Overlawyered » child abuse

December 30 roundup

Walter Olson — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 05:03:05 +0000

“Copyright troll Righthaven in its death throes, domain going up for auction” [Cory Doctorow, BoingBoing]
Controversy over litigation finance continues [WaPo, NYPost]
Presumably unrelated to above: “Unpaid Bills Land Some Debtors Behind Bars” [NPR]
“Rent Control Violates Property Rights and Due Process” [Ilya Shapiro and Trevor Burrus, Cato, on Harmon v. Kimmel cert petition]
Child abuse horrors result in dubious policy proposals including moves to abolish statutes of limitation, cast wider mandatory-reporting net [Howard Wasserman/PrawfsBlawg, Kyle Graham/Concurring Opinions]
Schwab IRA class action settlement: lawyers get $500K while benefit to class is unclear [Lawrence Schonbron, Washington Times]
“State Court Challenges to Legislatively Enacted Tort Reforms” [Andrew Cook and Emily Kelchen, Federalist Society "State Court Docket Watch"]

Tags: child abuse, class action settlements, debtor-creditor law, litigation finance, RightHaven, statutes of limitations

Medical roundup

Walter Olson — Sun, 04 Dec 2011 05:21:13 +0000

Talking back to the “malpractice litigation is no big deal, docs should grin and bear it” theorists [David Sack, ACP via White Coat] “Worst states for medical malpractice risk” [White Coat]
Jury awards $25 million against hospital that didn’t file abuse report after boy came in with broken wrist [Fayetteville, N.C. Observer]
“Doctors Question Disability Decisions as Agency Moves to Speed Up Process” [WSJ via Walter Russell Mead]
New “Federalist Society equivalents” in medicine (Benjamin Rush Society), business, foreign affairs [John J. Miller, Philanthropy]
Fieger wins $144 million verdict blaming hospital for newborn’s cerebral palsy [suburban Detroit Tribune]
Feds force birth control coverage on Catholic organizations, and free association suffers [Roger Pilon, Cato]
Phone call from doc to patient’s home did not establish subsequent jurisdiction to sue there [Madison County Record] NY steps up program to streamline courts’ handling of med-mal claims [WSJ]

Tags: child abuse, Federalist Society, Geoffrey Fieger, hospitals, medical malpractice, New York

Ossian, Piltdown Man, the Hitler Diaries, and “Sybil”

Walter Olson — Sat, 05 Nov 2011 14:25:01 +0000

A concocted “multiple personalities” tale wrecked many lives by launching a thousand bogus recovered memories of abuse, not a few of which made it to court. Debbie Nathan (”Satan’s Silence”) has a new book out, “Sybil Exposed,” telling the story. [Laura Miller, Salon (link fixed now)]

Tags: child abuse

June 23 roundup

Walter Olson — Thu, 23 Jun 2011 13:38:20 +0000

Michigan sex abuse prosecution of dad falls apart; it was premised on ultra-controversial technique of “facilitated communication” with autistic daughter [Detroit Free Press; Ted Frank/Point of Law]
Do demagogy and hardball work as trial techniques? [Steve McConnell vs. Ronald Miller and Max Kennerly]
When lawyer-pundits consent to chase cameras [Scott Greenfield]
Lawyer dad sues middle school girls over Facebook video [Houston Chronicle]
So-called Precautionary Principle slipping into Restatement (Third) of Torts? [David Oliver]
U.S Attorney in Maryland didn’t think Lauren Stevens case was strong enough to indict [Sue Reisinger/Corporate Counsel, White Collar Law Prof, Legal Ethics Forum, my Cato take]
“The SLAPP-Happy Story of Rakofsky v. Internet” [Citizen Media Law, Atlantic Wire ("Meet the Lawyer Who Sued the Internet"), Popehat, earlier here and here]

Tags: child abuse, Facebook, juries, toxic torts

May 20 roundup

Walter Olson — Fri, 20 May 2011 12:17:29 +0000

Interview with brewmaster of “Collaboration Not Litigation Ale” [Abnormal Use]
New “public trust” theory emerges in climate change litigation [Sean Wajert, Jim Huffman]
Who did the fact-checking? Questions over award to Harper’s journalist Scott Horton [Stimson, Heritage "Foundry", my '08 take]
“Nightmare scenario for higher education”: copyright case against Georgia State seeks sweeping injunction [Duke University Libraries]
“Vast wasteland” broadcast regulator: “Glenn Garvin scales and guts Newton Minow” [Miami Herald via @jackshafer]
Teacher in suburban DC still devastated by false abuse charges [WaPo, Lanny Davis, David Bernstein]
Sweetness and light: “Rising tide of litigation lifts [law] firms” [WSJ Law Blog]

Tags: beer and brewers, broadcasters, child abuse, climate change, colleges and universities, copyright

Shaken-baby syndrome: the doubts

Walter Olson — Tue, 08 Feb 2011 13:52:08 +0000

In dozens of prosecutions each year, parents or caregivers are charged after infants who died under their care have been found to display supposedly infallible indicators of abuse — in particular, subdural and retinal hemorrhage with brain swelling. Many convicted defendants stoutly maintain their innocence all along; others are sent to prison on the basis of equivocal “confessions”. Even when (as is common) there is no pattern of previous child abuse, it often happens that authorities remove other children from an alleged abuser’s home as legal action proceeds. Has the hope of using cutting-edge forensics to identify abusers wound up leading the authorities and courts to inflict new injustices? [Emily Bazelon, New York Times Magazine] More: Balko.

