Overlawyered » Prop 65 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 January 11 roundup http://overlawyered.com/2012/01/january-11-roundup-2/ http://overlawyered.com/2012/01/january-11-roundup-2/#comments Wed, 11 Jan 2012 05:14:38 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=25794
  • 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]
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    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2012/01/january-11-roundup-2/feed/ 0     Enviro groups: beware brass at Disneyland http://overlawyered.com/2011/11/enviro-groups-beware-brass-at-disneyland/ http://overlawyered.com/2011/11/enviro-groups-beware-brass-at-disneyland/#comments Wed, 23 Nov 2011 14:26:53 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=25783 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]

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    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2011/11/enviro-groups-beware-brass-at-disneyland/feed/ 3     Californians can’t get Dunkin’ Donuts coffee online http://overlawyered.com/2011/10/californians-cant-get-dunkin-donuts-coffee-online/ http://overlawyered.com/2011/10/californians-cant-get-dunkin-donuts-coffee-online/#comments Mon, 31 Oct 2011 15:41:22 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=25417 “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.”

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    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2011/10/californians-cant-get-dunkin-donuts-coffee-online/feed/ 5     “Coffee Brewers and Servers Sued Under Prop 65″ http://overlawyered.com/2011/05/coffee-brewers-and-servers-sued-under-prop-65/ http://overlawyered.com/2011/05/coffee-brewers-and-servers-sued-under-prop-65/#comments Sun, 22 May 2011 14:59:55 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=23058 The latest surprising application of California’s toxic-warnings law [Ken Odza]

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    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2011/05/coffee-brewers-and-servers-sued-under-prop-65/feed/ 7     May 12 roundup http://overlawyered.com/2011/05/may-12-roundup-4/ http://overlawyered.com/2011/05/may-12-roundup-4/#comments Thu, 12 May 2011 12:18:14 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=22956
  • Alabama state senate bans knowingly giving illegal immigrant ride in your car [Katherine Mangu-Ward]
  • Cato U., dynamite summer seminar from my institute, being held this year in Annapolis Jul. 24-29;
  • Calif.: “64% of Prop 65 settlements go to attorneys’ fees” [CJAC, earlier]
  • Mississippi jury votes $322 million to individual asbestos claimant [Fair Warning, Mass Tort Prof]
  • “Emails: Attorney nixed S.C. train injury fund” [AP/The State]
  • Trump files $100 million counterclaim against customer who sued his “Trump University” [Atlantic Wire, earlier] More: Lowering the Bar.
  • Two, three, a trend? Another trial-lawyer movie, this time starring Mark Lanier [WSJ Law Blog]
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    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2011/05/may-12-roundup-4/feed/ 1     April 26 roundup http://overlawyered.com/2011/04/april-26-roundup/ http://overlawyered.com/2011/04/april-26-roundup/#comments Tue, 26 Apr 2011 12:26:33 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=22714
  • 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]
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    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2011/04/april-26-roundup/feed/ 5     January 21 roundup http://overlawyered.com/2011/01/january-21-roundup-2/ http://overlawyered.com/2011/01/january-21-roundup-2/#comments Fri, 21 Jan 2011 05:12:58 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=21043
  • 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]
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    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2011/01/january-21-roundup-2/feed/ 0     Approaching deadline on CPSIA compliance http://overlawyered.com/2011/01/approaching-deadline-on-cpsia-compliance/ http://overlawyered.com/2011/01/approaching-deadline-on-cpsia-compliance/#comments Mon, 03 Jan 2011 14:12:05 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=20796 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.

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    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2011/01/approaching-deadline-on-cpsia-compliance/feed/ 6     How California’s legal-business climate is different http://overlawyered.com/2010/09/how-californias-legal-business-climate-is-different/ http://overlawyered.com/2010/09/how-californias-legal-business-climate-is-different/#comments Wed, 08 Sep 2010 05:07:56 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=19158 Bruce Nye (Cal Biz Lit) and Michael Pappas (at Law.com Corporate Counsel) count the ways: “Why do I have to tell everyone that my grilled chicken, which is made the same way as my grandmother used to make it, may cause cancer?” (The answer being California-specific Proposition 65.)

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    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2010/09/how-californias-legal-business-climate-is-different/feed/ 6     New warnings at McDonald’s http://overlawyered.com/2010/03/new-warnings-at-mcdonalds/ http://overlawyered.com/2010/03/new-warnings-at-mcdonalds/#comments Thu, 18 Mar 2010 05:57:26 +0000 Ted Frank http://overlawyered.com/?p=16526 Bruce Nye has a photo of a pointless new warning McDonald’s has posted in California stores to avoid litigation. The warning seems to have a side safety benefit: by the time you finish reading it, your coffee won’t be hot any more.

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