Overlawyered » hotels

Motel owner 99% liable for murder

Walter Olson — Fri, 11 May 2012 12:44:46 +0000

“[An Indiana appeals] court has found that an ever so slightly negligent (2%) business owner needs to pay for 99% of the harm caused by a murderer. Citing the Restatement (Third) of Torts. Section 14, a public policy in favor of adequately compensating the wronged … and the difficulty murderers have in procuring insurance to cover their rampages, the appellate court in Santelli v. Rahmatulla found that the Restatement provides a handy way of escaping Indiana’s reform of its joint and several liability rule.” [David Oliver] More: Point of Law (motel “[adhered] to the non-discriminatory EEOC principle of not performing criminal background checks”).

Motel owner 99% liable for murder is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Hotel pools and the ADA: a 60-day deadline extension

Walter Olson — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 11:35:57 +0000

Following a substantial outcry (see Mar. 14), the Department of Justice has announced a 60-day stay of its new regulations requiring costly lifts and other fixes at hotel pools. It will also consider a six-month extension to address what it insufferably describes as “misunderstandings regarding compliance with these ADA requirements.” Translation: “opponents were persuading the public that the mandate was unreasonable.” Hotel and insurance officials had confirmed that many operators were considering closing pools or smaller water features such as whirlpools, which must often be given their own separate permanent lift installations under the rules. [Barbara De Lollis, USA Today] On the notion that it doesn’t pay lawyers to sue over uncompliant hotel pools, see this 2007 coverage of what was even then a busy litigation docket in California and elsewhere.

Tags: disabled rights, hotels

Hotel pools and the ADA: a 60-day deadline extension is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Hotel chain will pay $132,500 for dismissing autistic desk clerk

Walter Olson — Sun, 27 Nov 2011 18:07:04 +0000

The EEOC says Comfort Suites dismissed the clerk when it should instead have accepted the services of a state-paid “job coach” who might have “helped the clerk learn to master his job by using autism-specific training techniques.” [EEOC press release, Fox San Diego]

Tags: autism, disabled rights, EEOC, hotels

Hotel chain will pay $132,500 for dismissing autistic desk clerk is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Class action: I thought USA Today at my hotel was free

Walter Olson — Tue, 02 Aug 2011 18:06:43 +0000

“A guest at a Hilton hotel in Santa Rosa who was upset that he was billed 75 cents for a newspaper he assumed was free has filed a federal class-action lawsuit against the hotel chain, saying he was deceived by a scheme that also hurts the environment.” [San Francisco Chronicle] More: Jeff Bercovici, Forbes.

Tags: class actions, hotels, newspapers

Class action: I thought USA Today at my hotel was free is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

June 22 roundup

Walter Olson — Wed, 22 Jun 2011 05:20:49 +0000

Supreme Court disbars Bill Lerach [Richard Samp, WLF] And check out the byline of the former class-action king’s recent contribution to The Nation; do you think it omits anything material? [h/t Bob Lenzner]
Ted Frank guessed right on outcome of Wal-Mart case but still lost big betting on it [PoL]
After feds seize online bettors’ money, Anne Arundel County, Maryland police department crows over windfall [CEI] And c’mon Maryland, surely we in the home state of H.L. Mencken and Frederick Douglass can do better in the liberty rankings than this;
“Wrongful-Death Lawsuit Filed After Man Killed by Rooster” [Lowering the Bar]
Hotel union behind California bill mandating fitted sheets [Daily Caller, earlier]
Fifth Circuit upholds constitutionality of Texas law banning barratry (stirring up litigation) [Christian Southwick, Legal Ethics Forum]
A Linda Greenhouse column I agree with? One of us must be slipping [vagueness in criminal statutes, see related Harvey Silverglate]

Tags: animals, Bill Lerach, chasing clients, crime and punishment, gambling, hotels, Maryland, New York Times, Ted Frank, Texas

June 22 roundup is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

California bill would mandate fitted, rather than flat, sheets on hotel beds

Walter Olson — Tue, 03 May 2011 16:57:49 +0000

Because, really, there’s no detail too small for the government to regulate (via Virginia Postrel). More: Coyote.

Tags: California, hotels, workplace

California bill would mandate fitted, rather than flat, sheets on hotel beds is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

“Mount Washington Hotel to businesses: Stop using mountain’s name”

Walter Olson — Sun, 14 Nov 2010 05:20:08 +0000

“A state lawmaker tells WMWV-FM that the Mount Washington Hotel and Resort has told other businesses with ‘Mount Washington’ in their name to stop using it or face a legal challenge.” The hotel says it has challenged only three lodging businesses and does not intend to go after other local businesses named after the mountain. [AP, WMUR, Boston Globe]

P.S. Commenter Mannie: “It gets better. The IOC routinely harasses businesses on Washington’s Olympic Peninsula for using the name ‘Olympic.’”

Tags: hotels, New Hampshire, trademarks

“Mount Washington Hotel to businesses: Stop using mountain’s name” is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Update: New York bill banning short-term rentals

Walter Olson — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 05:04:27 +0000

Advocates have been hawking the ban in the state legislature as a tenant protection measure. To their dismay, however, Gov. Paterson has signaled that he intends to veto the bill. [NYT, earlier] The Times travel section had a story over the weekend praising the new kind of “Social B&B” arrangement as a welcome travel bargain, but the newspaper does not seem to have realized that there is any connection between its two articles.

Tags: hotels, New York, New York Times

Update: New York bill banning short-term rentals is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

New York may ban informal short-term rentals

Walter Olson — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 05:04:27 +0000

Is it too cynical to detect a whiff of hotel-protection in this crackdown? [Sean O'Neill, Newsweek Budget Travel]

Tags: hotels, New York

New York may ban informal short-term rentals is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

“David Carradine’s Widow Files Wrongful Death Suit”

Walter Olson — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 11:16:58 +0000

“A year after ‘Kung Fu’ actor David Carradine died from a dangerous sex practice, his wife has filed suit, claiming he would still be alive if he hadn’t been left alone in a hotel that night.” California attorney and Overlawyered favorite Mark Geragos is representing Anne Carradine. [ABC News]

Tags: celebrities, hotels

“David Carradine’s Widow Files Wrongful Death Suit” is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system