Overlawyered » Pittsburgh

Great moments in lawyer advertising: “Successful, Greedy Attorneys”

Walter Olson — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 12:43:55 +0000

A park-bench ad — and really, what better way to select a lawyer for an important matter? — advertises “Injury Law Group, LLC — Successful, Greedy, Attorneys — We Won’t Let You Settle Cheap.” [@mattniemi] The sponsors appear to be this Pittsburgh-based lawyer network.

Tags: chasing clients, Pittsburgh

January 21 roundup

Walter Olson — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 14:52:42 +0000

Because judges should decide cases the way clamoring crowds want them to: “Occupy the Courts” [Althouse, Somin, earlier] Pittsburgh lawprof: bank’s office park has become public forum and is ours to seize [Daily Caller]
Some reactions to Megaupload indictment [Julian Sanchez, Ken at Popehat]
Kozinski, others trade quips at oral argument in Disneyland Segway ADA case [Courthouse News via Disabilities Law, earlier] “Ouch! Judge Posner eviscerates both a damages expert and the trial judge who let him testify against FedEx” [Technology Law Notes]
Victim of NYC gun laws: “Free Meredith Graves” [NRO] “NYC Business Bled To Death Over Toy Guns” [Moonbattery]
“Old Enough to Fight, Old Enough to Swipe: A Critique of the Infancy Rule in the Federal Credit Card Act” [Andrew Schwartz (Colorado), SSRN, via Ted Frank]
Federal drug cops unapologetic about role in Adderall shortage [Rob Port] A failure of central planning [Reuters, Jacob Sullum and more ("Does the DEA know what 'quota' means?")] Some trial lawyers pushing to ban the drug [via Ted Frank].
Go, my child, and steal no more: TSA agents who pilfered $40K from luggage get six months [AP via Balko]

Tags: Alex Kozinski, crime and punishment, debtor-creditor law, Disney, guns, NYC, pharmaceuticals, Pittsburgh, Richard Posner

August 4 roundup

Walter Olson — Thu, 04 Aug 2011 16:45:14 +0000

Burning Man, risk, and self-reliance [Claire Gordon, related]
Jacob Sullum challenges Mark “tax-the-snacks” Bittman [Reason; related, Rick Esenberg] “Fat tax” would be hard to target, hard to enforce, disliked by voters [David Gratzer]
“CSX claims racketeering in Pittsburgh law firm’s legal tactics” [Post-Gazette; earlier here, here, here, etc.] A different view: Max Kennerly.
Complaints over new class-action law in Canada [Reuters]
Minnesota preacher sues Rachel Maddow [TVNewser, Mother Jones]
Does the new Texas loser-pays bill go far enough? [Kyle Baum, WLF, earlier]
Tell us about it: “Why the Right to Criticize Lawyers is Vital” [Hans Bader, CEI]

Tags: asbestos, Canada, claims fraud, class actions, libel slander and defamation, loser pays, obesity, Pittsburgh, taxes, Texas

Ohio: Turning the table on a serial ADA plaintiff

Walter Olson — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 13:27:46 +0000

Cleveland federal judge Donald Nugent has dismissed a disabled-access lawsuit by Bonnie Kramer against a real estate management company and allowed a counterclaim to go forward against Kramer and her lawyers “alleging abuse of process, fraud, civil conspiracy to commit fraud, spoliation and Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations violations”. Kramer, a self-styled “tester”, has been plaintiff in more than 100 actions under the ADA. [Andrew Longstreth, American Lawyer] More on “Disabled Patriots of America” group: Charlie Deitch, Pittsburgh City Paper.

Tags: ADA filing mills, Cleveland, Pittsburgh

August 21 roundup

Walter Olson — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 15:02:21 +0000

NYC criminal defense lawyer and TV commentator Robert Simels convicted of witness tampering in closely watched case [NY Daily News and more, NYLJ, Greenfield, Simon/Legal Ethics Forum]
Title IX suit says harassment by other students pushed school girl into anorexia, school should pay [Pittsburgh Post-Gazette]
Federal judge upholds some Louisiana restrictions on lawyer advertising, but says rules on Internet communication unconstitutionally restrict speech [WAFB, Ron Coleman]
“Woman Claims Display Was So Distracting, She Fell Over It” [Lowering the Bar; Santa Clara County, Calif. Dollar Tree]
Associated Press now putting out softer line on blogger use of its copy, but is it a trap? [Felix Salmon, earlier]
Update: Google ordered to identify person who set up nasty “skank” blog to attack NYC model [Fashionista, earlier here and here]
Some speak as if lawsuits over “alienation of affections” a thing of the past, alas not so [Eugene Volokh, more, yet more; earlier]
Connecticut: “State Holds Hearing On Whether Group Can Hand Out Food To The Poor” [Hartford Courant; "Food Not Bombs" group at Wesleyan]

Note: post was mistakenly titled as “August 22 roundup” at first, now fixed; thanks to reader Jonathan B. for catching.

Tags: alienation of affection, bullying, Connecticut, copyright, defense lawyers, ethics, Google, Louisiana, Pittsburgh, Title IX

Judge/insurance fraudster sentenced in Pa.

Walter Olson — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 12:42:37 +0000

Former state Superior Court judge Michael Joyce, of Erie, “was sentenced this afternoon to nearly four years in prison.” Joyce’s bogus claims of neck and back pain after a rear-ending had netted him $440,000 in settlements; “the judge filed his claims on judicial letterhead, [Assistant U.S. Attorney Christian] Trabold said, and referred to himself as a judge 115 times in the letters.”

