- More on court’s enjoining Alabama House from sending schools bill to governor [Joshua Dunn, earlier]
- Connecticut mom’s fibbing to get kid into better school district, interpreted as theft of services, contributes to 12-year sentence (also predicated on four unrelated charges of drug sale and possession) [WFSB]
- Student speech hit by one-two punch: post-Newtown hysteria, campaign against bullying [Hans Bader, more]
- Turn Pell Grants into entitlements? Has the Gates Foundation taken leave of its senses? [Neal McCluskey, Cato]
- “The Dubious Case for Regulating Day Care” [John Ross, Reason, responding to Washington Post coverage of Virginia push]
- Kansas lawmakers push back against court’s power grab on edubucks mandate [K. C. Star, earlier]
- “Call to Ditch Red Tape on Playtime Safety” [U.K. TESConnect via Free-Range Kids]
Tagged as:
Alabama,
bullying,
colleges and universities,
Kansas,
recreation,
schools,
Virginia
- Setting up as a freelance investigative writer? Getting insurance even for your office rental can be tricky [Romenesko]
- Among many curious Virginia blue laws: “‘any citizen … may institute’ judicial review of any book.” [Barton Hinkle]
- Whether Rupert Murdoch can buy the L.A. Times shouldn’t depend on which party holds power in Washington [Stoll, Future of Capitalism]
- “Publisher launches $3,000,000 suit against academic librarian who criticized its books” [BoingBoing, Edwin Mellen Press] “Alternative” cancer treatment entrepreneur threatens to sue dissatisfied patient [Jardin, BB]
- EU: Let’s regulate journalists [Morrissey] Russia law against pro-gay “propaganda” is part of wider speech crackdown [AP]
- Twitter’s relatively laissez-faire speech policy has advanced its success [Greg Beato]
- “Free Speech on Campus Today” [Cato podcast with FIRE's Greg Lukianoff]
- Forbids writing about him ever again: “Judge says US-based reporter defamed Haiti’s PM” [AP/Gainesville Sun]
Tagged as:
Europe,
free speech,
libel slander and defamation,
Russia,
Twitter,
Virginia
$30,000 in community fund-raising later, kids have a reason to be glum [Washington Post]:
Although parents worked with the Fairfax County Public Schools facilities department, purchased the equipment, hired a contractor and had the playground ready for recess, the school system suddenly deemed the play equipment too dangerous. Since Nov. 30 it has been off-limits, parents say.
Never mind that the same equipment is installed at more than 1,200 parks and schools across the country, including a public park in the county.
Update: District changes mind.
Tagged as:
recreation,
schools,
Virginia
In Fairfax County, Va., outside Washington, a court-ordered trustee has ordered the sale of the Olde Belhaven association’s “pleasant square, with its trees and benches, [which] had in better times been the site of community picnics and Christmas festivities.” The association was put on the road to ruin by a dispute that began over a complaint that a sign in a homeowner’s yard was 4 inches too high. It escalated into costly litigation, and “as the case ground on, the HOA increased dues from $650 a year to about $3,500, mostly to cover legal fees.” Courts sided with the dissident homeowners, and hundreds of thousands in legal costs sank the association’s finances. [Washington Post]
Tagged as:
real estate,
Virginia
- The late John O’Quinn was an Overlawyered regular: “Ex-clients’ complaint vs silicosis lawyers is catalog of misconduct” [Alison Frankel, Reuters; Ted Frank, Point of Law]
- “How Lawsuits Killed an American Icon” [Rocky Flick, CEO, on closure of Blitz gas can plant in Oklahoma; U.S. Chamber's Faces of Lawsuit Abuse, auto-plays video; earlier here, here, here]
- “Angelos seeks to revive more than 13,000 asbestos cases” [Baltimore Sun] Virginia is latest state to wrestle with asbestos causation standard [David Oliver] Asbestos forum-shopping alive and well in Madison County, Ill., with record-breaking 1,563 cases filed last year [Chamber-backed Madison County Record]
- More on why Toyota settled dubious acceleration case [Michael Krauss, earlier]
- Alabama rules brand-name drug manufacturer can be held liable for generic version’s lack of a warning [Weeks v. Wyeth; Meghan McCaffrey, Weil Gotshal Product Liability Monitor; Morrison Foerster client alert; Michael Krauss] Standards of causation in pharmaceutical cases haven’t been loosened as far as in asbestos [Beck, Drug & Device Law]
- From Judge Gladys Kessler, another sweeping ruling against tobacco companies [Brian Wolfman, CL&P]
- In the coming era of driverless cars, better to empower a robotic “intersection controller,” or rely on intelligence distributed among the individual vehicles? [Mickey Kaus, Jack Baruth/Truth About Cars, E.W. Niedermeyer first, second]
Tagged as:
Alabama,
asbestos,
John O'Quinn,
pharmaceuticals,
silicosis,
tobacco,
Toyota,
traffic laws,
Virginia
- Bill McKibben et al press Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions against energy producers, hint at direct action [Andrew Sullivan]
- Billion-dollar compensation program may be unstoppable, though: “Cancer Not Increased by Exposure to World Trade Center 9/11 Attack Debris” [Ronald Bailey, Ted Frank/PoL, earlier here, here, here, here, etc.]
