- In suit over weird, elaborate online hoax, court allows fraudulent-misrepresentation claim despite lack of motive of tangible gain [Chi Trib]
- Service animal rodeo: “A trained rat probably would have had a good case in California” [AP/Statesman-Journal] Broward County, Fla. backs lonely widow’s right to keep “prescription Chihuahua” against rules of condo board [AOL, Sun-Sentinel] Oklahoma: “Depressed Woman Fights to Keep Therapy Kangaroo” [Newser] Earlier on recent change in federal rules;
- Should lawmakers screen bills for constitutionality? Ms. Lithwick has trouble sticking to a position [AEternitatis]
- Human-relations complaint leads to arrest of U.K. man for singing “Kung Fu Fighting” [MSNBC]
- Barney Frank: Yes, let’s talk about med-mal reform [The Hill] Ringing the bell: Roundups of more big med-mal verdicts [White Coat, more]
- “Expert Witnesses Stripped Of Immunity From Negligence Suits In The UK” [Erik Magraken]
- “Sustainability”: an empty idea? Or perhaps actively wrongheaded? [David Friedman via David Henderson]
Tagged as:
Barney Frank,
Dahlia Lithwick,
expert witnesses,
hate speech,
medical malpractice,
music and musicians,
service animals,
United Kingdom
- Maricopa-cabana: Sheriff Arpaio uses tank (with Steven Seagal along) to raid cockfight suspect [KPHO, Coyote, Greenfield, Balko]
- Malpractice reform in New York is about more than money (though it’s about that too) [Paul Rubin, TotM; NYDN]
- EEOC initiative combats alleged employer bias against unemployed job applicants [Bales/Workplace Prof, Hyman]
- After court rejection of Google Books settlement, where next? [Timothy Lee/ArsTechnica, David Post]
- When your lawyerly conduct has been eviscerated by Judge Easterbrook, you know it [Above the Law]
- Ninth Circuit rules on legality of keyword advertising using other firms’ trademarks [Coleman]
- Election showdown over future of Wisconsin Supreme Court [PoL, more, Esenberg, Althouse]
- Legal battle follows NYC’s attempted application of sidewalk bicycle ban to unicyclist [AP]
Tagged as:
advertising,
copyright,
EEOC,
Frank Easterbrook,
Google,
medical malpractice,
New York,
NYC,
Phoenix,
Wisconsin
- EU imposes unisex insurance rates [BBC, Wright]
- Law blog on the offense? TechnoLawyer asserts trademark claim against Lawyerist over “Small Law” [Lawyerist]
- “Pro-business Supreme Court” meme strikes out yet again as SCOTUS backs “cat’s-paw” bias suit theory by 8-0-2 margin [Josh Blackman, Schwartz, Fox; Lithwick locus classicus]
- Subprime CDO manager sues financial writer Michael Lewis over statements in his book The Big Short [AW, Salmon, Kennerly]
- Police in Surrey, England, deny advising garden shed owners not to use wire mesh against burglars [Volokh, earlier]
- Patterns of intimidation: protesters swarm Speaker Boehner’s private residence [Hollingsworth, Examiner] Unions fighting Wal-Mart in NYC plan actions at board members’ homes [Stoll] Report: GOP lawmakers in Wisconsin fear for personal safety [Nordlinger, NRO] White House pushing street protests [Welch, Nordlinger] Age of Civility short lived [Badger Blogger, Althouse, Sullivan]
- In clash with trial lawyers, Cuomo proposes pain and suffering limits in med-mal suits [NYDN, more: NYT] “Bloomberg looks to Texas for ideas on changing medical malpractice laws” [City Hall News]
- Hey, should we seize his drum set? Infuriating video on cop raids and forfeiture laws [Institute for Justice, Michigan]
Tagged as:
Dahlia Lithwick,
Europe,
forfeiture,
insurance,
labor unions,
legal blogs,
libel slander and defamation,
medical malpractice,
mortgages,
New York,
sex discrimination,
Supreme Court,
trademarks
- Rules for Growth: Promoting Innovation and Growth Through Legal Reform is new book from Kauffman Foundation in which “formidable” contributors including Henry Butler, George Priest, and Peter Schuck prescribe pro-growth policy changes across a variety of fields [available at Kauffman or on SSRN via contributor Larry Ribstein, Diana Furchtgott-Roth/Real Clear Markets]
- Nick Farr is awfully apologetic (not really) for saying those mean things about Hot Coffee, the new documentary film presenting Lawsuit Lobby view of the world [Abnormal Use, earlier] Related: TBD, more. More: Bob Dorigo Jones.
- AEP v. Connecticut global warming case invites courts to supplant other branches’ role [Ilya Shapiro, Cato]
- Washington jury awards $46 million to victim of shooting spree at Denny’s who charged negligent security [Kent Reporter, KOMO, Seattle Times, earlier]
- New bipartisan Congressional Civil Justice Caucus forms on Capitol Hill [BLT, PoL]
- Oh, Professor Tribe, your rhetorical moves on the Supreme Court and Obamacare are so transparent [Ann Althouse] (& Ilya Shapiro letter in NY Times)
- DRI says “if you [defend] Med Mal cases the news isn’t good,” new filings show a drop; clients may take different view [For the Defense] James Pinkerton on med-mal reform [Serious Medicine Strategy] Jan. 20 medical liability hearing in the House [PoL]
- Jury: “customer of size” not victim of airline bias [five years ago on Overlawyered]
Tagged as:
climate change,
global warming,
medical malpractice,
restaurants,
Senate,
Stella Liebeck,
third party liability for crime,
U.S. House of Representatives
- Thomas Sowell on EPA dairy-spill regulations [NRO, earlier at Cato here and here] It’s the miracle federal agency: “What doesn’t the EPA do?” [ShopFloor]
- President’s State of the Union medical malpractice gesture, cont’d [PoL, more, Ted Frank/Examiner, NJLRA, related, earlier here, here, here, here, here, here, here, etc.]
