Overlawyered » debtor-creditor law http://overlawyered.com Chronicling the high cost of our legal system Tue, 14 Feb 2012 16:11:47 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 en hourly 1 January 21 roundup http://overlawyered.com/2012/01/january-21-roundup-3/ http://overlawyered.com/2012/01/january-21-roundup-3/#comments Sat, 21 Jan 2012 14:52:42 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=27016
  • Because judges should decide cases the way clamoring crowds want them to: “Occupy the Courts” [Althouse, Somin, earlier] Pittsburgh lawprof: bank’s office park has become public forum and is ours to seize [Daily Caller]
  • Some reactions to Megaupload indictment [Julian Sanchez, Ken at Popehat]
  • Kozinski, others trade quips at oral argument in Disneyland Segway ADA case [Courthouse News via Disabilities Law, earlier] “Ouch! Judge Posner eviscerates both a damages expert and the trial judge who let him testify against FedEx” [Technology Law Notes]
  • Victim of NYC gun laws: “Free Meredith Graves” [NRO] “NYC Business Bled To Death Over Toy Guns” [Moonbattery]
  • “Old Enough to Fight, Old Enough to Swipe: A Critique of the Infancy Rule in the Federal Credit Card Act” [Andrew Schwartz (Colorado), SSRN, via Ted Frank]
  • Federal drug cops unapologetic about role in Adderall shortage [Rob Port] A failure of central planning [Reuters, Jacob Sullum and more ("Does the DEA know what 'quota' means?")] Some trial lawyers pushing to ban the drug [via Ted Frank].
  • Go, my child, and steal no more: TSA agents who pilfered $40K from luggage get six months [AP via Balko]
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    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2012/01/january-21-roundup-3/feed/ 6     December 30 roundup http://overlawyered.com/2011/12/december-30-roundup/ http://overlawyered.com/2011/12/december-30-roundup/#comments Fri, 30 Dec 2011 05:03:05 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=26439
  • “Copyright troll Righthaven in its death throes, domain going up for auction” [Cory Doctorow, BoingBoing]
  • Controversy over litigation finance continues [WaPo, NYPost]
  • Presumably unrelated to above: “Unpaid Bills Land Some Debtors Behind Bars” [NPR]
  • “Rent Control Violates Property Rights and Due Process” [Ilya Shapiro and Trevor Burrus, Cato, on Harmon v. Kimmel cert petition]
  • Child abuse horrors result in dubious policy proposals including moves to abolish statutes of limitation, cast wider mandatory-reporting net [Howard Wasserman/PrawfsBlawg, Kyle Graham/Concurring Opinions]
  • Schwab IRA class action settlement: lawyers get $500K while benefit to class is unclear [Lawrence Schonbron, Washington Times]
  • “State Court Challenges to Legislatively Enacted Tort Reforms” [Andrew Cook and Emily Kelchen, Federalist Society "State Court Docket Watch"]
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    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2011/12/december-30-roundup/feed/ 0     December 20 roundup http://overlawyered.com/2011/12/december-20-roundup-3/ http://overlawyered.com/2011/12/december-20-roundup-3/#comments Tue, 20 Dec 2011 12:09:35 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=26263
  • No regulatory surge under Obama? Check the numbers please [WSJ edit, James Gattuso/Heritage] Now online: Federalist Society convention panels on regulation [Cass et al, Epstein et al] “House passes REINS Act, president promises veto” [Adler, Mike Kelsey/Heritage] Regulation Moratorium and Jobs Preservation Act “dying in Senate committee” [PoL]
  • Study: NY municipalities battered by litigation [Sydney Cresswell & Michael Landon-Murray, Rockefeller/Albany, PDF]
  • Dodd-Frank and corporate credit [David Henderson]
  • Inside the great Las Vegas condo-board-takeover scam [Bloomberg, earlier]
  • “Copyright Law and European Compilations of U.S. Jazz Recordings” [Kerr, Volokh]
  • Autism-care cheat: “Former MoFo Partner Draws 12-Month Sentence in Fraud Case” [Recorder]
  • Would privacy torts do better? Jim Harper on the Fair Credit Reporting Act [Cato Institute, PDF]
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    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2011/12/december-20-roundup-3/feed/ 0     “Schumer’s layaway scam” http://overlawyered.com/2011/11/schumers-layaway-scam/ http://overlawyered.com/2011/11/schumers-layaway-scam/#comments Tue, 15 Nov 2011 03:44:03 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=25658 Charles Schumer, senior senator from New York, really does not seem to trust consumers to decide on their own arrangements, notes Steve Chapman.

