A St. Louis chimney repairer’s recent run-in with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) illustrates some of the regulatory burdens that might be worsened by pending legislation that would greatly expand OSHA’s punitive powers. I explain at Cato at Liberty.
Archive for 2010
“Ohio Lawyer Suspended for Billing More than 24 Hours in a Day”
It’s a story we’ve encountered before; in this case the taxpayers of Lucas County (Ohio) got to pick up the lawyer’s bill for representing poor clients. She’ll be suspended for a year. [Legal Profession Blog via ABA Journal] Carolyn Elefant at MyShingle isn’t buying one suggestion that the episode should be blamed on inadequate training in law practice management.
August 30 roundup
- Ghastly CPSIA law reaches two-year anniversary [AmendTheCPSIA; related, CPSC Commissioner Northup]
- Longtime Overlawyered mentionee Andrew Thomas in GOP primary cliffhanger for Arizona AG [Coyote, background]
- Biased bar-b-q? “Suit challenges air pollution from restaurant as civil rights violation” [Alexandria, Va. Gazette-Packet via Mystal/AtL]
- Canada: “Lawyer Awarded $6M for Fall on Dance Floor After Firm-Sponsored Dinner” [ABA Journal]
- San Diego taxpayers rub their eyes and ask what went wrong with municipal-employee pensions [Union-Tribune via Alkon; more from Steven Greenhut and Megan McArdle]
- FM radio phone mandate? “Dying industry tries to regulate its way back into your life” [Freddoso/Examiner]
- “Judge assailed for fraud in Kentucky fen-phen case” [Andrew Wolfson, Louisville Courier-Journal]
- Taco Bell not liable for cost of Ganges purification pilgrimage after devout vegetarians inadvertently consume meat [eleven years ago on Overlawyered]
Protectionism disguised as reparations-ism?
A California lawmaker targets a French railroad. [Coyote]
“Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver’s firm gets cut of 9/11-suit payouts”
The New York Post has been doing some investigative journalism on the Ground Zero workers respiratory compensation settlement (more on expense filings).
U.K.: Great moments in legal aid
“The widow of a July 7 suicide bomber yesterday launched a High Court bid to be represented at the victims’ inquest – saying she had also suffered the loss of a loved one in the atrocity. Hasina Patel, whose husband was terrorist mastermind Mohammad Sidique Khan, is seeking legal aid to challenge the coroner’s decision to exclude Khan’s death from the hearing for the 52 victims of the 2005 London bombings.” [Daily Mail via Amy Alkon]
SEC’s “proxy access” initiative
Prof. Bainbridge pushes back against an Obama administration boon for shareholder activism, and detects “a political payoff by the Democrats in Congress and at the SEC for their buddies at union and state and local government pension funds.” More: comment letter to SEC (PDF) from John Endean of American Business Conference; Larry Ribstein.
August 28 roundup
- EPA considers petition to ban lead sporting ammunition and fishing sinkers [National Shooting Sports Federation via Zincavage]
- Claremont-McKenna economist Eric Helland, known for his work on litigation policy, joins the group blog Truth on the Market;
- European Union expresses concern about provisions of Foreign Manufacturers Legal Accountability Act [Sidley Austin, PDF letter courtesy Learning Resources]
- Michigan judge rules two waitresses can proceed with weight discrimination claim against Hooters [WSJ Law Blog, earlier]
- San Francisco prosecutors charge former MoFo partner and wife with misappropriating nearly $400,000 from funds earmarked for autistic son’s services [The Recorder]
- When litigants demand to depose the opponent’s CEO [Ted at PoL]
- Wal-Mart seeks Supreme Court review of billion-dollar job-bias class action [Ohio Employer’s Law]
- If you want to hire a home attendant to keep grandma from needing a nursing home, better hope you’re not in California [five years ago on Overlawyered]
“Messy Divorce Leads to Whistleblower Bounty in Pequot Capital Case”
Because even if the government can’t maintain a paid informer on every street corner, it can at least try to maintain one in every family. [Connecticut Law Tribune]
“Requiring Fitness for Duty Exam for Erratic Behavior Did Not Violate ADA”
“In Brownfield v. City of Yakima, the Ninth Circuit held that the City did not violate the ADA by requiring a police officer employee to undergo a fitness for duty exam following several incidents of erratic behavior by the employee.” [Robin Weideman, California Labor and Employment Law Blog]