Overlawyered » New York

Schneiderman tapped for mortgage probe

Walter Olson — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 14:53:39 +0000

In a move likely to be welcome to his Left base, the president is naming New York’s business-bashing attorney general to head up a probe into banks’ mortgage misconduct. Capital New York’s headline says it all: “Obama elevates Eric Schneiderman, Who Was Too Liberal for Andrew Cuomo.” Another view: Felix Salmon (& Roger Donway, Atlas Business Rights Center).

Tags: mortgages, New York

New York’s “Triborough Amendment”

Walter Olson — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 13:19:32 +0000

A distinctively unfair bit of favoritism toward public sector unions, it legally locks in benefits after a contract expires, thus encouraging and rewarding union intransigence in negotiating the next. [Michael Allegretti, Public Sector Inc.; Empire Center for New York State Policy]

Tags: labor unions, New York, New York state

Labor and employment law roundup

Walter Olson — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 05:12:05 +0000

NLRB rules employment contracts that specify arbitration for group grievances violate federal labor law even in nonunion workplaces [D. R. Horton, Inc. and Michael Cuda; Ross Runkel, Corporate Counsel]
Richard Epstein on “living wage” legislation [Defining Ideas]
In Greece, law providing early retirement for “hazardous” jobs was extended to some that are not so hazardous, like hairdressing, pastry making and radio announcing [Mark Steyn via Instapundit, IBTimes, Reuters]
“Prosecutor’s double-dippers draw millions from New Jersey pension funds” [Mark Lagerkvist, DC Examiner] Even if convicted on felony charges of misappropriation of public funds, Beverly Hills school superintendent unlikely to forfeit pension [LA Times]
“Against Forced Unionization of Independent Workers” [Ilya Shapiro on Cato amicus brief in Harris v. Quinn]
Whoops: UAW officials appeal extortion sentence, 6th Circuit sends it back as too lenient [AutoBlog via Kaus]
New York appeals court makes it harder to get weak NYC job-bias cases dismissed on summary judgment [Judy Greenwald, Business Insurance] Connecticut’s job-bias commission doesn’t seem to consider any cases frivolous any more [Daniel Schwartz]

Tags: arbitration, Connecticut, discrimination law, labor unions, New York, NYC, prosecution

Labor law roundup

Walter Olson — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 05:26:22 +0000

But don’t call it quotas: “New Proposal May Force Federal Contractors to Hire More People with Disabilities” [Diversity Journal]
Wow: SEIU local advertises job described as “Train/lead members in … occupying state buildings and banks” [Instapundit]
$174K/year annual pension, collected for several decades? “Public retirement ages come under greater scrutiny” [AP] “Report makes ‘progressive’ pension-reform case” [Steven Greenhut, Public Sector Inc.] “Retired Cops and Firefighters in RI Town Accept Pension Cuts in Bankruptcy Deal” [Debra Cassens Weiss/ABA Journal, earlier] New York officials move to cut off public access to information about who’s getting what [NY Post]
In end run around Congress: “Obama instating labor rules for home-care aides” [LAT]
Artificial “take home pay” rule helped some highly paid Connecticut public workers qualify for emergency food stamps [Hartford Courant, more]
Lawyers, business groups alarmed at Department of Labor’s proposed “labor persuader” regulations [ABA Journal, earlier]

Tags: Connecticut, disabled rights, labor unions, New York, public employment

December 20 roundup

Walter Olson — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 12:09:35 +0000

No regulatory surge under Obama? Check the numbers please [WSJ edit, James Gattuso/Heritage] Now online: Federalist Society convention panels on regulation [Cass et al, Epstein et al] “House passes REINS Act, president promises veto” [Adler, Mike Kelsey/Heritage] Regulation Moratorium and Jobs Preservation Act “dying in Senate committee” [PoL]
Study: NY municipalities battered by litigation [Sydney Cresswell & Michael Landon-Murray, Rockefeller/Albany, PDF]
Dodd-Frank and corporate credit [David Henderson]
Inside the great Las Vegas condo-board-takeover scam [Bloomberg, earlier]
“Copyright Law and European Compilations of U.S. Jazz Recordings” [Kerr, Volokh]
Autism-care cheat: “Former MoFo Partner Draws 12-Month Sentence in Fraud Case” [Recorder]
Would privacy torts do better? Jim Harper on the Fair Credit Reporting Act [Cato Institute, PDF]

Tags: autism, debtor-creditor law, music and musicians, New York, privacy, regulation and its reform

Medical roundup

Walter Olson — Sun, 04 Dec 2011 05:21:13 +0000

Talking back to the “malpractice litigation is no big deal, docs should grin and bear it” theorists [David Sack, ACP via White Coat] “Worst states for medical malpractice risk” [White Coat]
Jury awards $25 million against hospital that didn’t file abuse report after boy came in with broken wrist [Fayetteville, N.C. Observer]
“Doctors Question Disability Decisions as Agency Moves to Speed Up Process” [WSJ via Walter Russell Mead]
New “Federalist Society equivalents” in medicine (Benjamin Rush Society), business, foreign affairs [John J. Miller, Philanthropy]
Fieger wins $144 million verdict blaming hospital for newborn’s cerebral palsy [suburban Detroit Tribune]
Feds force birth control coverage on Catholic organizations, and free association suffers [Roger Pilon, Cato]
Phone call from doc to patient’s home did not establish subsequent jurisdiction to sue there [Madison County Record] NY steps up program to streamline courts’ handling of med-mal claims [WSJ]

