Overlawyered » Colorado

Labor and employment roundup

Walter Olson — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 05:21:00 +0000

Two retaliation cases that should scare employers [Robin Shea via Jon Hyman]
Maryland law redefining independent contractors as employees vexes flooring business [Bethany Rodgers, Frederick News Post, editorial, earlier] New York Times on minimum wage 1987 vs. 2012: 1987 made more sense [Mark Perry] E-discovery drives up cost of wage and hour litigation [Jon Hyman]
Irony alert: “Unionized workers organize against National Labor Relations Board” [Adam Jablonowski, Daily Caller]
Proposals to create new rights for public employee unions [Ivan Osorio/CEI, federal; Jack Mann/CEI, California] Courtesy LA taxpayers, garage monitor at L.A. Department of Water & Power makes $74K/year as compared with $21K elsewhere [L.A. Times via Amy Alkon] Connecticut governor proceeds with plans to herd personal care attendants into union [Trey Kovacs/CEI]
Colorado measure regulating use of credit records in hiring is solution in search of problem [Mark Hillman, Colorado Springs Gazette]
Connecticut proposal to ban unemployment discrimination heats up [Daniel Schwartz]
German high court orders universities to raise salaries for starting professors [Walter Russell Mead]

Tags: Colorado, Connecticut, discrimination law, Germany, labor unions, Los Angeles, Maryland, public employment, wage and hour suits, workplace

Labor and employment roundup is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

January 9 roundup

Walter Olson — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 05:12:45 +0000

Illinois now requires showing of ID, signing of log to buy drain cleaner. So long as you’re not trying to vote! [Consumerist via @amyalkon]
Tribute to no-longer-anonymous Ken White of Popehat and his work defending bloggers from legal threats [Scott Greenfield; earlier; Ken's defense in Maryland of blogger Aaron Worthing; new case of science blogger in Texas]
Politicos mobilize against risk that Wal-Mart will bring fresh produce choices to Harlem [Greg Beato] India frets about whether to allow chain stores, recapitulating a debate U.S. once went through [Tabarrok, MR]
Colorado legislators honored at a luncheon where I spoke [CCJL]
HHS launches initiative to audit health providers for compliance with HIPAA data privacy law, and many are unprepared [American Medical News, Dana Thrasher, Dom Nicastro/HealthLeaders Media]
New scholarship on effects of Twombly/Iqbal [Drug and Device Law series first, second, third, CL&P]
Congratulations to the outstanding Abnormal Use for winning the ABA’s “Blawg 100” vote for best torts blog; we feel pretty good about placing third without mounting a campaign. While exploring that site, don’t miss its stellar coverage of the tendentious documentary “Hot Coffee”.

Tags: bloggers and the law, Colorado, HIPAA, hot coffee, Illinois, India, legal blogs, pleading, Wal-Mart

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

Number of blocks, doll ethnicity, pleasantness of greetings…

Walter Olson — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 15:05:17 +0000

Colorado really intends to regulate day-care centers to a fare-thee-well [Popehat, KKCO]

P.S. As Hans Bader rightly points out, the requirement that day cares publicly avow enthusiasm about diversity also gets into some troubling First Amendment territory of government-compelled speech.

Tags: Colorado, regulation and its reform, schools

Number of blocks, doll ethnicity, pleasantness of greetings… is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

“Plaintiff seeks phantom damages 6 times greater than actual costs”

Walter Olson — Sat, 30 Apr 2011 05:11:08 +0000

According to the Colorado Civil Justice League, the decision by the state’s high court last fall in Volunteers of America v. Gardenswartz prohibits juries from learning the amounts actually paid, as opposed to “billed,” for medical services whose reimbursement is demanded in accident cases. The distinction is important because those who cover medical bills in practice (e.g., health insurers with their bulk buying clout) often pay much lower sums than the “rack rates” that hospitals and others officially charge (more on HB 1106, which would restore the evidence of paid as well as billed amounts).

P.S. As Jack Leyhane notes, the Colorado controversy is related to, though not identical with, the longstanding controversy over the “collateral source” rule, which provides that payments by third parties to a plaintiff over an injury will not reduce or offset the liability of a tortfeasor. “It is the lien or subrogation rights of third parties — [which] vary widely from state to state — that make sweeping generalities about the collateral source rule difficult to formulate.”

Tags: Colorado, medical

“Plaintiff seeks phantom damages 6 times greater than actual costs” is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

March 24 roundup

Walter Olson — Thu, 24 Mar 2011 13:53:43 +0000

“Woman suing Carnival: Ship sailed too fast, made me sick” [Gene Sloan, USA Today "Cruise Log"]
U.S. Department of Justice sues Illinois school district for denying Muslim teacher’s request for three-week Mecca-trip leave [WaPo]
“California Assembly Says Complying with Government Standards Not Enough to Avoid Punitive Damages” [Cal Civil Justice]
“Four Loko Suit Is an Example of Bogus Economic Loss Classes” [Russell Jackson]
New Benjamin Barton book on lawyer-judge bias reviewed by Larry Ribstein [TotM, earlier]
“Prolific Colorado Consumer Attorney Filed 2/3rds of State’s FDCPA Cases Since 2007″ [ABA Journal]
Different kind of false marking case? Judge says company knowingly claimed inapplicable patent [WSJ Law Blog]
“Extra-special education at public expense” [five years ago on Overlawyered]

Tags: California, class actions, Colorado, cruise ships, debtor-creditor law, patent marking, punitive damages, religious discrimination

March 24 roundup is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Schools for Misrule spring speaking tour

