- Teens in Gardendale, Ala. need a business license to cut grass and it’ll cost a cool $110; it was grown-up lawn servicer who threatened to call town if he saw teen cutting a lawn again [WBMA, UPI]
- “It Isn’t Just Hamburger Stands That Will Be Shut Down By ADA Lawsuit Filers. My Website And Countless Others Could Be” [Amy Alkon, related Mark Pulliam, L.A. Times, more on web accessibility]
- Ten years later, recalling when Nebraska state senator Ernie Chambers filed a lawsuit against God [Atlas Obscura, our coverage]
- 15% of Mumbai’s housing stock lies vacant, and 12% of India’s. Blame state housing mistakes and regulation of tenancy [Alex Tabarrok]
- “The Progressives Took Away Our Right to Contract. It’s Time to Reclaim It” [Iain Murray, FEE]
- “In that version, she didn’t do anything wrong — it was the other sexy cop who demanded money.” [Lowering the Bar on Ninth Circuit decision in Santopietro v. Howell, which breaks new ground as the first reported decision to use the phrase “sexy cop.”]
“New York does not have a chronic celebrity shortage that warrants rushed and careless legislation”
“The right of publicity is an offshoot of state privacy law that gives a person the right to limit the public use of her name, likeness, or identity for commercial purposes….Since the right of publicity can impact a huge range of speech, any changes to the law should be considered carefully.” But an Assembly bill in New York is being moved forward without much discussion that “would dramatically expand New York’s right of publicity, making it a property right that can be passed on to your heirs – even if you aren’t a New York resident.” [Daniel Nazer, EFF] Compare another piece of legislation intended to protect celebrities’ interests yet not well thought out, California’s recently enacted restrictions on the sale of signed memorabilia.
CPSC: Your product may be legal, but you’ll still need to destroy it
Last year the Tenth Circuit struck down the CPSC’s ban on tiny desk magnet sets. Pursuing the legal consequences of an earlier recall order, however, the CPSC has required the destruction of $40,000 worth of rare-earth magnets from the inventory of defiant manufacturer Zen Magnets. You can watch the resulting “funeral” at my new Cato post.
Libel insurance for non-journalists
The courtroom aftermath of social media slugfests is among factors helping drive wider interest in insurance against defamation-suit risks even by persons who do not write for a living [Polly Mosendz, Bloomberg]
Disorder in the Gotham courts
With so many judges owing their tenure on the New York bench to political connections and opaque methods of appointment, it’s a wonder there aren’t more subpar performers [New York Post]
Banking and finance roundup
- What’s actually in the new House-passed bill revamping Dodd-Frank? And what’s likely to happen to it in the Senate? [David Henderson, EconLib; Benjamin Parker, Weekly Standard; Stephen Bainbridge]
- Supreme Court, 9-0, rebuffs SEC: yes, disgorgement is a penalty and statute of limitations applies to it [Theresa Gabaldon/SCOTUSBlog (statutes of limitations “vital to the welfare of society,” per Sotomayor), Bainbridge and more, Thaya Brook Knight and Ilya Shapiro/Cato]
- Allan Meltzer, R.I.P. [James Dorn, Gerald O’Driscoll, Ian Vásquez, Cato]
- “The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and the New Trump Administration: Your Top Ten Questions Answered” [Foley & Lardner]
- June 15, mark your calendar: “Financial Crisis and Reform: Have We Done Enough to Fix the Government-Sponsored Entities?” with John Allison, Susan Wharton Gates, R. Christopher Whalen, Landon Parsons, and Ike Brannon, Cato event streaming live or in person in Washington, D.C.;
- Why, yes: “Is It Time to Repeal FATCA?” [Veronique de Rugy, more]
Playing the legal system like a violin while moving from victim to victim
In court a lot: “The Rise and Fall of Toronto’s Classiest Con Man” [Michael Lista, The Walrus]
Contingency-fee state and city suits against opioid makers
They capitalize on widespread public anger and frustration at the addiction epidemic, but face formidable legal hurdles — among them the fact that the marketing practices and language the suits assail as unlawful were often specifically approved by the federal Food and Drug Administration. Much impetus for the suits comes from private law firms that pitch the actions to governments as free, while setting themselves up for gigantic contingency fees after the eventual settlement. [Nate Raymond, Reuters]
Where is Kentucky’s disability king?
“This lawyer helped steal $600 million from the government, got caught — then disappeared” (Eric Christopher Conn, Kentucky) [Avi Seik, Washington Post; Bill Estep and Linda Blackford, Lexington Herald-Leader; FBI Louisville; earlier here and here]
Campus climate roundup
- This is big: Betsy DeVos appoints First Amendment advocate Adam Kissel as Deputy Assistant Secretary for higher ed programs [Inside Higher Ed]
- “He is currently exploring restorative justice from an anti-authoritarian perspective.” [East Bay Times, Berkeleyside on wayward former Diablo Valley College faculty member]
- “Oxford apologizes for saying that avoiding eye contact is racism, but not because the claim is mad.” [“Fabius Maximus” on BBC report]
- “…the Michigan Political Union has since had to avoid other debate topics for fear of similar shout-downs.” [National Review]
- Advice for academics: “Never object to a diversity policy publicly. It is no longer permitted.” [Jon Haidt, Peter Berkowitz on Duke Divinity case]
- Things began to spin awry at Evergreen State College with plan to require “equity justification” for every faculty hire [Bret Weinstein, WSJ; Inside Higher Ed; Seattle Times editorial]