Overlawyered » pools 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 February 24 roundup http://overlawyered.com/2011/02/february-24-roundup-2/ http://overlawyered.com/2011/02/february-24-roundup-2/#comments Thu, 24 Feb 2011 15:56:31 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=21668
  • Judge Ciavarella defiant after racketeering conviction in Pennsylvania cash-for-kids horror [TheLegalIntel, Sullum and more, WSJ Law Blog, Greenfield, earlier]
  • Widener lawprof Lawrence Connell facing discipline over hypotheticals in class [Orin Kerr, NLJ, interview at NAS]
  • “Do we even want to remain a child care center if we have to eliminate all the parts we love?” [Free-Range Kids] Lawsuit fears tame a Frederick, Md. ice playground [same]
  • Marquette lawprof Rick Esenberg on Wisconsin showdown [first, second, third posts]
  • A patent owner, the Chicago Tribune and Sen. Durbin: Anatomy of a pool drain scare story [Woldenberg, AmendTheCPSIA.com]
  • Mayor Thomas Menino vows to save Boston from scourge of everyday low prices [Mark Perry]
  • “Comp Hearing Scheduled ‘On the Sly’ for Texting Cop Who Caused Fatal Accident” [Debra Cassens Weiss, ABA Journal] “Paying for bad cops” [Balko]
  • Demand for shaker abstinence: nosy, hectoring CSPI files suit asking that salt in food be subjected to FDA regulation [six years ago on Overlawyered]
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    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2011/02/february-24-roundup-2/feed/ 1     Dive into above-ground pool http://overlawyered.com/2010/08/dive-into-above-ground-pool/ http://overlawyered.com/2010/08/dive-into-above-ground-pool/#comments Thu, 05 Aug 2010 11:25:20 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=18513 It resulted in a lost product liability action against the pool maker in a recent Rhode Island case [Abnormal Use]

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    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2010/08/dive-into-above-ground-pool/feed/ 2     Babysitter and mom to pay $1.1 million in drowning death http://overlawyered.com/2010/06/babysitter-and-mom-to-pay-1-1-million-in-drowning-death/ http://overlawyered.com/2010/06/babysitter-and-mom-to-pay-1-1-million-in-drowning-death/#comments Wed, 02 Jun 2010 16:06:33 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=17576 “A Connecticut teenager and her mother have agreed to pay $1.1 million to the family of a toddler who drowned while the girl was baby-sitting.” No criminal charges were filed in the Cheshire, Ct. case. The family named the teenager’s mother as an additional defendant “because she allegedly recommended her daughter to baby-sit.” [WINS.com] Earlier, a 2009 New Haven Register story reported that the family also intended to sue the town of Cheshire because the teenager had taken a babysitting class under its auspices, and because the mother had gotten to know the family in her capacity as the children’s teacher. However, according to the Waterbury Republican-American, court records “do not indicate a lawsuit against the town has been filed.”

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    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2010/06/babysitter-and-mom-to-pay-1-1-million-in-drowning-death/feed/ 3     April 15 roundup http://overlawyered.com/2010/04/april-15-roundup/ http://overlawyered.com/2010/04/april-15-roundup/#comments Thu, 15 Apr 2010 05:15:15 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=16941
  • Naperville, Illinois: psychologist sues homeless man saying she was defamed in his blog [AP]
  • Unusual case from Erie, Pa.: “Girl claims injuries from price scanner” [AP/Pittsburgh Post-Gazette] Judge dismisses complaint for lack of evidence [Erie Times-News]
  • Too true: “Motion Control Advances Mean Future Generations Could Play Outside” [Brian Briggs, BBSpot via Free-Range Kids]
  • Huzzah for Husson: Maine university drops quest to add law school [Bangor Daily News]
  • Town sued over pool drowning of 13 year old boy seeks to add boy’s parents to suit [Ridgewood News, NorthJersey.com]
  • Manhattan judge sanctions Morelli Ratner law firm $6,000 over “spiteful”, “wasteful” lawsuit against former client [NYLJ, January]
  • “Canada is now a land that prosecutes comedians for their jokes.” [Steyn, Maclean's] Ron Coleman’s unkind comment: “I’ve heard their comedians. It’s about time.”
  • “Smokey the Bear’s rules for fire safety also apply to government: Keep it small, keep it in a confined area, and keep an eye on it.” [David Boaz, Cato at Liberty]
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    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2010/04/april-15-roundup/feed/ 6     March 9 roundup http://overlawyered.com/2010/03/march-9-roundup-2/ http://overlawyered.com/2010/03/march-9-roundup-2/#comments Tue, 09 Mar 2010 05:06:23 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=16417
  • From attorney Bob Ambrogi, on Twitter: “This felt wrong: Shortly after heated call with lawyer saying he’d sue my client, he sent me invite to connect on LinkedIn.” Related: Amy Alkon.
  • “Spot the lawsuit in this commercial” [Louis Vuitton vs. Hyundai; Trademark Blog]
  • Video: “Community swimming pool closes due to lawsuit” [Hazleton, Pa.; U.S. Chamber Faces of Lawsuit Abuse series; plaintiff's side of things]
  • Recycling, found materials, and why so much “green building” won’t last [Sippican Cottage and followup]
  • German ban on homeschooling not a compelling reason to grant asylum to affected family [Krikorian, NRO, Volokh]
  • Ted’s Center for Class Action Fairness files objections to a Costco fuel class settlement; related reflections from the judge in the recent Honda case;
  • “Photographing Public Art: A Legal Waltz in Seattle” [Citizen Media Law, earlier]
  • “Big Bankruptcies’ Big Fees Raising Questions” [Asarco, Station Casinos; Baxter, AmLaw Daily]
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    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2010/03/march-9-roundup-2/feed/ 0     Australia: satellite data to spy out pool-safety scofflaws http://overlawyered.com/2009/09/australia-satellite-data-to-spy-out-pool-safety-scofflaws/ http://overlawyered.com/2009/09/australia-satellite-data-to-spy-out-pool-safety-scofflaws/#comments Wed, 23 Sep 2009 13:42:16 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=13801 Authorities in Queensland, Australia, intend to use spy-satellite photos to catch homeowners not in compliance with strict new safety rules on swimming pools, which include the mandatory clearing of trees near pool fences so that determined children cannot climb their way over. [Courier-Mail] More: Popehat.

