Not very, fears Bruce Nye at Cal Biz Lit, who notes that “The Chanler Group, the self-described ‘Largest Proposition 65 Citizen Enforcement Law Firm,’ wasted no time in announcing its support for the Governor’s proposals.” Prop 65, of course, is the famous California enactment under which an army of bounty-hunters have set forth to file suits and collect settlements from California businesses for failing to warn of the carcinogenic or mutagenic ingredients in hundreds of common products, from matches (which emit carbon monoxide) to brass knobs to roasted coffee to grilled chicken to billiard cue chalk. Gov. Brown’s reforms omit several stronger recommendations, such as “moving the burden of proof to the plaintiff to show that exposures exceed the applicable no significant risk level (‘NSRL’) or maximum allowable dose level (‘MADL’).”
Most importantly, would the private enforcer bar support Assembly Member Gatto’s AB 227, allowing a company receiving a 60 day notice to avoid prosecution by curing the violation within 14 days? Or better still, Cal Biz Lit’s proposal to allow sixty days to cure violations?
Those measures would be real reform.
More: Amanda Robert, Legal NewsLine.
Tagged as:
Jerry Brown,
Prop 65
- Can EPA use subregulatory guidance to dodge judicial review of formal notice-and-comment rulemaking? Appeals court says no [Allison Wood, WLF]
- “Outhouse blues: Salisbury Twp. tells 77-year-old to install $20,000 septic system he doesn’t want” [Lancaster (Pennsylvania) Online]
- Denying attorney fee in oil spill case, Texas judge questions authenticity of client signature [ABA Journal, Chamber-backed Southeast Texas Record]
- Why “climate justice” campaigns fail both the environment and the poor [Chris Foreman, The Breakthrough]
- Does the Yale Alumni Magazine often side with plaintiffs who sue to muzzle critics? [Neela Banerjee on Michael Mann lawsuit against National Review, Competitive Enterprise Institute, Mark Steyn, etc.]
- Anti-science, anti-humanity: Milan animal rights action trashes years of psychiatric research [Nature]
- Parody Tom-Friedman-bot must be at it again: “best place to start” response to Boston attack “is with a carbon tax” [Tim Blair] Too darn hot: “Dems warn climate change could drive women to ‘transactional sex’” [The Hill]
- Some California lawmakers seek to curb shakedown lawsuits under notorious Prop 65 chemical-labeling law [Sacramento Bee; Gov. Brown proposes reform]
Tagged as:
administrative law,
animal rights,
Brent Coon,
climate change,
Environmental Protection Agency,
Prop 65,
Yale
- Better hope a Portland municipal arborist never takes an interest in you [Tod Kelly, League of Ordinary Gentlemen]
- California’s Prop 65 and Gresham’s Law of Warnings (bad warnings drive out good) [David Henderson]
- Bombshells just keep on coming in the Ecuador Lago Agrio story: “Litigation finance firm in Chevron case says it was duped by Patton Boggs” [Roger Parloff, Fortune; last Saturday's bombshell] Grounds for embarrassment at CBS “60 Minutes” [CJR]
- Brad Plumer interview with Jonathan Adler, “What conservative environmentalism might look like” [WaPo]
- “The light-bulb law was a matter of public policy profiteering” [Tim Carney via @amyalkon] To get ahead in D.C., a well-known conservative group adopts some concrete priorities [same]
- “No one’s tried that. It’s not worth taking the risk.” Social-conservative, environmentalist themes have much in common [A. Barton Hinkle]
- “BP Loses Bid to Block ‘Fictitious’ Oil Spill Claims” [Amanda Bronstad, NLJ; more]
Tagged as:
BP Transocean oil spill,
Chevron,
Oregon,
Prop 65,
trees
- Judge Kozinski, writing for Ninth Circuit panel, declares Sea Shepherd Conservation Society’s harassment of whaling ships to fall under piracy law as covered by international treaty [Trial Insider, Julian Ku, Kevin Jon Heller, Eugene Kontorovich and more and yet more, SSCS's black skull flag via Wikipedia]
- California Assemblyman Mike Gatto [D-Silver Lake] introduces AB 227, which would reform notorious Prop 65 by giving business 14 days to fix lack of warning before entitling lawyer to bounty [his blog, Dem caucus, Burbank Leader]
- Unintended, unsanitary consequences of plastic bag bans (Ramesh Ponnuru/ Bloomberg) And theft too? [Seattle Times]
- Writer who joined the circus for several days reports on Ringling Bros. elephant controversy: [Bill McMorris/Washington Free Beacon (quotes me), earlier]
- Study finds new CAFE fuel economy standards far less efficient than taxes in promoting conservation [Alex Tabarrok]
- Now Mark Bittman is being alarmist about cosmetics [ACSH, background]
- Overcriminalization looms large for Gulf Coast outdoor businesses, says TPPF’s Vikrant Reddy [FoxNews]
Tagged as:
Alex Kozinski,
animal rights,
CAFE,
cosmetics,
environment,
Prop 65
After the quarter-century disgrace that is Proposition 65 litigation — run by and for lawyers’ interests, with no discernible benefit to the health of the citizenry — you’d think California voters would have learned a thing or two. But unless poll numbers reverse themselves, they’re on the way to approving this fall’s Proposition 37, ostensibly aimed at requiring labeling of genetically modified food, whose main sponsor just happens to be a Prop 65 lawyer. I explain in a new piece at Daily Caller. More coverage: Western Farm Press; Hank Campbell, Science 2.0; Ronald Bailey, Reason (& Red State).
