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/2011/11/constitutional-law-roundup-2/ http://overlawyered.com/2011/11/constitutional-law-roundup-2/#comments Tue, 15 Nov 2011 14:22:14 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=25583

High court tees up case on ObamaCare constitutionality, potentially one of the most significant in decades [Ilya Shapiro, Cato]

“Andrew Sullivan Is Wrong About the Supreme Court and Guns” [Damon Root]

Trade groups’ advocacy: judge quashes Tillery subpoena as chilling to free association [Madison County Record]

Takings: “California’s Kafkaesque Rent Control Laws” [Richard Epstein] Things may be worse in China, though: “more than one attendee described Beijing as Kelo-on-steroids” [same]

No, the federal government can’t find authority to overstep its otherwise delimited powers by entering into treaties calling for it to do so [Shapiro]

Authors: U.S. Constitution is becoming less influential as model to foreign nations [Law/Versteeg via Zick, ConcurOp]

Fight between strip-search lawyers leaves little to imagination [Kerr]

Tags: constitutional law, eminent domain, First Amendment, guns, international law

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]]> http://overlawyered.com/2011/11/constitutional-law-roundup-2/feed/ 0 http://overlawyered.com/2011/11/speech-criticizing-lawsuit-retaliation/ http://overlawyered.com/2011/11/speech-criticizing-lawsuit-retaliation/#comments Mon, 14 Nov 2011 19:50:21 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=25651 Brushing off First Amendment objections, a federal court has ruled that a union can be sued for “retaliation” after it defended itself in print against a lawsuit by two of its members. [Eugene Volokh]

Tags: First Amendment, labor unions, workplace

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]]> http://overlawyered.com/2011/11/speech-criticizing-lawsuit-retaliation/feed/ 1 http://overlawyered.com/2011/11/the-corporations-arent-people-campaign/ http://overlawyered.com/2011/11/the-corporations-arent-people-campaign/#comments Tue, 08 Nov 2011 15:12:49 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=25549 Neither Stephen Bainbridge nor Larry Ribstein is particularly impressed by it.

Tags: constitutional law, First Amendment, securities litigation

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]]> http://overlawyered.com/2011/11/the-corporations-arent-people-campaign/feed/ 11 http://overlawyered.com/2011/10/october-14-roundup-3/ http://overlawyered.com/2011/10/october-14-roundup-3/#comments Fri, 14 Oct 2011 05:24:11 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=25030

Pre-terror-attack antibiotic availability? HHS doesn’t think you’re sophisticated enough to handle that freedom [Stewart Baker]

Uh-oh: some New York lawmakers want “a more refined First Amendment” [Slashdot, Lucy Steigerwald]

Wal-Mart v. Dukes decision could curb certification of some wage and hour class actions [Fox]

“Miss. Supreme Court Removes Judge from $322M Asbestos Case Because of Dad’s Lawsuits” [ABA Journal]

Mass. town wants to seize family motel under forfeiture law, IJ objects [Jacob Sullum, Mark Perry]

Will FDA use its new tobacco-regulatory power to stub out cigars? [DC]

“Dole settles pesticide litigation” [WSJ Law Blog, background]

Tags: banana pesticide litigation fraud, FDA, First Amendment, forfeiture, recusals, terrorism, tobacco, Wal-Mart v. Dukes

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]]> http://overlawyered.com/2011/10/october-14-roundup-3/feed/ 1 http://overlawyered.com/2011/09/you-have-a-right-to-record-the-police/ http://overlawyered.com/2011/09/you-have-a-right-to-record-the-police/#comments Thu, 08 Sep 2011 05:44:38 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=24469 The First Circuit federal court of appeals has ruled that the First Amendment protects the right to record police officers’ public activity, notwithstanding a Massachusetts law banning “wiretapping.” Meanwhile, in Chicago, a jury speedily acquitted Tiawanda Moore on charges that she had committed a similar offense by using her Blackberry to record the visit of officers who were attempting to talk her out of a sexual harassment complaint against a member of the force. [Glenn Reynolds, Examiner, Gizmodo; earlier here, here]

Tags: First Amendment, police

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]]> http://overlawyered.com/2011/09/you-have-a-right-to-record-the-police/feed/ 4 http://overlawyered.com/2011/09/60000-damages-for-blogging-the-truth-about-someone-intending-to-get-the-person-fired/ http://overlawyered.com/2011/09/60000-damages-for-blogging-the-truth-about-someone-intending-to-get-the-person-fired/#comments Fri, 02 Sep 2011 15:49:42 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=24408 Eugene Volokh predicts that a Minnesota jury’s award will not stand; not only are people “constitutionally entitled to speak the truth about others, even with the goal of trying to get them fired,” but the “First Amendment constrains the interference with business relations tort, just as it constrains the infliction of emotional distress and other torts.” [Volokh Conspiracy]

