Overlawyered » Long Island

Pursuing check-cashing stores through zoning

Walter Olson — Wed, 09 Jan 2013 04:58:17 +0000

Check-cashing businesses are perfectly legal, but the Long Island town of Hempstead doesn’t like them, so it’s used zoning to try to force them out of areas convenient to their clientele. New York’s highest court is considering the companies’ appeal. [Newsday]

Tags: debtor-creditor law, land use and zoning, Long Island, New York

Pursuing check-cashing stores through zoning is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Long Island: “Woman who drowned children seeks part of their estate”

Walter Olson — Sun, 23 Dec 2012 11:57:19 +0000

“A woman who admitted to drowning her three young children in her bathtub in New Cassel nearly five years ago is telling a judge that she deserves some of the money from her children’s $250,000 estate. … [Innocent] Demesyeux [father of two of the three children] settled a lawsuit against [Nassau] county last year for $250,000, claiming that social services caseworkers could have done more to save his children.” A lawsuit on behalf of the third child is pending. [Newsday]

Tags: criminals who sue, Long Island, personal responsibility

Long Island: “Woman who drowned children seeks part of their estate” is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Hurricane Sandy recovery and occupational licensing

Walter Olson — Tue, 13 Nov 2012 15:24:04 +0000

To get your power turned back on in the Rockaways, according to a spokesman for the Long Island Power Authority, you’re going to need a pre-inspection for your house not just from a licensed electrician, but from one licensed in NYC — nearby Nassau County, or upstate, won’t do. If occupational licensure makes any sense at all — and Milton Friedman had a thing or two to say about that — it certainly needs to be reconsidered under conditions of public emergency and disaster recovery, or so I argue in my new post at Cato at Liberty.

For more background on the Long Island Power Authority (LIPA) as a political football, by the way, check out Nicole Gelinas in the New York Post. Also on disaster recovery, why this might be a good time to rethink municipal ordinances barring property owners from removing old trees [Chris Fountain]. And: “Can customers sue power companies for outages? Yes, but it’s hard to win” [Alison Frankel, Reuters]

Tags: Long Island, New York, NYC, trees, utilities, workplace

Hurricane Sandy recovery and occupational licensing is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

“Fee Request Found ‘Grossly Inflated’ Denied in Entirety”

Walter Olson — Thu, 04 Oct 2012 19:02:36 +0000

“Four law firms that submitted a “grossly inflated” $2.7 million fee request after winning $12,500 for their client should go away empty-handed, a federal judge has ruled. Eastern District Judge Joanna Seybert, sitting in Central Islip, condemned the fee application submitted by real estate investor Robert Toussie’s attorneys, including $2.65 million for Chadbourne & Parke, as ‘outrageously excessive’ and done in ‘bad faith.’” [NYLJ]

Tags: attorneys' fees, feeing frenzy, Long Island

“Fee Request Found ‘Grossly Inflated’ Denied in Entirety” is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

L.I. woman: county should have prevented cop’s affair with me

Walter Olson — Fri, 13 Jul 2012 14:38:21 +0000

“A Massapequa woman who claims to have spent “over 100 nights” with an on-duty Nassau County police officer has filed legal notice that she intends to sue the county for $10 million. Tara Obenauer, 42, said in court papers that the county failed to supervise Officer Mike Tedesco, allowing him to visit her home regularly for about seven months until February, almost always during his shifts, in his uniform and while driving his patrol car.” [Newsday]

More, NY Post: local attorney “flabbergasted that officials are being blamed for not chaperoning the couple’s sex romps.”

Tags: Long Island, personal responsibility, police

L.I. woman: county should have prevented cop’s affair with me is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

“Abolish the Law Reviews!”

Walter Olson — Thu, 05 Jul 2012 18:23:25 +0000

I’ve got a new essay up at The Atlantic, part of the “America the Fixable” series edited by Philip K. Howard. I have a bit of fun at the expense of the Harvard Law Review, raising the question of whether it should be held to lower standards than the Long Island tabloid Newsday, and cite such figures as Richard Posner, Elizabeth Warren, Ross Davies of George Mason, and the bloggers at Volokh Conspiracy and Balkinization.

Tags: Harvard, law schools, legal blogs, Long Island, Richard Posner, WO writings

“Abolish the Law Reviews!” is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Cops: This guy’s face assaulted our fists

Walter Olson — Wed, 27 Jun 2012 18:10:33 +0000

Gotta watch out for the suspect’s face, let your guard down and all of a sudden he’s using it to go after your knuckles [Scott Greenfield]

Tags: Long Island, police

Cops: This guy’s face assaulted our fists is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

EEOC goes to bat for superannuated lifeguards

Walter Olson — Wed, 20 Jun 2012 12:40:30 +0000

Nassau County, N.Y., had let go 71-year-old veteran lifeguard Jay Lieberfarb after he failed a swim test. Charging that the county had not always dismissed younger guards who had failed the same test, the EEOC proceeded to negotiate a $65,000 back pay settlement, a three-year consent decree and other relief. [EEOC press release; h/t Roger Clegg] Earlier on superannuated lifeguards [Ocean City, N.J.] (& welcome Chris Fountain readers; he recommends this blog as a cure for low blood pressure)

Tags: age discrimination, EEOC, Long Island, swimming

EEOC goes to bat for superannuated lifeguards is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Feds sue housing co-op for not allowing “comfort dog”

Walter Olson — Sun, 19 Feb 2012 18:29:15 +0000

In 2005 Jack and Sandra Biegel purchased a unit in Long Island’s Woodbury Gardens, which had a no-pet policy. The next year they acquired a miniature schnauzer to assist with Sandra’s multiple ailments, which included depression and strained breathing. She died the next year. Now the federal government is taking Jack’s side against the co-op in its effort to enforce its rules. [NY Daily News]

Tags: fair housing, Long Island, service animals

Feds sue housing co-op for not allowing “comfort dog” is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Long Island pharmacy massacre

Walter Olson — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 11:45:32 +0000

Four people were killed when pill addict David Laffer robbed a Medford, N.Y. pharmacy. Now the survivors of victim Jamie Taccetta are suing a variety of defendants including the drugstore whose pharmacist was killed, the Suffolk County police and a former commissioner, “and pharmaceutical companies that make the drug oxycodone.” [CBS New York, Newsday]

Tags: Long Island, pharmaceuticals, third party liability for crime

Long Island pharmacy massacre is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system