Overlawyered » dramshop statutes

March 13 roundup

Walter Olson — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 05:06:52 +0000

“Are Courts Dragging Out the Housing Crisis?” [Mark Calabria, Cato] “Boom-Era Property Speculators to Get Foreclosure Aid” [Bloomberg News via Bader, CEI] Community organizing groups expect to cash in on state AGs’ robosigning settlement [Neil Munro, Daily Caller, earlier] As does NAAG itself [Daniel Fisher] More: Kevin Funnell.
“Non-standard explanation offered for bugging wife’s bedroom” [Lowering the Bar]
Chris DeMuth on James Q. Wilson [Weekly Standard, earlier] I wrote about Wilson’s work on at least two occasions: the Baltimore Sun had me review a book of his on “abuse excuses” and other difficulties of psychiatric testimony in court, a good book if a mere foothill in the mountain range of his overall scholarship; on another occasion in Reason I challenged his uncharacteristic backing of a “family policy” proposal ripe with potential for unintended consequences;
Boston city councilor: make valet kid at restaurant responsible if patron drives off drunk [NPR via Alkon]
“Texas is being stiff armed by the EPA at every turn” [Munro/DC quoting Texas attorney general Greg Abbott] NYT’s “modest” offshore drilling restrictions: “I hate to think what immodest restrictions would look like” [John Steele Gordon]
“The Southern Poverty Law Center Is Now Writing About Pickup Artists as Hate Groups” [Mike Riggs]
SFO rental car garage offers a whiff of Prop 65 absurdity [Stoll]

Tags: attorneys general, Boston, dramshop statutes, Environmental Protection Agency, hate speech, mortgages, Prop 65, Texas

March 13 roundup is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Passes out drunk in snowbank, bar said to be liable

Walter Olson — Sat, 10 Mar 2012 05:12:54 +0000

“Surveillance footage suggests that [Azcona] was heavily intoxicated, stumbling several times before he fell into a snow bank and didn’t get up.” Later a snowplow hit him. His survivors are suing the Trenton, N.J. bar that allegedly should have cut him off earlier, along with the city. [Ann Marie McDonald, New Jersey Lawsuit Reform Watch; Trenton Times]

Tags: dramshop statutes, New Jersey, personal responsibility

Passes out drunk in snowbank, bar said to be liable is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

“Judge rejects injured beer-pong champ”

Walter Olson — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 16:11:27 +0000

“A New Jersey man who got so drunk playing beer pong at a Greenwich Village pub that he thought walking across a busy highway was a good idea cannot sue the bar over his injuries, a judge has ruled.” [Dareh Gregorian, NY Post]

Tags: alcohol, dramshop statutes, NYC, personal responsibility

“Judge rejects injured beer-pong champ” is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Drunk drivers who sue over their accidents, cont’d

Walter Olson — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 10:45:25 +0000

Max Kennerly thinks we should understand their point of view. Earlier here, here, etc., etc.

Tags: criminals who sue, dramshop statutes, personal responsibility

Drunk drivers who sue over their accidents, cont’d is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

You served me the alcohol, now pay for my crash

Walter Olson — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 14:07:57 +0000

“A South Carolina woman is suing the bar that served her alcohol as a minor the night she had a car accident that left her paralyzed. Chelsea Hess, 22, is also suing the South Carolina Department of Transportation, the town of Bluffton and Beaufort County for negligence for allegedly not maintaining the road shoulder she drove her car over in her accident.” [ABC via @amyalkon]

Tags: dramshop statutes, personal responsibility, South Carolina

You served me the alcohol, now pay for my crash is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

January 15 roundup

Walter Olson — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 16:09:19 +0000

Self-referent notice required by law on Florida vending machines might baffle onlooker [Popehat] More from Lowering the Bar: “Please Report Me If I Am Missing. Thank You.”
Bryan Walsh at Time magazine happily spun by Chevron/Ecuador plaintiffs. Not so Roger Parloff at sister magazine Fortune;
Doubts re: foster mom’s conviction following youngster’s salt-poisoning death [Texas Monthly via Ted Frank; controversy over science behind "shaken-baby" cases] Charges against parents to move forward in Utah “co-sleeping” death case [ABA Journal]
In Philadelphia shooting case, lawsuits like bullets fly in every direction [Above the Law]
More on constitutionality of Obama recess appointments [Todd Gaziano/Heritage "Foundry", Mickey Kaus, Mike McConnell via Adler and more, earlier]
New site design at my old blog Point of Law;
Podcast: Prof. Mike McConnell on Hosanna-Tabor [Fed Soc, earlier] More: Bader. And shorter David Sessions/Daily Beast: since SCOTUS unanimously rejected Obama position on church liberty, critics were wrong to get so alarmed about that position. Makes sense to him…

