Charles Schumer, senior senator from New York, really does not seem to trust consumers to decide on their own arrangements, notes Steve Chapman.
P.S. Nor it seems is military spouse Holly Petraeus [Ira Stoll]
Speech criticizing lawsuit = “retaliation”
Brushing off First Amendment objections, a federal court has ruled that a union can be sued for “retaliation” after it defended itself in print against a lawsuit by two of its members. [Eugene Volokh]
November 14 roundup
- Seeking to address widespread pharmaceutical shortages, Obama executive order downplays government role in causing them [Fair Warning, WSJ editorial, earlier here, here, here, here, etc.]
- “The school has a strict no-hugging policy….” [WKMG Orlando]
- Retired Justice John Paul Stevens isn’t buying the “Thomas should recuse” meme [USA Today via Legal Ethics Forum]
- Not COPPA-cetic: among other unintended consequences, Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act has encouraged parents to help kids to falsify ages online [Danah Boyd via Jim Harper, Suderman, Reason, Stewart Baker, earlier]
- Lawmaking from the bench: Maryland high court strikes down law limiting landlords’ lead paint liability [Ronald Miller] “Maryland court sides with plaintiffs in slip-and-fall cases” [Emily Babay, Examiner]
- Trial lawyers help bail out Bexar County Democratic party [San Antonio Express-News]
- Supreme Court agrees to hear case arguing that aggressive enforcement of local housing code violates federal Fair Housing Act [Magner v. Gallagher, SCOTUSBlog, Illinois Municipal League, Daniel Fisher, Inverse Condemnation]
“Couple sues airline over cockroaches on plane”
Attorney Harry Marsh and his fiancée, Kaitlin Rush, are “suing AirTran Airways, claiming they saw cockroaches coming out of air vents and storage areas on a recent flight and that attendants ignored their concerns…. They’re suing for more than $100,000, plus the price of their tickets.” The airline denies some of the allegations in the suit and says it takes precautions against bugs. [Charlotte Observer]
Making Veteran’s Day friends
A staffer at Suffolk Law School in Boston solicited “much needed supplies to put in care packages to be sent to deployed troops” in Afghanistan, including a Suffolk student serving there. That didn’t sit well with Prof. Michael Avery, whose letter deploring the request, as well as the display of a large American flag at Suffolk, has been stirring discussion among Michael Graham listeners and Above the Law readers ever since.
Update roundup
Further on stories we’ve noted in the past:
- Objectors including CCAF and CEI challenge Cobell Indian trust settlement [Legal Times, PoL, earlier]
- Post-mortems continue on Ohio S.B. 5 labor measure [Daniel DiSalvo, Christian Schneider, earlier]
- More on divorced man’s dogged pursuit of case against wedding photographer [Above the Law, earlier]
- Arkansas AG McDaniel: I’ll stop steering cy pres funds to charities [Arkansas Project, PoL, earlier]
- Rochester: “Police Union Punishes DA’s Office for Not Illegally Charging Woman Who Recorded Cops” [Radley Balko, earlier]
- “Men at Work lose appeal over Kookaburra riff” [Guardian via Legal Blog Watch, earlier here, etc.]
- Wash. Supreme Court overturns woman’s horn-honking conviction [Seattle Times, opinion PDF, earlier here, here]
FCPA needs rollback, not just more clarity
I’ve got a new post at Cato at Liberty summarizing the case for rolling back, not just clarifying, the vague yet draconian Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (& Point of Law, @RameshPonnuru). More: FCPA Professor. Related: Open Society Foundation publishes lawprofs’ defense of FCPA. How convincing is it? [FCPA Prof]
More from Scott Greenfield, including some comments on the FCPA-entrenching tendency of the DoJ-white collar bar partnership, and this from commenter “Libertarian Advocate”: “Seen through a different prism, the FCPA is a loud and unambiguous statement by the federal government that it reserves unto itself the exclusive right to corrupt foreign entities and officials.” And FCPA Professor isn’t on board with our criticism. Further: PoL on specific reform proposals.
Federalist Society convention in D.C.
I’ll be there today, so feel free to step up and say hello if you’re a reader.
November 11 roundup
- Manhattan Institute’s “Trial Lawyers Inc.” series looks at cozy relations between state attorneys general and plaintiff’s bar [report, related featured discussion, Copland, Examiner] Report comes down hard on Ohio’s Richard Cordray, nominee to head CFPB [Copland, Gorodetski/PoL] Judge tosses Cordray suit against credit rating agencies [O’Brien/LNL, Krauss/American Thinker] Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller denounces report [IowaPolitics.com]
- “The Tort of Internet Mobbing Is Perfect For Suing The Internet” [Popehat]
- Canada faces challenge to hate speech law [Arthur Bright, Citizen Media Law] Do not put a frog down Her Majesty’s back at the county fair [Lowering the Bar]
- “Markopolos eyes a fortune from BNY whistleblowing” [Felix Salmon] “Bounty hunters in Korea” and closer to home [Alex Tabarrok] “Developments in Whistleblower Laws: Advantage Whistleblower” [Larry Wood & Richard William Diaz, Federalist Society “Engage”]
- As third party liability for crime anecdotes go, the case of Bonilla v. Motel 6 is on the lurid side [Point of Law]
- Prospect of cyberwar: official U.S. response is commando lawyering [Stewart Baker, Foreign Policy]
- Why it’s hard to stimulate manufacturing through product liability reform in one state [Rick Esenberg]
Lawyer’s suit: this breakfast’s no good
The complimentary breakfast provided with membership in the expensive Setai Club & Spa Wall Street used to be really good, according to injury attorney Richard Katz. Then they replaced it with just a cold buffet. The club said it offered Katz a prorated refund of his remaining membership after he complained, but he’s suing for $730,000, including a claim that he was defamed. [Gawker, Above the Law ]