- Housing collapse: when are you safer, at the top of the cliff or after falling off? [Calculated Risk] #
- New American Spectator piece quotes Ted and me on demonization of deregulation [Point of Law] #
- Ted is eeeevil … so sez Daily Kos-ite on finding his name among signers of Palin trooper amicus [Celtic Diva’s Blue Oasis] More: Aviva Cuyler, JD Supra. #
- Tried snipping the depressing bits out of the paper but all that was left was half the gardening column and a recipe #
- It’s my counterparty and I’ll cry if I want to [Naked Capitalism]
Archive for October, 2008
Bounteous bankruptcies: Lehman Brothers
Fueled by Weil Gotshal & Manges partner rates in the $950/hour vicinity, “fees for lawyers, accountants and financial advisers in the Lehman case may reach $906 million, according to [bankruptcy lawprof] Lynn LoPucki”. (Bloomberg, Oct. 9). Elie Mystal at Above the Law notes a recent fee survey and concludes that “Lehman is getting the most expensive bankruptcy money can buy”.
Actually, bankruptcy professionals might earn even a very rich keep if they provided a quick and decisive way to allocate losses from the failure, move Lehman assets to their most productive uses and bring relative certainty to all parties. The prospect instead of slow, chancy, and hard-fought wrangling is one major reason why the administratively assisted “speed bankruptcy” model of financial institution reorganization, seen in the Washington Mutual case, has been winning praise from knowledgeable observers (e.g. Alex Tabarrok). If speed bankruptcy seems well suited to the crisis, one reason is that conventional, protracted, lawyer-run bankruptcy seems so ill-suited. More: Roger Parloff, Fortune “Legal Pad”, American Lawyer.
U.K.: Great moments in international human rights law
Fowzi Badavi Nejad, the only survivor among six terrorists who seized the Iranian Embassy and 26 hostages in London 28 years ago, “has reportedly been assured he will not be deported back to his native Iran because of human rights laws, and will instead stay in Britain at taxpayers’ expense.” (Chris Irvine, “Iranian Embassy terrorist to be freed this month can claim benefits”, Daily Telegraph, Oct. 9).
End of an error?
Ralph Nader’s “big campaign stop at Dartmouth College on Monday drew an audience of eight. The Connecticut Valley Spectator reported the news on its obituaries page.” (Mark Steyn, NRO “Corner”, Oct. 9). But note: other coverage of what was presumably the same event gives the total attendance at 40, specifying that under ten persons “appeared to be Dartmouth students”, which may be where the “eight” came from.
Fantasy sports, fair use and the First Amendment
October 9 roundup
- Appeals court upholds Ted Roberts “sextortion” conviction [Bashman with lots of links, San Antonio Express-News]
- Alito incredulous at FTC: you guys have failed to raise a peep about bogus tar & nicotine numbers for how long? [PoL]
- Please, Mr. Pandit, do the country a favor and don’t litigate Citigroup’s rights to the utmost in the Wachovia-Wells Fargo affair [Jenkins, WSJ]
- Docblogger Westby Fisher, hit with expensive subpoena over contents of his comments section, wonders whether it’s worth it to go on blogging [Dr. Wes, earlier]
- “Title IX and Athletics: A Primer”, critical study for Independent Women’s Forum [Kasic/Schuld, PDF; my two cents]
- Case of whale-bothering Navy sonar, often covered in this space, argued before high court [FoxNews.com]
- More on Kentucky’s efforts to seize Internet domain names of online gambling providers [WaPo, earlier]
- Exposure to pigeon droppings at Iraq ammo warehouse doesn’t seem to have affected worker’s health, but it was disgusting and she’s filed a False Claims Act lawsuit against private contractor for big bucks [St. Petersburg Times, Patricia Howard, USA Environmental; but see comment taking issue]
“Being male” as potential disability?
Sounds like the stuff of parody, but at least one lawyer at a highly regarded firm (Louis Solomon, co-head of the global litigation department at Proskauer Rose) seems to be taking the idea seriously as one possible application of Congress’s recent expansion of the ADA. (Tresa Baldas, “A New Potential Disability: Being Male?”, National Law Journal, Oct. 7).
Microblog 2008-10-08
- “Just once I’d like to see a candidate respond: ‘Sorry but that’s not a legitimate function of the federal govt.'” [@radleybalko] #
- Pete Warden on reasons to be cheerful [PeteSearch] #
- Ribstein: Where was SOx in all this? [Ideoblog] #
- Top banks in Russia already govt-owned, hasn’t spared them in crisis [Pierre Briançon, Breaking Views] #
- Ed Glaeser: don’t try to prop up housing prices [NYT “Economix”; related, Salmon] #
- Yes, co-blogger Ted is now on Twitter and I think he needs more followers [@tedfrank] #
Wrong hair color ruined her social life
A judge has dismissed a lawsuit filed by a Stratford, Connecticut woman against the cosmetics firm L’Oreal, saying she hadn’t proven her contention that the company had put dark brown dye in a box labeled as blonde. “I can never go back to my natural blonde hair,” complained Charlotte Feeney, who said that she ended up going on medications for depression as well as wearing hats. “I feel fake about that. Also blondes do get more attention than brunettes, of course, emotionally, I miss that.” (Daniel Tepfer, “Woman sues over wrong hair color”, Connecticut Post, Oct. 7)(via ABA Journal).
Chasing Metrolink crash victims
Aggressive solicitation by lawyers has been raising hackles in Los Angeles since the commuter train crash. (Carol J. Williams, “Lawyers swoop in after the Metrolink crash, looking for clients”, L.A. Times, Oct. 5)(earlier)(via Stier, Mass Tort Prof).