http://overlawyered.com Chronicling the high cost of our legal system Tue, 14 Feb 2012 18:22:52 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 en hourly 1 http://overlawyered.com/2011/12/punishing-googles-success/ http://overlawyered.com/2011/12/punishing-googles-success/#comments Wed, 21 Dec 2011 14:40:36 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=26368 Rivals are pushing for the Federal Trade Commission to take more aggressive antitrust action against the search company, and have now enlisted Sens. Herb Kohl (D-Wisc.) and Mike Lee (R-Utah) in their cause. [Geoffrey Manne, Jim Miller & Dan Oliver/NRO, Coyote]

Tags: antitrust, Federal Trade Commission, Google

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]]> http://overlawyered.com/2011/12/punishing-googles-success/feed/ 3 http://overlawyered.com/2011/11/passing-along-our-new-tax-tell-it-to-the-judge-mate/ http://overlawyered.com/2011/11/passing-along-our-new-tax-tell-it-to-the-judge-mate/#comments Fri, 18 Nov 2011 19:17:57 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=25745 The official Australian Competition and Consumer Commission is menacing businesses with audits, “substantiation notices” and potentially stiff fines if they tell customers — even over the phone or in emails — that future price hikes on goods or services are the result of the nation’s newly adopted carbon tax. I discuss at Cato at Liberty (& Mark Hemingway, Weekly Standard).

Tags: advertising, Australia, climate change, Federal Trade Commission, taxes

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]]> http://overlawyered.com/2011/11/passing-along-our-new-tax-tell-it-to-the-judge-mate/feed/ 4 http://overlawyered.com/2011/10/four-loko-agrees-to-warn-of-alcohol-buzz/ http://overlawyered.com/2011/10/four-loko-agrees-to-warn-of-alcohol-buzz/#comments Sun, 09 Oct 2011 13:04:41 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=25021 Settling a lawsuit filed by the Federal Trade Commission, the maker of the drink agrees to warn on its label that it really has quite a lot of alcohol in it and can get you tipsy without having to go back often for refills. As Elie Mystal notes, the “warning” might fit rather nicely into the beverage’s marketing strategy. Scott Greenfield has thought of a parallel case.

Tags: advertising, alcohol, Federal Trade Commission, settlement

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]]> http://overlawyered.com/2011/10/four-loko-agrees-to-warn-of-alcohol-buzz/feed/ 1 http://overlawyered.com/2011/09/food-law-roundup-2/ http://overlawyered.com/2011/09/food-law-roundup-2/#comments Tue, 13 Sep 2011 14:56:43 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=24546

Feds fund Boston campaign bashing sweetened drinks [Globe; see also on NYC] More on ObamaCare “Public Health Fund” subsidies to local paternalist initiatives on diet [WLF]

Thanks to federal funding priorities, New York education department had 40 experts on school lunches, only one on science education [Frederick Hess via Stoll]

Grocers hope to escape federal menu labeling mandate [FDA Law Blog] How regulations exasperate midsize restaurant operators [Philip Klein, Wash. Examiner]

“The Eight Dumbest Restaurant Laws” [Zagat]

Proposed federal standards on kid food ads extreme enough that many USDA “healthy” recipes would flunk [Diane Katz, Heritage] Do FTC’s guidelines violate the First Amendment? [WSJ]

Compared with what? “Egg farm regulations still skimpy” [Stoll] Deer blamed for E. coli in pick-your-own strawberries [USA Today]

U.K.: Your kids are too fat so we’re taking them away [Daily Mail; earlier here, here, etc.]

Tags: advertising, Boston, eat drink and be merry, Federal Trade Commission, food safety, nanny state, New York, obesity, restaurants, schools

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]]> http://overlawyered.com/2011/09/food-law-roundup-2/feed/ 1 http://overlawyered.com/2011/08/federal-govt-encourages-health-providers-to-coordinate/ http://overlawyered.com/2011/08/federal-govt-encourages-health-providers-to-coordinate/#comments Tue, 23 Aug 2011 15:14:46 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=24271 “… Then Sues Them For Doing So.” If ObamaCare doesn’t get you, it seems, FTC antitrust enforcement might. [Peter Suderman, Reason]

Tags: antitrust, Federal Trade Commission, hospitals

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]]> http://overlawyered.com/2011/08/federal-govt-encourages-health-providers-to-coordinate/feed/ 4 http://overlawyered.com/2011/06/june-27-roundup/ http://overlawyered.com/2011/06/june-27-roundup/#comments Mon, 27 Jun 2011 12:57:27 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=23568

“Electronic Arts Has Right to Refer to John Dillinger in Its Video Games” [Volokh]

Fans of “Civil Gideon” (constitutional entitlement to publicly funded lawyers in civil cases) glum that SCOTUS didn’t give idea much of a boost in Turner v. Rogers case last week [Concurring Opinions symposium, ABA Journal]