Tags: Chevron, dramshop statutes, Florida, Philadelphia, Texas

January 15 roundup is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

“Charlie Davies sues nightclub, Red Bull”

Walter Olson — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 15:11:21 +0000

“D.C. United’s Charlie Davies is suing the owners of a Washington nightclub and the drink company Red Bull for $20 million, claiming they are responsible for a fatal car crash that ended the MLS player’s hopes of joining the 2010 U.S. World Cup team. Davies, now 25, was a passenger in the car driven by a woman who has since pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter and drunken driving in the 2009 one-car crash that killed a second passenger.” Perhaps his theory will be that the nightclub had an obligation to assess how drunk the woman was, but he didn’t. [AP/ESPN]

Tags: alcohol, dramshop statutes, personal responsibility

“Charlie Davies sues nightclub, Red Bull” is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

September 14 roundup

Walter Olson — Wed, 14 Sep 2011 18:36:41 +0000

Large newspaper group drops RightHaven; “it was a dumb idea” [Kravets/Wired, more] Courtroom reverses for copyright aggregator assume a comic tone [BoingBoing, Slashdot, Corporate Counsel]
Dan Snyder drops suit against Washington City Paper [WCP, Wolfman/CL&P, Adler, earlier here, here, etc.] More reactions to TSAer’s lawsuit threat against columnist/blogger Amy Alkon [Treacher, Balko, Bader]
Jury declines to credit testimony about when victim took Children’s Motrin [Beck]
Mississippi high court strikes down widely noted $7 million lead paint verdict in Sherwin-Williams vs. Gaines [AP, Freeland, LNL, opinion]
“Is suing the bar a new drunk driving trend?” [NJLRA]
Decline of chemistry sets tells a story of fear and liability [John Browning, SETR, earlier]
“Expectedly pleasing,” that’s me [Katherine Mangu-Ward, Reason]

Tags: chemistry sets, dramshop statutes, lead paint, libel slander and defamation, Mississippi, pharmaceuticals, RightHaven

September 14 roundup is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

July 25 roundup

Walter Olson — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 18:16:01 +0000

Nice going, sex offender registries [Brian Dickerson, Detroit Free Press] And I’m quoted in a syndicated column by Lenore Skenazy (and thence by Cory Doctorow at BoingBoing) on the registries’ tendency to sweep in much wider circles of offender than many advocates originally had in mind. More: a tale of child-abuse registries [Skenazy];
New York Times exposes scandal: businessman holds seat in Congress. Quick, replace him with another lawyer! [Ribstein]
Race separation’s unlawful for school attendance. So why’s it OK for school voting districts? [Quin Hillyer, Mobile Press-Register]
Speech and property rights in peril: “Fear of a Muslim America” [Cathy Young, Reason]
Before blaming bank dereg for “Too Big To Fail,” read this [Mark Calabria, Cato at Liberty]
After fatal one-car crash, drunk driver’s survivors sue popular Irish bar that served him [NJLRA; Trenton, N.J.]
Scotland: Thief wants victim prosecuted for keeping gun in her house [Daily Record]

Tags: banks, churches, dramshop statutes, guns, Michigan, New York Times, United Kingdom, Voting Rights Act

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

“Cop who shot Danroy Henry sues store where he allegedly got alcohol”

Walter Olson — Thu, 30 Jun 2011 11:52:34 +0000

Follow the bouncing blame: “Pleasantville police officer Aaron Hess, who shot and killed Pace University football player Danroy Henry, Jr., is suing a local liquor store for allegedly providing Henry with alcohol. … Hess has been cleared of any wrongdoing by a grand jury but the U.S. Department of Justice is reviewing the case and Henry’s family has filed a multimillion-dollar lawsuit against Hess and the police department.” [News12, NY]

Tags: dramshop statutes, New York, police

“Cop who shot Danroy Henry sues store where he allegedly got alcohol” is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system