Overlawyered » Montana

Environmental law roundup

Walter Olson — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 05:03:02 +0000

Peter Schweizer: “To RFK, Jr: I’m No Sock Puppet, But You Sir Are a Bootlegger” [Huffington Post; some background on America's Most Irresponsible Public Figure®]
Will legal campaign succeed in shutting down natural gas fracking? [WLF, David Oliver, CL&P, Abby Wisse Schachter/NYP]
Nice work if you can get it: key figure in dubious Chevron-Ecuador expert report slated for National Academy of Sciences reappointment [WizBang, earlier]
EPA’s move-cement-production-to-China plan runs into uncooperative judge [Josiah Neeley, Daily Caller]
Spare that tree? Environmentalists battle Montana underbrush clearance aimed at preventing catastrophic fires [William Perry Pendley, MSLF] More on trees and power outages in Connecticut [WSJ, related earlier]
New book on Endangered Species Act reform [James Burling, Federalist Society]
Rural property owners foot the bill for California green policies [Steven Greenhut]
“What are you in for?” “Backed-up toilets” [Shannen Coffin, NRO]

Tags: California, Chevron, Connecticut, endangered species, environment, Environmental Protection Agency, Montana, oil industry, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., trees

Montana: “Bicyclist Gets Nearly $100G After Fall on Icy Trail”

Walter Olson — Sat, 03 Dec 2011 16:37:03 +0000

“The president of the Florence Park District says he’s disappointed in a system that allows a man riding a motorized bicycle on a winter night on a trail that doesn’t allow motorized vehicles to receive an insurance settlement. Half of the settlement came from a Florence bar because snow was pushed onto the trail when the bar parking lot was plowed.” [AP]

Tags: deep pocket, Montana, personal responsibility, recreation

On trial for vehicular homicide, sues family she killed

Walter Olson — Tue, 10 Aug 2010 05:40:27 +0000

Citing text messages she sent her boyfriend shortly before the incident, Montana prosecutors contend that Justine Winter’s crash at 85 mph into an oncoming vehicle was a deliberate suicide attempt. Winter, who faces trial on homicide charges in the deaths of Erin Thompson, the woman she ran into, and Thompson’s 13-year-old son, has now sued Thompson’s estate as well as the construction company that built the interstate overpass where the accident occurred. [Daily Inter Lake, Siouxsie Law]

Tags: Montana, personal responsibility, roads and streets, suicide

“Bat maker found liable for player’s death”

Walter Olson — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 01:05:34 +0000

A Montana jury decided that the aluminum baseball bat manufactured by “Louisville Slugger” maker Hillerich & Bradsby was not a defective product, but that the company should have warned of the dangers from its hitting balls at a higher speed, and awarded a family $850,000 for the 2003 death of their son at a baseball game. [Helena Independent Record, AP] Early commentary: Russell Jackson (doubting that a warning would actually have altered the behavior of those in the game) and Eugene Volokh (before verdict). Earlier here. More: Jim Copland discusses on CNN; Above the Law.

Tags: baseball, baseball bats, Montana

Mom left two girls, 12, in charge of three younger ones at mall

Walter Olson — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 12:26:26 +0000

And soon Bridget Kevane, a professor of Latin American and Latino literature at Montana State in Bozeman, found herself fighting a child endangerment rap. [Free Range Kids via Amy Alkon; Judith Warner, NYT]

Tags: child protection, Montana, prosecutorial abuse

July 6 roundup

Walter Olson — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 11:42:35 +0000

U.K.: “Families told doormats are health and safety risk” [Telegraph]
Montana judge holds onto case for 34 years before finally issuing ruling [Popehat]
Free speech and the web: panel from American Constitution Society convention [Above the Law]
“Driver with ‘0′ license plates wrongly issued dozens of tickets” [Chicago Tribune, Obscure Store]
Florida judge who presided over Anna Nicole Smith custody case accused in civil suit of looting elderly widow’s assets; probe however led to no criminal charges [Miami Herald, Bob Norman/Broward Palm Beach New Times]
Economist/YouGov poll finds public supportive of limiting medical malpractice payouts [Point of Law]
Someone writing San Francisco docket reports may have pawkish sense of humor [Lowering the Bar; Arcata, Calif. Eye's famously droll police blotter, mentioned in this space five years ago]
Suing over co-worker’s perfume [two years ago on Overlawyered]

