Overlawyered » discovery

May 7 roundup

Walter Olson — Mon, 07 May 2012 04:05:15 +0000

NY lawyer sanctioned $10K for behavior at deposition [Debra Cassens Weiss, ABA Journal]
Obvious dangers and the W.V. frat-house rear-launched bottle rocket case [Popehat, earlier here, here]
Review of Liberty’s Refuge, new book on freedom of assembly by Washington U. lawprof John Inazu [Anthony Deardurff, Liberty Law]
If forfeiture and asset freeze can be deployed in a copyright enforcement case, where will they strike next? [Timothy Lee, Cato]
Hard-hitting Kim Strassel column on Al “Crucify Them” Armendariz [WSJ, earlier] Exxon CEO Rex Tillerson: “If you want to live by the precautionary principle, then crawl up in a ball and live in a cave.” [Coyote] Washington Post on the case for the Keystone pipeline [Adler]
Losing two looks like carelessness: second Durham County D.A. removed from office for misconduct [Volokh, KC Johnson]
Why won’t the Eighth Circuit recognize fraudulent misjoinder? [Beck]

Tags: discovery, Eighth Circuit, Exxon, forfeiture, prosecutorial abuse, sanctions

May 7 roundup is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

March 27 roundup

Walter Olson — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 04:04:06 +0000

NYC: “Lawsuit Blames Apple’s Glass Doors for Plaintiff’s Broken Nose” [Lowering the Bar, CBS New York]
Some who pushed enhanced punishment for Dharun Ravi may now be doubting they really want it [Scott Greenfield, earlier here, etc.]
NYT editorial on FMLA state immunity is as bad as anyone had a right to expect [Whelan]
“Pleading, Discovery, and the Federal Rules: Exploring the Foundations of Modern Procedure” [Martin Redish, FedSoc "Engage"] Summary of important ’09 Redish book Wholesale Justice calling into question constitutionality of class actions [Trask]
Would trial-by-DVD be so very wrong? [James Grimmelmann, Prawfs]
Contested memorabilia: lawsuits filed over estate of gay rights pioneer Franklin Kameny [MetroWeekly]
Feds’ “distracted driving” guidance could impair usefulness of car navigation systems [Cunningham/CNet, earlier]

Tags: Apple, autos, discovery, juries, pleading

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

Reducing discovery costs

Walter Olson — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 15:43:05 +0000

Famed Texas lawyer Stephen Susman has a bunch of ideas. [Dan Fisher, Forbes](& Miller)

Tags: discovery, stephen susman

Reducing discovery costs is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

March 6 roundup

Walter Olson — Tue, 06 Mar 2012 05:11:54 +0000

D.C. Circuit’s Janice Rogers Brown: three-decade-long case over Iran dairy expropriation raises “harshest caricature of the American litigation system” [BLT]
Legal blogger Mark Bennett runs for Texas Court of Criminal Appeals as Libertarian [Defending People, Scott Greenfield] And Prof. Bill Childs, often linked in this space, is departing TortsProf (and legal academia) to join a private law practice in Texas;
Ambitious damage claims, more modest settlements abound in Louisiana oil-rig cleanup suits [ATLA's Judicial Hellholes, more, more, earlier]
Better no family at all: Lawprof Banzhaf jubilant over courts’ denial of adoption to smokers [his press release]
“The worst discovery request I’ve ever gotten” [Patrick at Popehat] And yours?
Concession to reality? Class action against theater over high cost of movie snacks seen as dud [Detroit Free Press]
FCPA is for pikers, K Street shows how real corruption gets done [Bill Frezza, Forbes] Dems threatening tax-bill retribution against clients whose lobbyists who back GOP candidates [Politico]

Tags: adoption, D.C. Circuit, discovery, environment, legal blogs, lobbyists, Louisiana, movies film and videos, oil industry, smoking bans, Texas

March 6 roundup is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

“Obama ‘HOPE’ poster artist pleads guilty to contempt”

Walter Olson — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 05:02:31 +0000

Locked in litigation with the Associated Press over whether his famous poster improperly infringed on the copyright of the news photograph on which it was based, Shepard Fairey did not conduct himself well. According to U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara, Fairey “went to extreme lengths to obtain an unfair and illegal advantage in his civil litigation, creating fake documents and destroying others in an effort to subvert the civil discovery process.” [AP]

Tags: art and artists, discovery, sanctions

“Obama ‘HOPE’ poster artist pleads guilty to contempt” is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

February 24 roundup

Walter Olson — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 05:07:47 +0000

