Overlawyered: Chronicling The High Cost Of Our Legal System

Archive for 2010

November 22 roundup

Product liability edition:

  • You mean cigarettes were dangerous? “Florida jury awards $80M to daughter in anti-smoking case” [AP]
  • “Acne drug not found to increase suicide risk” [BBC, earlier on Accutane here, here, etc.]
  • “Man hit by jar of exploding fruit says $150,000 award isn’t enough” [Detroit News via Obscure Store]
  • Chicago accident coverage exemplifies Toyota acceleration hysteria [Fumento/CEI] NHTSA-NRC panel findings on subject [PoL]
  • Strict product liability is in decline, according to Prof. David Owen [Abnormal Use]
  • More questions raised on $500 million Nevada hepatitis verdict [PoL]
  • Notwithstanding chatter in press about toxic cosmetics, study finds cosmetologists have below-average cancer rates [David Oliver]
  • Florida juries repeatedly hold Ford liable for millions when drivers fall asleep [five years ago on Overlawyered]

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Another “breastaurant” battle: Twin Peaks vs. Grand Tetons

Trade undress, cont’d: two restaurant companies by the names of Twin Peaks and Grand Tetons (doing business as “Northern Exposure”) are now sparring in court over whether the latter improperly copied the former’s Hooters-meets-wilderness-lodge eatery concept [Siouxsie Law, Dallas Observer] In 2004, Hooters itself sued a rival establishment named WingHouse which it claimed had improperly copied distinctive elements such as its servers’ provocative manner of dressing.

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“Cell Phones and Brain Cancer: What Was The New York Times Thinking?”

Through its uncritical coverage of the purported radiation hazards of cellphones — taken up by noted toxics alarmist Devra Lee Davis as her latest crusade — the New York Times is taking chances with its credibility. Author Randall Stross seems unfamiliar with the tendency of companies to warn (on lawyers’ advice) against supposed risks they have good reason to consider non-existent, as in pharmaceutical package inserts and many other contexts [David Oliver, earlier, more]

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New York regulates household employment

Beginning November 29, those who employ nannies, housekeepers and similar workers in New York will be exposed to broad new legal liabilities. If the experience of other employers proves an example, some will get sued for years’ worth of back pay, front pay and other damages over alleged discrimination in hiring, promotion, or firing, or for permitting to develop in their home what an employee experiences as a “hostile work environment.” [Empire Justice Center]

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November 21 roundup

  • Federalist Society annual convention (which I attended) included panels on anonymity and the First Amendment, judicial recusals, many other topics;
  • Nomination of R.I.’s McConnell to federal bench could soon reach Senate floor [ProJo]
  • “Why U.S. Taxpayers Are Paying Brazilian Cotton Growers $147 Million” [NPR via Popehat]
  • “Litigation Governance: Taking Adequacy Seriously” [Trask, Class Action Countermeasures]
  • “Family” groups vs. a family, cont’d: Vermont Supreme Court upholds Miller-Jenkins custody ruling [Volokh, BTB]
  • OSHA allows more comment on what could be an extremely expensive mandate against noise in the workplace [ShopFloor]
  • Cops who inform on cops are often left to twist in wind [Balko]
  • Interview with Mark Zaid, collector of comic book art with law/legal themes [Abnormal Use]

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Court: riding oil pump like toy horse could be “reasonably anticipated” use

By reversing a grant of summary judgment, a Louisiana court has reinstated a suit alleging that the manufacturer of a 50-year-old oil pump should have reasonably anticipated that a 13-year-old boy would climb onto its moving pendulum and attempt to ride it for fun, thus injuring himself. As evidence that such a use was reasonably foreseeable, plaintiffs offered three instances in which kids had been hurt attempting similar stunts in other states — all of which, as it happened, had occurred well after the making of the Louisiana pump, leaving it unclear in what way they could have served to put its manufacturer “on notice” of anything. [Sean Wajert]

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New Jersey gun transport case, cont’d

We earlier linked the story of Brian Aitken, a man convicted under New Jersey’s tough gun control laws of transporting his own firearms at a time when he said he was between household moves. Some readers felt the reporting on the case had not drawn out as many of the details as they wished, and Radley Balko has now moved to fill the gap with a column at Reason delving further into the story (more).

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