    In the United States, incidentally, there are some indications that a crackdown may be underway to enforce the new federal pool safety act passed last year and administered by the Consumer Product Safety Commission [Aquatics International, earlier] And (via AI) Billings, Montana is pulling the plug on a big public pool project, since “the city wasn’t willing to accept the financial risk and legal liability of owning a large aquatic center”. [Billings Gazette]

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    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2009/09/australia-satellite-data-to-spy-out-pool-safety-scofflaws/feed/ 1     Wales: “School bans ‘dangerous’ swimming goggles” http://overlawyered.com/2009/06/wales-school-bans-dangerous-swimming-goggles/ http://overlawyered.com/2009/06/wales-school-bans-dangerous-swimming-goggles/#comments Sat, 06 Jun 2009 16:35:21 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=11609 “A school has banned children from wearing goggles during swimming lessons for fear they could hurt themselves.” [Telegraph (U.K.) via Cathy Gellis, who writes, "As a swimming teacher -- in fact, one who doesn't actually like her students to use goggles -- I feel competent, and confident, in saying this school is insane."]

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    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2009/06/wales-school-bans-dangerous-swimming-goggles/feed/ 3     “New drain-safety law may close some pools” http://overlawyered.com/2009/05/new-drain-safety-law-may-close-some-pools/ http://overlawyered.com/2009/05/new-drain-safety-law-may-close-some-pools/#comments Sat, 30 May 2009 04:11:04 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=11453 When compared, at least, with the comprehensively horrendous CPSIA, the other big consumer product safety law that Congress passed last year — the Virginia Graeme Baker Pool and Spa Safety Act — might seem practically uncontroversial. That doesn’t mean it was good legislation, though. [Arizona Republic, Common Room, Coyote]

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    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2009/05/new-drain-safety-law-may-close-some-pools/feed/ 3     “Liability concerns and high water bills” http://overlawyered.com/2008/06/liability-concerns-and-high-water-bills/ http://overlawyered.com/2008/06/liability-concerns-and-high-water-bills/#comments Wed, 11 Jun 2008 00:23:00 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=7134 They’re why the Weymouth, Mass. housing authority is banning residents from using inflatable kiddie pools at municipal housing. The state housing department sent a memo to town authorities five years ago recommending a ban on pools as well as trampolines and swing sets: “Housing authorities routinely get sued for incidents even when a tenant is the responsible party,” it said. (Jack Encarnacao, “Weymouth bans kiddie pools at public housing”, Quincy Patriot-Ledger, Jun. 7).

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    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2008/06/liability-concerns-and-high-water-bills/feed/ 0     The Pop Tort: John Edwards and the Valerie Lakey case http://overlawyered.com/2008/02/the-pop-tort-john-edwards-and-the-valerie-lakey-case/ http://overlawyered.com/2008/02/the-pop-tort-john-edwards-and-the-valerie-lakey-case/#comments Thu, 21 Feb 2008 07:04:22 +0000 Ted Frank http://overlawyered.com/wpblog/?p=5889 For all the complaints about tort reformers supposedly relying upon urban legends to promote their cause, one more frequently sees trial lawyers promoting fictional versions of their victories. As Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama kowtow to John Edwards for his endorsement, it’s worth exploring the case on his record he refers to most frequently. Remarkably, not a single mainstream media organization has questioned Edwards’s self-serving version of the Valerie Lakey case. I correct this problem in today’s American:

    Sta-Rite had already been putting warnings on its pool drain covers, and the 1993 case did nothing to change their product design or the warnings conveyed to buyers. The drain cover in the Lakey case was sold in February 1987 with a warning label; soon thereafter Sta-Rite began embossing the warnings on the cover. This safety innovation was used against them at trial, the argument being that they should have acted earlier. But no one could reasonably think that an additional warning to screw in the drain cover would have made an iota of difference. The cover already had holes for screws, county regulations already required the pool drain cover to be screwed down, the pool managers testified that they had done so several times in the year before Lakey’s accident—and Edwards had already recovered millions from the municipality for its failure to keep the cover screwed down.

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