Overlawyered » Maryland http://overlawyered.com Chronicling the high cost of our legal system Tue, 14 Feb 2012 11:28:52 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 en hourly 1 February 3 roundup http://overlawyered.com/2012/02/february-3-roundup-3/ http://overlawyered.com/2012/02/february-3-roundup-3/#comments Fri, 03 Feb 2012 05:10:50 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=27321
  • Judge blocks California budget cuts re: in-home services for disabled [Mercury News]
  • Media exploited her daughter for titillation, claims suit by mother of “Toddlers & Tiaras” star [Above the Law]
  • Narrower definition of autism ahead? [Althouse]
  • “Police Charge Canadian Blogger With Criminal Libel for Criticizing the Police” [Sullum, Popehat]
  • Prince George’s County, Maryland, wants to ban liquor deliveries; no harm linked to them, but you can’t be too sure [Ben Giles, Washington Examiner] Centers for Disease Control’s curious definition of “binge” drinking [Sullum]
  • The law of authors’ liability for inaccurate memoirs [Mark Fowler, Rights Of Writers; earlier here, etc.]
  • “Diagnosing Liability: The Legal History of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder” [Deirdre M. Smith, SSRN via TortsProf]
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    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2012/02/february-3-roundup-3/feed/ 1     February 1 roundup http://overlawyered.com/2012/02/february-1-roundup-4/ http://overlawyered.com/2012/02/february-1-roundup-4/#comments Wed, 01 Feb 2012 05:03:31 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=27256
  • “Hawaii may keep track of all web sites visited” [Declan McCullagh]
  • NEA (and now Obama) answer to public education woes: lock the exits by hiking school-leaving age [Steve Chapman, earlier]
  • On nomination filibusters, New York Times editorial policy has pulled a 360, not just a 180 [Whelan, 2003, 2005, earlier]
  • English copyright ruling “creates ownership in the idea of a photo’s composition” [Doctorow, BB]
  • New Maryland push for same-sex marriage will include stronger religious exemptions, a course I urged last year [Sun, my view] Detailed inquiry into the law of interstate marriage recognition and DOMA [Will Baude, Volokh]
  • When lawyers face prison for the advice they give [Jack Fernandez, Zuckerman Spaeder via Legal Ethics Forum]
  • FDA regulation of pharmaceuticals: “More reasons to discount adverse event reports” [Yeary, Drug & Device Law, the CPSC database analogy]
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    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2012/02/february-1-roundup-4/feed/ 0     Labor law roundup http://overlawyered.com/2011/12/labor-law-roundup/ http://overlawyered.com/2011/12/labor-law-roundup/#comments Sat, 10 Dec 2011 12:24:30 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=25844
  • Union withdraws, and NLRB drops, complaint against Boeing over plant location decision [Adler, earlier] “Sen. Johnny Isakson (R-GA) Introduces Bill to Reverse NLRB’s ‘Micro-Union’ Decision” [LRT via @jonhyman] Video of “Organized Labor & Obama administration” panel [Federalist Society convention]
  • Suing Atlantic City is an established sport for current, former employees [Press of AC] After lawsuit win, former Gotham sanitation worker litters neighborhood with cars [NY Post via Christopher Fountain] Why have House, Senate reversed usual ideological lines on federal employee workers’-comp reform? [WaPo]
  • Murder of reformist professors reinforces difficulty of changing Italian labor law [Tyler Cowen] UK considers relaxing “unfair dismissal” controls on employers [BBC, earlier]
  • Taylor Law and NYC transit strike: “ILO Urges that U.S. Stop Violating International Obligations It Hasn’t Agreed To” [Ku, OJ; Mitch Rubinstein, Adjunct Law Prof]
  • Maryland’s misnamed 2009 “Workplace Fraud Act” bedevils carpet installers and other firms that employ contract workers, and perhaps that was its point [Ed Waters Jr./Frederick News-Post, Weyrich Cronin & Sorra, Floor Daily]
  • “Government pay is higher” [Stoll] Notwithstanding “Occupy” themes, interests of unions and underemployed young folks might not actually be aligned very well [Althouse]
  • More on outcry over proposed federal restrictions on kids’ farm chores [WSJ, NPR, Gannett Wisconsin, CEI, earlier]
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    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2011/12/labor-law-roundup/feed/ 0     Privatizing retail permitting http://overlawyered.com/2011/11/privatizing-retail-permitting/ http://overlawyered.com/2011/11/privatizing-retail-permitting/#comments Tue, 22 Nov 2011 14:45:34 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=25824 The Washington Post offers an editorial caution to lawmakers in Montgomery County, the famously liberal slice of Maryland suburbia:

    A bill before the Montgomery County Council would force big-box retailers such as Wal-Mart, Home Depot and Target to negotiate with neighborhood groups as a condition for getting their new stores approved. This is such a spectacularly bad idea, on so many levels, that it’s hard to imagine how it came to be taken seriously in the first place.

    By contrast, the nearby District of Columbia, often seen as a challenging place to do business, seems to be making its peace with Wal-Mart, which has announced plans to open six new stores there.