- “EPA cries ‘uncle’ in face of lawsuit, withdraws threat against W.Va. chicken farmer” [David Martosko, Daily Caller]
- Jim Manzi finds lead-and-crime thesis less “blindingly obvious” than does Kevin Drum [NRO, and Drum's response]
- In state’s dispute with EPA, plenty of Virginia moderates think federal agency has overreached [A. Barton Hinkle, Richmond Times-Dispatch]
- “Lawsuits seek to generate “awareness” of global warming, costs states a bundle” [@andrewmgrossman on Laurence Hurley/EENews story; Michael Greve/Liberty and Law]
- EPA’s departing Jackson has been poster child for “we can’t wait” governance approach [Jim Huffman]
Tagged as:
climate change,
crime and punishment,
environment,
Environmental Protection Agency,
lead paint,
oil industry,
September 11,
Virginia,
West Virginia
- Virginia voters overwhelmingly voted to curtail state’s eminent domain powers [Ilya Somin]
- “The most misunderstood Supreme Court decision of the last thirty years, Citizens United, made absolutely no difference in this election. Which is no surprise to anyone who read the case. Let’s hope we stop seeing attacks on free speech based on faulty premises.” [Ted Frank; Alison Frankel, Reuters; John Samples, Cato]
- “A Quick Round-Up on Education Policy and the 2012 Elections” [Andrew Coulson, Cato]
- By 58-42 margin, voters in liberal Montgomery County, Md. curtail county’s obligation to bargain with police union over policy changes with effects on working conditions [Gazette, earlier here, etc.]
- “Double down on social issues” advice wouldn’t have put Romney over the top, to put it mildly [Hans Bader] Medieval obstetrics expert Akin pulled less than 40 percent against Missouri’s unpopular McCaskill [Andrew Stuttaford, Secular Right]
- Entrenchment of union rights in state constitution wasn’t the only bad idea that Michigan voters rejected: they also turned thumbs down on unionization of home health aides and mandates for utility use of renewables [Conn Carroll]
- Louisiana voters strengthened protection for individual gun rights in their state constitution [Volokh]
Tagged as:
eminent domain,
guns,
labor unions,
Louisiana,
Michigan,
Mitt Romney,
police,
Virginia
- Michigan Supreme Court race: three seats at stake, including Stephen Markman’s [Charles Crumm/Mt. Pleasant Morning Sun, Collin Levy, WSJ]
- Notable state attorney general races include West Virginia, Missouri, Montana [Ballotpedia, Governing; Carrie Severino, NRO] Battle of the sleazy ads in Washington race [Seattle Times]
- “Fixed-income retiree” in Kaine ad turns out to be well-connected Virginia trial lawyer [Paul Bedard, Washington Examiner ] “33% of settlements is a fixed income, in a way” [Chris DeRose]
- Federal free-cellphone scheme enriches some political influentials [Washington Free Beacon]
- History of judicial elections in the US: rethinking the received account [Stuart Banner, Jotwell, on Jed Shugerman]
- After election, expect renewed push for limits on campaign spending [Ira Stoll]
- John Roberts’ doing? “Supreme Court not top campaign issue,” didn’t come up at debates [USA Today] Do libertarians fare better with Republican presidents’ Supreme Court picks, or just libertarian lawprofs? [Bernstein, Radia, etc.]
Tagged as:
attorneys general,
cellphones,
John Roberts,
judicial elections,
Michigan,
Virginia,
Washington state
- Congress, HUD face off on “disparate impact” in housing and housing finance [WSJ edit, Clegg/NRO] Wells Fargo says it didn’t base loans on race but will pay $175 million to end federal probe [Reuters]
- Maryland vs. Virginia: if only there were a government that was consistent about favoring liberty [John Walters, Maryland Public Policy Institute]
- British Columbia Human Rights Tribunal levies $3000 against husband-and-wife owners of bed-and-breakfast who canceled reservation of gay couple based on religious objections [Religion Clause, The Province] UK: “‘Gay flatmate wanted’ ads break equality laws” [Telegraph] See our earlier coverage of the Ninth Circuit Roommate.com case here and here.