Tags: First Amendment, libel slander and defamation, Minnesota

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]]> http://overlawyered.com/2011/09/60000-damages-for-blogging-the-truth-about-someone-intending-to-get-the-person-fired/feed/ 0 http://overlawyered.com/2011/06/june-30-roundup-3/ http://overlawyered.com/2011/06/june-30-roundup-3/#comments Thu, 30 Jun 2011 05:10:01 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=23661

First Amendment wins as SCOTUS strikes down violent-videogame ban [Ilya Shapiro, Hans Bader] Justice Scalia cites “Snow White” and “Hansel and Gretel” [Ann Althouse]

More Wal-Mart v. Dukes analysis [Schwartz, Althouse, Trask, Fisher, Beck, Sergio Campos/Prawfs] And aftermath for the litigants and others: ABA Journal (Pelosi wants legislative fix), CLP (plaintiffs), Reuters (law firm that’s won hundreds of millions in class actions complains it’s sunk $7 million into the case), Ted Frank (responding to that), Bay Citizen (”Foundations Could Pull Plug on Wal-Mart Suit”).

“Would the REINS Act Rein In Federal Regulation?” [Jonathan Adler, Regulation magazine (PDF)]

“Hypotheses Are Verified By Testing, Not By Submitting Them To Lay Juries For A Vote” [David Oliver; Drug and Device Law on denture cream product liability suit]

Clash between federalism and some med mal reform proposals could have implications for ObamaCare battle [John Baker, Daily Caller; earlier]

Dan Snyder Gets a Taste of D.C.’s New Anti-SLAPP Law [Citizen Media Law, earlier]

Court skeptical of testimony of lap dance expert [Legal Blog Watch]

Tags: expert witnesses, federalism, First Amendment, regulation and its reform, videogames, Wal-Mart v. Dukes

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]]> http://overlawyered.com/2011/06/june-30-roundup-3/feed/ 0 http://overlawyered.com/2011/04/great-moments-in-school-speech-litigation/ http://overlawyered.com/2011/04/great-moments-in-school-speech-litigation/#comments Thu, 14 Apr 2011 12:24:11 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=22521 Ohio: “A family with an extensive history of legal action against a number of school districts and municipalities has filed a $1 million civil lawsuit against Middletown City Schools. Orlando Bethel — who refers to himself as a fire and brimstone preacher in court documents, and his wife, Glynis — filed the action Friday in Cincinnati federal court after one of their three children, Zoe, wore a T-shirt at the high school proclaiming ‘god hates (expletive)’ and ‘repent or burn in hell.’” [Dayton Daily News]

Tags: First Amendment, religious discrimination, schools

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]]> http://overlawyered.com/2011/04/great-moments-in-school-speech-litigation/feed/ 6 http://overlawyered.com/2011/04/april-14-roundup/ http://overlawyered.com/2011/04/april-14-roundup/#comments Thu, 14 Apr 2011 05:07:49 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=22513

“Raging Bitch”: Frederick (Md.) brewery says its beer label is a First Amendment issue [Frederick News-Post]

UK soccer: Sunderland fan sues club after being hit by stray Djibril Cissé shot [Guardian]

DirectBuy: “When 36 AGs Object to Your Class Action Settlement, That’s Not a Good Sign” [Karlsgodt] “Court reduces fees after CCAF objection to HP settlement” [Ted Frank] Russell Jackson on ink-cartridge settlements;

Time for Congress to repeal the Uniform Federal Drinking Age Act [Glenn Reynolds/WSJ via WSJ Law Blog]

Claim: business investment isn’t really much impaired by regulatory uncertainty [Lardner]

Update: “Righthaven drops suit against mildly autistic hobby blogger” [Romenesko, earlier] And it sues, then drops suit against, writer based on his article about one of its suits [ArsTechnica, PaidContent]

George Wallace hosts Blawg Review #304 at Declarations and Exceptions and #305 at A Fool in the Forest;

Suspicious website promotes nonexistent law firm [Brian Baxter, AmLaw Daily]

Tags: beer and brewers, class action settlements, First Amendment, legal blogs, Maryland, regulation and its reform, RightHaven, sports

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]]> http://overlawyered.com/2011/04/april-14-roundup/feed/ 9 http://overlawyered.com/2011/04/toss-the-first-amendment-for-fear-of-mideast-violence/ http://overlawyered.com/2011/04/toss-the-first-amendment-for-fear-of-mideast-violence/#comments Wed, 06 Apr 2011 05:19:19 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=22426 Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and other politicos seem willing to let foreign mobs dictate the limits of American free speech. [Andrew Stuttaford, Matt Welch, more]

Tags: First Amendment, Lindsey Graham

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