Melissa Kite, columnist with Britain’s Spectator, writes about her low-speed car crash and its aftermath [first, second, third, fourth]
NYT’s Nocera lauds Keystone pipeline, gets called “global warming denier” [NYTimes] More about foundations’ campaign to throttle Alberta tar sands [Coyote] Regulations mandating insurance “disclosures” provide another way for climate change activists to stir the pot [Insurance and Technology]
“Cop spends weeks to trick an 18-year-old into possession and sale of a gram of pot” [Frauenfelder, BB]
Federal Circuit model order, pilot program could show way to rein in patent e-discovery [Inside Counsel, Corporate Counsel] December Congressional hearing on discovery costs [Lawyers for Civil Justice]
Trial lawyer group working with Senate campaigns in North Dakota, Nevada, Wisconsin, Hawaii [Rob Port via LNL] President of Houston Trial Lawyers Association makes U.S. Senate bid [Chron]
Panel selection: “Jury strikes matter” [Ron Miller, Maryland Injury]
Law-world summaries/Seventeen syllables long/@legal_haiku (& for a similar treatment of high court cases, check out @SupremeHaiku)

Tags: Canada, climate change, discovery, environment, global warming, Hawaii, humor, illegal drugs, jury selection, low-speed auto collisions, Nevada, North Dakota, oil industry, patent litigation, politics, Senate, United Kingdom, Wisconsin

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

“Sanctioned: P2P lawyer fined $10,000 for ‘staggering chutzpah’”

Walter Olson — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 12:32:19 +0000

To quote the court: Texas lawyer Evan Stone, mass-suing file-sharers and seeking to uncover their identities, “asked the Court to authorize sending subpoenas to the ISPs. The Court said ‘not yet.’ Stone sent the subpoenas anyway.” [ArsTechnica, Volokh]

Tags: discovery, sanctions

“Sanctioned: P2P lawyer fined $10,000 for ‘staggering chutzpah’” is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

July 10 roundup

Walter Olson — Sun, 10 Jul 2011 05:53:52 +0000

Jury rejects Jamie Leigh Jones rape claim against Halliburton/KBR. Next, a round of apologies from naive commentators and some who used the case to advance anti-arbitration talking points? [WSJ; Ted Frank/PoL and more; WSJ Law Blog (plaintiff's lawyers sought shoot-the-moon damages)]
Time magazine vs. James Madison on constitutional law (spoiler: Madison wins) [Foster Friess via Ira Stoll]
Andrew Trask reviews new Curtis Wilkie book on the Dickie Scruggs scandal;
“Right to family life” evolution in human rights law deters UK authorities from deporting various bad actors [Telegraph]
Paging Benjamin Barton: How discovery rules enrich the legal profession at the expense of the social good [PoL]
USDA heeds politics, not science, on genetic crops [Henry Miller/Gregory Conko, PDF, Cato Institute Regulation]
“Legal Questions Raised by Success of Monkey Photographer” [Lowering the Bar]

Tags: agriculture and farming, arbitration, constitutional law, Dickie Scruggs, discovery, immigration law, international human rights, United Kingdom

July 10 roundup is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

April 26 roundup

Walter Olson — Tue, 26 Apr 2011 12:26:33 +0000

Study of how class action lawyers interact with their named clients [Stephen Meili via Trask]
California releases numbers on how bounty-hunting lawyers did in 2010 under Prop 65 environmental-warning law [Cal Biz Lit]
According to the tale, lender errors in foreclosure gave Florida borrower home free and clear. Actual story may be more complicated than that [Funnell]
The very long discovery arm of the Philadelphia, and Pennsylvania, courts [Drug & Device Law, more]
UK law firm “could face big bill” after sending thousands of file-sharing demand letters [ABA Journal]
Goodbye to men’s track at U. of Delaware, and the women’s team is suffering too, as often happens with Title IX [Saving Sports]
OSHA’s proposed “illness and injury prevention program” (I2P2) termed a “Super Rule” with potentially widespread economic impact [Kirsanow, NRO]

Tags: class actions, discovery, forum shopping, mortgages, OSHA, Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Prop 65, RIAA and file sharing, Title IX

April 26 roundup is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

April 25 roundup

Walter Olson — Mon, 25 Apr 2011 11:57:52 +0000

10th Circuit: deposition not a “take-home examination” [Ronald Miller]
Class-action suit over salt in Campbell’s soup [NJ.com] Boom predicted in suits over claims of healthy food [Ken Odza]
Roommate indicted in Tyler Clementi suicide [Scott Greenfield, Beldar]
“Ban fraternities” screed in WSJ: were editors trying to make Caitlin Flanagan look ridiculous on purpose? [Ann Althouse, Instapundit]
Emotional value of family dog: “Seattle should not set bad precedent in pet case” [John W. Schedler, Seattle Times, background]
Investigating gas-price speculation and “price gouging”: “Obama tries to cap oil leak with lawyers” [Neil Munro, Daily Caller]
Federal law protects peanuts on planes [CNN Travel]

Tags: allergies, damages for animal companionship, discovery, eat drink and be merry, oil industry, RIAA and file sharing, salt

April 25 roundup is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system