Overlawyered » Utah 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 December 20 roundup http://overlawyered.com/2010/12/december-20-roundup-2/ http://overlawyered.com/2010/12/december-20-roundup-2/#comments Mon, 20 Dec 2010 13:13:51 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=20696
  • Texas Gov. Rick Perry may urge the state to take a step toward loser-pays [NJLRA]
  • “FCC push to regulate news draws fire” [The Hill]
  • Could litigation on behalf of Madoff victims get more than all their money back? [Salmon, more, NYT, Above the Law]
  • “Chevron Says Documents Show Ecuador Plaintiffs Worked With Government” [Dan Fisher/Forbes, more]
  • Organized trial lawyers expect to fare less well in next Congress, but prospects for actual liability reform remain slender [Joseph Weber/Wash. Times, Matthew Boyle/Daily Caller]
  • Mount Laurel rulings in New Jersey (towns given quotas to build low-income housing) described as “libertarian”, I express doubts [Hills, Prawfsblawg]
  • Criminal law’s revolving door: “prosecutors turn up the fire and then sell extinguishers” [Ribstein, TotM]
  • The wages of unconstitutionality: a Utah attorney’s curious fee niche [five years ago on Overlawyered]
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    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2010/12/december-20-roundup-2/feed/ 1     Lawsuit demands $38 quadrillion http://overlawyered.com/2010/08/lawsuit-demands-38-quadrillion/ http://overlawyered.com/2010/08/lawsuit-demands-38-quadrillion/#comments Wed, 25 Aug 2010 05:06:30 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=18995 That sum, demanded by a Las Vegas man in a suit against three Utah attorneys, is far in excess of all the money in the world, so there may be collectibility problems. [Provo Daily Herald]

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    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2010/08/lawsuit-demands-38-quadrillion/feed/ 11     Family overnights RV in Wal-Mart lot, sues over intruder http://overlawyered.com/2010/08/family-overnights-rv-in-wal-mart-lot-sues-over-intruder/ http://overlawyered.com/2010/08/family-overnights-rv-in-wal-mart-lot-sues-over-intruder/#comments Tue, 03 Aug 2010 10:44:10 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=18780 Wal-Mart stores in many parts of the country are famous for letting motor-home travelers park overnight in their lots for free. One wonders whether that policy will last: a Florida couple is now suing the retailer over an incident in the parking lot of its Cedar City, Utah store, in which the family shot and killed a man who intruded in their parked home. They say they have suffered emotional distress and medical problems and that “store officials knew the man was loitering in the lot” but failed to act. [Salt Lake Tribune via Consumerist, where commenters haven't been conspicuously sympathetic to the plaintiffs]

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    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2010/08/family-overnights-rv-in-wal-mart-lot-sues-over-intruder/feed/ 5     Leave that emotional-support companion animal outside? http://overlawyered.com/2009/03/leave-that-emotional-support-companion-animal-outside/ http://overlawyered.com/2009/03/leave-that-emotional-support-companion-animal-outside/#comments Mon, 23 Mar 2009 15:37:21 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=9975 Defying a national trend, Utah has moved to amend the interpretation of its state-level version of the Americans with Disabilities Act so as to curtail pet owners’ rights to demand that their “emotional support service animals” be allowed onto the premises of reluctant business owners. [Salt Lake Tribune via Patrick at Popehat]

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    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2009/03/leave-that-emotional-support-companion-animal-outside/feed/ 0     February 26 roundup http://overlawyered.com/2009/02/february-26-roundup-2/ http://overlawyered.com/2009/02/february-26-roundup-2/#comments Thu, 26 Feb 2009 05:04:37 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=9397
  • “God convinces woman to withdraw her voodoo-related lawsuit” [Minneapolis Star-Tribune via Obscure Store]
  • Federal, state judges differ on whether wildlife officials can be sued over fatal Utah bear attack [Heller/OnPoint News]
  • GPS helped trip him up: highest-paid Schenectady cop sure seems to spend a lot of time off patrol in a certain apartment [Greenfield]
  • More coverage of Luzerne County, Pa. corrupt-judge scandal, including reputed mobster link [Legal Intelligencer/Law.com, ABA Journal, earlier here and here]
  • Reductio ad absurdum of laws dictating where released sex offenders can live: proposal to keep them from living near each other [Giacalone and sequel]
  • Defamation suits: “What happens when it’s the plaintiff that is anonymous, and wants to stay that way?” [Ron Coleman]
  • Scalia: “Honest Services” fraud statute lacks any “coherent limiting principle” to restrain runaway prosecution [Grossman/PoL, Kerr/Volokh, Hills/Prawfsblawg]
  • Because they’d never enact a law except to deal with a real problem: “Kentucky Prohibits First Responders from Dueling” [Lowering the Bar]
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    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2009/02/february-26-roundup-2/feed/ 1     Rehabilitating Jack Thompson? http://overlawyered.com/2009/02/rehabilitating-jack-thompson/ http://overlawyered.com/2009/02/rehabilitating-jack-thompson/#comments Thu, 05 Feb 2009 04:46:53 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=8809 If Salt Lake City’s Deseret News must run anti-videogame screeds, couldn’t it find authors to write them who are not, you know, disgraced and disbarred?