More: defenders of Prop 37 point to this analysis (PDF) by economist James Cooper, arguing that 37 is drafted more narrowly than 65 in ways that would avert some of the potential for abusive litigation. And from Hans Bader: would the measure be open to challenge as unconstitutional, or as federally preempted?
Tagged as:
California,
eat drink and be merry,
preemption,
Prop 65,
WO writings
- Backing down, sort of: “Menino says he can’t actively block Chick-Fil-A” [Boston Herald; Michael Graham on the Boston mayor's curious standards] Glad for small favors: Maryland public officials have wisely stayed out of the fracas [my post at Maryland for All Families got an Instalanche, thanks Glenn Reynolds] Earlier here, here, here;
- Trying to start a business in Greece? What to expect [Reuters on shrimp farm]
- Proceeds of California’s Prop 63 “millionaire’s tax” were supposedly earmarked for mental health. Here’s where the dollars have actually been spent [AP]
- George Will on prosecution of whale-watcher for “harassing” humpback [WaPo, our January coverage]
- Tries to slide down banister four stories up, survivors now suing Chicago’s Palmer House hotel [Chicago Sun-Times]
- Link bait: the ABA Journal picks the 12 greatest courtroom plays;
- Prop 65 and carryout bags: “California, Land of the Free” [David Henderson]
Tagged as:
Boston,
California,
hotels,
personal responsibility,
Prop 65,
regulation and its reform,
same-sex marriage
California’s Proposition 65 strikes again [Stoll]
Tagged as:
Prop 65
Tom Scott in Flash Report notes that a specialized California bar continues to rake in substantial money suing businesses for alleged Prop 65 violations, such as failing to put warnings on their merchandise. Three named lawyers (Russell Brimer, Anthony Held, and John Moore) obtained attorney’s fees and costs last year in the $1.8 million-$2 million range after settling 61, 41 and 47 suits respectively.
Tagged as:
Prop 65
Anthony T. (Tom) Caso at the Federalist Society’s “Engage” analyzes California chemical-warning law, long notorious for empowering entrepreneurial lawyers to file suits supposedly on behalf of the general public and then settle those suits for cold cash.
Tagged as:
Prop 65
- “Are Courts Dragging Out the Housing Crisis?” [Mark Calabria, Cato] “Boom-Era Property Speculators to Get Foreclosure Aid” [Bloomberg News via Bader, CEI] Community organizing groups expect to cash in on state AGs’ robosigning settlement [Neil Munro, Daily Caller, earlier] As does NAAG itself [Daniel Fisher] More: Kevin Funnell.
- “Non-standard explanation offered for bugging wife’s bedroom” [Lowering the Bar]
- Chris DeMuth on James Q. Wilson [Weekly Standard, earlier] I wrote about Wilson’s work on at least two occasions: the Baltimore Sun had me review a book of his on “abuse excuses” and other difficulties of psychiatric testimony in court, a good book if a mere foothill in the mountain range of his overall scholarship; on another occasion in Reason I challenged his uncharacteristic backing of a “family policy” proposal ripe with potential for unintended consequences;
- Boston city councilor: make valet kid at restaurant responsible if patron drives off drunk [NPR via Alkon]
- “Texas is being stiff armed by the EPA at every turn” [Munro/DC quoting Texas attorney general Greg Abbott] NYT’s “modest” offshore drilling restrictions: “I hate to think what immodest restrictions would look like” [John Steele Gordon]
- “The Southern Poverty Law Center Is Now Writing About Pickup Artists as Hate Groups” [Mike Riggs]
- SFO rental car garage offers a whiff of Prop 65 absurdity [Stoll]
Tagged as:
attorneys general,
Boston,
dramshop statutes,
Environmental Protection Agency,
hate speech,
mortgages,
Prop 65,
Texas
- California’s Prop 65 and the numbness of overwarning [Tung Yin via Bainbridge]
- Time to kill off medical-method patents [Alex Tabarrok, Medical Progress Today]
- Spite decoration: “Gretna fence squabble continues in bitter fashion” [NOLA.com, Louisiana]
- “The Problem With Immigration Lawyers and How to Fix It” [Dzubow/Asylumist via Legal Ethics Forum]
- “Are NYC transit bus drivers prevented from calling police?” [Turkewitz]
- “Circumvention tourism” is travel intended to sidestep medical regulation [Glenn Cohen, Prawfs]
- Abolition of wasteful, arrogant California redevelopment agencies has Tim Cavanaugh ready to kiss a nurse in Times Square [Reason, similarly Gideon Kanner and Steven Greenhut]
Tagged as:
California,
eminent domain,
immigration law,
NYC,
patent quality,
Prop 65
