http://overlawyered.com Chronicling the high cost of our legal system Tue, 14 Feb 2012 16:11:47 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 en hourly 1 http://overlawyered.com/2012/01/january-18-roundup-4/ http://overlawyered.com/2012/01/january-18-roundup-4/#comments Wed, 18 Jan 2012 05:11:45 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=26848

A federal fishing raid, the Pew Charitable Trusts and a biased Business Week account [Nils Stolpe on Gloucester, Mass. fisheries, via Stoll]

Intimidating the judiciary? “Group Opposing Citizens United Pushes ‘Occupy the Courts’ Protest” Jan. 20 [Debra Cassens Weiss, ABA Journal] Mob rallies at Michigan governor’s private home [Meegan Holland, MLive] “Occupy” forces Gingrich to cancel event [Daily Caller] Earlier here, here, here, etc.

“Paper Airplane? Late for School? Shouting Too Loud? You’re Under Arrest!” [Free-Range Kids, Texas]

Spielberg in “Raiders of the Lost Ark” paid homage to earlier movie sequences without sweating permissions. Oh, for those days [Joho] “Cultural gems that should be in the public domain today” [Atlantic Wire, Tabarrok]

UPS settlement exaggerates benefits to class members [Ted Frank; related, CCAF] “Federal Judges Have Harsh Words, Rulings for Class Action Plaintiffs’ Lawyers” [Lammi/WLF]

“Justice Breyer Calls Recusal Controversy a ‘Non-Issue’” [ABA Journal]

“Add Plaintiff-Lawyer Fees To The Cost Of Most Mergers” [Daniel Fisher, Forbes on Cornerstone Research report]

Tags: class action settlements, environment, Massachusetts, movies film and videos, police, recusals, schools, securities litigation, Texas

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]]> http://overlawyered.com/2012/01/january-18-roundup-4/feed/ 1 http://overlawyered.com/2011/09/september-28-roundup-3/ http://overlawyered.com/2011/09/september-28-roundup-3/#comments Wed, 28 Sep 2011 05:57:58 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=24757

3M sues prominent Washington lawyer/lobbyist Lanny Davis, says threat of bad publicity improperly used as lawsuit leverage [Above the Law, more, Legal Ethics Forum]

House Oversight Committee report on expanding regulatory state;

Does lefty talking-points dispensary ThinkProgress approve of silencing affirmative action critic Roger Clegg? Decide for yourself;

Robin Fretwell Wilson and Jana Singer debate on scope of religious exemptions in law’s recognition of same-sex marriage [FedSoc Engage] New Heritage backgrounder on same topic cites my writing (in the course of disagreeing). Michael Barone on the politics of the issue, and why he supports the evolution of the law [Examiner]

California: chefs to defy foie gras ban? [LA Weekly via Alkon, earlier on Chicago]

“Massachusetts curbs lifetime alimony payments” [NY Times; Jennifer Braceras, Boston Herald] Many state child support formulas overstate cost of child raising [Bader]

In the mail: new John Fonte book on transnational legal structures, “Sovereignty or Submission” [Encounter Books]

Tags: child support, divorce, foie gras, Massachusetts, regulation and its reform, same-sex marriage

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]]> http://overlawyered.com/2011/09/september-28-roundup-3/feed/ 4 http://overlawyered.com/2011/09/massachusetts-innovative-medical-liability-reform/ http://overlawyered.com/2011/09/massachusetts-innovative-medical-liability-reform/#comments Thu, 22 Sep 2011 05:21:57 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=24712 A new report for the Pioneer Institute by John Biebelhausen (Colorado) and Amy Lischko (Tufts) examines a range of policy options for improving the Massachusetts medical malpractice system, including “less traditional” options such as “contract liability,” a “method for patients to contract directly with doctors or health systems to establish pre-determined rules for compensation in the case of injury due to physician negligence.” ["Innovative Medical Liability Reform: Traditional and Non-Traditional Methods"]

Tags: freedom of contract, Massachusetts, medical malpractice

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]]> http://overlawyered.com/2011/09/massachusetts-innovative-medical-liability-reform/feed/ 5 http://overlawyered.com/2011/07/july-22-roundup-2/ http://overlawyered.com/2011/07/july-22-roundup-2/#comments Fri, 22 Jul 2011 11:30:14 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=23977

Illinois prisoner sues for land to start his own country [AP]

“Have you got a piece of this lawsuit?” Important Roger Parloff piece on litigation finance [Fortune, now out from paywall] “Hedge Funds Finance Medical Malpractice Claims” [Jeff Segal, Michael Sacopulos and Wayne Oliver, Forbes via White Coat]

Criminalizing bad parenting: more scrutiny of “Caylee’s Law” proposals [Steve Chapman, L.A. Times and Boston Globe editorials, New Scientist]

Deal with ADA complainant averts closure of popular Popponesset Marketplace in Mashpee, Mass. [Cape Cod News]

Because it’s not as if NYC needs electricity or anything: Bloomberg gives $50 million to Sierra Club campaign to stop coal burning by utilities [WaPo] “Environmental justice” arguments deployed against pipeline that would bring Alberta tar sands oil to U.S. [John Kendrick, WLF]

Unimpaired have permanent right to sue: Fla. high court throws out asbestos-reform law [PBP]

Red tape demanded by quality-of-life progressivism suffices to strangle poorer urban economies [Walter Russell Mead]

Tags: asbestos, Chevron, disabled rights, environment, Florida, litigation finance, Massachusetts, medical malpractice, Michael Bloomberg, prisoners, regulation and its reform

