“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]
“CA bars may soon be able to serve infused alcohol”
A victory for California consumers and producers in search of artisanal tippling. [San Francisco Chronicle, last year]
September 2 roundup
- Jury acquits ex-firefighter who claimed disability while competing as a bodybuilder [Boston Herald]
- Authorities snatch kids from homes after parents busted with small amounts of pot [NYT, Tim Lynch/Cato]
- “Case Study on Impact of Tort Reform in Mississippi” [Mark Behrens via Scheuerman/TortsProf]
- When opt-in works: “More than 27,000 S. Korean users join class-action suit against Apple” [Yonhap]
- Casino liable after customers leave kids unattended in cars? [Max Kennerly]
- All is forgiven, says frequent investment plaintiff: “State Street Rehired by Calpers After Being Likened to ‘Thugs’” [Business Week]
- Vintage comic book covers on law themes are a regular Friday feature at Abnormal Use.
Gonna wash Salon right outta my hair
A howler-packed Michael Lind screed against libertarians and classical liberals asserts, among other tall things, that John Stuart Mill, Benjamin Constant, and Thomas Macaulay were apologists for “autocracy.” I do my bit to correct the historical record at Cato at Liberty. Meanwhile, Will Wilkinson and Jason Kuznicki challenge Lind’s gross misrepresentations of Mises and Hayek, while Damon Root and Roderick Long take on some of his other errors. Sam Schulman, on Twitter, has fun with “Michael Lind’s eccentric view of history, upon the pinnacle of which stands – Michael Lind.” And yet more: Sam Bowman, AdamSmith.org, Brad Schlesinger, Pejman Yousefzadeh.
Calif. bill proposes work rules, meal breaks for babysitters
The bill would also require employers of babysitters, i.e. parents, to prepare extensive paperwork and keep it on file for at least three years after a wage payment. Some critics say the obligation to provide periodic breaks would require families to hire a second sitter to relieve the first. Homeowners would be required to permit all-day domestic workers to prepare their own food in the family kitchen and would be forbidden to object to the workers’ choice of food. AB 889, sponsored by Assemblyman Tom Ammiano (D-S.F.) and grandly labeled the “Domestic Workers’ Bill of Rights,” has passed the lower house in Sacramento and will now be considered by the Senate. [NBC Los Angeles, Matt Welch, Sen. Doug LaMalfa, earlier] Last year New York made itself the first state to extend general workplace regulation to domestic employment.
September 1 roundup
- “Massage Parlor Mistrial Declared After Masseuse Recognizes Defense Lawyer as Client” [ABA Journal]
- Paying opposing expert to leave country? “Drug company lawyer taped trying to foil lawsuit” [AP]
- What anti-business crusades have in common with the War on Drugs [David Henderson] Some of those “oil and gas subsidies” aren’t [Coyote]
- Nocera on NLRB v. Boeing [NYT] A contrary view [Hirsch]
- Science finds no link between WTC dust, cancer? Then science will just have to give [Jeff Stier, Reason; but see later study on firefighters at the scene]
- Per Maureen Orth at Vanity Fair, the widow of designer Oleg Cassini has been in at least 15 lawsuits. Guess who’s named in number 16? [AW]
- Stop competing with us! Lawyers claim online-legal-form provider LegalZoom is engaged in unauthorized practice of law [WSJ, Dan Fisher, ABA Journal]
The cost of light planes
The cost of buying a Piper Cub or similar sport/light aircraft has risen very steeply as measured in constant dollars or labor hours since 1947, in contrast to the cost of most other engineered goods. Economists David Henderson and W. Kip Viscusi know why.
“Minivan-drownings suit could cost taxpayers plenty”
Following the horrific murder-suicide of a woman who intentionally drowned herself and three of her four children, the woman’s estranged boyfriend is suing the city of Newburgh, N.Y. and its surrounding county for failing to prevent the crime. Joint and several liability reform would help, if only Albany were more sympathetic to the cause. [Thomas Stebbins, Poughkeepsie Journal; Daily News]