Overlawyered » insurance

Hurricane Sandy, meet Mighty Wind

Walter Olson — Fri, 22 Mar 2013 14:29:21 +0000

A Houston-based trial lawyer has some grandiose plans for snagging New York storm-insurance cases: Steve Mostyn “indicates his firm should be able to take on more than $1 billion in disputed claims — or half of all the Sandy litigation.” That’s assuming clients sign on, of course. One who did was a swim club owner from Pound Ridge who was frustrated dealing with New York lawyers and quickly signed a contract with Mostyn’s firm: “It is worth the 40 percent just for someone to listen to my story and be kind to me,” she said. [Austin American-Statesman]

Tags: chasing clients, disasters, insurance, lawyers, New York

Hurricane Sandy, meet Mighty Wind is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Law schools roundup

Walter Olson — Fri, 15 Mar 2013 04:05:10 +0000

Harold Lasswell and Myres McDougal’s influential article on legal education figures prominently in Schools for Misrule; Henry Manne says their scheme of actual classroom pedagogy did less well [Bainbridge]
Deanship of local plaintiff’s attorney at St. Louis U. is short, colorful [NLJ]
GW lawprof trips, falls at Denver Law event, now in court [Above the Law]
Law reviews requiring authors to sign indemnity clauses. Reason for alarm? [Dan Markel, Prawfs]
Out-of-touch law academy, vol. 18: Duke prof dismisses floodgates arguments on principle [Ted Frank]
“Should Law Reviews Consider Race When Selecting Articles?” (and do they?) [Josh Blackman]
Insurance is an undercovered topic in the law school curriculum, so Randy Maniloff decides to do an intervention [Coverage Opinions, PDF, lead article]

Tags: insurance, law schools, slip and fall

Law schools roundup is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Proposals to make gun owners carry liability insurance

Walter Olson — Mon, 25 Feb 2013 05:28:10 +0000

“Liability insurance” may be a misnomer, since some of the proposals would require the purchase of bonds against both intentional acts commonly excluded from ordinary liability coverage, and also misadventures for which owners would not presently be held legally responsible (such as third party criminal use of a gun following a theft not occasioned by owner negligence.) [Reuters, Nelson Lund/GMU, Jessica Chasmar/Washington Times, New York Times via Fed Soc, Taranto/WSJ, Josh Blackman]

Would a mandatory insurance scheme survive judicial scrutiny if it were motivated by a desire to burden the exercise of a constitutional right? David Rifkin and Andrew Grossman, WSJ:

Several states… are considering gun-insurance mandates modeled after those for automobile insurance. There is no conceivable public-safety benefit: Insurance policies cover accidents, not intentional crimes, and criminals with illegal guns will just evade the requirement. The real purpose is to make guns less affordable for law-abiding citizens and thereby reduce private gun ownership. Identical constitutionally suspect logic explains proposals to tax the sale of bullets at excessive rates.

The courts, however, are no more likely to allow government to undermine the Second Amendment than to undermine the First. A state cannot circumvent the right to a free press by requiring that an unfriendly newspaper carry millions in libel insurance or pay a thousand-dollar tax on barrels of ink—the real motive, in either case, would be transparent and the regulation struck down. How could the result be any different for the right to keep and bear arms?

(& slightly expanded/adapted version at Cato; The Hill “Blog Briefing Room”)

P.S. The American Insurance Association is opposed to the more ambitious versions of the idea, at least: “Property and casualty insurance does not and cannot cover gun crimes.”

Tags: constitutional law, guns, insurance

Proposals to make gun owners carry liability insurance is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

“A Risk of Relapse Is a Disability, Court Rules”

Walter Olson — Mon, 21 Jan 2013 15:26:52 +0000

“A federal appeals court on Thursday ruled that insurance companies can be required to pay long-term disability benefits to a recovering drug addict if the person would face a significant risk of relapse by returning to work.” The First Circuit parted company with the Fourth, which has ruled the opposite way. [Jacob Gershman, WSJ Law Blog, subscription; Colby v. Union Security Insurance, PDF]

Tags: illegal drugs, insurance

“A Risk of Relapse Is a Disability, Court Rules” is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

R.I.P. Jeffrey O’Connell

Walter Olson — Fri, 11 Jan 2013 16:04:15 +0000

The “father of no-fault,” who died on Sunday at age 84, was an eminent torts professor at the University of Virginia, a public-spirited advocate of reform over many decades, and a renowned teacher. A valued friend and mentor, he was one of the most personally gracious and generous academics I’ve ever known. The New York Times has a good obituary. Just last year New Hampshire enacted an “early offers” statute encouraging prompt settlement of medical malpractice disputes partly inspired by Prof. O’Connell’s work. More: University of Virginia, Christopher Robinette/TortsProf.