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    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2009/02/rehabilitating-jack-thompson/feed/ 1     ADA claim: store wouldn’t let him use inline skates http://overlawyered.com/2008/07/ada-claim-store-wouldnt-let-him-use-inline-skates/ http://overlawyered.com/2008/07/ada-claim-store-wouldnt-let-him-use-inline-skates/#comments Sat, 19 Jul 2008 16:56:10 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=7291 Peter Jose Smith of Provo, Utah, is suing the Mercado Latino market, saying it violated his accommodation rights under the Americans with Disabilities Act because it wouldn’t let him wear inline skates in the store behind his wheelchair. Store owner Hugo Martinez said Smith, who has sued other local businesses, was asked to comply with the store’s policy against skates after he “was riding quickly in the store and bumped into another customer”. (Ace Stryker, “Disabled Provo man suing Latin market”, Provo Daily Herald, Jul. 18).

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    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2008/07/ada-claim-store-wouldnt-let-him-use-inline-skates/feed/ 3     We were counting on you for favorable testimony! http://overlawyered.com/2008/04/we-were-counting-on-you-for-favorable-testimony/ http://overlawyered.com/2008/04/we-were-counting-on-you-for-favorable-testimony/#comments Tue, 08 Apr 2008 09:38:09 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/wpblog/?p=6072 A Utah federal court will consider the Pace family’s lawsuit against California anesthesiologist Barry Swerdlow, whom they had earlier hired as an expert witness as part of their medical liability suit against another anesthesiologist, Stephen Shuput, whom they blamed for their late daughter’s death. After agreeing to come on board as an expert for the Paces, Swerdlow examined Shuput’s deposition and concluded that Shuput had met the standard of care; he proceeded to inform Shuput’s lawyers of this, and they quickly got the case dismissed. The Paces then sued Swerdlow for “malpractice, fraud, negligent misrepresentation, breach of fiduciary duty, breach of contract, breach of the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing, and negligent infliction of emotional distress,” to quote AMNews’s catalogue. Swerdlow conceded that he was new at the expert witness game and that it would probably have been a good idea for him to have read Shuput’s deposition earlier. The EleventhTenth Circuit ruled that a lower court should consider the Paces’s contention that they had suffered legally actionable damages from Swerdlow’s actions. (Bonnie Booth, “Expert who changed mind claims immunity, but plaintiffs still sue”, American Medical News, Apr. 14).

    Judge Gorsuch, dissenting from the EleventhTenth Circuit’s ruling, wrote:

    Parties already exert substantial influence over expert witnesses, often paying them handsomely for their time, and expert witnesses are, unfortunately and all too frequently, already regarded in some quarters as little more than hired guns. When expert witnesses can be forced to defend themselves in federal court beyond the pleading stage simply for changing their opinions – with no factual allegation to suggest anything other than an honest change in view based on a review of new information – we add fuel to this fire. We make candor an expensive option and risk incenting experts to dissemble rather than change their views in the face of compelling new information. The loser in all this is, of course, the truth-finding function and cause of justice our legal system is designed to serve.

    (Decision of the Day, Mar. 5; Karen Franklin, Forensic Psychologist, Mar. 7; The Briefcase, Mar. 7).

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    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2008/04/we-were-counting-on-you-for-favorable-testimony/feed/ 2     Contracts no good in Utah: Rothstein v. Snowbird Corp. http://overlawyered.com/2007/12/contracts-no-good-in-utah-rothstein-v-snowbird-corp/ http://overlawyered.com/2007/12/contracts-no-good-in-utah-rothstein-v-snowbird-corp/#comments Wed, 19 Dec 2007 13:28:38 +0000 Ted Frank http://overlawyered.com/wpblog/?p=5668 In a 3-2 decision, the Utah Supreme Court has held a liability waiver unenforceable, and permitted a skier to sue a resort for his injuries in a skiing accident, notwithstanding his agreement to the contrary by disingenuously expanding a state assumption-of-the-risk statute for ski resorts to forbid any contractual modification of liability. When even Utah refuses to honor contracts, you know we’re in trouble.

    Edited to add: For some reason, multiple commenters who haven’t read the opinion are claiming that the only thing the opinion does is require a signature. Not so: Rothstein explicitly signed a release, and the release only covered negligence (permitting Rothstein to sue for intentional torts). Rothstein realized the benefit of the bargain, by getting season tickets for a considerably cheaper price than he would have been able to if the resort knew he wasn’t going to honor his end of the bargain. The Utah Supreme Court (not an intermediate appellate court) rewrote the agreement retroactively. Consumers are hurt.

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    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2007/12/contracts-no-good-in-utah-rothstein-v-snowbird-corp/feed/ 13     October 8 Roundup http://overlawyered.com/2007/10/october-8-roundup/ http://overlawyered.com/2007/10/october-8-roundup/#comments Mon, 08 Oct 2007 07:44:12 +0000 Ted Frank http://overlawyered.com/wpblog/?p=5428 Tags: , , , , ,

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