- Long before North Korea “Interview” episode, Hollywood was caving repeatedly to power-wielders [Ron Maxwell, Deadline] Relevant: “A Tyranny of Silence,” new book by Danish-Muhammad-cartoons editor Flemming Rose published by Cato Institute [Kat Murti, earlier on the Danish cartoons, related Liberty and Law]
- Score 1 for First Amendment, zero for Prof. Banzhaf as FCC rejects “Redskins” broadcast license attack [Volokh, earlier including the prof’s comment on that post]
- Court dismisses orthopedist’s defamation suit against legal blogger Eric Turkewitz [his blog]
- “Hate speech” notions reach the Right? Author claims “justice” would mean incitement “charges” vs. liberal talkers [Ira Straus, National Review]
- Wisconsin prosecutors said to have eyed using John Doe law to aim warrants, subpoenas at media figures Sean Hannity, Charlie Sykes [Watchdog] More: George Leef on California vs. Americans for Prosperity;
- “British journalist sentenced for questioning death toll in Bangladeshi independence war” [Guardian] Pakistan sentences Bollywood actress Veena Malik to 26 years for acting in supposedly blasphemous TV wedding scene [The Independent] Erdogan regime in Turkey rounds up opposition media figures [Washington Post editorial]
- “Is it a crime to say things that make someone ‘lack self-confidence in her relations with the opposite sex and about her body-build’?” [Volokh; Iowa Supreme Court, affirmed on other grounds]
When the family is the last to know
The doctor legally couldn’t tell him his son was in drug trouble. Nor could the college. Maybe time to rethink federal privacy laws? [Tony Christ, DelmarvaNow]
“Let’s have a national conversation about race…”
“…so we can figure out whom to fire” [Eugene Volokh, on the employment-law dangers of conversation] Related: “Marquette University tells employees: ‘Opposition to same-sex marriage’ could be ‘unlawful harassment'” [same]
NYC’s expediters
Can New York City really support an army of an estimated 8,300 “expediters” who run paperwork around to city offices, wait in line, haggle with officials, and generally navigate the bureaucracy on behalf of those who need permits, licenses and other municipal decisions? It’s a testimony to the dysfunction of the city’s governance [Kanner, Renn/Urbanophile]
Best of Overlawyered — March 2014
More from the archives:
- Described as funniest Supreme Court amicus brief ever, and it prevailed in the Ohio campaign-law case [Ilya Shapiro, Trevor Burrus and Gabriel Latner for P.J. O’Rourke, via our post]
- Mardi Gras time: “Caution! Non-edible baby inside this cake”
- Most outrageous video lawyer ad ever?
- Lenore Skenazy (Free-Range Kids) spoke at Cato and it was one of the most popular talks I’ve attended there in years;
- “Colorado Man Could Sue Divers Who Saved Him From Submerged Car”
- Ohio school suspends 10-year-old for displaying a “level 2 look alike firearm,” namely his finger;
- “Brady Campaign To Honor Yee For Violence Prevention,” before the California lawmaker’s arms-trafficking indictment;
- Students “told to destroy rare Dodge Viper”
Update: “I’ll pay them a million dollars if they can do it.”
We reported five years ago on a contract-law hypothetical come to life: a criminal defense lawyer went on TV and said he’d give a million dollars if anyone could prove the prosecutor’s timeline was consistent with the known facts, whereupon an enterprising law student proceeded to do just that. The Eleventh Circuit said the proper test under Florida law was whether “a reasonable, objective person would have understood [the lawyer’s words] to be an invitation to contract.” And: “The exaggerated amount of ‘a million dollars’ – the common choice of movie villains and schoolyard wagerers alike — indicates that this was hyperbole.” And yet more: “we find it neither prudent nor permissible to impose contractual liability for offhand remarks or grandstanding.” [Ann Althouse, Lawrence Cunningham]
New York Times on bake-my-cake cases
A more balanced treatment than some we’ve seen in the press, including a video interview with Colorado baker Jack Phillips. [New York Times; earlier on forcing small business owners to service weddings against their beliefs here and here].
“When We Tell You to Do Something, Do It”
No need for reformers like Will Wilkinson to make the case against police unions when guys like this make it so eloquently. More: Radley Balko (MSNBC on video versus police-union account of Tamir Rice shooting in Cleveland); Cleveland Plain Dealer (woes of officer in earlier police job). “If you work in private sector, it can be mind-blowing to see mistakes you can make and still be employed as a cop” [@conor64]
Just one more story for now, from the Akai Gurley case in New York: “Instead of calling for help for the dying man, [sources told the newspaper, the NYPD officer who fired the shot] was texting his union representative.” [New York Daily News] “If there’s one thing that will turn liberals against public sector unions, it’ll be stuff like this.” [@timfernholz] Update: Flint Taylor, In These Times, gives one view from the left.
Liability roundup
- From the Manhattan Institute “Trial Lawyers Inc.” project, “Wheels of Fortune” (PDF), twin report on lawyers’ exploitation of SSDI (Social Security Disability) and ADA cases;
- Theodore Dalrymple on the flaws of the US litigation system [Liberty and Law]
- Testimony: “after he inquired about the 40 percent fee charged by [co-counsel] Chestnut, [Willie] Gary threatened to ‘tie up [client] Baker’s money in the courts for years so he would never live to see it.'” [Gainesville Sun]
- ATRA takes aim at rise of asbestos litigation in NYC [“Judicial Hellholes” series, Chamber-backed Legal NewsLine, New York Daily News (“national scandal”)]
- Another reminder that while plaintiff’s lawyers conventionally assail pre-dispute employment arbitration agreements, they routinely use them themselves [LNL]
- New U.S. Chamber papers on litigation trends: “Lawsuit Ecosystem II“; state supreme courts review;
- Changes ahead for class action rules? [Andrew Trask]
Eminent domain to seize “The Interview”?
It’s being suggested, in the wake of widespread outrage over the yanking of the film under threat, but please: let’s not run the whole country like the state of Maryland.
Also on the Sony affair, from @conor64: “Failure to release The Interview is less a sign of corporate cowardice than overbroad liability laws that would let people sue after attack.”