Overlawyered » Wal-Mart http://overlawyered.com Chronicling the high cost of our legal system Tue, 14 Feb 2012 16:11:47 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 en hourly 1 January 9 roundup http://overlawyered.com/2012/01/january-9-roundup-2/ http://overlawyered.com/2012/01/january-9-roundup-2/#comments Mon, 09 Jan 2012 05:12:45 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=26676
  • Illinois now requires showing of ID, signing of log to buy drain cleaner. So long as you’re not trying to vote! [Consumerist via @amyalkon]
  • Tribute to no-longer-anonymous Ken White of Popehat and his work defending bloggers from legal threats [Scott Greenfield; earlier; Ken's defense in Maryland of blogger Aaron Worthing; new case of science blogger in Texas]
  • Politicos mobilize against risk that Wal-Mart will bring fresh produce choices to Harlem [Greg Beato] India frets about whether to allow chain stores, recapitulating a debate U.S. once went through [Tabarrok, MR]
  • Colorado legislators honored at a luncheon where I spoke [CCJL]
  • HHS launches initiative to audit health providers for compliance with HIPAA data privacy law, and many are unprepared [American Medical News, Dana Thrasher, Dom Nicastro/HealthLeaders Media]
  • New scholarship on effects of Twombly/Iqbal [Drug and Device Law series first, second, third, CL&P]
  • Congratulations to the outstanding Abnormal Use for winning the ABA’s “Blawg 100” vote for best torts blog; we feel pretty good about placing third without mounting a campaign. While exploring that site, don’t miss its stellar coverage of the tendentious documentary “Hot Coffee”.
    • Tags: , , , , , , , ,

    Related posts

    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2012/01/january-9-roundup-2/feed/ 1     Privatizing retail permitting http://overlawyered.com/2011/11/privatizing-retail-permitting/ http://overlawyered.com/2011/11/privatizing-retail-permitting/#comments Tue, 22 Nov 2011 14:45:34 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=25824 The Washington Post offers an editorial caution to lawmakers in Montgomery County, the famously liberal slice of Maryland suburbia:

    A bill before the Montgomery County Council would force big-box retailers such as Wal-Mart, Home Depot and Target to negotiate with neighborhood groups as a condition for getting their new stores approved. This is such a spectacularly bad idea, on so many levels, that it’s hard to imagine how it came to be taken seriously in the first place.

    By contrast, the nearby District of Columbia, often seen as a challenging place to do business, seems to be making its peace with Wal-Mart, which has announced plans to open six new stores there.

    Tags: , , ,

    Related posts

    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2011/11/privatizing-retail-permitting/feed/ 1     October 28 roundup http://overlawyered.com/2011/10/october-28-roundup-2/ http://overlawyered.com/2011/10/october-28-roundup-2/#comments Fri, 28 Oct 2011 05:32:57 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=24992
  • Self-parody watch: Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Ct.) wants federal program to dispense free diapers [Fox News]
  • Trial-lawyer-friendly Florida Supreme Court could strike down state’s 2003 malpractice limits [Orlando Business Journal]
  • Don’t forget to thank Wal-Mart lobbyists for that debit fee charge [Mark Perry]
  • “Should insurers [be compelled by law to] pay for eating disorders?” [NYT "Room for Debate"]
  • Texas man drops suit against former fiancee [Above the Law]
  • “$75,000 Settlement for Muslim Teacher Denied 19 Days’ Unpaid Leave for Hajj (Pilgrimage to Mecca)” [Volokh]
  • Epidemiology for hire: “The Texas Sharpshooter Goes Free Range” [David Oliver]
    • Tags: , , , , ,

    Related posts

    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2011/10/october-28-roundup-2/feed/ 3     Class action settlements as marketing outreach http://overlawyered.com/2011/09/class-action-settlements-as-marketing-outreach/ http://overlawyered.com/2011/09/class-action-settlements-as-marketing-outreach/#comments Tue, 27 Sep 2011 13:35:35 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=24796 At Paid Content, Jeff Roberts reports that Wal-Mart may have found a clever way to pitch its services at Netflix’s streaming subscribers, namely by settling a class action lawsuit to which they are party:

    A federal court in California late last week approved a class-action settlement that requires Wal-Mart to pay out $27.5 million. But here’s the key element of the ruling: Wal-Mart will be allowed to pay the 40 million Netflix subscribers in the form of gift cards for Wal-Mart.com—where there is prominent advertising for Vudu, which rents and sells movies a la carte.

    The court ruling is a blow to Netflix, which had earlier blasted the settlement as “the equivalent of a marketing campaign that costs Walmart only 68 cents per potential customer.”

