Overlawyered » Jerry Brown

April 16 roundup

Walter Olson — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 04:07:53 +0000

Although I’m known as a foe of everything John Edwards stands for, I hope he beats this campaign finance rap [Atlantic Wire]
Michael Bloomberg launches demagogic new campaign against Stand Your Ground laws, calling to mind the recent critique of the NYC mayor’s paternalist dark side by Conor Friedersdorf in the Atlantic;
Jerry Brown frees grandmother dubiously jailed in shaken-baby death [Slate, earlier]
As Scruggs (Dickey not Earl) still pursues vindication, Alan Lange looks back on Mississippi scandals [YallPolitics]
Deservedly favorable profile of Fifth Circuit judge Jerry Smith [NOLA]
In which I tell off Bill Donohue’s Catholic League for its double insult last week to gays and to adoptive parents [IGF]
“The Ninth Circuit was, believe it or not, correct” [Ilya Shapiro and Trevor Burrus, Cato, on administrative law case arising from NLRB rules change on drug rep overtime]

Tags: adoption, campaign regulation, Dickie Scruggs, Fifth Circuit, Jerry Brown, John Edwards, Michael Bloomberg, Ninth Circuit, self-defense, wrong right

April 16 roundup is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

October 11 roundup

Walter Olson — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 05:41:52 +0000

UK panel declines to ban “I like gin” tea ad [Campaign]
Do pics of tree-shaped air fresheners violate trademark rights of product marketer? [PoL]
Man’s EU trademark for “Keep Calm and Carry On” raises hackles [Maria Bustillos, The Awl]
When was the last time Congress chose to repeal a law restricting employers? Surely more recently than with the Portal to Portal Act of 1947 [Fox, Jottings]
NYC: “City’s Top Lawyer Details Payouts of $561 Million in Lawsuits” [NYT]
Calif. Gov. Brown vetoes attorney-backed bill widening fee entitlement where claimed damages not recovered [CJAC]
Ira Stoll has been assembling a list of cost-free measures to help the economy, #17 is the proposed EPA-curbing Cement Regulatory Relief Act, #13 is “Eliminate requirements for legal ads in print newspapers in connection with business formation.” [Future of Capitalism]

Tags: alcohol, Jerry Brown, NYC, trademarks, United Kingdom, workplace

October 11 roundup is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

“Not every human problem deserves a law”

Walter Olson — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 05:36:40 +0000

A veto message from Democratic Gov. Jerry Brown, after the California legislature passed a bill imposing a fine on children or their parents or guardians for skiing or snowboarding without a helmet: “While I appreciate the value of wearing a ski helmet,” wrote the governor, “I am concerned about the continuing and seemingly inexorable transfer of authority from parents to the state.” [John Myers, KQED; text of veto message]

Tags: Jerry Brown, nanny state, skiing

“Not every human problem deserves a law” is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Seems to be contagious

Walter Olson — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 05:05:22 +0000

Now it’s California Attorney General Jerry Brown who’s gone and sued his own client. [Steele, Legal Ethics Forum; earlier here, here, etc.]

Tags: attorneys general, Jerry Brown

Seems to be contagious is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

“Worst state attorneys general”, cont’d

Walter Olson — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 14:54:29 +0000

Hans Bader of the Competitive Enterprise Institute informs me that Connecticut’s Richard Blumenthal has in a sense won his recount after all: a recalculation taking into account a bit of overlooked data has now moved him up from #3 to #2 on this year’s list, though he’s still essentially tied with Oklahoma’s Drew Edmondson. In first place: California’s Jerry Brown, while perennial favorites Patrick Lynch of Rhode Island and Darrell McGraw of West Virginia fill the #4 and #5 places, and a newcomer, William Sorrell of Vermont, makes an appearance at #6.

More: Bader in the Examiner on the selection process.

Tags: attorneys general, Darrell McGraw, Jerry Brown, Richard Blumenthal

“Worst state attorneys general”, cont’d is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Jerry Brown’s “toxic clothes” crackdown

Walter Olson — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 15:09:34 +0000

Rick Woldenberg talks back to the California attorney general, and also raises some questions about Proposition 65 and the finances of the freelance enforcers in the case, the Center for Environmental Health (CEH). Two years ago we covered CEH’s crusade against the iPhone. More: Darleen Click/Protein Wisdom and a followup from Woldenberg.

