Overlawyered » oil industry

Fined for flunking impossible fuel mandate

Walter Olson — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 21:23:53 +0000

“When the companies that supply motor fuel close the books on 2011, they will pay about $6.8 million in penalties to the Treasury because they failed to mix a special type of biofuel into their gasoline and diesel as required by law. But there was none to be had. Outside a handful of laboratories and workshops, the ingredient, cellulosic biofuel, does not exist.” [Matthew L. Wald, New York Times; Kenneth Green, AEI]

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

October 4 roundup

Walter Olson — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 05:45:14 +0000

Mass torts specialists vs. vendor: “Prominent Plaintiffs’ Attorneys Ordered to Pay Up After Losing Breach of Contract Trial” [Above the Law]
“You’ll have to get it on the street” — NYC’s thriving black market in pesticides [NYT, more]
Benjamin Barton on his new book, “The Lawyer-Judge Bias” [Truth on the Market, earlier here, etc.]
Medicare will not press “secondary payer” liability clawback claims below $300 [Miller and Zois, PoL, NLJ]
Class action roundup: “Sleeper” Supreme Court case raises question of whether class action certification requires consumer harm [Fisher/Forbes] Important Easterbrook opinion in Aqua Dots case puts curbs on class certification [PoL, Fisher/Forbes, Beck] Frey, Mortenson et al.: “The non-fiction class action” [Trask, OUP blog; earlier here, etc.]
Free speech roundup: Canada proposal could criminalize linking to alleged hate speech [Hosting Industry Watch] More on Canadian denouncers of speechcrime [Ken at Popehat] You don’t say: “$60,000 Ruling Against Truthful Blogger Tests Limits of the First Amendment” [Citizen Media Law] What happens when a defamation plaintiff asks a court for a takedown order? [same] Argentina: subpoenas step up pressure on reporters, editors who report on economy [NYT via Walter Russell Mead]
Should the law punish energy companies whose operations kill birds? Depends on whose osprey is being gored [Perry]

Tags: class actions, free speech, free speech in Canada, hate speech, Medicare, NYC, oil industry, online speech, pesticides

September 1 roundup

Walter Olson — Thu, 01 Sep 2011 05:54:31 +0000

“Massage Parlor Mistrial Declared After Masseuse Recognizes Defense Lawyer as Client” [ABA Journal]
Paying opposing expert to leave country? “Drug company lawyer taped trying to foil lawsuit” [AP]
What anti-business crusades have in common with the War on Drugs [David Henderson] Some of those “oil and gas subsidies” aren’t [Coyote]
Nocera on NLRB v. Boeing [NYT] A contrary view [Hirsch]
Science finds no link between WTC dust, cancer? Then science will just have to give [Jeff Stier, Reason; but see later study on firefighters at the scene]
Per Maureen Orth at Vanity Fair, the widow of designer Oleg Cassini has been in at least 15 lawsuits. Guess who’s named in number 16? [AW]
Stop competing with us! Lawyers claim online-legal-form provider LegalZoom is engaged in unauthorized practice of law [WSJ, Dan Fisher, ABA Journal]

