Overlawyered » Ninth Circuit 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 February 9 roundup http://overlawyered.com/2012/02/february-9-roundup-3/ http://overlawyered.com/2012/02/february-9-roundup-3/#comments Thu, 09 Feb 2012 05:07:43 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=27470
  • Ninth Circuit panel strikes down California’s Prop 8 [Volokh, Kerr, Magliocca, Lithwick, Steve Chapman]
  • Judge dismisses PETA “killer whales enslaved” case [Caroline May/Daily Caller, CNN, earlier]
  • “Patent Troll Claims Ownership of Interactive Web – And Might Win” [Joe Mullin/Wired, earlier; more on testimony by Web father Tim Berners-Lee] Update: Ding Dong! Jury rejects claim;
  • “Further Analysis of the Bottle-Rocket Case” [Lowering the Bar, earlier]
  • As patients suffer: “The War Over Prescription Painkillers,” start of a Radley Balko series [HuffPo parts one, two so far]
  • Richard Epstein on federal fiat and Yale disciplinary procedure [Defining Ideas] Under new-style rules at Yale, will a professor even be aware he’s been accused and henceforth is to be “monitored”? [KC Johnson]
  • Jim Copland testimony on abuses in government contingent-fee litigation [Manhattan Institute, PDF] “Parens patriae” proposal to replace class actions with state attorney general suits, but with private entrepreneurial bar still in saddle [Adam Zimmerman/Prawfs on Myriam Gilles/Gary Friedman, SSRN]
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    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2012/02/february-9-roundup-3/feed/ 3     November 8 roundup http://overlawyered.com/2011/11/november-8-roundup-4/ http://overlawyered.com/2011/11/november-8-roundup-4/#comments Tue, 08 Nov 2011 05:07:26 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=25093
  • Washington Post pundit Dana Milbank’s lament: Obama isn’t doing enough to intimidate opponents [David Boaz, Cato]
  • FDA defends itself against rising criticism on drug and device approval [NYT] NYT approaches the issue with a curious slant [Paul Rubin]
  • California courts: what makes you think we need to follow SCOTUS on arbitration? [Cal Biz Lit, more, Russell Jackson] Senate anti-arbitration hearing could have used more truth in advertising [PoL]
  • Pols want to fast-track favored L.A. stadium against environmental suits under California’s obstructor-friendly CEQA. Hmmm… why not fast-track everyone else too? [Gideon Kanner, Stephen Smith, SCPR, Paul Taylor, Examiner]
  • State law forbids use of deadly force in defense of business property: “Burglar’s family awarded $300,000 in wrongful death suit” [Colorado Springs Gazette]
  • One reason the Ninth Circuit may go off on more frolics: three-judge, one-clerk bench memos [Kerr]
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    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2011/11/november-8-roundup-4/feed/ 1     Law, fairness, and Wal-Mart v. Dukes http://overlawyered.com/2011/06/law-fairness-and-wal-mart-v-dukes/ http://overlawyered.com/2011/06/law-fairness-and-wal-mart-v-dukes/#comments Mon, 20 Jun 2011 18:00:47 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=23468 I’ve got an instant analysis up at Cato at Liberty of the retailer’s big Supreme Court win today in Wal-Mart v. Dukes, the class action certification case. The Court ruled unanimously that the Ninth Circuit had jumped the gun in certifying the case as a class action, and 5-to-4 (Scalia writing) that plaintiffs had failed to assemble the evidence needed for certification. (& welcome Real Clear Politics “Best of the Blogs”, Atlantic Wire, Nicole Neily/Daily Caller, Jon Hyman, SCOTUSBlog)

    More: Josh Blackman (with a comment on the Court’s recognition of the work of the late Richard Nagareda), Hans Bader, Jim Copland, John Steele Gordon. Spot-the-errors dept.: Dahlia Lithwick. Briefs and other resources on the case at SCOTUSBlog.

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    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2011/06/law-fairness-and-wal-mart-v-dukes/feed/ 5     May 16 roundup http://overlawyered.com/2011/05/may-16-roundup-4/ http://overlawyered.com/2011/05/may-16-roundup-4/#comments Mon, 16 May 2011 12:12:29 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=22993
  • The Economist on the future of the legal business;
  • Hairpin reversals of fortune in long-running Barbie v. Bratz doll fight [Cal Biz Lit, earlier]
  • As I note in Schools for Misrule, institutional reform litigation is alive and well: Reinhardt says 9th Circuit should take over VA’s mental health efforts, Kozinski dissents [LAT, AP, The Recorder]
  • Court rejects Koch suit over spoof website posing as Koch’s to make political points [EFF, earlier]
  • “Romeo and Juliet” amendment could soften harsh Texas sex-offense laws [Lenore Skenazy] Law isn’t especially protective of teen boys persuaded to sign paternity declarations [Amy Alkon]
  • “Disney Trademarks ‘Seal Team 6′” [Atlantic Wire]
  • Great moments in human rights law: UK high court rules airplane hijackers should have been admitted to country as refugees [five years ago on Overlawyered]
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    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2011/05/may-16-roundup-4/feed/ 9     Bus underfunding as racial discrimination http://overlawyered.com/2011/04/bus-underfunding-as-racial-discrimination/ http://overlawyered.com/2011/04/bus-underfunding-as-racial-discrimination/#comments Tue, 05 Apr 2011 05:32:40 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=22386 Even the Ninth Circuit’s not buying that one, note David Lehrer and Joe Hicks at City Journal.

