Gender gaps and asymmetry

At the University of Florida female students in the entering class now outnumber male by 3 to 2, and a spokesman matter-of-factly explains: “Girls are being admitted because they are doing the things to be admitted and boys aren’t.” Coyote accepts the statement as rational, but tries to imagine how it would have been received if all the facts were the same but the genders were reversed.

P.S. From the Manhattan Institute’s Minding the Campus, two new articles on the controversy over lesser female representation in science, technology, engineering and math: Susan Pinker, “On Women, STEM and Hidden Bias“, and John Rosenberg, “The Misguided Push for STEM Diversity.”

Filed under: colleges and universities, sex discrimination

Class action suit over GameStop resales

GameStop has made a lucrative business out of reselling used videogames. Now a class-action lawsuit claims the sales are deceptive because buyers of the used games are often unable to access downloadable content and other perks available to first-sale buyers. [Kotaku, Screen Play]

Filed under: class actions, videogames

April 6 roundup

“Trademark Infringement Suit by AAJ Against Another Trial Lawyer Group to Go to Trial” [Qualters, NLJ]
NPR covers SLAPP suits [On the Media]
Wi-fi, junk science, loser-pays and lawsuit lunacy [Popehat, Chicago Tribune, earlier here and here]
Metro-East Illinois attorney Rex Carr told to pay $635K in sanctions for bad faith suits against former partners [Belleville News-Democrat, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Courthouse News]
Sheep with the bends: “Animal Rights Groups Getting Clever With the Law” [WSJ Law Blog]
Canada: “Comedian Charged With Human Rights Violation By Lesbian Insulted At Club” [Turley]
Princeton freshman sues after being denied extra time to complete test [Princeton Packet via Obscure Store]
Eric Turkewitz: why my April Fool’s prank wasn’t an ethical violation under NY rules [New York Personal Injury Law Blog] Update: Colin Samuels recounts the whole affair at Infamy or Praise.

Filed under: AAJ, animal rights, cellphones, disability & schools, free speech in Canada, libel slander and defamation, Madison County

U.K.: “Police criticized for staging mock burglaries”

From the city of Exeter, great moments in community outreach: “police were under fire today after admitting they had been sneaking into people’s homes through open doors and windows and gathering up their valuables into ‘swag’ bags.” The idea was to prod careless owners into improving their security efforts, but “not all residents were happy and a criminal lawyer suggested that the police may have been guilty of trespass.” [The Guardian] Earlier, and nearly as outrageous: Sept. 2 (cops in London borough “remove valuables from unlocked cars to teach the owners about safety”). More: Dueling Barstools on the differences between U.K. and U.S. law, constitutional and otherwise, on this sort of thing.

Filed under: police, United Kingdom

Speaking in Chicago Monday, April 12

Chicago-area readers may be interested in attending a 12:15 pm lunchtime debate sponsored by the University of Chicago Law School Federalist Society between me and Tom Geoghegan about tort reform and the role (or non-role) of Republican deregulation in the litigation explosion—a debate I’ve previously engaged in in print.

Filed under: Chicago, Federalist Society, live in person, Ted Frank, Thomas Geoghegan

“You shouldn’t trivialize issues of health and safety by calling them nanny issues.”

Finger-wagging from a New York Times interviewer [via Matt Welch, Reason “Hit and Run”]

Filed under: nanny state, New York Times, safety

Personal injury law firm will have drive-through window

Manchester, Connecticut: A “new law office opening in a former fast food restaurant will keep the drive-through window.” The Kocian Law Group doesn’t intend to do full client consultations through the window, but plans to put it to use for document handoffs and similar purposes. [Hartford Courant]

Filed under: Connecticut

Sun glare blamed on ballpark owner

“Slo-pitch player sues field owner after being struck by ball” reads the headline of the Globe and Mail’s story from Hamilton, Ontario. A judge is allowing the suit to go forward, noting “that diamond officials had talked about putting up sun screens at the field.”

Filed under: assumption of risk, baseball, Canada

“States fear that five words in Obama health law will open door to lawsuits”

“Tucked away on page 466” is a provision that quietly replaces states’ obligation to make sure doctors are paid to deliver services to the poor with a new obligation to make sure the services are in fact delivered. “‘With the expanded definition, it leaves every state vulnerable to a new wave of lawsuits any time someone cannot access a service, even if that service is limited by virtue of the rates we pay,’ said Alan Levine, Louisiana’s secretary of health and hospitals, in a recent memo prepared for fellow state government officials.” [Jon Ward, Daily Caller]

Filed under: medical, taxpayers

April 4 roundup

“Wisconsin law prof has name legally changed to Mitch — just Mitch” [Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel via Obscure Store]
Undue encumbrance? “Developers Trying To Treat Houses Like Copyright; Want A Cut Of Every Future Resale” [Techdirt]
It seems the anonymous online comments were made from the judge’s online account [Cleveland Plain Dealer] More: ABA Journal.
NLJ reports on surge of patent false marking suits [earlier here, here, here, etc.]
Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas, often mentioned in this space, will resign to run for Arizona attorney general [KPHO]
NY Times last month: those awful meanies who criticize litigation are going to harp on hot chicken sandwich case [WSJ Law Blog] You mean like…?
“British Libel Reform: Finally to Be a Reality?” [Citizen Media Law]
Trademark case settlement: “North Face, South Butt Agree to Turn Other Cheek” [Baxter, American Lawyer, earlier here and here]

Filed under: Arizona, Cleveland, patent marking, real estate, Wisconsin