Tags: child abuse, expert witnesses

February 2 roundup

Walter Olson — Wed, 02 Feb 2011 13:38:55 +0000

Many of the best New Jersey sledding slopes are off limits now: “Litigators ruin pretty much everything” [Bainbridge]
Granola bar trans-fat lawsuit leaves Russell Jackson unimpressed;
“Criminal barbering”: license lapse gets 82-year-old Oregon hair-cutter in legal trouble [Perry]
Tomorrow’s economy won’t thrive if municipal authorities strangle innovative businesses where they incubate [Conor Friedersdorf, City Journal]
Need to bring property taxes under control? Try litigation reform [NJLRA]
Convicted at height of 90s child-abuse prosecution fever, Ohio pair seek to reopen case [Briefcase] More: Balko.
Here’s an idea: “Let the shareholders decide if SOX is worth the costs.” [Ribstein]
Retired Massachusetts attorney found in possession of stolen art trove [five years ago on Overlawyered] Updates courtesy reader Ronald Stimbert: Legal Blog Watch 2008 (attorney convicted); Cape Cod Times 2010 (paintings returned to owner).

Tags: child abuse, New Jersey, Ohio, recreation, Sarbanes-Oxley, small business, taxpayers, trans-fats

September 28 roundup

Walter Olson — Tue, 28 Sep 2010 05:33:07 +0000

Senators and their Constitutional duties: Christine O’Donnell 1, Dahlia Lithwick 0 [Bernstein/Volokh, Shapiro/Cato, Garnett/Prawfs] More: Ted at PoL.
15-year-old sentenced to 20 years for killing dog, family says that isn’t long enough [USA Today]
“Fla. man settles McDonald’s suit over hot sandwich” [AP, earlier]
“Blasphemy laws by the back door” [Stuttaford, Secular Right, on UK Koran prosecution] “A Defense of Free Speech by American and Canadian Muslims” [The American Muslim]
“15 new legal blogs prove the blawgosphere is alive and kicking” [Ambrogi, Law Technology News; reactions, Greenfield and Balasubramani]
A video on your right to videotape cops [David Rittgers, Cato; Greenfield, Balko]
“My Lie: Why I Falsely Accused My Father” [Meredith Maran interview, Salon]
“Judge-Mandated Racial Quotas For Plaintiffs’ Law Firms” [Krauss, PoL]

Tags: animals, child abuse, constitutional law, hate speech, legal blogs, police

August 19 roundup

Walter Olson — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 11:27:15 +0000

Judge bans $1.35 billion sugar beet crop for lack of environmental impact statement [NY Times]
Brennan Center, Justice at Stake attracting attention with new report on money in state court judicial races [report in PDF, Kang/ConcurOp]
Obama signs “libel tourism” bill into law [Levy, CL&P]
“Zach Scruggs claims new evidence clears him” [Patsy Brumfield, NE Mississippi Daily Journal via YallPolitics]
Second Circuit panel blasts 1980s abuse-accusation panic in ruling on Friedman case [opinion via NYT and Bernstein/Volokh]
Famed Cincinnati lawyer Stanley Chesley may face disciplinary action before Kentucky bar over role in fen-phen scandal [Courier-Journal via Dan Fisher and PoL]
Sexual harassment verdict against California casino “amounts to 2/3 of the company’s net worth” [Fox, Jottings]
Every White House needs to hire some partisan brawlers. But with “ethics czar” duties? [Matt Welch, Reason]

Tags: Barack Obama, child abuse, damages, Dickie Scruggs, environment, ethics, harassment law, judicial elections, Kentucky fen-phen settlement fraud, libel slander and defamation, Stan Chesley

“Sick Duck: Did Tigger and Donald Duck grope women at Disney World?”

Walter Olson — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 14:47:14 +0000

William Saletan investigates a curious genre of harassment case [Slate; more at Atlantic Wire]

Tags: amusement parks, child abuse, Disney, harassment law

Overlawyered » child abuse

December 30 roundup

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Ossian, Piltdown Man, the Hitler Diaries, and “Sybil”

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June 23 roundup

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May 20 roundup

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Shaken-baby syndrome: the doubts

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February 2 roundup

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September 28 roundup

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August 19 roundup

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