Several environmental groups say objects accessible to visitors at Disney parks, such as brass knobs, test positive for lead. “The groups filed suit against Disneyland in April based on a California law that requires businesses to post warnings when lead levels in fixtures and other items exceed certain levels.” Lead in brass and similar stable alloys is often regarded as posing little or no danger as compared with lead in more readily ingestible forms, but has nonetheless been swept in for similar treatment under various ill-conceived laws. [Orlando Sentinel]
Tagged as:
Disney,
Prop 65
“When consumers in California visit the Dunkin’ Donuts website hoping to order a bag of their favorite java, they are met with the following message: ‘Important Notice: We are temporarily suspending the shipment of orders to California while we work to comply with Proposition 65 with the State of California. We apologize for any inconvenience.’” Acrylamide, a compound naturally present in many roasted or cooked foods, is among the hundreds of substances that must be warned against under Prop 65, which has led, as we noted in May, to a lawsuit against more than 40 coffee companies. [TechNewsWorld] Author Vivian Wagner quotes me:
“The law empowers private litigants to enforce its terms without having to show that any consumer has been exposed to any material or substantial risk, let alone harmed,” Walter Olson, a senior fellow at the Cato Institute, told the E-Commerce Times. “As a result, entrepreneurial law firms roam the state identifying new, often far-fetched, unwarned-of risks and extracting cash settlements along with promises to warn from hapless defendants.”
Tagged as:
hot coffee,
Prop 65
Tagged as:
Alabama,
asbestos,
Cato Institute,
Donald Trump,
immigration law,
Mark Lanier,
Mississippi,
movies film and videos,
Prop 65,
South Carolina,
train
- Study of how class action lawyers interact with their named clients [Stephen Meili via Trask]
- California releases numbers on how bounty-hunting lawyers did in 2010 under Prop 65 environmental-warning law [Cal Biz Lit]
- According to the tale, lender errors in foreclosure gave Florida borrower home free and clear. Actual story may be more complicated than that [Funnell]
- The very long discovery arm of the Philadelphia, and Pennsylvania, courts [Drug & Device Law, more]
- UK law firm “could face big bill” after sending thousands of file-sharing demand letters [ABA Journal]
- Goodbye to men’s track at U. of Delaware, and the women’s team is suffering too, as often happens with Title IX [Saving Sports]
- OSHA’s proposed “illness and injury prevention program” (I2P2) termed a “Super Rule” with potentially widespread economic impact [Kirsanow, NRO]
Tagged as:
class actions,
discovery,
forum shopping,
mortgages,
OSHA,
Pennsylvania,
Philadelphia,
Prop 65,
RIAA and file sharing,
Title IX
- More commentary on Obama regulatory initiative [Federal News Radio with quotes from Cass Sunstein, Diana Furchtgott-Roth, Steven Malanga, David Harsanyi, Carter Wood/ShopFloor, Iain Murray, Lammi/WLF, earlier]
- Corporate governance buffs will want to check out new Proxy Monitor website from Manhattan Institute which includes a database of shareholder resolution activity at the 100 largest public companies [Jim Copland/Point of Law (some early empirical findings), Bainbridge ("This is going to be a great resource for anyone interested in shareholder activism"), ShopFloor]
- Lawyer solicits subway blizzard strandees. OK under NY rules? [Turkewitz]
- California reform ideas: “A Modest Proposal For Fixing Proposition 65″ [Cal Biz Lit] “A Better Consumer Legal Remedies Act” [same]
- Proposed criminal prohibition on doctors’ questioning patients about guns “would violate the First Amendment, as well as just being a lousy idea” [Volokh]
- Oldest federal bench ever — and the problems that can cause [Joseph Goldstein, Slate]
- Attention “payday lending” critics: “Lawsuit Loans Add New Risk for the Injured” [NY Times, Kenneth Anderson, California Civil Justice; defenses of champerty/litigation finance from Larry Ribstein and Stephen Gillers]
- Wisconsin student sues unsuccessfully over summer homework requirement for pre-calculus class [six years ago on Overlawyered]
Tagged as:
Barack Obama,
California,
chasing clients,
First Amendment,
judges,
litigation finance,
Manhattan Institute,
New York,
Prop 65,
Securities and Exchange Commission
The Consumer Product Safety Commission has repeatedly delayed the implementation of the testing and certification rules required by the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008, the economics of which is likely to capsize many smaller producers. Now time may be running out for further extensions after the Feb. 10 deadline. [Rick Woldenberg, AmendTheCPSIA.com] Comments from affected parties are here.
Tagged as:
CPSIA,
Prop 65
