Overlawyered » Chrysler http://overlawyered.com Chronicling the high cost of our legal system Tue, 14 Feb 2012 16:11:47 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 en hourly 1 Chrysler’s White-House-assisted bankruptcy http://overlawyered.com/2010/06/chryslers-white-house-assisted-bankruptcy/ http://overlawyered.com/2010/06/chryslers-white-house-assisted-bankruptcy/#comments Sat, 05 Jun 2010 05:07:36 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=17621 What a bad precedent it set. [Prof. Bainbridge] More: Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels, WSJ (via Stoll).

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]]> http://overlawyered.com/2010/06/chryslers-white-house-assisted-bankruptcy/feed/ 1 April 12 roundup http://overlawyered.com/2010/04/april-12-roundup/ http://overlawyered.com/2010/04/april-12-roundup/#comments Mon, 12 Apr 2010 12:50:34 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=16895
  • Town counsel of Southborough, Mass. considering legal action against online critic [Evan Lips/MetroWest Daily News, Jacob Sullum/Reason, Aspen Daily News]
  • “Drowning in laughter”: pic of ill-advised safety sign [Turley]
  • Canadian lawyer accused of fabricating evidence of jury tampering [Times Colonist h/t @ErikMagraken]
  • One union (SEIU) wins $1.5 million verdict against another (NUHW) [Fox, Jottings]
  • “Anti-Law School Blogs Seek to Keep Others from Making ‘Same Mistake We Did’” [Legal Blog Watch, WSJ Law Blog] Instruction at University of Texas law school has room for improvement [Blackbook Legal] Chief Justice Roberts: law review articles aren’t particularly helpful for practitioners or judges [WSJ Law Blog]
  • “Illinois Hospital Loses Tax-Exempt Status for Not Being Charitable Enough” [NLJ]
  • “Cyber-bullying” proposal in Suffolk County, N.Y. could criminalize repeated insults [Volokh]
    “Where’s the State Action in Tort Awards Based on Speech?” [same]
  • George Will: administration “can imagine the world without the internal combustion engine but not without Chrysler” [WaPo/syndicated]
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    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2010/04/april-12-roundup/feed/ 3     High school agrees to halt Chrysler Rams logo use http://overlawyered.com/2010/02/high-school-agrees-to-halt-chrysler-rams-logo/ http://overlawyered.com/2010/02/high-school-agrees-to-halt-chrysler-rams-logo/#comments Thu, 11 Feb 2010 12:37:55 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=16056 Lake Mary High School concedes it has no legal grounds on which to resist Chrysler’s request. Contrary to many readers’ suggestions, the automaker did not agree to license the logo’s use on cordial terms. To quote the Orlando Sentinel account:

    “As I am sure you can appreciate from your years of work with the board, control of use of a mark by enthusiastic students and parents is quite simply not practical, and I know the school and board would not want to be in the position of censoring student expression associated with the design,” wrote Judith Powell, an attorney for Chrysler.

    (& welcome The Truth About Cars readers)

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    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2010/02/high-school-agrees-to-halt-chrysler-rams-logo/feed/ 3     Florida school team swipes Chrysler’s “Rams” logo http://overlawyered.com/2010/02/florida-school-team-swipes-chryslers-rams-logo/ http://overlawyered.com/2010/02/florida-school-team-swipes-chryslers-rams-logo/#comments Wed, 10 Feb 2010 05:26:23 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=16023 And lawyering ensues [Sun-Sentinel, Orlando Sentinel]

    P.S. Commenter VMS: “Sometimes corporations need to use their marketing brains rather than their legal muscle…. If Walter Chrysler were still around, he would have instructed his lawyers to license the mark to the team at minimal cost.”

    Update: High school yields and a Chrysler lawyer explains the company’s rationale for not doing a license.

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    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2010/02/florida-school-team-swipes-chryslers-rams-logo/feed/ 12     Because taxpayers and creditors haven’t given enough http://overlawyered.com/2009/12/because-taxpayers-and-creditors-havent-given-enough/ http://overlawyered.com/2009/12/because-taxpayers-and-creditors-havent-given-enough/#comments Fri, 11 Dec 2009 11:31:57 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=15127 “The House approved legislation on Thursday that would grant Chrysler and General Motors dealerships the right to challenge the companies’ decisions to close them in third-party arbitration.” The measure apparently has the support not only of Democratic leaders but of House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio). [NYT]

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    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2009/12/because-taxpayers-and-creditors-havent-given-enough/feed/ 0     Update on Mraz v. Chrysler http://overlawyered.com/2009/09/update-on-mraz-v-chrysler/ http://overlawyered.com/2009/09/update-on-mraz-v-chrysler/#comments Wed, 30 Sep 2009 21:48:49 +0000 Ted Frank http://overlawyered.com/?p=13960 Readers might remember the Mraz case, where a driver was run over by his own truck because he failed to engage the parking brake, and a jury nevertheless awarded $55 million. (March 8 and March 21, 2007.)

    The Chrysler bankruptcy threw a wrench into the appellate process. Given the number of unsecured (and secured!) creditors who were taking a haircut on what Chrysler owed them, and the weakness of the case, one would expect the claim to be extinguished. But Chrysler unilaterally (and almost certainly politically) decided not to extinguish product-liability lawsuits against it, and the Mraz case has settled for $24 million. (Amanda Bronstad, “Chrysler bankruptcy judge approves $24 million personal injury settlement”, National Law Journal, Sep. 25). Of course, the likely $8-$10 million attorneys’ fee in this case is being funded by taxpayers’ bailout money.

