Overlawyered » Crisis of 2008

Along with its formal report, the commission probing the financial crisis of 2008 has done an online archival dump of internal company documents that some hope, and others fear, will be of great help to litigators — even perhaps a “Wikileaks for the class action bar,” which with its allies was well represented on the commission and staff. [BLT; earlier]

More: David Frum has been doing a series of blog posts on the report’s substance.

Tags: Crisis of 2008, securities litigation

Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

March 27 roundup

Walter Olson — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 05:07:50 +0000

Find me someone who speaks Mixtecan, fast: under new California law health insurers must provide patients with certified language interpreters [Ventura County Star]
“Law Prof’s Article on His Jury Experience Leads to Overturned Verdict” [ABA Journal]
Quick, lock up the Internet: Harvard Law’s John Palfrey wants to unleash child-endangerment suits against online providers [Citizen Media Law]
“Another Lesbian Visitation Case has Liberty Counsel Spouting Nonsense” [Ed Brayton; earlier Miller-Jenkins case]
“Jury awards need to be fair, not lucrative” [Jackie Bueno Sousa, Miami Herald]
Aussie strip club disagrees with exotic dancer on whether faulty pole caused her injury [Brisbane Courier-Mail]
Hasbro nastygram over “Little Mr. Monopoly” use [Bob Ambrogi, Ron Coleman]
No, “crash of ’09″ doesn’t refute “capitalist system”, any more than “car wreck” refutes “auto-based travel”.

Tags: Australia, California, Crisis of 2008, Italy, juries, language bias, Miller-Jenkins case, nastygrams, strippers and exotic dancers

March 27 roundup is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Bailouts, bonuses, and the public mood

Walter Olson — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 20:53:15 +0000

Steve Chapman, as usual, keeps a cool head about things. And I’ve got some links at Point of Law on the remarkable House-passed proposal to slap a punitive tax on the compensation of many thousands of financial institution employees who are not even notionally to blame for the current crisis, as well as on the threats of violence to AIG employees, which are being met with complacency if not encouragement in some surprisingly respectable circles. Update: Point of Law post now considerably expanded, and with followups here and here.

Tags: banks, Crisis of 2008

Bailouts, bonuses, and the public mood is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

“Sending Wall Street To Jail”

Walter Olson — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 19:45:33 +0000

Roger Parloff at Fortune looks at the outlook for prosecutions over the financial implosion. One major source of potential criminal liability: over-rosy business statements put out by executives in hope of keeping customer/supplier confidence from tanking (cross-posted from Point of Law).

Tags: crime and punishment, Crisis of 2008

“Sending Wall Street To Jail” is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Microblog 2008-11-25

Walter Olson — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 05:03:33 +0000

Why real estate agents make you sign 1,000 silly forms [Christopher Fountain] Michigan requires acknowledgment that nearby farms “may generate noise, dust, odors” [Land Division Act h/t Sean Fosmire]
Albuquerque police take out want ad seeking snitches [AP]
“A prez must know S of S has no agenda other than his own” Chris Hitchens flays the Hillary pick [Slate]
Not all British nannies are charming: U.K. regulators may ban “happy hour” in bars [AP h/t Jeff Nolan]
As Georgia “sex offender” horror stories go, Wendy Whitaker case may outdo Genarlow Wilson’s [Below the Beltway; more on Wilson case]
U.K. juror polls her Facebook friends to help decide on case [AllFacebook h/t @lilyhill and @Rex7; Greenfield]
Looking for political conservatives on Twitter? Here’s a long list [Duane Lester, All American Blogger; and I have a comment on ways to use Twitter]
New page of auto-feeds from leading Canada & U.S. law & politics blogs [Wise Law Reader]
Bailout’s a lot bigger than you think, try $7.8 trillion with a “t” [John Carney]. Claim: with $ sunk since ’80, GM and Ford could have closed own plants and bought all shares of Honda, Toyota, Nissan and VW [David Yermack, WSJ via Cowen]. What if Citi gives up Mets naming rights? Gary’s Bail Bonds Stadium just doesn’t quite have the same ring to it [Ray Lehmann]
Australian class action could derail because overseas funders didn’t register as investment managers [The Australian h/t @SecuritiesD]

Tags: agriculture and farming, alcohol, Australia, autos, Canada, Crisis of 2008, Facebook, Georgia, juries, New Mexico, police, real estate, restaurants, Twitter, United Kingdom

Microblog 2008-11-25 is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

“Extraordinary leverage over the national economy”

Walter Olson — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 16:05:07 +0000

Did we imagine that it was not going to occur to anyone to have the government start using its big new stakes in banks and other commanding heights of the economy to, as it were, command? (David Frum, Oct. 30).

Tags: banks, Crisis of 2008

“Extraordinary leverage over the national economy” is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system