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    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2011/04/bus-underfunding-as-racial-discrimination/feed/ 0     International human rights roundup http://overlawyered.com/2010/10/international-human-rights-roundup/ http://overlawyered.com/2010/10/international-human-rights-roundup/#comments Fri, 08 Oct 2010 12:49:55 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=19601 Developments in an emerging area of law much explored in my forthcoming book:

    • “Developing Countries Could Sue for Climate Action — Study” [NYT/ClimateWire] “Do We Need Global Governance To Combat Global Warming?” [Ilya Somin/Volokh]
    • From UN and oddly uncontroversial Human Rights Watch, pressure on U.S. to alter labor law in union-friendly direction [ShopFloor, Chamber Post]
    • Recent academic conferences: “2009 National Forum on the Human Right to Housing” [Nov. 2009, Georgetown Law] “International and Comparative Law Review Symposium on the significance of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities” [Loyola L.A., Mar. 2010]
    • At whose expense? “UN General Assembly Invents a Right to Water and Sanitation” [GGW, BoingBoing]
    • Again, some survivors of U.S.S. Cole attack on U.S. military personnel sue government of Sudan [Jay Nordlinger/NRO "Corner", related paper by Elizabeth Bahr, George Mason]
    • Copying liberals’ homework, some anti-abortionists claim mantle of international human rights for their cause [NRO "Bench Memos," approvingly, via Ku/OJ]
    • “An Eminently Sound Approach to (Supposed) International Human Rights Norms, from the 9th Circuit” [Volokh]
    • What Keynes knew: after 92 years, Germany finally pays off the last Versailles reparations [Marian Tupy, Cato at Liberty]
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    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2010/10/international-human-rights-roundup/feed/ 0     “Good Lord, people are complaining because they can’t see a taco, get a life” http://overlawyered.com/2010/07/good-lord-people-are-complaining-because-they-cant-see-a-taco-get-a-life/ http://overlawyered.com/2010/07/good-lord-people-are-complaining-because-they-cant-see-a-taco-get-a-life/#comments Thu, 29 Jul 2010 13:42:46 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=18648 Much reaction in the comments at the San Francisco Chronicle to the Ninth Circuit’s “Chipotle Experience discriminates against the disabled” ruling. Earlier here. And Ted at PoL notes this significant passage rejected by the appeals court:

    The [district] court found that Antoninetti had failed to show irreparable injury because he had not revisited either restaurant after Chipotle adopted its written policy and because his “purported desire to return to the [r]estaurants is neither concrete nor sincere or supported by the facts.” It also stated that Antoninetti’s “history as a plaintiff in accessibility litigation supports this Court’s finding that his purported desire to return to the [r]estaurants is not sincere. Since immigrating to the United States in 1991, Plaintiff has sued over twenty business entities for alleged accessibility violations, and, in all (but one) of those cases, he never returned to the establishment he sued after settling the case and obtaining a cash payment.”

    More on ADA filing mills here. And I’ve now got a longer post up at Cato at Liberty comparing the policy problem of serial ADA complaints to that of patent trollery, mass filing of “citizen suits”, and the business model of recently formed copyright-holder RightHaven. More: Carl Horowitz, NLPC.

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    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2010/07/good-lord-people-are-complaining-because-they-cant-see-a-taco-get-a-life/feed/ 7     ADA’s anniversary, cont’d http://overlawyered.com/2010/07/adas-anniversary-contd/ http://overlawyered.com/2010/07/adas-anniversary-contd/#comments Tue, 27 Jul 2010 15:21:21 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=18567 Among reactions and links to my Cato piece yesterday: David Frum, Brian Doherty/Reason “Hit and Run”, Richard Epstein/Ricochet, LoTempio Law Blog/Blawg Review #274, John Stossel/Fox Business (with kind words), Steve Bussey (ditto, with a historic-preservation-related reader comment).

    In other news, a Ninth Circuit panel (Friedman, Nelson, Reinhardt) has ruled that the “Chipotle Experience” at Chipotle Mexican Grill, in which customers can watch their food being made behind a glass partition, violates the ADA “because the restaurants’ 45-inch counters are too high. The company now faces hundreds of thousands of dollars in damages.” [AP, Reuters, decision in Antoninetti v. Chipotle courtesy Leagle]. More: Ted at PoL and my followups here and at Cato at Liberty.

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    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2010/07/adas-anniversary-contd/feed/ 23     “German police officer earns extra week’s holiday for getting dressed” http://overlawyered.com/2010/07/german-police-officer-earns-extra-weeks-holiday-for-getting-dressed/ http://overlawyered.com/2010/07/german-police-officer-earns-extra-weeks-holiday-for-getting-dressed/#comments Mon, 19 Jul 2010 15:11:44 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=18315 The test case in the city of Muenster has German municipal officials worried about busted budgets. [Guardian, Telegraph] So-called “don/doff” lawsuits have been a pretty big deal in our own employment law in recent years, although, as our 2008 report from Arkansas indicates, they don’t always have the support of the putative victims.

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    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2010/07/german-police-officer-earns-extra-weeks-holiday-for-getting-dressed/feed/ 6     “Goodwin Liu’s America” http://overlawyered.com/2010/03/goodwin-lius-america/ http://overlawyered.com/2010/03/goodwin-lius-america/#comments Tue, 23 Mar 2010 21:05:36 +0000 Ted Frank http://overlawyered.com/?p=16607 I have an op-ed about the pending Ninth Circuit nomination, which the Senate Judiciary Committee will consider tomorrow. If some of the language sounds vaguely familiar, it stems from an earlier Ted, and it especially amused me how much more appropriate Senator Kennedy’s words were for Professor Liu than for Judge Bork.

    See also The Heritage Foundation’s discussion.

    Update: and Ed Whelan’s NRO piece. And Ilya Shapiro and Evan Turgeon in the Daily Caller.

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