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 http://overlawyered.com/2012/02/claim-defamation-by-omission/ http://overlawyered.com/2012/02/claim-defamation-by-omission/#comments Thu, 02 Feb 2012 05:43:30 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=27299 “Once profiled in The New York Times as a former Harvard student who had his own claim as being the true genius behind Facebook, [Aaron] Greenspan is now involved in a dispute with Columbia Pictures that alleges [among other counts] he was defamed by being left out of the award-winning film about Facebook’s origins ['The Social Network'].” [Hollywood Reporter]

Tags: Facebook, libel slander and defamation, movies film and videos

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]]> http://overlawyered.com/2012/02/claim-defamation-by-omission/feed/ 4 http://overlawyered.com/2011/10/october-12-roundup-4/ http://overlawyered.com/2011/10/october-12-roundup-4/#comments Wed, 12 Oct 2011 05:13:02 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=24881

After President Obama’s Orlando photo-op with construction workers came the high-ticket fundraiser at the home of med-mal titan John Morgan [Orlando Sentinel]

“Lawyer Sues Facebook, Says Tracking Cookie Violates Wiretap Laws” [ABA Journal]

The bone-marrow bounty that could save a life — and the law that gets in the way [Virginia Postrel]

New coalition to repeal New York’s unfair Scaffold Law;

“How the FDA Could Cost You Your Life” [Scott Gottlieb on medical device lags, WSJ]

Mississippi: new release of sealed Scruggs-scandal documents [YallPolitics, Freeland]

What I learned (about false accusation) at Dartmouth [Gonzalo Lira]

Tags: Barack Obama, colleges and universities, Dickie Scruggs, Facebook, FDA, New York, politics

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]]> http://overlawyered.com/2011/10/october-12-roundup-4/feed/ 4 http://overlawyered.com/2011/08/yes-it-has-come-to-this/ http://overlawyered.com/2011/08/yes-it-has-come-to-this/#comments Wed, 31 Aug 2011 05:34:31 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=24367 You can “like” me on Facebook. Thanks to Cato’s Zach Graves for setting it up.

Tags: about the site, Facebook, social media, WO writings

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Yikes! “House Committee Approves Bill Mandating That Internet Companies Spy on Their Users” [EFF; Julian Sanchez, New York Post/Cato and podcast]

Australia courts skeptical about claim that sex injury is covered under workers’ comp [Herald Sun]

Well-off community doesn’t need annual HUD grant, seeks to sell it [Dan Mitchell]

Report: playful City Museum in St. Louis has taken down signs criticizing lawyers [Bill Childs/TortsProf, earlier]

Chicago neurosurgeons pay $4500 a week in med-mal premiums, blame lawless Illinois Supreme Court [Medill Reports] Supreme Court declines to review Feres doctrine, which shields military doctors (among others) from suits [Stars and Stripes] Why is the most widely cited number of medical-misadventure deaths such an outlier? [White Coat; more here, here, etc.]

After “Facebook broken heart” suit, will pre-nups for Mafia Wars relationships be next? [Tri-Cities Herald]

Another horrific report of poppy seed positive drug test followed by child-grabbing [Radley Balko]

Tags: Australia, Chicago, Child Protective Services, Facebook, illegal drugs, medical malpractice, workers' compensation

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Wild hypotheticals were grist for complaint: “Widener law professor cleared of harassment charges” [NLJ, earlier here, here, here]

Ninth Circuit: Facebook didn’t breach user’s right to accommodation of mental disability [Volokh]

House Judiciary hearing on litigation and economic prosperity [Wajert]

“University of Michigan to stop worrying about lawsuits, start releasing orphan works” [Cory Doctorow, BoingBoing]

PBS airs “The Story Behind Wacky Warning Labels” [Bob Dorigo Jones]

Fifth Circuit “candy cane” religion-in-schools case controversial among conservatives [David Upham, NR Bench Memos]

Great moments in public records law [Cleveland Plain Dealer, earlier related]

Tags: churches, Cleveland, disabled rights, Facebook, law schools, wacky warnings

