Overlawyered » class actions

Judge dismisses “Three Cups of Tea” book fraud case

Walter Olson — Tue, 08 May 2012 13:41:19 +0000

A Montana federal court dismisses a class action against author Greg Mortenson demanding reader refunds over alleged fabrications in his memoir Three Cups of Tea. [Volokh, earlier here, here, etc.] More: Trask.

Tags: class actions, publishers

Judge dismisses “Three Cups of Tea” book fraud case is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Class action lawyers vs. “Three Cups of Tea”

Walter Olson — Sat, 21 Apr 2012 04:35:36 +0000

Defendants in federal court in Montana are now seeking dismissal of a purported class action on behalf of readers disappointed by author Greg Mortenson’s exaggerations and embroiderings. As in the earlier (and successful) James Frey episode, lawyers are arguing that consumers should be awarded refunds for their purchases of the flawed memoir. [AP/Washington Post] Earlier here, etc.

Tags: class actions, publishers

Class action lawyers vs. “Three Cups of Tea” is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

April 20 roundup

Walter Olson — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 11:19:00 +0000

Lawsuit claim: MERS mortgage system is just a racket to deprive court clerks of recording fees [Baton Rouge Advocate]
More reporting on hospital and community drug shortages [Washington Post; my post last summer]
Roger Pilon: How the “judicial activism” debate changed [Cato at Liberty]
Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, spoken of as a future national political figure, has rather a lot of ties to trial lawyers [Political Desk]
Problems with DOJ e-book antitrust suit targeting Apple [Declan McCullagh]
One bogus campaign feeds into another: “ALEC Unfairly Demonized Over ‘Stand Your Ground’ Laws” [Bader, CEI "Open Market"]
New Point of Law discussion on class actions with Ted Frank and Brian Fitzpatrick;
Today’s best spam comment? “With all the thistledown floating almost on the net, it is rare to look over a locate like yours instead.”

Tags: antitrust, Apple, class actions, Louisiana, mortgages, politics, Ted Frank

April 20 roundup is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

April 18 roundup

Walter Olson — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 04:05:17 +0000

“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]

Tags: 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

April 18 roundup is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Class action: Apple’s Siri doesn’t live up to hype

Walter Olson — Wed, 14 Mar 2012 11:57:34 +0000

The class action firm of Robbins Geller, representing some client or other, is demanding damages from Apple on behalf of a class of people disappointed by the iPhone 4S voice-activated assistant, Siri. Reviewers have complained that the program often fails to comprehend users’ speech, returns illogical answers, and when asked “Play some Coltrane,” has been known to respond that it doesn’t know any “coal train.” [Mat Honan, Gizmodo; Jason Gilbert/Huffington Post] “When asked her whether her makers exaggerated her worth, Siri told Law Blog, ‘We were talking about you, not me.’” [Joe Palazzolo/WSJ Law Blog]

Tags: Apple, cellphones, class actions

Class action: Apple’s Siri doesn’t live up to hype is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

March 9 roundup

Walter Olson — Fri, 09 Mar 2012 05:50:13 +0000

Roundup of James Q. Wilson appreciations [Michael Greve] The controversial book a 29-year-old Wilson never wrote [Helen Rittelmeyer]
“Secret Class Action Settlements” [Rhonda Wasserman (Pitt), SSRN, via Stier] “Classic scholarship: Class action cops” [Trask/Class Strategist] Where should class-action scholarship go next? [same, more]
So does this mean GOP’s overturn-Kelo bill would kill the Keystone pipeline? [Stoll]
Stossel on illegal lemonade stands and vague laws that make everyone guilty; guest star is Cato’s Harvey Silverglate [YouTube]
No Fluke? Linda Greenhouse’s recollection of Lilly Ledbetter case is fairly fictionalized [Ed Whelan, earlier]
Footsie with plaintiff-lawyer adversaries: “Allstate vs. former Allstate adjuster” [Ron Miller]
Benjamin Barton reviews the Winston-Crandall deregulate-lawyers book [MSLR/SSRN via Instapundit, earlier]

Tags: class action settlements, class actions, eminent domain, insurers, Lilly Ledbetter

March 9 roundup is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Creative class actions: gas in repossessed cars

Walter Olson — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 12:15:59 +0000

Lawyers representing a White Lake, Mich. woman say that whether or not Ally Financial was within its rights to repossess her 2006 Pontiac, it was not entitled to the half-tank of gas it carried. They are asking class-action status on behalf of Michigan customers and seek $5 million. [Detroit News]

Tags: autos, class actions, Michigan

Creative class actions: gas in repossessed cars is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Hope in a (soap) box

Walter Olson — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 05:35:36 +0000

Lawyers have brought at least two class actions seeking to represent men who hoped pheromones in soap would attract women [Russell Jackson]

Tags: class actions, cosmetics

Hope in a (soap) box is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

February 9 roundup

Walter Olson — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 05:07:43 +0000

Ninth Circuit panel strikes down California’s Prop 8 [Volokh, Kerr, Magliocca, Lithwick, Steve Chapman]
Judge dismisses PETA “killer whales enslaved” case [Caroline May/Daily Caller, CNN, earlier]
“Patent Troll Claims Ownership of Interactive Web – And Might Win” [Joe Mullin/Wired, earlier; more on testimony by Web father Tim Berners-Lee] Update: Ding Dong! Jury rejects claim;
“Further Analysis of the Bottle-Rocket Case” [Lowering the Bar, earlier]
As patients suffer: “The War Over Prescription Painkillers,” start of a Radley Balko series [HuffPo parts one, two so far]
Richard Epstein on federal fiat and Yale disciplinary procedure [Defining Ideas] Under new-style rules at Yale, will a professor even be aware he’s been accused and henceforth is to be “monitored”? [KC Johnson]
Jim Copland testimony on abuses in government contingent-fee litigation [Manhattan Institute, PDF] “Parens patriae” proposal to replace class actions with state attorney general suits, but with private entrepreneurial bar still in saddle [Adam Zimmerman/Prawfs on Myriam Gilles/Gary Friedman, SSRN]

Tags: animal rights, attorneys general, class actions, colleges and universities, Ninth Circuit, patent trolls, pharmaceuticals, same-sex marriage, Yale

February 9 roundup is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

“Class-action lawyers swarm around buyout deals”

Walter Olson — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 05:30:12 +0000

Merger announcements often trigger a spate of press releases announcing that securities plaintiff’s firms are “investigating” the situation. Even if the evidence of wrongdoing is absent and the financial analysis thin, lawsuits may be the next step, because that’s where the money is [David Nicklaus, St. Louis Post-Dispatch]

Tags: class actions, securities litigation

“Class-action lawyers swarm around buyout deals” is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system