Overlawyered » obesity http://overlawyered.com Chronicling the high cost of our legal system Tue, 14 Feb 2012 11:28:52 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 en hourly 1 Sugar “like alcohol and tobacco…toxic, addictive” http://overlawyered.com/2012/02/sugar-like-alcohol-and-tobacco-toxic-addictive/ http://overlawyered.com/2012/02/sugar-like-alcohol-and-tobacco-toxic-addictive/#comments Thu, 02 Feb 2012 05:45:46 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=27294 Some scientists at the University of California, San Francisco want the government to get much more deeply involved in deciding what you eat and drink, and the magazine Nature is providing a platform for their views. [San Francisco Chronicle] More: American Council on Science and Health, Andrew Stuttaford/NRO.

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]]> http://overlawyered.com/2012/02/sugar-like-alcohol-and-tobacco-toxic-addictive/feed/ 6 Food law roundup http://overlawyered.com/2012/01/food-law-roundup-4/ http://overlawyered.com/2012/01/food-law-roundup-4/#comments Fri, 27 Jan 2012 05:14:26 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=26445
  • NYC health officials, in yet another federally funded food-denunciation ad campaign, Photoshop leg off obese guy to turn him into supposed diabetic amputee [my new Cato post, Radley Balko; more Caroline May/Daily Caller]
  • Are White House advisors reading my posts? Probably not, but deregulation of dairy-farm “oil” spills still gave President an applause line in State of the Union speech [also at Cato]
  • More on L.A. schools’ healthy-lunch debacle [WSJ edit, earlier] It’s an illustration of how promising pilot projects often don’t scale [Megan McArdle] New Penn State study finds no connection between child obesity and availability of “bad” foods at school [NYT, Philly Mag, study via Wajert]
  • “Obesity plateau” of American population should offer chance for calm policy reflection, but probably won’t [Jacob Sullum] “Food Lawsuits Claiming ‘Addiction’ Coming To a Courtroom Near You?” [Lammi, Forbes]
  • Despite lip service to “letting consumers make their own food choices,” Obama won’t legalize raw milk [Obama Foodarama]
  • Coming in April from Tyler Cowen, “An Economist Gets Lunch: New Rules for Everyday Foodies” [Amazon, Freakonomics, Food and Drink category of MR, and you can follow Twitter account @AnEconomistGets;
  • "2011 Brought Lots of Good News for Salt Lovers" [Greg Conko, Open Market]
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    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2012/01/food-law-roundup-4/feed/ 0     Nutella class action settlements http://overlawyered.com/2012/01/nutella-class-action-settlement/ http://overlawyered.com/2012/01/nutella-class-action-settlement/#comments Tue, 24 Jan 2012 16:31:52 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=27066 Some things about the nationwide settlement — including a prospective $3.75-million attorneys’ fee for prosecuting a “truly BS claim” against the maker of the chocolate-nut spread over nutritional disclosures — stick in Russell Jackson’s craw. He doesn’t care for the separate, California-specific scoopful either (earlier here, etc.)

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    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2012/01/nutella-class-action-settlement/feed/ 0     McDonald’s and the legal academy http://overlawyered.com/2011/12/mcdonalds-and-the-legal-academy/ http://overlawyered.com/2011/12/mcdonalds-and-the-legal-academy/#comments Wed, 28 Dec 2011 15:55:16 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=26454 Another law professor finds the hot-coffee and obesity lawsuits admirable, and Ted Frank once more begs to differ.