Tags: humor, medical malpractice, Montana, nanny state, online speech, San Francisco, traffic laws, United Kingdom

Jury acquits W.R. Grace and execs in Libby, Mont. asbestos case

Walter Olson — Fri, 08 May 2009 19:20:20 +0000

A high-profile federal environmental prosecution has struck out following charges of prosecutorial misconduct as well as disputes over the quality of the evidence [Montana's News Station, Van Voris/Bloomberg] Carter Wood and others have been blogging the case at Point of Law, and a joint blog effort of the University of Montana’s law and journalism schools has given the case extensive coverage. See also Kirk Hartley.

Tags: asbestos, crime and punishment, Montana

“The Last Best Place”: not a trademark yet

Walter Olson — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 05:02:52 +0000

For years controversy has raged over a Las Vegas businessman and resort owner’s efforts to trademark the phrase, widely used as a description of Montana. (Missoula writer William Kittredge says he remembers coming up with the phrase himself.) Now, per TTA Blog, Montana Sen. Max Baucus has again included language in an appropriation bill to direct that (for the time being) no funds be expended by the PTO to register such a trademark.

Tags: Montana, trademarks

February 16 roundup

Walter Olson — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 16:02:11 +0000

“Texas Judge Orders 178 Anonymous ‘John Does’ Who Posted on Topix Be Revealed” [Citizen Media Law]
$4 billion lawsuit over racially insensitive Miley Cyrus eye gestures [Michelle Malkin, TMZ.com]
Update: “Tulsa World drops lawsuit after writer apologizes” [Romenesko/Tulsa World, earlier]
Also update: “Seventh Circuit Affirms Dismissal of John Lott’s Libel Lawsuit Against Steven Levitt” [Volokh, earlier]
“M-I-C — Cease and desist! K-E-Y — Why? Because we caught you! M-O-U-S-E” [Ron Coleman]
California: “Another Step Toward Shielding Good Samaritans From Civil Damages” [Calif. Civil Justice Blog, more]
Montana lawmakers consider bill saying hazardous recreation goes on at your own risk [PoL]
Senior writer at Wired decides to go work for Wal-Mart, what he found departed from the Barbara Ehrenreich formula [BoingBoing]

Tags: assumption of risk, California, Good Samaritan, Lott v. Levitt, Montana, online speech, recreation, Wal-Mart

Microblog 2008-12-22

SSFC — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 13:18:06 +0000

Found here and there on the web, some matters on topic, some not:

Will non-violent drug offenders be unlikely beneficiaries of the economic downturn?
Speaking of offenders, have a look at Scott Greenfield’s thoughts on forty years of Miranda v. Arizona. (The “right to remain silent…” warning achieves neither what its authors hoped nor what its opponents feared);
Every question some very strange people ever wanted to ask Slate’s Explainer, but were still unable to get a satisfactory answer on. (Via dispatches from TJICistan);
Oregon district attorney who charged two 7th graders with assault for slapping girls on the rear, now facing assault charges herself, for slapping her husband in the face. (Via Radley Balko);
The astounding “police blotter” of Flathead County, Montana (just keep reading, it will be Christmas before you know it);
Blawg Review #191, on the miracle on Chanukah and the law, is up at Likelihood of Confusion. Well worth your time;
Speaking of Blawg Reviews, last week’s at The Legal Satyricon covered the Bill of Rights in surprising detail. Who knew that the bar on quartering of troops has relevance to national security law?

This will have to be a short microblog, due to impending depositions, but it’s better than no microblog at all.

Tags: illegal drugs, Montana, prosecution

Overlawyered » Montana

Environmental law roundup

Related posts

Montana: “Bicyclist Gets Nearly $100G After Fall on Icy Trail”

Related posts

On trial for vehicular homicide, sues family she killed

Related posts

“Bat maker found liable for player’s death”

Related posts

Mom left two girls, 12, in charge of three younger ones at mall

Related posts

July 6 roundup

Related posts

Jury acquits W.R. Grace and execs in Libby, Mont. asbestos case

Related posts

“The Last Best Place”: not a trademark yet

Related posts

February 16 roundup

Related posts

Microblog 2008-12-22

Related posts