parents to move forward in Utah “co-sleeping” death case [ABA Journal]
In Philadelphia shooting case, lawsuits like bullets fly in every direction [Above the Law]
More on constitutionality of Obama recess appointments [Todd Gaziano/Heritage "Foundry", Mickey Kaus, Mike McConnell via Adler and more, earlier]
New site design at my old blog Point of Law;
Podcast: Prof. Mike McConnell on Hosanna-Tabor [Fed Soc, earlier] More: Bader. And shorter David Sessions/Daily Beast: since SCOTUS unanimously rejected Obama position on church liberty, critics were wrong to get so alarmed about that position. Makes sense to him…

Tags: Chevron, dramshop statutes, Florida, Philadelphia, Texas

January 15 roundup is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Environmental law roundup

Walter Olson — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 05:03:02 +0000

Peter Schweizer: “To RFK, Jr: I’m No Sock Puppet, But You Sir Are a Bootlegger” [Huffington Post; some background on America's Most Irresponsible Public Figure®]
Will legal campaign succeed in shutting down natural gas fracking? [WLF, David Oliver, CL&P, Abby Wisse Schachter/NYP]
Nice work if you can get it: key figure in dubious Chevron-Ecuador expert report slated for National Academy of Sciences reappointment [WizBang, earlier]
EPA’s move-cement-production-to-China plan runs into uncooperative judge [Josiah Neeley, Daily Caller]
Spare that tree? Environmentalists battle Montana underbrush clearance aimed at preventing catastrophic fires [William Perry Pendley, MSLF] More on trees and power outages in Connecticut [WSJ, related earlier]
New book on Endangered Species Act reform [James Burling, Federalist Society]
Rural property owners foot the bill for California green policies [Steven Greenhut]
“What are you in for?” “Backed-up toilets” [Shannen Coffin, NRO]

Tags: California, Chevron, Connecticut, endangered species, environment, Environmental Protection Agency, Montana, oil industry, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., trees

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

November 16 roundup

Walter Olson — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 05:19:06 +0000

Sure, let’s subvert sound mortgage accounting in the name of energy efficiency. What could go wrong? [Mark Calabria, Kevin Funnell]
California: fireworks shows are “development” and coastal commission can ban ‘em [Laer Pearce, Daily Caller]
Trial lawyers’ lobbyist: I got Cuomo to bash Chevron in Ecuador case [John Schwartz, NYT]
Politics of intimidation: “jobs bill” advocates occupy office of Sen. Minority Leader McConnell (R-Ky.) [ABC News] Union protesters invade Sotheby’s during big auction [NYObserver] “Occupy Denver protesters try to storm conference of conservative bloggers” [Denver Post] “What’s the matter with Oakland?” [Megan McArdle] Post-’08 downturn, not wealth of the few, at root of economic woes [Steve Chapman] “Bohm-Bawerk forget to include [Ms. Katchpole] in his commentaries on sundry theories of interest.” [Tyler Cowen]
New breakthroughs in abundant energy aren’t welcome to some [NYT "Room for Debate"] Is GOP wrong to make EPA an issue? [Michael Barone]
After extracting $450,000 settlement, employee admits falsifying whistleblower evidence in oil filter antitrust case; class action suits continue [Bloomberg, Abby Schachter/NYPost via PoL]
Least surprising Washington-DC-datelined story of year: “Medical malpractice reform efforts stalled” [Politico]

Tags: Andrew Cuomo, antitrust, California, Chevron, environment, labor unions, mortgages, whistleblowers

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

“Indie documentaries,” or lawsuit Astroturf?

Walter Olson — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 20:11:51 +0000

Glenn Garvin at the Miami Herald has spotted a trend on the film festival circuit. Among the questions he raises: why was the New York Times so oddly unskeptical about the Chevron-bashing opus Crude? And why was such widespread credulity accorded to the showcasing of Jamie Leigh Jones’s lawsuit in Susan Saladoff’s Hot Coffee? More: Jim Dedman, Abnormal Use.