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Michigan sex abuse prosecution of dad falls apart; it was premised on ultra-controversial technique of “facilitated communication” with autistic daughter [Detroit Free Press; Ted Frank/Point of Law]

Do demagogy and hardball work as trial techniques? [Steve McConnell vs. Ronald Miller and Max Kennerly]

When lawyer-pundits consent to chase cameras [Scott Greenfield]

Lawyer dad sues middle school girls over Facebook video [Houston Chronicle]

So-called Precautionary Principle slipping into Restatement (Third) of Torts? [David Oliver]

U.S Attorney in Maryland didn’t think Lauren Stevens case was strong enough to indict [Sue Reisinger/Corporate Counsel, White Collar Law Prof, Legal Ethics Forum, my Cato take]

“The SLAPP-Happy Story of Rakofsky v. Internet” [Citizen Media Law, Atlantic Wire ("Meet the Lawyer Who Sued the Internet"), Popehat, earlier here and here]

Tags: child abuse, Facebook, juries, toxic torts

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]]> http://overlawyered.com/2011/06/june-23-roundup-3/feed/ 3 http://overlawyered.com/2011/06/will-california-regulate-social-networking/ http://overlawyered.com/2011/06/will-california-regulate-social-networking/#comments Thu, 16 Jun 2011 13:46:04 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=23418 State Senator Ellen Corbett (D-San Leandro) has vowed to press the idea, the apparent idea being that the government is a better guardian of privacy interests than Facebook and similar services [Jacqueline Otto, CEI "Open Market"] Meanwhile, Geoffrey Manne reports that the feds are itching to start an antitrust or unfair competition case against Google [Main Justice via Truth on the Market]

Tags: antitrust, Facebook, Federal Trade Commission, Google, privacy, social networking

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]]> http://overlawyered.com/2011/06/will-california-regulate-social-networking/feed/ 0 http://overlawyered.com/2011/05/federalist-society-podcast-on-schools-for-misrule/ http://overlawyered.com/2011/05/federalist-society-podcast-on-schools-for-misrule/#comments Fri, 13 May 2011 14:35:22 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=22975 Just out: one of the most serious and wide-ranging podcasts yet on my new book, Schools for Misrule: Legal Academia and an Overlawyered America. I’m interviewed by James Haynes of the Society’s Professional Responsibility & Legal Education Practice Group Executive Committee and Baltimore Federalist Society Lawyers Chapter. It’s 53:25 minutes in length and you can listen here. Thanks also to the 100+ Facebook users so far who’ve “liked” the podcast.

Tags: Facebook, Federalist Society, law schools, on TV and radio, Schools for Misrule

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]]> http://overlawyered.com/2011/05/federalist-society-podcast-on-schools-for-misrule/feed/ 0 http://overlawyered.com/2011/05/class-action-lawyers-pursue-facebook-twitter/ http://overlawyered.com/2011/05/class-action-lawyers-pursue-facebook-twitter/#comments Thu, 05 May 2011 15:55:31 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=22860 They’re suing Facebook for allowing minors to “like” products without parental permission, and Twitter over its alleged sending of confirmatory “we won’t send you any more texts” texts.

Tags: class actions, Facebook, Twitter

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“Teacher threatens student with defamation suit for complaining about her grades” [Bassett, Calif.; San Gabriel Valley Tribune via TortsProf]

Rolls-Royce case: “Judge Posner Provides Preview of Wal-Mart v. Dukes Ruling?” [Trask]

But note Davidoff comments: “Plaintiffs Lawyers Eyeing Marcellus Shale Work” [Legal Intelligencer]

Massachusetts: for its 85-year-old administrator, is an anti-poverty empire forever? [Lawrence Eagle-Tribune via Zincavage]

Senate Judiciary advances Rhode Island nominee Jack McConnell by 11-7 vote [PoL, earlier]

Bonuses for arrests? Way to disgrace a law enforcement system [Greenfield, related]

“Insulting Your Boss Online Is Now Protected Speech” [AtL, earlier]

Treasury’s Do Not Shop list [five years ago on Overlawyered]

Tags: Facebook, judicial nominations, libel slander and defamation, oil industry, police, Rhode Island, Richard Posner, schools, Wal-Mart v. Dukes

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