Tags: child abuse, Federalist Society, Geoffrey Fieger, hospitals, medical malpractice, New York

October 12 roundup

Walter Olson — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 05:13:02 +0000

After President Obama’s Orlando photo-op with construction workers came the high-ticket fundraiser at the home of med-mal titan John Morgan [Orlando Sentinel]
“Lawyer Sues Facebook, Says Tracking Cookie Violates Wiretap Laws” [ABA Journal]
The bone-marrow bounty that could save a life — and the law that gets in the way [Virginia Postrel]
New coalition to repeal New York’s unfair Scaffold Law;
“How the FDA Could Cost You Your Life” [Scott Gottlieb on medical device lags, WSJ]
Mississippi: new release of sealed Scruggs-scandal documents [YallPolitics, Freeland]
What I learned (about false accusation) at Dartmouth [Gonzalo Lira]

Tags: Barack Obama, colleges and universities, Dickie Scruggs, Facebook, FDA, New York, politics

October 3 roundup

Walter Olson — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 05:13:55 +0000

Arizona officials say “accents were never the focus” of teacher fluency monitoring suspended at feds’ insistence [NYTNS, earlier] Reactions to my piece last week include columnist “Johnson” at The Economist (taking issue) and Hans Bader and Carrie Lukas (favorable);
Another highlight of new “jobs” bill: financial institution customers would help pay for auto bailouts [John Berlau]
Key New Orleans Police Department officer in charge of integrity of traffic-cam program accused of altering own plates [WWL] Red light cameras defended [Noah Kristula-Green, FrumForum] Why Massachusetts won’t raise the speed limit on Route 3 north of Burlington (NMA blog via @radleybalko)
Eight bad reasons for going to law school [Campos] Law schools have demographic but not socioeconomic diversity [Richard Sander, Denver U. Law Review via Legal Ethics Forum] And besides my own contribution on law school reform at the recent Truth on the Market symposium, check out the contributions by Hans Bader and Larry Ribstein;
Fellow federal agency FERC worried that EPA’s power-plant crackdown could lead to outages [WSJ] EPA’s plan to regulate dust from farmers’ fields led to public opinion blowback for President Obama [Diane Katz/Heritage, Environmental Legal Blogs, Radley Balko] Shutting down EPA isn’t likely under GOP reign, but reforming EPA might be [Adler, NYT "Room for Debate"]
Left rallies around New York attorney general Eric Schneiderman [Ben Smith, Politico]

Tags: agriculture and farming, attorneys general, Environmental Protection Agency, language bias, New Orleans, New York, red light cameras

Food law roundup

Walter Olson — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 14:56:43 +0000

Feds fund Boston campaign bashing sweetened drinks [Globe; see also on NYC] More on ObamaCare “Public Health Fund” subsidies to local paternalist initiatives on diet [WLF]
Thanks to federal funding priorities, New York education department had 40 experts on school lunches, only one on science education [Frederick Hess via Stoll]
Grocers hope to escape federal menu labeling mandate [FDA Law Blog] How regulations exasperate midsize restaurant operators [Philip Klein, Wash. Examiner]
“The Eight Dumbest Restaurant Laws” [Zagat]
Proposed federal standards on kid food ads extreme enough that many USDA “healthy” recipes would flunk [Diane Katz, Heritage] Do FTC’s guidelines violate the First Amendment? [WSJ]
Compared with what? “Egg farm regulations still skimpy” [Stoll] Deer blamed for E. coli in pick-your-own strawberries [USA Today]
U.K.: Your kids are too fat so we’re taking them away [Daily Mail; earlier here, here, etc.]

Tags: advertising, Boston, eat drink and be merry, Federal Trade Commission, food safety, nanny state, New York, obesity, restaurants, schools

“Minivan-drownings suit could cost taxpayers plenty”

Walter Olson — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 16:03:08 +0000

Following the horrific murder-suicide of a woman who intentionally drowned herself and three of her four children, the woman’s estranged boyfriend is suing the city of Newburgh, N.Y. and its surrounding county for failing to prevent the crime. Joint and several liability reform would help, if only Albany were more sympathetic to the cause. [Thomas Stebbins, Poughkeepsie Journal; Daily News]

Tags: joint and several liability, New York, taxpayers, third party liability for crime

Overlawyered » New York

Schneiderman tapped for mortgage probe

Related posts

New York’s “Triborough Amendment”

Related posts

Labor and employment law roundup

Related posts

Labor law roundup

Related posts

December 20 roundup

Related posts

Medical roundup

Related posts

October 12 roundup

Related posts

October 3 roundup

Related posts

Food law roundup

Related posts

“Minivan-drownings suit could cost taxpayers plenty”

Related posts