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]]> http://overlawyered.com/2011/07/july-22-roundup-2/feed/ 5 http://overlawyered.com/2011/05/blogger-forced-off-school-committee-after-teachers-union-threatens-suit/ http://overlawyered.com/2011/05/blogger-forced-off-school-committee-after-teachers-union-threatens-suit/#comments Thu, 26 May 2011 17:40:14 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=23143 Massachusetts: “Robert C. Cirba, a member of the Spencer-East Brookfield Regional School Committee and former candidate for state representative, has resigned from the committee after the state Department of Labor Relations found that comments he made on his blog interfered with teacher negotiations.” Cirba had written disrespectfully on his blog about the Spencer-East Brookfield Teachers Association and says the teacher’s union had threatened to sue him personally as well as pursue a legal complaint against the board over the writings. [Worcester Telegram]

Tags: bloggers and the law, labor unions, libel slander and defamation, Massachusetts, schools

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]]> http://overlawyered.com/2011/05/blogger-forced-off-school-committee-after-teachers-union-threatens-suit/feed/ 4 http://overlawyered.com/2011/04/new-massachusetts-restraining-order-law/ http://overlawyered.com/2011/04/new-massachusetts-restraining-order-law/#comments Wed, 13 Apr 2011 05:01:35 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=22497 A new Massachusetts law that went into effect last year allows neighbors and other unrelated complainants to seek restraining orders against each other, a legal remedy formerly confined mostly to use between family members. But there’s been a surge of filings seeking the new “harassment prevention orders,” and according to the clerk of the Boston municipal court, the law has wound up empowering “every kook in the world” to “file a harassment order against their neighbor or landlord or someone who just annoys them.” Among cases: “One man took his neighbor to Malden District Court for allegedly blowing leaves on his property, and a woman in Boston Municipal Court insisted that actor Chuck Norris used high frequency radio transmissions to harass her at home.” [Boston Globe]

Tags: domestic violence, harassment law, Massachusetts

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]]> http://overlawyered.com/2011/04/new-massachusetts-restraining-order-law/feed/ 2 http://overlawyered.com/2010/09/an-easter-egg-for-massachusetts-employers/ http://overlawyered.com/2010/09/an-easter-egg-for-massachusetts-employers/#comments Wed, 15 Sep 2010 05:15:22 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=19253 A “new change to [Massachusetts] law now requires companies to notify employees about any potentially negative information added to their files. The amendment, which Gov. Deval Patrick signed into law on August 5, was tucked away in an ‘economic development’ bill laden with higher-profile items like the recent sales-tax holiday. …. this new personnel-records rule is going to lead to more employee lawsuits.” [Gruntled Employees via Susan Cartier Liebel]

Tags: Massachusetts, workplace

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]]> http://overlawyered.com/2010/09/an-easter-egg-for-massachusetts-employers/feed/ 7 http://overlawyered.com/2010/08/suit-music-festival-didnt-deter-underage-drinking-in-parking-lot/ http://overlawyered.com/2010/08/suit-music-festival-didnt-deter-underage-drinking-in-parking-lot/#comments Fri, 13 Aug 2010 05:03:15 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=18840 In 2008 a one-car accident killed a Mansfield, Mass. 19-year-old and her 20-year-old friend; their car hit a tree. Now a lawyer for the passenger’s family has sued the town of Foxboro and the Kraft Group, saying the operators of the New England Country Music Festival did not do enough to deter underage drinking in the parking lot outside Gillette Stadium. [Boston Globe]

Tags: alcohol, Massachusetts, recreation

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]]> http://overlawyered.com/2010/08/suit-music-festival-didnt-deter-underage-drinking-in-parking-lot/feed/ 0 http://overlawyered.com/2010/07/july-30-roundup-2/ http://overlawyered.com/2010/07/july-30-roundup-2/#comments Fri, 30 Jul 2010 10:55:03 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=18655

Hilton Head dispute over pet turkeys leads to $4.25 million verdict [Island Packet via Lowering the Bar]

“Lucasfilm lightsaber legal threat letter sells for $3,850″ [BoingBoing, earlier]

Raw milk: “If The Government Says That It’s Not About Freedom, Then It’s Just NOT” [Ken at Popehat vs. L.A. Times]

Dell “failed to stress” accounting disclosure. SEC: that will be $100 million [TJIC]

Dodd-Frank dubbed “Lawyers’ and Consultants’ Full Employment Act of 2010″ [Mark Perry, WSJ Law Blog]

“Did liberal judges invent the standing doctrine? An Empirical Study of the Evolution of Standing, 1921-2006″ [Ho/Ross, Stanford Law Review]

Office of Connecticut AG Blumenthal doesn’t emerge with glory from fertility doctor case [Pesci]

Massachusetts high court tosses 125-year-old rule: owners now face wider liability for snow/ice hazards [Globe]

Tags: food safety, Massachusetts, nastygrams, Richard Blumenthal, Securities and Exchange Commission, slip and fall, South Carolina

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]]> http://overlawyered.com/2010/07/july-30-roundup-2/feed/ 2 http://overlawyered.com/2010/06/massachusetts-class-action-bonanza/ http://overlawyered.com/2010/06/massachusetts-class-action-bonanza/#comments Fri, 18 Jun 2010 12:00:18 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=17799 The Boston Globe reports that plaintiff’s securities law firms have become cash cows for Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley and Treasurer Timothy Cahill, who oversee the pension funds that strike representation deals with the lawyers. “Spokeswomen for Cahill and Coakley said the contributions played no part in the selection of the law firms, which were chosen in a competitive process five years ago.”

Tags: Massachusetts, politics, securities litigation

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