    P.S. Nor it seems is military spouse Holly Petraeus [Ira Stoll]

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    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2011/11/schumers-layaway-scam/feed/ 7     March 24 roundup http://overlawyered.com/2011/03/march-24-roundup-3/ http://overlawyered.com/2011/03/march-24-roundup-3/#comments Thu, 24 Mar 2011 13:53:43 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=22219
  • “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]
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    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2011/03/march-24-roundup-3/feed/ 4     March 14 roundup http://overlawyered.com/2011/03/march-14-roundup-2/ http://overlawyered.com/2011/03/march-14-roundup-2/#comments Mon, 14 Mar 2011 05:28:17 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=22002
  • A San Francisco cosmetic surgeon sues her online critics — in Virginia? [Paul Alan Levy, CL&P]
  • SCOTUS ruling in “cat’s-paw” case could gut summary judgment in many bias suits [Hyman]
  • Cuomo spokesman’s smart retort to Litigation Lobby attack on Medicaid reform panel [LoHud.com]
  • “Tennessee Cops Posed as a Defense Attorney To Get Suspect To Incriminate Himself” [Reason]
  • “Illinois golfer not liable for head shot” [Lowering the Bar]
  • Trade friction mounts due to anti-India provisions in Zadroga (9/11 recovery workers) compensation bill [PoL]
  • Is a tax-funded federal nonprofit entity funneling money to environmental suits against the government? [Ron Arnold, Examiner]
  • FCRA class action deemed “lawsuit abuse problem in a nutshell” [Examiner editorial]
  • “Fatherhood by Conscription: Nonconsensual Insemination & the Duty of Child Support” [Michael Higdon, SSRN via Instapundit]
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    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2011/03/march-14-roundup-2/feed/ 4     Sallie Mae robocall settlement http://overlawyered.com/2011/02/sallie-mae-robocall-settlement/ http://overlawyered.com/2011/02/sallie-mae-robocall-settlement/#comments Fri, 11 Feb 2011 06:05:50 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=21429 It includes a provision in which the class lawyers agree not to disparage the student lender. John Frith of the Civil Justice Association of California says that in exchange for the chance to split $4.875 million in fees, he’d probably agree to keep quiet too.

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    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2011/02/sallie-mae-robocall-settlement/feed/ 0     January 4 roundup http://overlawyered.com/2011/01/january-4-roundup-3/ http://overlawyered.com/2011/01/january-4-roundup-3/#comments Tue, 04 Jan 2011 05:08:38 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=20810
  • Report: dead woman’s name robo-signed onto thousands of collection documents [Business Insider] Or was it? [comment, Fredrickson/Collections and Credit Risk (alleging that living daughter shares name of deceased mother)] “Are faked attorney signatures the ‘next huge issue’ in the foreclosure scandal?” [Renee Knake, Legal Ethics Forum]
  • “Major Verdict Threatens to Bankrupt Maker of Exercise Equipment” [Laura Simons, Abnormal Use]
  • Decline in competitiveness of U.S. capital markets owes much to legal and regulatory developments [Bainbridge, related]
  • Deadly Choices, The Panic Virus: Dr. Paul Offit and Seth Mnookin have new books out on vaccine controversy [Orac]
  • “No one’s trying to get rich off this,” says lawyer planning suit on behalf of A train subway riders stranded during NYC blizzard [NY Daily News]
  • Washington Attorney General Rob McKenna continues to seek solutions to state’s uniquely exposed litigation position, including fix of joint and several liability [Seattle Times, background here and here]
  • ABA Blawg 100 picks — and a critique;
  • Alabama bar orders lawyer’s law license suspended, but in the mean time he’s been elected judge [four years ago on Overlawyered]
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    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2011/01/january-4-roundup-3/feed/ 5     Product liability as model for consumer finance regulation? http://overlawyered.com/2010/12/product-liability-as-model-for-consumer-finance-regulation/ http://overlawyered.com/2010/12/product-liability-as-model-for-consumer-finance-regulation/#comments Wed, 15 Dec 2010 13:16:20 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=20595 Let’s hope it doesn’t unfold that way, says Richard Epstein [Truth on the Market]

    P.S. It looks as if from Congress will accord lawyers and some other professionals an exemption from Federal Trade Commission regulations on identity theft that would have lumped them in with more traditional lenders because they often do not bill clients at the time work is performed. Fair enough, one supposes, but also another indication of the truism that one’s success in dodging nonsensical regulation is often a function of one’s status as a potent lobby in Washington.

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    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2010/12/product-liability-as-model-for-consumer-finance-regulation/feed/ 2     Found in a cookie jar? http://overlawyered.com/2010/11/found-in-a-cookie-jar/ http://overlawyered.com/2010/11/found-in-a-cookie-jar/#comments Thu, 04 Nov 2010 05:04:26 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=19974 ABA Journal: “A South Carolina lawyer known for his TV commercials and billboards has turned over $994,000 in cash kept in a closet of his Myrtle Beach law office after a court-appointed bankruptcy investigator stressed the importance of disclosing his assets.” In initial filings, attorney Pavilack said he owed an estimated $72,500,000 to creditors and had $50,000 in assets; two months later he revised the asset disclosure upward to $8.9 million. A bankruptcy examiner says Pavilack’s financial affairs are in disarray and that it may be impossible to disentangle what he owns or where money went given a pattern of unexplained money transfers among a maze of business accounts. [Myrtle Beach Sun-News via Lowering the Bar]

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