Walter Olson — Thu, 17 Feb 2011 17:27:17 +0000

[cross-posted from Cato at Liberty]

The first copies of my new book Schools for Misrule: Legal Academia and an Overlawyered America are here from the printer, and I’ll be touring the country to promote it in coming weeks. Some highlights:

February 21. Bloomington, Ind. Indiana University Law School, sponsored by Federalist Society chapter.
February 22. Urbana-Champaign, Ill. University of Illinois School of Law, sponsored by Federalist Society chapter. Commenting will be Prof. Larry Ribstein.
March 3. Washington, D.C. Cato Institute Policy Forum. Commenting on the book will be the Hon. Douglas Ginsburg, U.S. Court of Appeals, and moderating will be Cato legal director Roger Pilon.
March 10. University of Minnesota, sponsored by Federalist Society chapter. Commenting will be Profs. Brad Clary and Oren Gross, and moderating will be Prof. Dale Carpenter.
March 16. New York, N.Y. Manhattan Institute luncheon (invitation). Commenting will be James Copland, Manhattan Institute.
March 22. Washington, D.C. Heritage Foundation forum. Commenting/moderating: Todd Gaziano, Heritage Foundation.
March 28. Boulder, Colo. University of Colorado School of Law, sponsored by Federalist Society chapter.
March 29. Laramie, Wyo. University of Wyoming School of Law, sponsored by Federalist Society chapter.
March 30. Sacramento, Calif. McGeorge School of Law, sponsored by Federalist Society chapter.
April 6. New York, N.Y. Manhattan Institute Young Leaders evening event (private).
April 7. Washington, D.C. American University Law School, sponsored by Federalist Society chapter.
April 13. Washington, D.C. Book club appearance (private).
April 27-29. Dallas, Tex. Heritage Foundation Resource Bank meeting (private).

Always check in advance with the hosting group for venues and exact times; some events open to the public require advance registration. The book’s official publication date is March 1, and copies should be arriving in the bookstores soon.

Tags: Cato Institute, Colorado, Illinois, Indiana, live in person, Manhattan Institute, Schools for Misrule, Wyoming

Schools for Misrule spring speaking tour is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

The trouble with tenure, cont’d

Walter Olson — Fri, 28 Jan 2011 19:47:47 +0000

A Colorado cop gets reinstated with back pay after what his police chief considered an “egregious” incident of excessive force. And once again — I argue in my new post at Cato — we are given reason to rethink the strange phenomenon of public employee tenure.

P.S. Scott Greenfield has more on job security for errant police officers.

Tags: Colorado, police, public employment

The trouble with tenure, cont’d is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

“‘New-Car Fumes’ May Have Contributed to Hit-and-Run, Expert Says”

Walter Olson — Fri, 17 Dec 2010 16:02:01 +0000

Kevin at Lowering the Bar spots a promising new theory in a defense expert’s testimony, though it’s not clear the lawyers actually wound up making use of it. [Vail Daily, same at Denver Post]

Tags: autos, Colorado, environment, expert witnesses, personal responsibility

“‘New-Car Fumes’ May Have Contributed to Hit-and-Run, Expert Says” is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

November 23 roundup

Walter Olson — Tue, 23 Nov 2010 13:18:10 +0000

Growth of regulatory state makes lobbying more attractive path than innovation [Morris Panner, WaPo]
Long-awaited Norma Zager book flays Erin Brockovich role in Beverly Hills High School controversy [CJAC]
Colorado high court: no need to limit medical fee awards to sums plaintiffs actually paid [CCJL, Law Week Colorado]
Please, law firm marketers, don’t assume we’re in need of your services [Popehat]
Updates on prosecutorial silencing of pain treatment activist Siobhan Reynolds [Sullum, more, yet more, Balko]
Comments of NTSB official notwithstanding, riding motorcycle without helmet is no “public health issue” [Boaz, Cato] Watch out for more paternalism premised on government health care expenditures [Coyote]
No contracting out? Can California really be this screwed up? [Coyote]
Claim: railroad should have warned against walking on the right-of-way [six years ago on Overlawyered]

Tags: California, Colorado, damages, Erin Brockovich, public health

November 23 roundup is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

March 2 roundup

Walter Olson — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 16:12:51 +0000

“Trial Lawyers vs. Toyota” [Holman Jenkins, Jr./WSJ] Rep. Towns’s hearing didn’t even pretend to be other than showcase for trial bar [Wood, PoL; Henry Payne coverage in National Review here, here, here, and here] And make way for the inevitable investor suits [Daily Breeze]
“Obama open to curbing medical malpractice suits” [AP/WaPo] Related: The Hill; advice from Newsweek’s Evan Thomas [Jim Pinkerton]
Why doesn’t the Securities and Exchange Commission hire finance people? “They’re overlawyered. They’re poisoned by lawyers.” [Harry Markopolos interviewed by Deborah Solomon, N.Y. Times]
“Plaintiffs Lawyer’s ‘Reptile’ Strategy Bites Back” [Fulton County Daily Report] Plus: Max Kennerly wonders why it was admitted into evidence;
“Facebook plus divorce equals flammable situation” [Tampa Bay Online]
Officials get wined, dined and more: “Paying public pensions to sue” [Forbes]
Parents sue many defendants in Colorado ice cream shop crash [Denver Post]
Called for jury duty yesterday, and Tweeting the results: arts critic/biographer Terry Teachout and conservative writer Michelle Malkin.

Tags: Bernard Madoff, Colorado, divorce, Facebook, Georgia, medical malpractice, securities litigation, shotgun defendant selection, Toyota, Twitter

March 2 roundup is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system