Lowering the Bar takes note of another little advance for criminalization.
Archive for August, 2009
Developer: we don’t want an unregulated land-use climate like Houston
Because without some sort of barriers to entry, how are you supposed to make the really big bucks? [Antiplanner via Coyote]
Passing labor-law bill will “Defeat the Right Forever”
Or at least that’s the theme of a panel discussion this week from the lefty Kossack folks, claiming that card check will consign conservatives to “permanent minority” status. [ShopFloor]
Blogosphere reaction
Larry Ribstein and Alexandra Lahav comment favorably, as does the pseudonymous “Kat”, and Scott Greenfield semi-snarks about my new job.
“Shrimp suit doesn’t hold water”
The New York Post reports on a putative class action brought by Marc Verzani complaining that Costco’s 16-oz shrimp platter doesn’t hold 16 ounces of shrimp. The SDNY judge noted that the platter holds other materials such as sauce and lemon wedges, and simultaneously denied and ridiculed the preliminary injunction motion. Verzani was alleging $40 million in annual damages.
Some wellsprings of high indignation
Noted by Terry Teachout in his “Almanac” feature:
“He recognized that common, much litigated type of human disagreement in which each party to it insists on reducing his opponent’s position or contention to its bare essentials–yes or no; did he, or did he not, still beat his wife?–while asserting the right to state his own position or contention with every circumstantial distinction preserved. High indignation and conflicting strong senses of righteousness resulted.”
James Gould Cozzens, Guard of Honor
Negligently flaunting illicit affair = legally responsible for later murders?
Eugene Volokh is troubled by a Hawaii tort case (Touchette v. Ganal, 922 P.2d 347 (Haw. 1996)) with admittedly unusual facts.
Feds charge lawyer with embezzling $950K
Prosecutors accuse Benjamin Eichholz of varied misdeeds, among them diverting pension fund moneys into inappropriate outlays that include a $56,100 Flora Danica fine china set on display at his home. “Eichholz maintains the china was an investment by the pension plan, according to News3OnYourSide.” Eichholz’s Savannah firm, like many others, has used actor Robert Vaughn as a TV pitchman. [ABA Journal; Tom Barton, Savannah Morning News (“probably Savannah’s best-known lawyer” owing to “cheesy” ads)]
Clotheslines as safety hazard?
Greenwich, Connecticut, has forbidden clotheslines — in an elderly-housing complex — as a purported safety hazard. Its director not very convincingly cited “liability issues – someone running around in the backyard in the dark”. [Christopher Fountain, For What It’s Worth]
Popular Mechanics on bad forensics
It’s a cover story entitled “CSI Myths: The Shaky Science Behind Forensics“:
Forensic science was not developed by scientists. It was mostly created by cops, who were guided by little more than common sense. And as hundreds of criminal cases begin to unravel, many established forensic practices are coming under fire. PM takes an in-depth look at the shaky science that has put innocent people behind bars.
Via Radley Balko and Scott Greenfield.