Overlawyered: Chronicling The High Cost Of Our Legal System

Archive for September, 2011

Treading with care in art authentication

Highly regarded art scholars are keeping mum, or communicating only cryptically, regarding their doubts as to the authenticity of claimed works by French master Edgar Degas. Why? They’re afraid of being sued:

Unfortunately, such silence is not an isolated incident but part of what seems to be a growing trend nationwide among art experts, where fear of litigation seems to be stifling open, honest and constructive debate. Also keeping much quieter than they should on the matter of the Degas sculpture market are organizations such as the Association of Art Museum Directors, the Art Dealers Association of America, the American Association of Museums and the College Art Association.

[William D. Cohan, Bloomberg]

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September 21 roundup

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“Will restricting criminal background checks actually increase minority unemployment?”

One of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s current big projects — making it legally hazardous for employers to check job applicants’ criminal records — could actually backfire, according to research cited by some members of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights [Caroline May, Daily Caller]:

Civil Rights Commissioners Peter Kirsanow, Gail Heriot and Todd Gaziano pointed to research from economists Harry Holzer and Stephen Rafael and public policy professor Michael Stoll, published in the Journal of Law and Economics, which showed that employers with access to background checks are actually more likely to hire African Americans, especially African American men, than those without access to that informaion.

“Their results suggest that, in the absence of criminal background checks, some employers discriminate statistically against black men and/or those with weak employment records,” the commissioners pointed out in their letter to the EEOC.

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Upcoming speeches: Washington & Lee, University of Virginia

I’ll be speaking this week at two law schools in Virginia, courtesy of the local Federalist Society chapters, about my new book Schools for Misrule. At noon Wednesday I’ll be talking to students at Washington & Lee in Lexington, Va., and then at noon Thursday I’ll speak at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, with Prof. J. Gordon Hylton slated to respond. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed my past visits to both schools and expect that these will be a treat as well. If you’re in the area, consider dropping by.

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Liability for negligent expert witnesses?

The recent British decision of Jones v. Kaney points in that direction, and one expert in Canada says, “Bring it on” (via Erik Magraken):

I like Britain’s approach because everyone, including expert witnesses, should be responsible for their actions. … I make an error or I provide care that’s below standard, I should be held responsible and I am. I don’t see why that responsibility should disappear because I’m now acting as an expert on the witness stand in court.

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September 19 roundup

  • Educator: please don’t bring lawyers to parent-teacher meetings [Ron Clark, CNN] Steve Brill: what I found when I investigated NYC teacher “rubber rooms” [Reuters] “The Six Dumbest Things Schools Are Doing in the Name of Safety” [Cracked] School waterfall liability [Lincoln, Neb. Journal-Star]
  • As predicted: “Dodd-Frank Paperwork a Bonanza for Consultants and Lawyers” [NYT]
  • “Running out of common drugs” [Josh Bloom, NY Post] Pharmaceutical shortages: the role of Medicare price controls [Richard Epstein, Hoover; earlier here, here, etc.]
  • DoT insists on exposing private flight plans online. Yoo-hoo, privacy advocates? [Steve Chapman]
  • New class action law in Mexico includes loser-pays provision [WSJ]
  • Newt Gingrich candidacy revives memories of his 1995 call for death penalty (with “mass executions”) for drug smuggling [NYT archive via Josh Barro; see also @timothy_watson “Sounds kinda like Shariah Law to me.”)
  • “Cy pres slush fund in Georgia under ethics investigation” [PoL]

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