Tags: junk science, labor unions, libel slander and defamation, oil industry

July 14 roundup

Walter Olson — Thu, 14 Jul 2011 05:08:23 +0000

“Battle of the tort reform flicks”: trial-bar-backed “Hot Coffee” documentary said to be more entertaining than U.S. Chamber-backed “InJustice” [TortsProf, Abnormal Use, Daily Caller, Frank/PoL, Above the Law, Fisher, LNL] Memo to liberal studio heads: c’mon, now’s the time to greenlight more business-bashing flicks [Alyssa Rosenberg, TP]
Interlock makers join forces with MADD to lobby for new federal DUI mandates [Luke Rosiak, Wash Times] More: Greenfield.
Consumer found liable after posting gripes about driveway contractor on Craigslist [Minneapolis Star-Tribune] P.S.: Default judgment, not merits [h/t ABA Journal]
Angelos law firm obtains $1 billion+ punitive award in Exxon Baltimore gasoline leak case, bringing total to $1.5 billion+ [AP, earlier]
Taiwan: “Jail Time (And $7000 Fine) for Saying a Restaurant’s Dishes Were ‘Too Salty’” [Volokh]
Headed for SCOTUS? Sixth Circuit panel strikes down Michigan law banning discrimination in higher ed admissions and other state activities [Gail Heriot, Daily Caller; Hans Bader, CEI]
Court in British Columbia includes C$30,000 in damage award for injury plaintiff’s purchase of medical marijuana for pain management [Erik Magraken]

Tags: Baltimore, Canada, Craigslist, illegal drugs, jackpot justice, MADD, oil industry, restaurant critics, Sixth Circuit

Frack-tion of the truth

Walter Olson — Thu, 07 Jul 2011 13:07:19 +0000

A New York Times story criticizing natural gas fracking raises controversy. [Ira Stoll, more, Diana Furchtgott-Roth]

Tags: media bias, New York state, New York Times, oil industry

July 6 roundup

Walter Olson — Wed, 06 Jul 2011 05:11:20 +0000

Mayor La Guardia on overlawyering [Lawrence Cunningham, Concur Op]
Update: “Forever 21 Backs Off On Blogger Lawsuit” [Jezebel via @LawandLit, earlier]
Pennsylvania governor Tom Corbett signs joint and several liability reform [Pittsburgh Tribune-Review]
Legislation introduced in Trenton to overturn New Jersey Supreme Court decision OKing suits by drunk drivers against bars that served them [NJLRA, earlier]
Angelos firm scores $495 million award against Exxon in Baltimore gas leak [Sun]
How plea bargaining warps justice [Tim Lynch, Reason]
California considers following New York’s lead in regulating employment of domestic workers [Workplace Prof]

Tags: Baltimore, California, joint and several liability, New Jersey, NYC, oil industry, Pennsylvania

Fracking and flaming faucets

Walter Olson — Mon, 13 Jun 2011 16:10:36 +0000

Filmmaker Phelim McAleer raises some questions about widely disseminated charges of environmental harm.

Tags: environment, oil industry

“2006 Louisiana environmental law leads to jackpot justice”

Walter Olson — Mon, 30 May 2011 13:05:49 +0000

Ted at Point of Law has details on an environmental-remediation law that has helped perpetuate a culture of big-ticket litigation: “One verdict awarded $54 million for environmental damage to a piece of land that was never worth more than $108,000.” We covered the long-running Exxon v. Grefer case, in which a jury ordered the oil company to pay $1 billion (later knocked down to $112 million) over an instance of contamination on land owned by a Louisiana judge’s family.

Tags: environment, Louisiana, oil industry

April 25 roundup

Walter Olson — Mon, 25 Apr 2011 11:57:52 +0000

10th Circuit: deposition not a “take-home examination” [Ronald Miller]
Class-action suit over salt in Campbell’s soup [NJ.com] Boom predicted in suits over claims of healthy food [Ken Odza]
Roommate indicted in Tyler Clementi suicide [Scott Greenfield, Beldar]
“Ban fraternities” screed in WSJ: were editors trying to make Caitlin Flanagan look ridiculous on purpose? [Ann Althouse, Instapundit]
Emotional value of family dog: “Seattle should not set bad precedent in pet case” [John W. Schedler, Seattle Times, background]
Investigating gas-price speculation and “price gouging”: “Obama tries to cap oil leak with lawyers” [Neil Munro, Daily Caller]
Federal law protects peanuts on planes [CNN Travel]

Tags: allergies, damages for animal companionship, discovery, eat drink and be merry, oil industry, RIAA and file sharing, salt

Overlawyered » oil industry

Fined for flunking impossible fuel mandate

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