Overlawyered » whistleblowers

Public employment roundup

Walter Olson — Wed, 19 Dec 2012 04:05:11 +0000

Report: California state psychiatrist paid $822,000, highway cop $484K in pay/benefits [Bloomberg News via Dan Mitchell]
“Florida Prison Guard Charged with $2.7 Million Workers’ Comp Fraud” [Insurance Journal]
Agitprop video from California Federation of Teachers is educational, if only in unintended ways [Katherine Mangu-Ward]
“California government employee unions spent nearly $100 million in the lead up to the November election” [Jon Coupal, Fox and Hounds] How San Bernardino went broke: a cautionary tale [Reuters]
“Taxpayers funding 35 six-figure union chiefs at Transportation Department” [Examiner]
Congress again strengthens legal hand of federal employees claiming whistleblower status [Paul Secunda] Mistrial in case of whistleblower group’s payment to government worker [WaPo]
“Binding Arbitration’s Threat To State And Local Governments” [Ivan Osorio, CEI]

Tags: California, Florida, labor unions, public employment, whistleblowers, workers' compensation

Public employment roundup is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Chicago law firm benefits from tax whistleblowing

Walter Olson — Mon, 10 Dec 2012 16:32:41 +0000

According to the retailers group [Illinois Retail Merchants Association], Mr. [Stephen] Diamond’s Chicago law firm, Schad Diamond & Shedden P.C., has filed no fewer than 238 lawsuits in recent years against retailers small and large, which in its view failed to collect said shipping-and-handling sales taxes. Since the suits have been filed under a “whistle-blower” section of law, the firm is entitled to as much as 30 percent of any recovered taxes as well as attorneys’ fees for its trouble. And because it’s often easier and cheaper for defendants to settle rather than continue to fight, Schad Diamond reportedly has pocketed millions of dollars.

The office of Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan says the whistleblower provisions were intended for use by insiders disclosing misconduct rather than by outsiders, while “Illinois Revenue Director Brian Hamer says [the wave of suits] ‘has given Illinois a black eye’ and victimizes those who have made only an ‘inadvertent’ mistake.” [Greg Hinz, Crain's Chicago Business]

Tags: Chicago, Illinois, taxes, whistleblowers

Chicago law firm benefits from tax whistleblowing is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Labor and employment law roundup

Walter Olson — Thu, 01 Nov 2012 04:06:10 +0000

Maryland: “Montgomery County Police ‘Effects’ Bargaining Bludgeons Public Safety” [Trey Kovacs, CEI, earlier] Time to revisit “effects” bargaining for other employee groups too [Gazette]
“A New Whistleblower Retaliation Statute Grows Up: Dodd-Frank is the new Sarbanes-Oxley” [Daniel Schwartz]
Proposal for disclosure of “persuaders” would threaten many employers [Michael Lotito/The Hill, earlier]
Judge greenlights union suit challenging new Indiana right to work law [RedState]
“Discovery of Immigration-Status Denied in FLSA Case” [Workplace Prof]
“Same Song, Umpteenth Verse – No Discrimination, Retaliation Worth $2 Million” [Fox/Employer's Lawyer; Ithaca, N.Y.]
NLRB on collision course with Indian tribal sovereignty [Fred Wszolek, Indian Country Today]

Tags: Indian tribes, Indiana, labor unions, Maryland, public employment, wage and hour suits, whistleblowers

Labor and employment law roundup is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Prosecution and police roundup

Walter Olson — Thu, 11 Oct 2012 04:12:49 +0000

Forfeiture: “Defend the Right to Carry Cash and Travel Unmolested” [Eapen Thampy, Agitator]
Recent Japanese racketeering law, unlike our RICO, actually focuses on organized crime [Adelstein]
Sheriff’s flack to Fiona Apple: shut up and sing [Ken at Popehat]
Jimenez case: 99-year sentence, “substantial likelihood defendant was not guilty of this offense” [Jacob Sullum]
Conrad Black continues to speak out on barbarities of “prosecutocracy” [NY Sun]
“Are whistle-blowers the new IRS business model?” [Victor Fleischer, NYT DealBook]
“Minnesota Farmer Found ‘Not Guilty’ in Raw Milk Case” [Katherine Mangu-Ward, Reason]
Utah man shoots neighbor he thinks “telepathically raped” his wife, is ruled mentally fit for trial [CBS]

Tags: forfeiture, Japan, prosecutorial abuse, taxes, whistleblowers

Prosecution and police roundup is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Politics roundup

