November 21 roundup

  • Federalist Society annual convention (which I attended) included panels on anonymity and the First Amendment, judicial recusals, many other topics;
  • Nomination of R.I.’s McConnell to federal bench could soon reach Senate floor [ProJo]
  • “Why U.S. Taxpayers Are Paying Brazilian Cotton Growers $147 Million” [NPR via Popehat]
  • “Litigation Governance: Taking Adequacy Seriously” [Trask, Class Action Countermeasures]
  • “Family” groups vs. a family, cont’d: Vermont Supreme Court upholds Miller-Jenkins custody ruling [Volokh, BTB]
  • OSHA allows more comment on what could be an extremely expensive mandate against noise in the workplace [ShopFloor]
  • Cops who inform on cops are often left to twist in wind [Balko]
  • Interview with Mark Zaid, collector of comic book art with law/legal themes [Abnormal Use]

Court: riding oil pump like toy horse could be “reasonably anticipated” use

By reversing a grant of summary judgment, a Louisiana court has reinstated a suit alleging that the manufacturer of a 50-year-old oil pump should have reasonably anticipated that a 13-year-old boy would climb onto its moving pendulum and attempt to ride it for fun, thus injuring himself. As evidence that such a use was reasonably foreseeable, plaintiffs offered three instances in which kids had been hurt attempting similar stunts in other states — all of which, as it happened, had occurred well after the making of the Louisiana pump, leaving it unclear in what way they could have served to put its manufacturer “on notice” of anything. [Sean Wajert]

New Jersey gun transport case, cont’d

We earlier linked the story of Brian Aitken, a man convicted under New Jersey’s tough gun control laws of transporting his own firearms at a time when he said he was between household moves. Some readers felt the reporting on the case had not drawn out as many of the details as they wished, and Radley Balko has now moved to fill the gap with a column at Reason delving further into the story (more).

November 18 roundup