    Tags: , ,

    Related posts

    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2011/09/class-action-settlements-as-marketing-outreach/feed/ 1     Law, fairness, and Wal-Mart v. Dukes http://overlawyered.com/2011/06/law-fairness-and-wal-mart-v-dukes/ http://overlawyered.com/2011/06/law-fairness-and-wal-mart-v-dukes/#comments Mon, 20 Jun 2011 18:00:47 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=23468 I’ve got an instant analysis up at Cato at Liberty of the retailer’s big Supreme Court win today in Wal-Mart v. Dukes, the class action certification case. The Court ruled unanimously that the Ninth Circuit had jumped the gun in certifying the case as a class action, and 5-to-4 (Scalia writing) that plaintiffs had failed to assemble the evidence needed for certification. (& welcome Real Clear Politics “Best of the Blogs”, Atlantic Wire, Nicole Neily/Daily Caller, Jon Hyman, SCOTUSBlog)

    More: Josh Blackman (with a comment on the Court’s recognition of the work of the late Richard Nagareda), Hans Bader, Jim Copland, John Steele Gordon. Spot-the-errors dept.: Dahlia Lithwick. Briefs and other resources on the case at SCOTUSBlog.

    Tags: , , , , , ,

    Related posts

    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2011/06/law-fairness-and-wal-mart-v-dukes/feed/ 5     June 8 roundup http://overlawyered.com/2011/06/june-8-roundup-3/ http://overlawyered.com/2011/06/june-8-roundup-3/#comments Wed, 08 Jun 2011 18:12:04 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=23307
  • Law firm settles with employee who said required high heels led to back injury [ABA Journal]
  • Stock listings fleeing U.S. for overseas, legal environment a factor [Ribstein, TotM]
  • Partial solution to above? Ted Frank places a stock bet on the Wal-Mart case [PoL, more]
  • Wider press coverage of hospital drug shortage [AP, Reuters, my March post]
  • Trial judge up north supports certifying as class action unusual suit blaming Newfoundland for moose collisions [Canadian Press via Karlsgodt, earlier here and here]
  • Academic revolt against copyright overreach [Chron of Higher Ed]
  • Sues deceased grandmother over trampoline injury [Madison County Record]
    • Tags: , , , , , , , ,

    Related posts

    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2011/06/june-8-roundup-3/feed/ 3     Want to open a store? We choose your locations http://overlawyered.com/2011/05/want-to-open-a-store-we-choose-your-locations/ http://overlawyered.com/2011/05/want-to-open-a-store-we-choose-your-locations/#comments Wed, 25 May 2011 13:54:10 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=23124 “D.C. Mayor Vincent D. Gray delivered an ultimatum in a face-to-face meeting with Wal-Mart officials at a real estate convention Monday: If the chain wants to enter the District at all, it had better commit to opening at Skyland Shopping Center, the long-delayed redevelopment project in Gray’s home ward…. Gray indicated he would be willing to go so far as to nix the company’s requests for building permits on privately owned sites, even for neighborhoods where residents favored Wal-Mart’s opening.” [Washington Post, earlier]

    Tags: , ,

    Related posts

    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2011/05/want-to-open-a-store-we-choose-your-locations/feed/ 5     Activists’ demands of Wal-Mart in D.C. http://overlawyered.com/2011/05/activists-demands-of-wal-mart-in-d-c/ http://overlawyered.com/2011/05/activists-demands-of-wal-mart-in-d-c/#comments Tue, 03 May 2011 17:22:36 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=22828 Washington Business Journal brings word of the list of demands by a “community group” to drop its opposition to the opening of Wal-Mart stores in Washington, D.C. Given such a welcoming attitude, isn’t it strange that so many major retailers have opened stores in suburban Maryland and Virginia, but not in the District?

    Tags: ,

    Related posts

    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2011/05/activists-demands-of-wal-mart-in-d-c/feed/ 2     The unfairness of bargain prices http://overlawyered.com/2011/03/the-unfairness-of-bargain-prices/ http://overlawyered.com/2011/03/the-unfairness-of-bargain-prices/#comments Thu, 31 Mar 2011 05:16:44 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=22154 Don’t know whether to laugh or weep: why one local activist thinks Washington, D.C. would be better off without Wal-Mart [Mark Perry]

    Tags: ,

    Related posts

    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2011/03/the-unfairness-of-bargain-prices/feed/ 7     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]
    • Tags: , , , , , , , ,

    Related posts

    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2011/02/february-24-roundup-2/feed/ 1