Overlawyered » New Zealand 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 November 4 roundup http://overlawyered.com/2011/11/november-4-roundup-3/ http://overlawyered.com/2011/11/november-4-roundup-3/#comments Fri, 04 Nov 2011 10:29:23 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=25349
  • “Kentucky antidiscrimination law doesn’t bar discrimination based on litigiousness” [Volokh]
  • “Lawyer sues to stop fireworks show; now wants $756K in fees from taxpayers” [CJAC, San Diego]
  • Leahy bill reauthorizing VAWA (Violence Against Women Act) includes language codifying OCR assault on campus due process [Bader, Daily Caller, Inside Higher Ed, FIRE, earlier here, here]
  • “One-Ninth the Freedom Kids Used To Have” [Free-Range Kids] “WARNING: Baby in pram! Anything could happen!” [same]
  • New Zealand considers criminalizing breaches of fiduciary duty [Prof. Bainbridge]
  • From libertarian Steve Chapman, a favorable rating for Rahm Emanuel as Chicago mayor [Chicago Tribune]
  • Did California privacy legislation just regulate bloggers? [Eric Goldman, Paul Alan Levy]
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    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2011/11/november-4-roundup-3/feed/ 2     Woman finds “demonic” face on canned pear http://overlawyered.com/2010/05/woman-finds-demonic-face-on-canned-pear/ http://overlawyered.com/2010/05/woman-finds-demonic-face-on-canned-pear/#comments Thu, 13 May 2010 18:42:22 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=17332 And wants recompense from the fruit canner, in New Zealand. [Stuff.co.nz]

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    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2010/05/woman-finds-demonic-face-on-canned-pear/feed/ 7     March 24 roundup http://overlawyered.com/2009/03/march-24-roundup/ http://overlawyered.com/2009/03/march-24-roundup/#comments Tue, 24 Mar 2009 12:42:20 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=9988
  • Suit by Hurricane Katrina victims against Army Corps of Engineers set for trial April 20 [WSJ law blog, Frankel/AmLaw Daily, earlier]
  • Some criminal defense arguments are creative, which doesn’t mean they’ll work [Ambrogi/Legal Blog Watch]
  • Words to avoid in real-estate ads: safe, quiet, family-friendly, bachelor’s, walking distance [UrbanDigs.com, New York Post] And better not mention the quadruple murder in the house either [Fountain]
  • The questionable science of repressed memories [Joann Wypijewski, The Nation]
  • National coverage of 14 states’ ban on fish-nibble pedicures [WSJ via OpenMarket; earlier]
  • States move to revoke medical license of Dr. Ray Harron, accused of falsely diagnosing thousands of plaintiffs in asbestos cases [(Chamber-backed) SE Texas Record]
  • Conan tales are public domain in New Zealand, but online reading of them there draws nastygram anyway [BoingBoing and followup]
  • “Wrestler stages a fall at 7-Eleven in attempt to collect $50,000″ [Obscure Store, Philadelphia Daily News]
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    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2009/03/march-24-roundup/feed/ 2     Locked-out Overlawyered readers, in Australia and elsewhere http://overlawyered.com/2008/09/locked-out-overlawyered-readers-in-australia-and-elsewhere/ http://overlawyered.com/2008/09/locked-out-overlawyered-readers-in-australia-and-elsewhere/#comments Wed, 01 Oct 2008 02:14:46 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=7616 For quite a while I’ve been getting complaints that readers in other countries — Australia, in particular — are locked out of Overlawyered with a “403 — you don’t have permission to access the server” error message. (Similarly, see these bulletin board discussions from New Zealand and Germany). Reader Stephen Mepham from Australia wrote to alert me when he encountered this problem on switching to a new cable provider, and helpfully included his IP number (the 777.77.7.777 thing). That allowed me to track down what had happened: in response to a series of spam and denial-of-service attacks, our hosting providers over the years have taken aggressive measures to exclude various large blocks of IP numbers (as well as country domains associated with spam and DOS attacks). I’ve now taken a few gingerly steps to relax these controls, which I hope should let more Australian readers access the site in particular. Should the attacks resume, of course, we’ll need to go back to tougher blocking.

    If you’re a reader who’s encountered this problem or knows someone who has, give it a try again, and feel free to email me with a message along the lines of “Yes, now it works again” or “No, I still get blocked” — and try to include your IP address if convenient, which you can identify here.

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    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2008/09/locked-out-overlawyered-readers-in-australia-and-elsewhere/feed/ 5     Problems with access to Overlawyered http://overlawyered.com/2008/07/problems-with-access-to-overlawyered/ http://overlawyered.com/2008/07/problems-with-access-to-overlawyered/#comments Sun, 27 Jul 2008 00:28:13 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=7322 We continue to hear reports, scattered and so far unexplained, from readers around the world who get an “unavailable” or “forbidden” message when they call up http://www.overlawyered.com in their browser. Thus some readers in Australia have no problem with access to the site, while others have reported that they are blocked; and we got a similarly inconsistent report the other day from New Zealand.

    The Australian lawyer who writes the interesting blog Stumblng Tumblr writes to say that

    I have outflanked the problem. I only regret that it took me so long to think of it. I use Bloglines and it permits me to choose how much of a feed I want to see in Bloglines itself. It finally occurred to me to change the setting for Overlawyered to show the full post in Bloglines in every case, rather than just a summary. That means that I don’t have to go to your site. I just read it all in Bloglines.

    I’m very happy to be able to read Overlawyered again!