Walter Olson — Sat, 06 Oct 2012 23:28:21 +0000

Visual representation of debate result (courtesy Chris Fountain) “Obama should have spent more time in court” [David Frum] “Can you imagine the rewards points we earned by paying for wars with the national credit card?” [@BCAppelbaum via @TPCarney]
Correcting the tax side of the debate: factory relocation, oil deductions, corporate jets [Daniel Mitchell, Cato-at-Liberty]
Race heats up for three Florida justices [Insurance Journal, earlier] Unions campaign for incumbent justices even as court deliberates on pension lawsuit [Sunshine State News]
Maybe Rep. Todd Akin isn’t the most unscientific member of the House Science Committee after all [TPM]
Yes, the HHS welfare work waiver is a real issue [WSJ editorial]
“Whistle-Blower Lawyers Throw Support Behind Obama” [NYT via FedSoc]
Michael Greve doesn’t hold back, tells us what he really thinks of Mme. Warren [Law and Liberty]

Tags: Barack Obama, Florida, Massachusetts, Mitt Romney, politics, taxes, U.S. House of Representatives, whistleblowers

Politics roundup is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Bradley Birkenfeld’s $104 million bounty

Walter Olson — Sun, 16 Sep 2012 11:46:28 +0000

By ratting on his employer and clients, the UBS informant greatly advanced Washington’s project of preventing Americans from squirreling assets out of reach of the U.S. tax and legal systems. So it’s no surprise that few in the federal establishment — even among longtime critics of what they deem excessive executive compensation — begrudge him the whopping payout. Among his defenders, of course, is Iowa Republican Sen. Charles Grassley, patron of the whistleblower program: “Need we add that Mr. Grassley’s longtime aide, who actually drafted the whistleblower law, now represents Mr. Birkenfeld and stands to collect an interesting percentage of the award Mr. Grassley so obligingly applauds? If one were rich, if one had a sense of history, one might well wish to move a part of one’s nest egg out of the way of Mr. Grassley and his ilk.” [Holman Jenkins, WSJ]

Tags: Switzerland, taxes, whistleblowers

Bradley Birkenfeld’s $104 million bounty is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Is that a whistle in your pocket?

Walter Olson — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 14:00:27 +0000

Or are you just glad to sue me? “A New Jersey appeals court … overturned a $3.6 million whistleblower award to a Wachovia worker who claimed he was fired for revealing corporate fraud rather than for passing around revealing photographs.” [Michael Booth, New Jersey Law Journal]

Tags: New Jersey, whistleblowers

Is that a whistle in your pocket? is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

“Judge Slaps Motley Rice With Fees Over ‘Frivolous’ Lawsuit”

Walter Olson — Fri, 30 Mar 2012 12:47:50 +0000

“A federal judge in Indiana ordered lawyers including the prominent firm of Motley Rice to pay ITT Educational Services almost $400,000 in legal fees for pursuing a ‘frivolous’ lawsuit the judge said was ‘based on a completely false story.’” In line with the reluctance of American judges to award Rule 11 sanctions, the judge awarded only a small fraction of the defendant’s actual outlay in attorney’s fees, which ran into many millions. Motley Rice is a chief beneficiary of the ongoing income stream of the tobacco litigation fees, which return $500 million a year to an assortment of plaintiff’s firms. [Dan Fisher, Forbes]

Tags: colleges and universities, Motley Rice, sanctions, whistleblowers

“Judge Slaps Motley Rice With Fees Over ‘Frivolous’ Lawsuit” is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

It was the dirty carpeting

Walter Olson — Tue, 06 Mar 2012 16:05:01 +0000

A fired Florida TV anchorman claims whistleblowing retaliation [Fort Myers News-Press]

Tags: broadcasters, Florida, OSHA, whistleblowers

It was the dirty carpeting is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

November 16 roundup

Walter Olson — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 05:19:06 +0000

Sure, let’s subvert sound mortgage accounting in the name of energy efficiency. What could go wrong? [Mark Calabria, Kevin Funnell]
California: fireworks shows are “development” and coastal commission can ban ‘em [Laer Pearce, Daily Caller]
Trial lawyers’ lobbyist: I got Cuomo to bash Chevron in Ecuador case [John Schwartz, NYT]
Politics of intimidation: “jobs bill” advocates occupy office of Sen. Minority Leader McConnell (R-Ky.) [ABC News] Union protesters invade Sotheby’s during big auction [NYObserver] “Occupy Denver protesters try to storm conference of conservative bloggers” [Denver Post] “What’s the matter with Oakland?” [Megan McArdle] Post-’08 downturn, not wealth of the few, at root of economic woes [Steve Chapman] “Bohm-Bawerk forget to include [Ms. Katchpole] in his commentaries on sundry theories of interest.” [Tyler Cowen]
New breakthroughs in abundant energy aren’t welcome to some [NYT "Room for Debate"] Is GOP wrong to make EPA an issue? [Michael Barone]
After extracting $450,000 settlement, employee admits falsifying whistleblower evidence in oil filter antitrust case; class action suits continue [Bloomberg, Abby Schachter/NYPost via PoL]
Least surprising Washington-DC-datelined story of year: “Medical malpractice reform efforts stalled” [Politico]

Tags: Andrew Cuomo, antitrust, California, Chevron, environment, labor unions, mortgages, whistleblowers

November 16 roundup is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system