Tags: insurance, Jeffrey O'Connell, law schools, medical malpractice insurance

R.I.P. Jeffrey O’Connell is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

“Concussion Liability Costs May Rise, and Not Just for N.F.L.”

Walter Olson — Thu, 13 Dec 2012 13:10:17 +0000

As we were saying: “colleges, high schools and club teams may be forced to consider severe measures in the face of liability issues, like raising fees to offset higher premiums; capping potential damages; and requiring players to sign away their right to sue coaches and schools. Some schools and leagues may even shut down teams because the expense and legal risk are too high.” [New York Times, also describing a coverage battle between the NFL and its insurers]

Tags: football, insurance

“Concussion Liability Costs May Rise, and Not Just for N.F.L.” is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Federal flood insurance: the Sandy next time

Walter Olson — Thu, 15 Nov 2012 15:36:34 +0000

“After disasters such as Superstorm Sandy, the natural inclination is to do everything possible to help people struggling to rebuild their homes, businesses and lives. But over the next couple of years, those good intentions will lead to a lot of foolish, even dangerous, decisions that will encourage people to rebuild in harm’s way.” [USA Today editorial via Ira Stoll]

Tags: disasters, insurance

Federal flood insurance: the Sandy next time is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

October 31 roundup

Walter Olson — Wed, 31 Oct 2012 04:07:24 +0000

Not the norm yet, fortunately: “Playgroup suspended for lack of insurance” [Lenore Skenazy, Free-Range Kids]
Chicago pol’s idea for bullet tax may sound clever but isn’t [Steve Chapman]
UK: “Litigation culture draining billions from hospitals and schools” [Telegraph, Independent, Spiked Online; Center for Policy Studies]
Yielding to feds, Oakland will adopted “targeted reductions” in discipline for minority students [Bader]
Judge: Italian businesses should sue over Costa Concordia in Italy, not here [USA Today]
“Deep pockets files: Greensboro apartment complex murder” [Ted Frank, PoL]
Funniest Posner parody ever? [Kyle Graham, Non Curat Lex]

Tags: cruise ships, forum shopping, guns, humor, insurance, Italy, recreation, Richard Posner, school discipline, third party liability for crime, United Kingdom

October 31 roundup is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

“What Could Possibly Go Wrong?”

Walter Olson — Thu, 04 Oct 2012 04:14:42 +0000

From Reason.tv, and new to us, at least, if not exactly new, with vignettes on reef reconstruction, ethanol subsidies, and child health insurance (via Hodak Value). And from Mark Perry, “Some Great Examples of Unintended Consequences from Wikipedia’s Listing for ‘Perverse Incentives.’” An example, from an economics text by James Gwartney and Richard Stroup:

In the former Soviet Union, managers and employees of glass plants were at one time rewarded according to the tons of sheet glass produced. Not surprisingly, most plants produced sheet glass so thick that one could hardly see through it. The rules were changed so that the managers were rewarded according to the square meters of glass produced. The results were predictable. Under the new rules, Soviet firms produced glass so thin that it was easily broken.

Don’t miss the rat-farming and dinosaur-bone examples, either.

Tags: ethanol, insurance, Russia

“What Could Possibly Go Wrong?” is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Environmental law roundup

Walter Olson — Sat, 07 Jul 2012 10:50:35 +0000

EPA continues crackdown on older-home renovation in the name of lead paint caution [Angela Logomasini, earlier, see also re: lab testing]
Solyndra’s many enablers: 127 in House GOP just backed federal energy loan guarantees [Tad DeHaven/Cato]
“In defense of genetically modified crops” [Mother Jones, no kidding] “How California’s GMO Labeling Law Could Limit Your Food Choices and Hurt the Poor” [Steve Sexton, Freakonomics]
“EPA fines oil refiners for failing to use nonexistent biofuel” [Howard Portnoy, Hot Air]
Consultant eyed in Chevron-Ecuador case [PoL] Radio campaign targets conservatives on behalf of trial lawyers’ side [Fowler/NRO] Lawyer suing Chevron: “We are delivering a bunch of checks to [NY Comptroller] DiNapoli today” [NYP]
Getting taxpayers off the hook: Congress might curb flood insurance subsidies [Mark Calabria/Cato]
“Lessons from British Columbia’s Carbon Tax” [Adler]

Tags: agriculture and farming, Chevron, climate change, environment, Environmental Protection Agency, insurance, lead paint, oil industry

Environmental law roundup is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system