- “Lifeguard fired for saving drowning person — outside his designated zone.” [NBC Miami via @commongood]
- “Do you want to be informed about the constant, infuriating corporate welfare for professional sports owners? Follow FieldOfSchemes.com” [Matt Welch]
- Negligent entrustment lawsuit against parents who let 33 year old daughter drive car yields $1.2 million in Tennessee [Knoxville News]
- Pretrial and discovery: “New York state bar recommends federal litigation reforms” [Reuters]
Tagged as:
banks,
discovery,
fair housing,
Maryland,
mortgages,
New York,
procedure,
sports,
Tennessee,
Virginia
The sale of live seafood, common in Chinese food markets, can collide with blanket state regulation of wildlife sales. Virginia, for example, classifies as wildlife any animals not appearing on a list of domestic animals, even if they are raised on farms and have never lived in the wild. While the Virginia suburbs of D.C. have won fame as a hot spot for admirers of Asian food, the selection got somewhat narrower last year with the confiscation of eels, crayfish, bullfrogs and other critters from the Great Wall supermarket. Two store managers were hit with felony charges. [NY Times, Washington Post]
Tagged as:
animals,
eat drink and be merry,
food safety,
Virginia
- ADA mills continue to extract money from California small businesses with no legislative relief in sight [Auburn Journal, Andrew Ross/S.F. Chronicle, KABC (James Farkus Cohan), WTSP (Squeeze Inn owner speaks out), CJAC (Lungren proposal) and more, Chamber (San Francisco coffee shop's woes, auto-plays video)] Profile of attorney Thomas Frankovich [California Lawyer];
- EEOC sues employer for turning away job applicant on methadone program [Jon Hyman]
- “Maryland high court: allergy is disability requiring accommodation” [PoL]
- “Suits could force L.A. to spend huge sums on sidewalk repair” [Los Angeles Times]
- Under gun from Department of Justice and SCOTUS Olmstead ruling, Virginia and other states agree to massive overhaul of services for developmentally disabled; not all families, though, are happy with the insistence on relocating residents of large facilities to smaller “community” settings [Richmond Times-Dispatch, McDonnell press release, Norfolk Virginian-Pilot, Staunton News-Leader]
- “New Case from W.D. Tex. Shows Effect of ADAAA on Back Injury Claims” [Disability Law]
- Lawyer leads effort to give disabled passengers wider rights to sue airlines [Toledo Free Press]
Tagged as:
ADA filing mills,
airlines,
allergies,
California,
disabled rights,
EEOC,
illegal drugs,
Los Angeles,
Maryland,
Virginia
I’ll be speaking this week at two law schools in Virginia, courtesy of the local Federalist Society chapters, about my new book Schools for Misrule. At noon Wednesday I’ll be talking to students at Washington & Lee in Lexington, Va., and then at noon Thursday I’ll speak at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, with Prof. J. Gordon Hylton slated to respond. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed my past visits to both schools and expect that these will be a treat as well. If you’re in the area, consider dropping by.
Tagged as:
law schools,
live in person,
Virginia
An employee who was kept on the Norfolk, Va. payroll for 12 years without being asked to come in to work has complained that she was wrongfully fired. The employee was originally suspended after misconduct allegations that her agency head for unclear reasons failed to get resolved; his successor dismissed her. [PilotOnline]
Tagged as:
public employment,
Virginia
Most striking part of this Spotsylvania County, Va. story:
Capt. Liz Scott [of the] Spotsylvania Sheriff’s Office says while Mikel’s punishment [and misdemeanor assault charges] may be controversial, “assault is assault is assault.”
“There were three victims that were involved in this, and I think the public needs to remember that,” Scott told FoxNews.com.
Scott said those victims, two females and one male, complained of feeling a “pinch” or “sting” when they were hit with the pellets and one even had a welt on her arm as result.
Perpetrator Andrew Mikel II is 14 years old. In other school and zero-tolerance news, police in Hammonton, New Jersey have charged a 7-year-old for bringing a Nerf-style toy gun to class [NBC Philadelphia] A lawmaker in Hawaii is proposing to ban the sale of squirt guns to minors [Free-Range Kids] A St. Lucie County, Florida kindergartener who was “voted out” of his classroom by fellow students at his teacher’s suggestion has won a $350,000 settlement. [TCPalm/Orlando Sentinel] And lawsuits by parents against school districts over alleged bullying of kids are said to be burgeoning in Florida [Orlando Sentinel]
Tagged as:
bullying,
guns,
schools,
Virginia,
zero tolerance
Glenn C. Lewis, a divorce lawyer who “boasts that he is the most expensive lawyer in the [Washington, D.C.] region,” sued a former client “for an additional $500,000 in fees and interest, although he’d already been paid $378,000.” Lewis says the case was a demanding one and that he earned the money fair and square, but things did not go particularly well for his cause before judges in suburban Fairfax County. [Washington Post via Above the Law]
Tagged as:
attorneys' fees,
divorce,
Virginia,
Washington D.C.