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    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2009/09/update-on-mraz-v-chrysler/feed/ 1     “Majority of House supports bill to reverse dealer closings” http://overlawyered.com/2009/07/majority-of-house-supports-bill-to-reverse-dealer-closings/ http://overlawyered.com/2009/07/majority-of-house-supports-bill-to-reverse-dealer-closings/#comments Fri, 10 Jul 2009 13:11:53 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=12234 The supposed “bankruptcy” process that winds up sparing politically influential constituencies keeps rolling along: let’s hope the Senate can say “no”. [Detroit News via Salmon, Drum, Manzi ("seems only fair, as the dealers paid good money for these politicians")]

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    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2009/07/majority-of-house-supports-bill-to-reverse-dealer-closings/feed/ 7     SCOTUS refuses to review Flax punitive damages http://overlawyered.com/2009/05/scotus-refuses-to-review-flax-punitive-damages/ http://overlawyered.com/2009/05/scotus-refuses-to-review-flax-punitive-damages/#comments Fri, 29 May 2009 20:20:14 +0000 Ted Frank http://overlawyered.com/?p=11445 I expressed skepticism this summer that the Exxon Shipping v. Baker decision was a positive sign for the Court’s punitive damages jurisprudence. After the replay of Philip Morris v. Williams and, now, the Court’s denial of certiorari in DaimlerChrysler v. Flax this week, I can say I was right.

    As readers of Overlawyered know, the Tennessee Supreme Court reinstated $13.3 million of punitive damages over a good-faith dispute over a van’s seat back design (in an accident caused by a drunk driver), giving no credit to the fact that the design in question was safer than federal safety standards, or to Exxon Shipping’s suggestion that punitive damages greater than a 1:1 ratio were possibly constitutionally inappropriate where compensatory damages were substantial and the defendant’s actions were not intentional or done for profit. As I described the case back then:

    In 2001, Louis Stockell, driving his pickup at 70 mph, twice the speed limit, rear-ended a Chrysler minivan. Physics being what they are, the front passenger seat in the van collapsed backwards and the passenger’s head struck and fatally injured 8-month old Joshua Flax. The rest of the family walked away from the horrific accident. Plaintiffs’ attorney Jim Butler argued that Chrysler, which already designed its seats above federal standards, should be punished for not making the seats stronger — never mind that a stronger and stiffer seat would result in more injuries from other kinds of crashes because it wouldn’t absorb any energy from the crash. (Rear-end collisions are responsible for only 3% of auto fatalities.) Apparently car companies are expected to anticipate which type of crash a particular vehicle will encounter, and design accordingly.

    (h/t Cutting)

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    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2009/05/scotus-refuses-to-review-flax-punitive-damages/feed/ 4     May 16 roundup http://overlawyered.com/2009/05/may-16-roundup-2/ http://overlawyered.com/2009/05/may-16-roundup-2/#comments Sat, 16 May 2009 04:21:19 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=11195
  • At Reason “Hit and Run”, Damon Root deems a certain website “indispensable” [accolades file]
  • Montgomery Blair Sibley, colorful lawyer for the “D.C. Madam” and a figure much covered on this site, has new book out [Doyle/McClatchy]
  • Although Indian tribal litigators attacked it as “disparaging”, the Washington Redskins football team can keep its trademark, for now at least. “My ancestors were both Vikings and Cowboys. Do I have a course of action?” [Volokh comments]
  • “Is Patent Infringement Litigation Up or Down?” [Frankel, The American Lawyer]
  • Maryland high court dismisses autism-mercury lawsuit [Seidel, Krauss @ Point of Law]
  • Chrysler dealers are lawyering up against the prospect of being cast off [WSJ Law Blog]
  • “Should doctors who follow evidence-based guidelines be offered liability protection?” [KevinMD]
  • Obama proposes $1.25 billion to settle black farmers’ long-running bias claims against the U.S. Department of Agriculture [AP/Yahoo]
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    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2009/05/may-16-roundup-2/feed/ 1     May 14 roundup http://overlawyered.com/2009/05/may-14-roundup/ http://overlawyered.com/2009/05/may-14-roundup/#comments Thu, 14 May 2009 13:51:42 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=11155
  • Yielding to pressure from state AGs, Craigslist will close “erotic services” section and replace with more highly moderated “adult services”; New York’s Cuomo is furious the site took unilateral action “in the middle of the night” rather than negotiating with him [NY Times, Hartford Courant, office of Connecticut AG (and longtime Overlawyered bete noire) Richard Blumenthal, Citizen Media Law, Above the Law] More: Ambrogi.
  • Or they could absorb it and move on: “Bounty sues Brawny in paper towel tilt” [Atlanta Journal-Constitution]
  • Was granting patents relating to diagnostic analysis of human genes a mistake? Should courts undo it? Via constitutional law? Three different questions there [Ars Technica, Doc Gurley/San Francisco Chronicle]
  • Canadian Human Rights Commission wants new ban on discrimination based on “social condition” (with concomitant penalties for hurtful speech premised on such condition) [Ken at Popehat]
  • Luxury-goods makers’ suits against eBay over sale of counterfeits may be petering out [Frankel, American Lawyer]
  • Today must be exotic-dancer-litigation day at Overlawyered: Trademark Trial and Appeal Board denies trademark protection for “Cuffs and Collar Mark” of Chippendales male exotic dancers [TTA Blog via Lowering the Bar, Ron Coleman, opinion in PDF]
  • Allegations fail to stick: “Judge drops class-action suit on Teflon cookware” [AP/Des Moines Register, WSJ, American Lawyer; earlier here and here]
  • Asbestos litigation ramps up against Detroit automakers after bankruptcy of many earlier defendants [five years ago on Overlawyered; up-to-the-minute report from Kirk Hartley]
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