Is it imperiled by a recent Supreme Court decision? A paper to be presented at the Cato Institute’s Sept. 16 Constitution Day conference looks into the question. [Josh Wright, Truth on the Market; date now fixed]
Archive for 2010
“Emma Thompson on Making Kids Brave”
Famed for playing (among others) the tough Nanny McPhee, the actress has this to say (BabyCenter interview via FreeRangeKids):
I think it’s good to be brave because then you’re also slightly more able to cope with failure and failure of course is your best friend in every regard really. Children are brave and they’re more likely to take risks and they’re more likely to learn really important lessons.
That’s really what I mean by being brave, you know. That we take care of our children very carefully and that’s absolutely right, but in certainly my culture children are being so, I think, stifled by sort of health and safety so that they’re not climbing trees anymore, they’re not taking risks, physical risks anymore.
Ireland: Annals of non sequiturs
“Ahern may look at higher ATM fees after €300,000 robbery and kidnap” [Irish Times]
Citizenry as suckers
Should the North Carolina tax department really behave as if it regards them as that? [Patrick at Popehat]
“People are shocked to learn they can be sued for posting, ‘My dentist stinks.'”
No disrespect to any actual dentists intended, honest. It’s just an example (from Eric Goldman) from an article on the proliferation of suits charging online defamation. “‘It was probably inevitable, but we have seen a steady growth in litigation over content on the Internet,’ said Sandra Baron, executive director of the Media Law Resource Center in New York.” [L.A. Times]
P.S.: “A Duluth physician is suing the son of a former patient for publicly criticizing his bedside manner.” [Duluth News Tribune via Citizen Media Law, McKee v. Laurion]
September 3 roundup
- TSA asserts security-line authority against … suspected embezzlers? [Coyote, Ken at Popehat]
- “How the Next Hurricane Could Bankrupt Florida” [Eli Lehrer, Frum Forum]
- In Yahoo settlement “vast majority of the class gets nothing” [Frith, Cal Civil Justice]
- Royal road to legal riches: work for the federal prosecutor in Manhattan [David Zaring, Conglomerate]
- Taxpayers, get ready to bail out union pension plans [The Lid]
- Japan moving closer to U.S.-style securities litigation? [D&O Diary]
- “Is the Contemporary Supreme Court Really That Conservative?” [Bartels, ConcurOp]
- “EEOC encourages anonymous harassment complaints” [eleven years ago at Overlawyered]
“Bad idea of the day: copyrighting cocktails”
What were they drinking when they came up with this idea? “The fact is that the current cocktail renaissance is coming about because, rather than despite, the fact that cocktail recipes are easily shared and remixed.” [Felix Salmon]
Swing sets removed from playgrounds
In Cabell County, West Virginia, “in part because of lawsuits over injuries.” [AP] More: Investor’s Business Daily (editorial). Another view: Eric Turkewitz.
September 2 roundup
- Elevator-injury case: “Citing Attorney’s Inflammatory Language, Court Erases Most of Jury Verdict” [Daily Business Report]
- “Obama’s zealous civil rights enforcer gets busy” [Byron York, Examiner]
- “Trend: Helicopter parents win kids in divorce” [Theresa Walsh Giarrusso, Atlanta Journal-Constitution “Momania”]
- Faculty fracas: “An Angry Professor Mounts His Own Labor Protest in Alabama” [Chronicle of Higher Ed]
- An opportunity for the Seventh Circuit to curb derivative strike suits? [CCAF]
- Emily Bazelon on Phoebe Prince school-bullying story, cont’d [Slate, earlier]
- Controversy as Louisiana governor Jindal hires longtime Overlawyered favorites Baron & Budd for BP suit [Dan Fisher, Forbes]
- “Oz: A$100K for prisoner who fell out of bed” [seven years ago on Overlawyered]
On tonight’s John Stossel show (FBN)
I’m a guest on tonight’s John Stossel program on the Fox Business Network, on the subject of the consequences of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). The show was shot live to tape yesterday in New York and was fascinating throughout; even those who think they know this subject well will learn a lot. I’m also quoted in John’s latest syndicated column on the same issue.
Among the highlights of the taping: a disabled-rights lobbyist defended several extreme applications of the law, including the notion that it might be appropriate to force networks to hire someone who suffers from stuttering as on-air television talent. We also shed some light on the state of California’s up-to-$4,000-a-violation bounty system for freelancers who identify ADA violations in Main Street businesses, and the case for at least requiring complainants to give business owners notice and an opportunity to fix an ADA violation before suing. (The disabled-rights lobby has managed to stifle that proposal in Congress for years.) Also mentioned: the suit against the Chipotle restaurant chain recently covered in this space.
Other recent coverage of the ADA here and here (cross-posted from Cato at Liberty). More: Amy Alkon notes some New York City examples from a commenter.