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    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2011/12/mcdonalds-and-the-legal-academy/feed/ 0     Schools roundup http://overlawyered.com/2011/12/schools-roundup/ http://overlawyered.com/2011/12/schools-roundup/#comments Wed, 21 Dec 2011 11:54:46 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=26084
  • Students respond to L.A.’s “healthful” school lunch initiative with a loud “yuck” [L.A. Times, Michelle Malkin/NRO]
  • L.I.: School suspends students for “Tebow” kneeling in hallway [Newsday]
  • “Growing number of college students asking for wiggle room with their academic workloads due to mental health issues.” [WSJ]
  • Proposal to address “learning disability” tangle: give all test-takers extra time [Ruth Colker, SSRN, see p. 126] A.D.H.D. diagnosis and the academic struggle for advantage [Melana Zyla Vickers, NYT "Room for Debate"] “Pediatrician Group Seeks to Boost ADHD Diagnoses” [Sullum]
  • Will distance technology defeat the teachers’ union? [Larry Sand, City Journal]
  • Time to repeal Maryland’s awful “maintenance of effort” law on school funding [WaPo, Baltimore Sun] Contra: MSEA, PDF.
  • French-language cops: “Montreal schools move to scan playground chatter” [Ottawa Citizen]
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    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2011/12/schools-roundup/feed/ 3     December 13 roundup http://overlawyered.com/2011/12/december-13-roundup-2/ http://overlawyered.com/2011/12/december-13-roundup-2/#comments Tue, 13 Dec 2011 05:43:41 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=26078
  • “The real cost of patent trolls” [Brad Feld, PoL on BU study] Survey finds patent litigation booming [Corporate Counsel, Reynolds Holding/Reuters] Company claiming patent on wi-fi-in-stores unlikely to sue retail customers “at this stage” [Patent Examiner] Retrospective on crustless-sandwich case [Peter Smith/Good, earlier]
  • Louisiana federal court holds severe obesity to be disability under ADA [Sam Bagenstos, related]
  • Florida: many cops remain on job despite evidence linking them to crimes [Balko on Sarasota Herald-Tribune investigation]
  • “FDA Regulation Could Doom Cigar Shops” [Jacob Sullum]
  • Ted Frank vs. Brian Fitzpatrick on class action fees [PoL, David Lat on Federalist Society panel]
  • Orange County keeps mum about partnerships it’s entered with plaintiff’s attorneys Robinson, Calcagnie and Thomas Girardi [Kim Stone, Fox & Hounds] Maybe like “private attorney generals”? Fannie/Freddie genre of government-sponsored enterprises called “monstrous moral hybrids” [Mark Calabria, Cato]
  • Posner: lawyers appeared more likely to run junk-fax suit for own interests than clients’ [Beck, Trask (Creative Montessori Learning Centers v. Ashford Gear LLC)]
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    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2011/12/december-13-roundup-2/feed/ 2     December 6 roundup http://overlawyered.com/2011/12/december-6-roundup/ http://overlawyered.com/2011/12/december-6-roundup/#comments Tue, 06 Dec 2011 13:23:12 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=26076
  • TSA: design of gun on purse is “replica gun” [Radley Balko]
  • “Note: Before Attaching Ankle Monitor, Make Sure Leg Is Real” [Lowering the Bar]
  • “Harm to others” rationale seems to fall by wayside as Boston bans workplace use of e-cigarettes [Jacob Sullum]
  • “Should legislation protect the obese?” [NYT "Room for Debate"]
  • German town drops charges against Pope Benedict XVI for failure to wear seat belt in Popemobile [WaPo, Lowering the Bar, Irish Times]
  • Ninth Circuit agrees to review litigation seeking court takeover of vets’ mental care [SFChron, WSJ Law Blog, earlier]
  • The shaky science of “shaken baby syndrome” [Pfaff, Prawfs, ABA Journal, earlier here, here] Jerry Brown should pardon dubiously convicted grandmother [Emily Bazelon, Slate]
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    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2011/12/december-6-roundup/feed/ 1     San Francisco Happy Meal ban http://overlawyered.com/2011/11/san-francisco-happy-meal-ban/ http://overlawyered.com/2011/11/san-francisco-happy-meal-ban/#comments Wed, 30 Nov 2011 14:01:40 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=26032 It takes effect Thursday, but, as some had predicted, the hamburger chain seems to be evading its reach fairly easily just by assigning a separate price to the toy. [SF Weekly]

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    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2011/11/san-francisco-happy-meal-ban/feed/ 9     Ohio: county yanks obese child from family http://overlawyered.com/2011/11/ohio-county-yanks-obese-child-from-family/ http://overlawyered.com/2011/11/ohio-county-yanks-obese-child-from-family/#comments Tue, 29 Nov 2011 05:10:01 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=25971 200-lb. boy “think the county has overreached in this case by arguing that medical conditions the boy is [...]]]> “An 8-year-old Cleveland Heights boy was taken from his family and placed in foster care last month after county case workers said his mother wasn’t doing enough to control his weight.” Lawyers for the mother of the >200-lb. boy “think the county has overreached in this case by arguing that medical conditions the boy is at risk for — but doesn’t yet have — pose an imminent danger to his health.” The county claims that the mother has ignored doctor’s orders, which she denies. [Rachel Dissell, Cleveland Plain Dealer; see correction on weight in comments]

    P.S. As several press accounts note, the issue has been building for a while, notably this summer when Harvard researchers published a piece in JAMA calling for wider removal of obese children from homes.

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    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2011/11/ohio-county-yanks-obese-child-from-family/feed/ 12     Food and agriculture law roundup http://overlawyered.com/2011/11/food-and-agriculture-law-roundup/ http://overlawyered.com/2011/11/food-and-agriculture-law-roundup/#comments Fri, 18 Nov 2011 05:40:59 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=25599
  • Just as FDA begins laying groundwork for mandatory salt reduction in prepared food, research raises new doubts about the science [Reuters, Atlantic Wire, Alkon]
  • Feds now scrutinizing “everything about kids’ food” [Star-Tribune] Top-down remake of school lunches runs into trouble in Congress [AP]
  • “Christmas tree tax”: blame big growers and GOP lawmakers, not White House [Tad DeHaven, , Mark Perry]
  • Living right by a USDA-designated “food desert,” she’s “never had better access to food in my life.” [Angie Schmitt, Urbanophile] “As income rises, so does fast-food consumption, study finds” [L.A. Times, Sullum] “You can eat local, or you can eat organic, but it’s very hard to do both.” [Felix Salmon]
  • Bloomberg News (not Bloomberg Hizzoner) hypes food-as-addiction, child obesity figuring in more custody battles [WSJ] Michelle Obama on the role of personal responsibility, alas not in this realm of life [Andrew Coulson, Cato]
  • Private bed-leasing law is finally restoring Maryland’s depleted oyster stocks [Rona Kobell, Reason] Catch shares for Alaskan king crab might even be saving human lives [Adler]
  • Why bother cooking for your kids at all? Feds ramp up program that serves them dinner as well as breakfast, lunch [Stoll]
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