- Fired minor-league Yankees mascot files wage-hour suit [ESPN]
- Ohio sheriff prepares criminal complaint against reporter for asking him questions [WHIO via Balko]
- It all happened so suddenly: Henry Waxman now disapproves of the use of subpoenas for fishing expeditions [Mark Tapscott, Examiner; earlier]
- Should hospitals ban cameras from childbirth? [NYT "Room for Debate" with contribution from Jim Harper, Cato Institute]
- Non-”flagrant” trespassing OK? Tort liability shift in Third Restatement [PoL]
- Nope: “At this time, I would like to formally accuse Walter Olson of having an intern or something.” [Ron Miller]
Tagged as:
agriculture and farming,
Barack Obama,
baseball,
Environmental Protection Agency,
Henry Waxman,
hospitals,
medical malpractice,
Ohio,
privacy,
trespassers,
wage and hour suits
David Ingram, National Law Journal:
The New York-based Center for Justice and Democracy, which describes its mission as “protecting our civil justice system,” released a statement calling Obama’s remarks “disgusting” because many proposed changes would affect cases with merit. “The Republican proposals would weaken the legal rights of sick and injured patients and lessen the accountability of incompetent doctors and unsafe hospitals,” the statement said.
I haven’t seen a direct link to the “disgusting” statement yet, only the NLJ/Legal Times coverage, so I’ll try not to jump to conclusions. (Update: link here, h/t gitarcarver). But I’ve wondered before whether the tone taken by the misnamed Center for Justice and Democracy is so harshly abrasive and shrill that it actually alienates the sorts of centrists and moderate liberals that its trial-lawyer constituency should be trying to win over. Earlier on CJD here, here, here, here, etc.
Tagged as:
Barack Obama,
litigation lobby,
medical malpractice
- Sooooo glad to be an American: that’s how Patrick at Popehat feels following latest Canadian-libel-law outrage directed at conservative blogger Ezra Levant (& see comments for alternate view);
- Obama has pardoned more turkeys than people. Why? [Dan Froomkin, HuffPo]
- “Reforming medical malpractice liability through contract” [Michael F. Cannon, Cato Institute working paper, PDF]
- Memoir of jury foreman in criminal case [Tux Life]
- Not too sharp: Massachusetts school district disavows policy of not letting students bring pencils to school [Slashdot]
- State governors have big plans for liability reform. Maybe even loser-pays? [Carter at PoL, more; Florida, Indiana, Tennessee, Texas]
- Parent who sent buzzworthy demand letter to Kansas City school board is a jazz musician [Wayward Blog, earlier]
- From comic books to violent videogames: “Our puritanical progressives” [George Will]
Tagged as:
free speech in Canada,
freedom of contract,
governors,
juries,
libel slander and defamation,
loser pays,
medical malpractice,
schools,
videogames
- Jack Park on Bruesewitz v. Wyeth vaccine preemption case at Supreme Court [Heritage]
- Incidentally happening to assure lawyers more access to work: Harvard’s Tribe devises “access to justice” initiatives for Obama administration [BLT]
- New Haven cops accidentally photograph themselves deleting video of an unlawful arrest [Balko]
- How elite law culture miscomprehends the military [Second Circuit chief judge Dennis Jacobs speech at Federalist Society convention, YouTube]
- “Later, Bad Lawyer”: a blogger heads to prison [Greenfield]
- Reform medical liability? Depends on how badly you want neurosurgeons’ services [Michael Lavyne, NYDN]
- “Cab-rank principle” in legal ethics explained [Lawyers' Lawyer, Australia; via Legal Ethics Forum]
- $3.5 million award to unsuccessful suicide-while-in-custody is one of long series of such cases [six years ago on Overlawyered]
Tagged as:
ethics,
legal blogs,
medical malpractice,
military,
police,
preemption,
suicide
Tagged as:
banks,
bullying,
California,
international law,
medical malpractice,
New Jersey,
Philadelphia,
schools,
third party liability for crime,
trademarks,
transit
- “What Really Happened To Phoebe Prince?” [Emily Bazelon, Slate, related series on "cyber-bullying"; ABA Journal]
- Obama backs so-called Paycheck Fairness Act; why business should resist [USA Today, Hyman, ShopFloor, Furchtgott-Roth] Another slant on “paycheck fairness” [AP on Bell, Calif., sequel]
- Unlinked back in February: “Doctors cut back hours when risk of malpractice suit rises, study shows” [Eric Helland and Mark Showalter, JLE, Brigham Young release via Bob Dorigo Jones]
- Also unlinked from back when: thanks for kind mention to Mark Herrmann in “Memoirs of a Blogger,” PDF [Litigation mag courtesy WSJ Law Blog, Drug and Device Law]
- Ditto: Nora Freeman Engstrom on accident-law settlement mills, “Run-of-the-Mill Justice” [Georgetown Journal of Legal Ethics, SSRN, via LEF, Ronald Miller]
- Australia: “Welfare cheat wins right to IVF on jail time” [Melbourne Age]
- “The Nightmare of Legal Discovery” [Lammi, WLF Legal Pulse, related from WLF]
- Tribunal: “Mosquito” teenager-repellent device violates European Convention on Human Rights [Ku, Opinio Juris]
Tagged as:
Australia,
bullying,
discovery,
international human rights,
legal blogs,
medical malpractice,
prisoners,
workplace
