- “MPAA: you can infringe copyright just by embedding a video” [Timothy Lee, Ars Technica]
- NYC: fee for court-appointed fire department race-bias monitor is rather steep [Reuters]
- Larry Schonbron on VW class action [Washington Times] Watch out, world: “U.S. class action lawyers look abroad” [Reuters] Deborah LaFetra, “Non-injury class actions don’t belong in federal court” [PLF]
- Will animal rights groups have to pay hefty legal bill after losing Ringling Bros. suit? [BLT]
- You shouldn’t need a lobbyist to build a house [Mead, Yglesias]
- “Astorino and Westchester Win Against Obama’s HUD” [Brennan, NRO] My two cents [City Journal] Why not abolish HUD? [Kaus]
- “Community organized breaking and entering,” Chicago style [Kevin Funnell; earlier, NYC]
Tagged as:
animal rights,
bloggers and the law,
Chicago,
class action settlements,
class actions,
fair housing,
land use and zoning,
loser pays,
mortgages,
movies film and videos,
NYC,
real estate
- How ObamaCare will drive up cost of contraception [Avik Roy] Better idea: sell Pill over the counter [Virginia Postrel, Bloomberg]
- Had been seized by authorities: obese 9-year-old returns home after dropping 50 pounds [Cleveland Plain Dealer, earlier]
- Best campaign funding mechanism ever? [Ron Paul Forums, JPG, more explanation; but is it lawful?]
- More appreciations of Bill Stuntz crimlaw book [Leon Neyfakh, Boston Globe, Stephen Smith and Jonathan Jacobs, Liberty and Law]
- Changes in court rules could curb Philadelphia’s allure for mass tort forum-shoppers [Alison Frankel, Reuters] “Further Empirical Evidence on Forum Shopping in Philadelphia Civil Courts” [Josh Wright, earlier]
- Coming: federal authority over private firms’ IT-security departments? [Jim Harper/Cato; Constantine von Hoffman/CIO]
- “0.1% claim rate in ‘successful’ class action” [Ted Frank/PoL, AT&T case]
Tagged as:
Child Protective Services,
class action settlements,
crime and punishment,
obesity,
Philadelphia
- A federal fishing raid, the Pew Charitable Trusts and a biased Business Week account [Nils Stolpe on Gloucester, Mass. fisheries, via Stoll]
- Intimidating the judiciary? “Group Opposing Citizens United Pushes ‘Occupy the Courts’ Protest” Jan. 20 [Debra Cassens Weiss, ABA Journal] Mob rallies at Michigan governor’s private home [Meegan Holland, MLive] “Occupy” forces Gingrich to cancel event [Daily Caller] Earlier here, here, here, etc.
- “Paper Airplane? Late for School? Shouting Too Loud? You’re Under Arrest!” [Free-Range Kids, Texas]
- Spielberg in “Raiders of the Lost Ark” paid homage to earlier movie sequences without sweating permissions. Oh, for those days [Joho] “Cultural gems that should be in the public domain today” [Atlantic Wire, Tabarrok]
- UPS settlement exaggerates benefits to class members [Ted Frank; related, CCAF] “Federal Judges Have Harsh Words, Rulings for Class Action Plaintiffs’ Lawyers” [Lammi/WLF]
- “Justice Breyer Calls Recusal Controversy a ‘Non-Issue’” [ABA Journal]
- “Add Plaintiff-Lawyer Fees To The Cost Of Most Mergers” [Daniel Fisher, Forbes on Cornerstone Research report]
Tagged as:
class action settlements,
environment,
Massachusetts,
movies film and videos,
police,
recusals,
schools,
securities litigation,
Texas
At Paid Content, Jeff Roberts reports that Wal-Mart may have found a clever way to pitch its services at Netflix’s streaming subscribers, namely by settling a class action lawsuit to which they are party:
A federal court in California late last week approved a class-action settlement that requires Wal-Mart to pay out $27.5 million. But here’s the key element of the ruling: Wal-Mart will be allowed to pay the 40 million Netflix subscribers in the form of gift cards for Wal-Mart.com—where there is prominent advertising for Vudu, which rents and sells movies a la carte.
The court ruling is a blow to Netflix, which had earlier blasted the settlement as “the equivalent of a marketing campaign that costs Walmart only 68 cents per potential customer.”