Tags: CPSIA, Jerry Brown, Prop 65

Jerry Brown’s “toxic clothes” crackdown is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

November 2 roundup

Walter Olson — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 04:06:22 +0000

Worst, most dangerous legal trend of the moment: trial lawyers continue big Capitol Hill push to overturn Supreme Court’s valuable Iqbal and Twombly decisions on lawsuit procedure [Point of Law and more, Thomas Dupree/WLF, Beck & Herrmann and more, earlier]
Lawyers rush to courthouse to beat deadline for new Oklahoma limits on liability suits [Tulsa World]
Spokesman for Attorney General Jerry Brown admits he’s taped reporter conversations without their consent, seeming violation of California law [SF Chronicle]
UK: motorist could face prosecution for splashing kids by driving through puddle, at what she says was kids’ request [BoingBoing]
“Is the pay czar unconstitutional?” [Bainbridge on McConnell, WSJ; Ribstein on link to PCAOB case]
More “deceptively named fruity cereal” suits in California [Lowering the Bar ("I still think this is like claiming emotional distress because you just learned 'The Hobbit' isn't a true story,") Ken at Popehat ("Froot of the Poisonous Tree of Litigiousness"), earlier here, here, here, here, etc.]
A city of stool pigeons: Chicago to pay those who inform on tax cheats [NBC Chicago]
Ill-fated stint as pole dancer leads to lawsuit against Arizona bar [Above the Law]

Tags: advertising, California, Chicago, Jerry Brown, Oklahoma, pleading, strippers and exotic dancers, United Kingdom, whistleblowers

November 2 roundup is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

California Attorney General Weighs in on Proposition 8

SSFC — Sun, 21 Dec 2008 15:26:48 +0000

Not surprisingly, given that the office is occupied by former “Governor Moonbeam” Jerry Brown, he feels that the amendment barring same sex marriage should be invalidated. Also not surprisingly, given that it’s Governor Moonbeam, he takes a novel approach to the argument, one that libertarians may like: that same sex marriage is an inalienable right which cannot be taken away even by constitutional amendment. (The fighting Ninth Amendment to the United States Constitution does not appear to be cited, as it’s a matter of state law).

Kip Esquire, who is a libertarian and who strongly favors same sex marriage rights, has given Brown’s arguments a thorough review, and seems unimpressed. Key criticism:

If I were Kenneth Starr (in the sense of, “if I were as insolent and snarky as Kenneth Starr is”), then I would simply respond with something like this: “What the Attorney General is apparently suggesting is that the California Constitution — is unconstitutional. That simply cannot be right.”

More analysis of the Brown brief may be found at Mr. Esquire’s site.

Tags: Jerry Brown, same-sex marriage

California Attorney General Weighs in on Proposition 8 is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Regulating potato chip recipes

Walter Olson — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 12:44:33 +0000

Readers will recall that acrylamide is a naturally occurring substance formed when many foods are browned or otherwise cooked and that (like countless other constituents of common foods) it appears to cause cancer in some animals at high dosages. California attorney general Jerry Brown has now reached a settlement with some large food companies that will require them to revise recipes for potato chips, French fries and other wares to reduce acrylamide content. Fun fact: one of the ways they may accomplish this goal is by artificially adding a chemical (OK, an enzyme) which works to neutralize acrylamide’s precursors. (Rosie Mestel, “Booster Shots” blog, L.A. Times, Aug. 4).

More: Bill Childs adds, “Oh, and the companies will pay California around $2.5 million.”

Tags: acrylamide, Bill Lockyer, French fries, Jerry Brown

Regulating potato chip recipes is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

June 5 roundup

Walter Olson — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 15:04:22 +0000

“I believe it’s frivolous; I believe it’s ridiculous, and I believe it’s asinine”: Little Rock police union votes lopsidedly not to join federal “don/doff” wage-hour lawsuit asking pay for time spent on uniform changes [Arkansas Democrat Gazette courtesy U.S. Chamber]
Must-read Roger Parloff piece on furor over law professors’ selling of ethics opinions [Fortune; background links @ PoL]
Too rough on judge-bribing Mississippi lawyers? Like Rep. Conyers at House Judiciary, but maybe not for same reasons, we welcome renewed attention to Paul Minor case [Clarion-Ledger]
American Airlines backs off its plan to put Logan skycaps on salary-only following loss in tip litigation [Boston Globe; earlier]
U.K.: Infamous Yorkshire Ripper makes legal bid for freedom, civil liberties lawyer says his human rights have been breached [Independent]
In long-running campaign to overturn Feres immunity for Army docs, latest claim is that military knowingly withholds needed therapy so as to return soldiers to front faster [New York Rep. Maurice Hinchey on CBS; a different view from Happy Hospitalist via KevinMD]
Profs. Alan Dershowitz and Robert Blakey hired to back claim that Russian government can invoke U.S. RICO law in its own courts to sue Bank of New York for $22 billion [WSJ law blog, earlier @ PoL]
Minnesota Supreme Court declines to ban spanking by parents [Star-Tribune, Pioneer Press]
Following that very odd $112 million award (knocked down from $1 billion) to Louisiana family in Exxon v. Grefer, it’s the oil firm’s turn to offer payouts to local neighbors suffering common ailments [Times-Picayune, UPI]
AG Jerry Brown “has been suing, or threatening to sue, just about anyone who doesn’t immediately adhere” to his vision of building California cities up rather than out [Dan Walters/syndicated]
Virginia high school principal ruled entitled to disability for his compulsion to sexually harass women [eight years ago on Overlawyered]

Tags: airlines, California, child protection, environment, ethics, Jerry Brown, labor unions, law schools, Louisiana, Minnesota, Paul Minor, prisoners, racketeering and RICO, Russia, United Kingdom, wage and hour suits

June 5 roundup is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system