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    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2008/07/problems-with-access-to-overlawyered/feed/ 4     Welcome New Zealand radio listeners http://overlawyered.com/2008/01/welcome-new-zealand-radio-listeners/ http://overlawyered.com/2008/01/welcome-new-zealand-radio-listeners/#comments Thu, 17 Jan 2008 20:12:38 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/wpblog/?p=5759 I was on Marcus Lush’s Radio Live talk show out of Auckland this morning, discussing American employment law. My book The Excuse Factory: How Employment Law Is Paralyzing the American Workplace is available on Amazon.

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    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2008/01/welcome-new-zealand-radio-listeners/feed/ 0     Banning spanking in Massachusetts? http://overlawyered.com/2007/11/banning-spanking-in-massachusetts/ http://overlawyered.com/2007/11/banning-spanking-in-massachusetts/#comments Wed, 28 Nov 2007 00:35:55 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/wpblog/?p=5586 Since 1979 nineteen countries led by Sweden have banned corporal punishment by parents of kids in the home. A bill scheduled for debate today before the Massachusetts legislature would make that state the first to join the trend. (Laurel Sweet, “Bay State’s going slap-happy”, Boston Herald, Nov. 27; “Anti-spanking bill is folly” (editorial), Nov. 28; Stephen Bainbridge, Nov. 22 (New Zealand)). Earlier: Apr. 19, 2004 (U.K.); Feb. 14 and Feb. 24, 2007 (proposal in California).

    More: such laws in both Sweden and New Zealand have been softened (i.e., made more lenient toward parents) by the interpolation of reasonableness standards, per Kiwi website Big News (via QuizLaw).

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    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2007/11/banning-spanking-in-massachusetts/feed/ 14     NZ: You can immigrate, but your spouse can’t http://overlawyered.com/2007/11/nz-you-can-immigrate-but-your-spouse-cant/ http://overlawyered.com/2007/11/nz-you-can-immigrate-but-your-spouse-cant/#comments Tue, 27 Nov 2007 14:51:40 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/wpblog/?p=5583 At least not unless she loses some weight (Paul Chapman and Graeme Baker, “New Zealand bars British man’s ‘fat’ wife”, Daily Telegraph, Nov. 21; Zycher, Medical Progress Today, Nov. 21). Australia “last year refused citizenship to a healthy British woman who wasn’t heavy enough.” (Aida Edemarian, “Are you too fat to emigrate?”, Guardian, Nov. 20).

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    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2007/11/nz-you-can-immigrate-but-your-spouse-cant/feed/ 1     November 20 roundup http://overlawyered.com/2007/11/november-20-roundup/ http://overlawyered.com/2007/11/november-20-roundup/#comments Tue, 20 Nov 2007 00:05:43 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/wpblog/?p=5565
    • Dickie Scruggs will host Dec. 15 Hillary fundraiser headlined by Bill [Clarion-Ledger via WSJ law blog]

    • Megabucks campaigns for state judicial office: Symptom? Illness? Both? [Justice O'Connor @ OpinionJournal.com, Adler @ Volokh; Pero]

    • U.K. kids’ author says publisher’s safety worries vetoed depiction of fire-breathing dragon in book [Daily Mail]

    • Roger Parloff describes the Judith Regan complaint as bizarre, and angry commenters are soon denouncing him as a Fox’s-paw [Fortune Legal Pad; Althouse; ritual disclaimer]

    • Wonder why booking a dance venue can get pricey? Here’s one reason [WV Record]

    • “Why should I take a dollar out of [my neighbor's] pocket?”: a Virginia Tech family wrestles with the temptation to sue [Mundy, WashPostMag]

    • Essential silliness of the “media diversity” scare [Welch, LAT]

    • Boston’s James Sokolove, known for his heavy rotation of personal-injury TV ads, is now chasing for … patent plaintiffs? [WSJ law blog; earlier]

    • Great big gobs of mutilated monkey meat could bring five years in slammer for NYC immigrant [IHT]

    • Recounting the tale of Miami’s one-time high-living “King of Torts” Louis Robles, who stole from around 4,500 clients [AJP "CEO Alert" series, PDF]

    • Campaign regulation laws spell incumbent protection in New Zealand too [Bainbridge]

    • Influence of newspaper lobby retards natural migration to the web of fine-print legal notices [Liptak, NYT]

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    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2007/11/november-20-roundup/feed/ 2     His reputation to protect http://overlawyered.com/2007/04/his-reputation-to-protect/ http://overlawyered.com/2007/04/his-reputation-to-protect/#comments Tue, 10 Apr 2007 09:14:49 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/wpblog/?p=4781 Defamation-suit Hall of Fame: a New Zealand prisoner serving a life sentence for the notoriously brutal murder of a 17-year-old girl has won cash compensation from newspapers which described him as a rapist. “Andrew Ronald MacMillan was granted legal aid – a government- funded scheme which allows people who cannot afford legal representation to get a lawyer – to sue Fairfax Media, publishers of New Zealand newspapers The Press and Dominion Post, for defamation and punitive damages.” The victim, whose body was discovered nearly naked, had suffered violence in intimate places, but authorities never charged MacMillan with rape in the case. (”Murderer gets compensation from paper over rape allegation”, DPA/MonstersAndCritics.com, Apr. 10). Two and a half years ago MacMillan won $1200 for hurt feelings and humiliation because the Corrections Department had not shown him the text of a letter accusing him of misbehavior while on prison furlough. (Bridget Carter, “‘Hurt feelings’ win killer $1200 compensation”, New Zealand Herald, Aug. 23, 2004).

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