Tagged as:
class action settlements,
movies film and videos,
Wal-Mart
- “He coulda been a credenza”: actor’s estate sues over unauthorized “Brando” furniture line [The Daily via Balko] “Motorcycle Gang Sues Over ‘My Boyfriend’s A Hell’s Angel’ T-Shirt” [CBS-LA]
- EEOC decries employer discrimination on the basis of applicants’ criminal records, recommends curbing background checks [WSJ Law Blog, FastCasual, Hyman, Greenfield] Bill in San Francisco would make felons a protected class in jobs, housing [Fox]
- Why are Obama officials intent on reducing due process protections for those accused of campus sexual misconduct? [Silverglate, WSJ; Philadelphia Magazine, Samantha Harris/NY Post, Ciamarella, Daily Caller (AAUP objects to plan); links at SAVE] A contrasting view [Roderick Hills, Prawfsblawg]
- 9th Circuit rejects Bluetooth class action settlement to which Ted Frank’s CCAF objected [Fisher, NLJ, Frank]
- Lawyer who represents jogger in product liability suit expects to file more actions claiming Skechers sneakers responsible for falls [BLT]
- Part of a balanced breakfast: “Why the lawsuit against Nutella is bunk” [Nadia Arumugam, Slate] Update: Judge denies motion to dismiss [Russell Jackson]
- Experts agree it’s OK to nominate Overlawyered for an ABA “100 Best Legal Blogs” slot here.
Tagged as:
class action settlements,
colleges and universities,
criminal records and hiring,
EEOC,
right of publicity
- More reviews of Schools for Misrule: Counterpoint (U. of Chicago), Wilson Trivino at PurePolitics.com;
- “Cops Collar 12 Year Old for “Walking Alone” in Downtown Toronto” [Free-Range Kids] Cop tells mom kids under ten “by law are not allowed outside unsupervised except in their parents’ yard.” [western Maryland, same]
- As lawmakers seek budget cuts, school finance litigators are on the march to counter their plans [WSJ Law Blog]
- Wouldn’t waive regs: “U.S. blocks $1 million Italian supercar” [CNN Money]
- You see, entrepreneurial suit-filing does create jobs: “Hike in Wage-and-Hour Litigation Spurs Demand for Calif. Employment Law Associates” [ABA Journal] How U.S. Congress devastated American Samoa through minimum wage hikes [Mark Perry]
- CCAF objects in Sirius class action settlement [PoL, earlier]
- “The Phantom Menace of Sleep Deprived Doctors” [Darshak Sanghavi, NY Times Magazine]
Tagged as:
autos,
children's rights,
class action settlements,
hospitals,
Italy,
law schools,
schools,
Schools for Misrule,
wage and hour suits
Kellogg is paying several million dollars to settle a class action lawsuit over the marketing of Rice Krispies; according to Ted Frank, the attorneys are asking for $1.3 million while their client class is getting less than that. [Point of Law, more]
Tagged as:
class action settlements
- Not for first time, Dahlia Lithwick misrepresents Wal-Mart case [Ponnuru, Whelan, earlier here and here]
- Merciful gods, please spare us ghastly “Caylee’s Law” proposal [Josh Blackman, Reuters, Greenfield, Frank] More on constitutional flaws [Robson, Tribe]
- Mark Perry on efforts to replace the relatively open-entry Washington, D.C. taxi system with NYC-style cartelization via medallion;
- “Wrongful Convictions: How many innocent Americans are behind bars?” [Balko]
- “Persaud identified himself as a juror, offering to fix the verdict for a fee.” [CBS NY; Long Island med-mal case]
- “Is the Common Law the Solution to Pollution?” [Jonathan Adler, PERC]
- “Rice Krispies class action settlement” [Ted Frank]
Tagged as:
class action settlements,
Dahlia Lithwick,
environment,
juries,
prosecution,
Wal-Mart v. Dukes,
Washington D.C.
Ted Frank’s class action settlement reform group, the Center for Class Action Fairness, has announced “multiple victories” in ongoing cases arising from settlements by Apple, Classmates.com, Toyota, HP, and gasoline retailers. Among the topics addressed in objection: exaggeration of benefits supposedly provided for the class, excessive attorney fees, and diversion of proceeds to groups unrelated to the class. Details here.
Tagged as:
class action settlements,
cy pres,
Ted Frank