Feds (in particular, the FTC) go after Google [AW, Manne & Wright/TotM, Stoll]

“The Dept of Education, Yale, and the New Threat to Free Speech on Campus” [Greg Lukianoff/HuffPo] “In Making Campuses Safe for Women, a Travesty of Justice for Men” [Christina Sommers, Chron Higher Ed] Feds crack down on campus flirting and sex jokes [Michael Barone, D.C. Examiner] Heather Mac Donald on Yale hostile-environment complaint [City Journal, earlier] “Why Cross-Examination Rights Matter in Campus Sexual Harassment Cases” [Hans Bader]

Trial lawyer propaganda coup? HBO airs plaintiff’s-side “Hot Coffee” documentary [Abnormal Use, Ted Frank/PoL, Schwartz/NYT, more, yet more]

Financial institutions abroad will be pleased to be roped into U.S. regulatory schemes. Won’t they? [Dan Mitchell, Cato at Liberty]

Proposal for judge-guided negotiations in NY med-mal cases leaves Ted Frank underwhelmed [PoL]

“Virginia inmate sues after gruesome tries at sex change” [AP]

Tags: banks, civil gideon, colleges and universities, Federal Trade Commission, Google, hostile environment, medical malpractice, prisoners, right of publicity, videogames

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]]> http://overlawyered.com/2011/06/june-27-roundup/feed/ 2 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/2011/03/ftc-takes-aim-at-patent-trolls/ http://overlawyered.com/2011/03/ftc-takes-aim-at-patent-trolls/#comments Tue, 08 Mar 2011 14:38:46 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=21974 The Federal Trade Commission “today released a 300-page report examining the effect that patent trolls – or as the FTC more tactfully dubs them, ‘patent assertion entities’ – have on competition…. The practice, said the FTC, ‘can deter innovation by raising costs and risks without making a technological contribution.’” [BLT]

Tags: Federal Trade Commission, patent trolls

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]]> http://overlawyered.com/2011/03/ftc-takes-aim-at-patent-trolls/feed/ 0 http://overlawyered.com/2010/07/july-2-roundup/ http://overlawyered.com/2010/07/july-2-roundup/#comments Fri, 02 Jul 2010 13:11:57 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=18009

Report: European sunscreens use superior ingredients US regulators haven’t gotten around to approving [NYT]

Some in Pakistan want Zuckerberg executed for hosting “draw Mohammed” [Freethinker, UK]

GM fought Clean Air Act? “Sen. Franken’s bad environmental history” [Adler/Volokh]

Scary McChesneyite plans for federal intervention in media: FTC seems to be listening [Thierer, City Journal] FCC relations with Free Press on the skids? [Mike Riggs, Daily Caller]

In 1978 Canada Supreme Court judicially imposed cap on noneconomic damages, world doesn’t seem to have ended for Canadian litigants [Wood, PoL]

“Landlord victorious in Peeps trial” [Lowering the Bar, earlier]

Who’ll wind up paying in Chinese drywall litigation? [Risk and Insurance]

How not to get out of jury duty [Abnormal Use]

Tags: Al Franken, Canada, damages, Facebook, FDA, Federal Trade Commission, jury selection

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]]> http://overlawyered.com/2010/07/july-2-roundup/feed/ 1 http://overlawyered.com/2010/06/june-23-roundup-2/ http://overlawyered.com/2010/06/june-23-roundup-2/#comments Wed, 23 Jun 2010 05:07:19 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=17906

Judge blocks sweeping Obama administration ban on new offshore drilling [Roger Pilon, Cato] Some reasons judge may have found ban irrational [Lowry, NRO, scroll to reader comment; Gus Lubin, Business Insider] More on Jones Act waivers in the Gulf [Bainbridge, earlier]

Connecticut AG Blumenthal launches investigation of Google Street View [Rick Green, Courant]

Florida judge tosses out $10 million libel verdict against St. Petersburg Times [St. P.T.]

Lawyer in British Columbia suspends practice after bizarre jury tampering charges [CBC]

“Disclosed to death”: why laws mandating disclosure are so overused and overbroad [Falkenberg, Forbes on work of Omri Ben-Shahar and Carl E. Schneider, via PoL]

Judge dismisses controversial Pennsylvania case against Johnson & Johnson over Risperdal marketing, Gov. Rendell had hired major donor to run suit on contingency [LNL, McDonald/NJLRA, earlier]

Rick Hills vs. Ilya Somin on federalism and constitutional enforcement of property rights [Prawfsblawg, Volokh]

Beware proposed expansion of Federal Trade Commission powers [Wood, ShopFloor]

Tags: BP Transocean oil spill, Canada, Federal Trade Commission, federalism, Google, juries, Louisiana, oil industry, Pennsylvania, pharmaceuticals, privacy, Richard Blumenthal

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