Terry Teachout thus nominates the verbal barbed wire that surrounds the work of the late poet Louis Zukofsky (see also).
Archive for September, 2011
“ADA lawsuits questioned after serial plaintiff claiming emphysema caught on tape hiking”
James Farkus Cohan, who’s sued at least 161 businesses under California’s liberal version of the ADA as a disabled plaintiff, says he has end-stage emphysema, but a KABC investigation found him rather spry. Cohan’s other businesses, the station reports, include procurement of human organs for transplant. Lawmakers in Sacramento this year refused business pleas to tighten standards for filing the lucrative suits, which extract millions annually [via Lowering the Bar and Amy Alkon]
“Courts Put the Brakes on Agenda of G.O.P.”
A. G. Sulzberger quotes me in yesterday’s New York Times on the wave of court challenges that has met legislation in state capitals on immigration, abortion, financing for Planned Parenthood, and other hot topics. Federal judges have recently issued injunctions blocking part or all of controversial state enactments on all these topics.
September 6 roundup
- “For any value of x, ‘X’s Law’ is a bad idea.” [David Wagner on this Radley Balko post]
- “Politicized hiring at DOJ” shoe is on the other foot now [Caroline May, Daily Caller; Hans Bader/CEI]
- “THE FACTS: Nothing is unconstitutional until courts declare it to be so,” quoth AP. Whaaaa? [Taranto]
- Pull back your town’s Section 8 program, get sued or investigated [James Bovard, WSJ]
- New Jersey Turnpike Authority legal payouts include $150K in legal fees to ADA claimant [Press of Atlantic City]
- NYT’s faux-criticism of Title IX enforcers: colleges aren’t cowed enough by them [Joshua Thompson, PLF Liberty Blog]
- After silicosis-payout scandal, lawsuits aim at defrauded insurer among other parties [Brenda Sapino Jeffreys, Texas Lawyer, earlier]
Ditch the bike helmet
A TED talk idea from Mikael Colville-Andersen [TBD].
Attorney demand letters
Should they be nastygrams, or adopt a more measured tone? [Ron Miller]
A celebrated $32 million Vioxx case…
…Garza v. Merck, ends with a whimper as the Texas Supreme Court unanimously throws it out. Ted has more at PoL.
Sued over harsh review of day-care center
“I felt I had a right to say it because it was a review,” said Erinn Richard. How wrong she was! The school has filed at least two other suits against persons who have criticized it online. [Cincinnati Enquirer via Gillespie]
Overcriminalization and plea bargaining
How they feed off each other. [Lucian Dervan, Journal of Law, Economics and Policy, SSRN]
“$60,000 Damages for Blogging the Truth About Someone, Intending to Get the Person Fired”
Eugene Volokh predicts that a Minnesota jury’s award will not stand; not only are people “constitutionally entitled to speak the truth about others, even with the goal of trying to get them fired,” but the “First Amendment constrains the interference with business relations tort, just as it constrains the infliction of emotional distress and other torts.” [Volokh Conspiracy]