Overlawyered » Cleveland

Speeches this week: Syracuse, Cleveland, Pittsburgh

Walter Olson — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 12:01:11 +0000

I’ll be discussing Schools for Misrule today at Syracuse University College of Law, tomorrow in Cleveland at Cleveland-Marshall College of Law at 4 p.m., and Thursday in Pittsburgh at noon at Pitt Law with critical commentary from Prof. Peter Oh. Federalist Society student chapters are sponsoring the events, which are open to the public. Come out and introduce yourself!

Thanks to my hosts over the past two weeks at Fordham (where I debated Prof. Zephyr Teachout), Brooklyn Law School, and Yale (where Prof. John Fabian Witt contributed generous comments).

Why not book me to speak at your own city or campus? You can contact me directly at editor – at – overlawyered – dot – com, call the Cato Institute at 202-789-5269, or, if you’re a Federalist Society chapter, through the Society’s home office.

Tags: Cleveland, Federalist Society, live in person, Pittsburgh, Yale

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One way to get around courtroom camera ban

Walter Olson — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 19:16:28 +0000

Ohio TV station WOIO is re-enacting highlights of a local corruption trial with puppets. More: Lowering the Bar (“I think that all court proceedings should be reported in this way, but would settle for either puppet coverage of arguments in the U.S. Supreme Court or a full reenactment of the Rod Blagojevich trial.”)

Tags: cameras in the courtroom, Cleveland, Ohio

One way to get around courtroom camera ban is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Ohio: county yanks obese child from family

Walter Olson — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 05:10:01 +0000

“An 8-year-old Cleveland Heights boy was taken from his family and placed in foster care last month after county case workers said his mother wasn’t doing enough to control his weight.” Lawyers for the mother of the >200-lb. boy “think the county has overreached in this case by arguing that medical conditions the boy is at risk for — but doesn’t yet have — pose an imminent danger to his health.” The county claims that the mother has ignored doctor’s orders, which she denies. [Rachel Dissell, Cleveland Plain Dealer; see correction on weight in comments]

P.S. As several press accounts note, the issue has been building for a while, notably this summer when Harvard researchers published a piece in JAMA calling for wider removal of obese children from homes.

Tags: Child Protective Services, Cleveland, obesity

Ohio: county yanks obese child from family is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

July 28 roundup

Walter Olson — Thu, 28 Jul 2011 05:45:21 +0000

Wild hypotheticals were grist for complaint: “Widener law professor cleared of harassment charges” [NLJ, earlier here, here, here]
Ninth Circuit: Facebook didn’t breach user’s right to accommodation of mental disability [Volokh]
House Judiciary hearing on litigation and economic prosperity [Wajert]
“University of Michigan to stop worrying about lawsuits, start releasing orphan works” [Cory Doctorow, BoingBoing]
PBS airs “The Story Behind Wacky Warning Labels” [Bob Dorigo Jones]
Fifth Circuit “candy cane” religion-in-schools case controversial among conservatives [David Upham, NR Bench Memos]
Great moments in public records law [Cleveland Plain Dealer, earlier related]

Tags: churches, Cleveland, disabled rights, Facebook, law schools, wacky warnings

July 28 roundup is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

What is a photocopier?

Walter Olson — Mon, 21 Mar 2011 05:04:15 +0000

The question comes up during a deposition, and nearly ten pages of court transcript follow. [Cleveland Plain Dealer] And: Lowering the Bar has some significant background on the case.

Tags: Cleveland, discovery

What is a photocopier? is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

August 5 roundup

Walter Olson — Thu, 05 Aug 2010 14:00:03 +0000

Wouldn’t it be nice if Congress lifted the ban on Internet gambling [Steve Chapman]
Design of New Orleans shotgun houses is an adaptation to tax laws [Candy Chang]
Lawyer-enriching Costco class action settlement draws an objection from a blogger often linked in this space [Amy Alkon]
“Fourth Circuit slaps down N.C. attorney general’s suit against TVA” [Wood/PoL, Jackson]
South Carolina jury’s $2.375 million award based on premise that Nissan should have followed European, not U.S. crashworthiness standards [Abnormal Use]
City of Cleveland won’t take no for answer in dumb lawsuit against mortgage lenders [Funnell]
Charles H. Green at TrustMatters hosts Blawg Review #275;
Duke lacrosse fiasco: Nifong’s media and law-school enablers [three years ago at Overlawyered]

Tags: attorneys general, autos, class action settlements, Cleveland, gambling, mortgages, New Orleans, taxes

August 5 roundup is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

April 4 roundup

Walter Olson — Sun, 04 Apr 2010 11:17:25 +0000

“Wisconsin law prof has name legally changed to Mitch — just Mitch” [Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel via Obscure Store]
Undue encumbrance? “Developers Trying To Treat Houses Like Copyright; Want A Cut Of Every Future Resale” [Techdirt]
It seems the anonymous online comments were made from the judge’s online account [Cleveland Plain Dealer] More: ABA Journal.
NLJ reports on surge of patent false marking suits [earlier here, here, here, etc.]
Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas, often mentioned in this space, will resign to run for Arizona attorney general [KPHO]
NY Times last month: those awful meanies who criticize litigation are going to harp on hot chicken sandwich case [WSJ Law Blog] You mean like…?
“British Libel Reform: Finally to Be a Reality?” [Citizen Media Law]
Trademark case settlement: “North Face, South Butt Agree to Turn Other Cheek” [Baxter, American Lawyer, earlier here and here]

Tags: Arizona, Cleveland, patent marking, real estate, Wisconsin

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

“Cleveland police no more grasp the 4th Amendment than they do the Rule Against Perpetuities”

Walter Olson — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 14:07:53 +0000

Russ Bensing reports on the Ohio criminal-law scene.

Tags: Cleveland, legal blogs, Ohio, police

“Cleveland police no more grasp the 4th Amendment than they do the Rule Against Perpetuities” is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Ohio: Turning the table on a serial ADA plaintiff

Walter Olson — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 13:27:46 +0000

Cleveland federal judge Donald Nugent has dismissed a disabled-access lawsuit by Bonnie Kramer against a real estate management company and allowed a counterclaim to go forward against Kramer and her lawyers “alleging abuse of process, fraud, civil conspiracy to commit fraud, spoliation and Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations violations”. Kramer, a self-styled “tester”, has been plaintiff in more than 100 actions under the ADA. [Andrew Longstreth, American Lawyer] More on “Disabled Patriots of America” group: Charlie Deitch, Pittsburgh City Paper.

Tags: ADA filing mills, Cleveland, Pittsburgh

Ohio: Turning the table on a serial ADA plaintiff is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Security guard who slept on job loses lawsuit

Walter Olson — Tue, 12 May 2009 12:13:23 +0000

Night-shift security guard Theodore Rongers had argued that under the Americans with Disabilities Act, his hospital employer “had a duty to reasonably accommodate the side effect of his heart medication by permitting him to sleep during his shift”. [Ohio Employer's Law Blog; Rongers v. University Hospitals of Cleveland, Cuyahoga County Ct. of Appeals, May 7 (PDF)] I discussed sleeping guards who were more successful in saving their jobs in my book The Excuse Factory (Google Books, limited search), published a decade ago and excerpted at the time in Washington Monthly (see also).

Tags: Cleveland, disabled rights, Ohio

Security guard who slept on job loses lawsuit is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system