Tags: do you know who I am?, insurance fraud, judges, Pennsylvania, Pittsburgh

CPSIA chronicles, March 2

Walter Olson — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 13:37:25 +0000

Reading from the weekend:

At the American Spectator, Quin Hillyer says his co-thinkers “need to really get up in arms about” changing the law, and has kind words for a certain website that is “the single best place to track all its devastation”. At The New Criterion, Roger Kimball finds that the threat to vintage children’s books provides a good instance of the dangers of “safety”. And commentator Hugh Hewitt is back with another column, “The Congress Should Fix CPSIA Now“.
Numerous disparaging things have been said of the “mommy bloggers” who’ve done so much to raise alarms about this law. Because, as one of Deputy Headmistress’s commenters points out, it’s already been decided that this law is needed to “protect the children”, and it’s not as if mere mothers might have anything special to contribute about that.
Plenty of continuing coverage out there on the minibike/ATV debacle, including Brian O’Neill, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (office of local Congressman Mike Doyle, D-Pa., says most members think, dubiously, that ban “can be fixed without new legislation”); Lebanon, Pa. (”Ridiculous… It’s closed an entire market for us”), Waterbury, Ct. (“The government does stupid things sometimes without thinking”), and, slightly less recent, Atlantic City, N.J. (”I would’ve had three sales this weekend, so they stomped us”). Some background: Off-Road (agency guidance in mid-February told dealers to get youth models “off their showfloors and back into holding areas”); Motorcycle USA (”With right-size models being unavailable to families, we may see more kids out on adult ATVs and we know that this leads to crashes”). To which illustrator Meredith Dillman on Twitter adds: “Just wait until someone gets hurt riding a broken bike they couldn’t get replacement parts for.”
One result of CPSIA is that a much wider range of goods are apt to be subject to recalls, but not to worry, because the CPSC recall process is so easy and straightforward.

Tags: Connecticut, CPSC, CPSC Act, CPSIA, CPSIA and minibikes, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Pittsburgh

Judge Joyce’s insurance-fraud trial begins

Walter Olson — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 17:38:34 +0000

A year ago we reported on the indictment of Erie, Pa.-based state appellate judge Michael T. Joyce, whose $440,000 settlement after a rear-ending of his Mercedes-Benz was premised on his having suffered physically disabling injuries, but who in fact was found to have engaged in scuba diving and golf, among other pastimes, during the period in question. According to the indictment, the judge used the proceeds to buy a Harley-Davidson and a share in a Cessna, as well as for other purposes. Today his trial is set to begin. (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Tribune-Review, Erie Times-News via Bashman).

Tags: insurance fraud, judges, Pennsylvania, Pittsburgh

Update: Cohen & Grigsby immigration video

Walter Olson — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 04:28:18 +0000

Last year (Jun. 25, 2007) a furor broke out when a YouTube video revealed lawyers from the firm speaking frankly about skirting provisions of immigration law that require that a qualified domestic applicant be sought before hiring certain foreign workers. Now the U.S. Department of Labor has “announced that it has begun placing pending permanent labor certification applications filed by [the Pittsburgh-based law firm] into department-supervised recruitment. Supervised recruitment requires the employer to receive advance approval from the labor department for all recruitment efforts to ensure that U.S. workers are fully considered for available positions.” The move will undoubtedly make it harder for the law firm to compete for employer business in the immigration field. (”Recruitment filings by Pittsburgh law firm under U.S. Labor scrutiny”, Pittsburgh Business Times, Jul. 8; ABA Journal links to DoL press release).

Tags: immigration law, Pittsburgh

April 5 roundup

Walter Olson — Sat, 05 Apr 2008 00:08:01 +0000

Ninth Circuit, Kozinski, J., rules 8-3 that Roommates.com can be found to have violated fair housing law by asking users to sort themselves according to their wish to room with males or other protected groups; the court distinguished the Craigslist cases [L.A. Times, Volokh, Drum]
Class-action claim: Apple says its 20-inch iMac displays millions of colors but the true number is a mere 262,144, the others being simulated [WaPo]
U.K.: compulsive gambler loses $2 million suit against his bookmakers, who are awarded hefty costs under loser-pays rule [BBC first, second, third, fourth stories]
Pittsburgh couple sue Google saying its Street Views invades their privacy by including pics of their house [The Smoking Gun via WSJ law blog]
U.S. labor unions keep going to International Labour Organization trying to get current federal ground rules on union organizing declared in violation of international law [PoL]
Illinois Supreme Court reverses $2 million jury award to woman who sued her fiance’s parents for not warning her he had AIDS [Chicago Tribune]
Italian family “preparing to sue the previous owners of their house for not telling them it was haunted”; perhaps most famous such case was in Nyack, N.Y. [Ananova, Cleverly]
Per their hired expert, Kentucky lawyers charged with fen-phen settlement fraud “relied heavily on the advice of famed trial lawyer Stan Chesley in the handling of” the $200 million deal [Lexington Herald-Leader]
Actor Hal Holbrook of Mark Twain fame doesn’t think much of those local anti-tobacco ordinances that ban smoking on stage even when needed for dramatic effect [Bruce Ramsey, Seattle Times]
Six U.S. cities so far have been caught “shortening the amber cycles below what is allowed by law on intersections equipped with cameras meant to catch red-light runners.” [Left Lane via Virtuous Republic and Asymmetrical Information]

Tags: AIDS, Alex Kozinski, compulsive gambling, Craigslist, fair housing, fen-phen, Google, haunted house, Illinois, international law, Italy, Kentucky, Kentucky fen-phen settlement fraud, Ninth Circuit, Pittsburgh, red light cameras, roundups, Seattle, Stan Chesley, tobacco

Overlawyered » Pittsburgh

Great moments in lawyer advertising: “Successful, Greedy Attorneys”

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