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    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2011/11/privatizing-retail-permitting/feed/ 1     Food and agriculture law roundup http://overlawyered.com/2011/11/food-and-agriculture-law-roundup/ http://overlawyered.com/2011/11/food-and-agriculture-law-roundup/#comments Fri, 18 Nov 2011 05:40:59 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=25599
  • Just as FDA begins laying groundwork for mandatory salt reduction in prepared food, research raises new doubts about the science [Reuters, Atlantic Wire, Alkon]
  • Feds now scrutinizing “everything about kids’ food” [Star-Tribune] Top-down remake of school lunches runs into trouble in Congress [AP]
  • “Christmas tree tax”: blame big growers and GOP lawmakers, not White House [Tad DeHaven, , Mark Perry]
  • Living right by a USDA-designated “food desert,” she’s “never had better access to food in my life.” [Angie Schmitt, Urbanophile] “As income rises, so does fast-food consumption, study finds” [L.A. Times, Sullum] “You can eat local, or you can eat organic, but it’s very hard to do both.” [Felix Salmon]
  • Bloomberg News (not Bloomberg Hizzoner) hypes food-as-addiction, child obesity figuring in more custody battles [WSJ] Michelle Obama on the role of personal responsibility, alas not in this realm of life [Andrew Coulson, Cato]
  • Private bed-leasing law is finally restoring Maryland’s depleted oyster stocks [Rona Kobell, Reason] Catch shares for Alaskan king crab might even be saving human lives [Adler]
  • Why bother cooking for your kids at all? Feds ramp up program that serves them dinner as well as breakfast, lunch [Stoll]
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    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2011/11/food-and-agriculture-law-roundup/feed/ 8     November 14 roundup http://overlawyered.com/2011/11/november-14-roundup-3/ http://overlawyered.com/2011/11/november-14-roundup-3/#comments Mon, 14 Nov 2011 12:28:58 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=25582
  • Seeking to address widespread pharmaceutical shortages, Obama executive order downplays government role in causing them [Fair Warning, WSJ editorial, earlier here, here, here, here, etc.]
  • “The school has a strict no-hugging policy….” [WKMG Orlando]
  • Retired Justice John Paul Stevens isn’t buying the “Thomas should recuse” meme [USA Today via Legal Ethics Forum]
  • Not COPPA-cetic: among other unintended consequences, Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act has encouraged parents to help kids to falsify ages online [Danah Boyd via Jim Harper, Suderman, Reason, Stewart Baker, earlier]
  • Lawmaking from the bench: Maryland high court strikes down law limiting landlords’ lead paint liability [Ronald Miller] “Maryland court sides with plaintiffs in slip-and-fall cases” [Emily Babay, Examiner]
  • Trial lawyers help bail out Bexar County Democratic party [San Antonio Express-News]
  • Supreme Court agrees to hear case arguing that aggressive enforcement of local housing code violates federal Fair Housing Act [Magner v. Gallagher, SCOTUSBlog, Illinois Municipal League, http://www.inversecondemnation.com/inversecondemnation/2011/11/potemkin-village-hawaiian-style.html">Fisher/Forbes]
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    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2011/11/november-14-roundup-3/feed/ 0     Great moments in public sector economics http://overlawyered.com/2011/09/great-moments-in-public-finance-economics/ http://overlawyered.com/2011/09/great-moments-in-public-finance-economics/#comments Tue, 20 Sep 2011 06:10:29 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=24705 I’ve got some observations at Cato at Liberty about the arguments one Montgomery County, Md. councilman has made for a public takeover of local electric utility Pepco — as well as some background about the trade-off often found between leafy splendor and storm-outage resilience in residential settings.

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    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2011/09/great-moments-in-public-finance-economics/feed/ 15     Home office? Keep it quiet http://overlawyered.com/2011/07/home-office-keep-it-quiet/ http://overlawyered.com/2011/07/home-office-keep-it-quiet/#comments Tue, 19 Jul 2011 14:21:14 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=23873 If you run a home office in Nashville, you mustn’t let clients visit, while in Montgomery County, Maryland, employees may not pick up paychecks at a home-based business [Radley Balko; Harvey Jacobs, WaPo]

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    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2011/07/home-office-keep-it-quiet/feed/ 1     Great moments in higher ed litigation http://overlawyered.com/2011/06/great-moments-in-higher-ed-litigation/ http://overlawyered.com/2011/06/great-moments-in-higher-ed-litigation/#comments Wed, 22 Jun 2011 14:48:05 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=23491 NPR “Marketplace” via James Taranto:

    AMY SCOTT: The lawsuit began after Towson University started offering an MBA — a degree students could already get a short drive away at historically Black Morgan State University. Attorney Michael Jones represents the coalition suing the state. He says federal law prohibits states from starting new programs that are already established at a nearby Historically Black College or University, or HBCU.

    MICHAEL JONES: Once these programs were duplicated elsewhere, it affected the abilities of the HBCUs to be competitive in terms of attracting students regardless of race.

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    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2011/06/great-moments-in-higher-ed-litigation/feed/ 7     June 22 roundup http://overlawyered.com/2011/06/june-22-roundup/ http://overlawyered.com/2011/06/june-22-roundup/#comments Wed, 22 Jun 2011 05:20:49 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=23497
  • 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]
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