Tags: banana pesticide litigation fraud, Chevron, litigation lobby

“Indie documentaries,” or lawsuit Astroturf? is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

July 22 roundup

Walter Olson — Fri, 22 Jul 2011 11:30:14 +0000

Illinois prisoner sues for land to start his own country [AP]
“Have you got a piece of this lawsuit?” Important Roger Parloff piece on litigation finance [Fortune, now out from paywall] “Hedge Funds Finance Medical Malpractice Claims” [Jeff Segal, Michael Sacopulos and Wayne Oliver, Forbes via White Coat]
Criminalizing bad parenting: more scrutiny of “Caylee’s Law” proposals [Steve Chapman, L.A. Times and Boston Globe editorials, New Scientist]
Deal with ADA complainant averts closure of popular Popponesset Marketplace in Mashpee, Mass. [Cape Cod News]
Because it’s not as if NYC needs electricity or anything: Bloomberg gives $50 million to Sierra Club campaign to stop coal burning by utilities [WaPo] “Environmental justice” arguments deployed against pipeline that would bring Alberta tar sands oil to U.S. [John Kendrick, WLF]
Unimpaired have permanent right to sue: Fla. high court throws out asbestos-reform law [PBP]
Red tape demanded by quality-of-life progressivism suffices to strangle poorer urban economies [Walter Russell Mead]

Tags: asbestos, Chevron, disabled rights, environment, Florida, litigation finance, Massachusetts, medical malpractice, Michael Bloomberg, prisoners, regulation and its reform

July 22 roundup is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

May 4 roundup

Walter Olson — Wed, 04 May 2011 05:10:06 +0000

“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: arbitration, Arizona, Chevron, music and musicians, NYC, police, prosecution, public employment, Title IX

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

February 15 roundup

Walter Olson — Tue, 15 Feb 2011 15:23:00 +0000

Artist Jeff Koons drops his lawsuit against maker of resin balloon dogs [Legal Blog Watch, BoingBoing, earlier]
The car pile-up happened fast, the come-ons from lawyers and chiropractors were almost as speedy [Adler/Volokh]
Andrew Thomas update: former Maricopa County Attorney intends to sue former bar president and ethics investigators [ABA Journal, Coyote]
Litigation finance: “Poker Magnate, London Firm Bankroll Chevron Plaintiffs” [Dan Fisher, Forbes] Case for champerty pleaded before ethics commission [Podgers, ABA Journal] The experience in Australia [Karlsgodt]
Judge: Kansas City stadium mascot hot dog toss suit can go to trial [OnPoint News, earlier]
How National Enquirer matched wits with John Edwards to expose scandal [David Perel, HuffPo] More: Justice Department building a case? [AW]
“The Whooping Cough’s Unnecessary Return” [Paul Howard/Jim Copland, City Journal] Theodore Dalrymple reviews new Paul Offit vaccine book [same]
Many trial lawyers yank funding from Ralph Nader operations in pique over his role in depriving Al Gore of White House victory [ten years ago on Overlawyered]

Tags: Arizona, art and artists, baseball, champerty, Chevron, John Edwards, litigation finance, vaccines

February 15 roundup is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

“Chevron Hit With $8 Billion Ecuador Verdict It Vows Not To Pay”

Walter Olson — Tue, 15 Feb 2011 13:20:57 +0000

Daniel Fisher at Forbes has the latest on an unsurprising development in a story we’ve been following for a long time (e.g.). More: Roger Alford/Opinio Juris and more, Carter Wood/ShopFloor, Ashby Jones/WSJ Law Blog (with breakdown of verdict), more from Fisher. And: Carter Wood begins a 3-part series in the Examiner. And who’s more incurious about all the indicia of plaintiff misconduct in the case, BoingBoing or their average commenter?

Tags: Chevron

“Chevron Hit With $8 Billion Ecuador Verdict It Vows Not To Pay” is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

February 7 roundup

Walter Olson — Mon, 07 Feb 2011 05:13:26 +0000

Paper by Lester Brickman previews his much-anticipated new book Lawyer Barons [Mass Tort Lit, SSRN] More: Sheila Scheuerman, TortsProf.
“A Players’ Class Action Against the NFL for Concussions?” [Russell Jackson]
C’mon, DoJ, stop spreading domestic violence myths [Christina Hoff Sommers, USA Today]
“Historians as Experts: A Plea for Help” [Bill Childs, TortsProf; related, Nathan Schachtman]
Might not really work, though: “A call for aviation liability reform in South Dakota” [PoL]
“Chevron Turns Tables on Ecuador Plaintiffs; Sues Them” [WSJ Law Blog, ShopFloor, more, yet more, NYLJ]
Hedge funder plays race card against NYC’s famed Dakota co-op. How plausibly? [Business Insider]
N.C. official: citizen who challenged road plans might be practicing engineering without a license [N&O]

Tags: aviation, Chevron, domestic violence, expert witnesses, football, Lester Brickman, real estate, South Dakota

February 7 roundup is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system