More about legal action on behalf of a character one wouldn’t think would have any reputation left to lose. [Lowering the Bar] Earlier here.
Brandeis on privacy
The most overrated law review article in history? Or an instance of useful legal doctrine developed from imperfect origins? [Stewart Baker, Volokh]
Securities law and spill news
“Given recent volatility in BP share price, I’m told that information related to top kill is now considered stock-market sensitive, which means it has to be managed under disclosure rules for the London and N.Y. stock exchanges,” the BP media official said in an e-mail message. “In a nutshell, that means all investors must be provided information on an equal basis. That precludes me from sending you updates as various aspects of the operation unfold.” — today’s New York Times. Readers can correct me if I’m wrong, but I believe securities law itself, and not merely private exchange rules, currently constrains companies’ release of stock-market-sensitive information.
P.S.: Ira Stoll, better informed than I about the background, makes the same point: “I agree with Mr. Carr that this is a problem, but his quarrel should be with the SEC and Reg FD, not with BP.”
June 14 roundup
- Study: Lawyers overestimate their chance of prevailing in litigation [Post, Volokh]
- Novell court victory might spell end to SCO Linux-infringement claims [GrokLaw, earlier]
- “Law firms violating copyrights?” [Mister Thorne]
- Lawyers say New Jersey money-laundering statute “uniquely criminalizes the mere possession of U.S. currency” [NJLJ]
- Ted Frank vs. critic on $28 million Sacramento nursing home award [PoL]
- Advocates push “right to development” for developing countries [Kelly, Global Governance Watch]
- For once Connecticut AG Blumenthal wants a damage award reduced [Hartford Courant, earlier at PoL]
- “Did You Know That the Real World Has an STD Waiver?” [Mystal, AtL]
“Academic Battle Delays Publication by 3 Years”
“The paper [published this week by the American Psychological Association] is a critique of a rating scale that is widely used in criminal courts to determine whether a person is a psychopath and likely to commit acts of violence. It was accepted for publication in a psychological journal in 2007, but the inventor of the rating scale saw a draft and threatened a lawsuit if it was published, setting in motion a stultifying series of reviews, revisions and legal correspondence.” [Benedict Carey, New York Times]
“The BP oil spill legal primer”
Roger Parloff at Fortune answers some frequently asked questions. Last week he wrote about the supposed, but largely irrelevant, $75 million “cap,” in actuality, according to one expert, a provision of a law “designed to expand liability.” Earlier here.
P.S. From the WSJ (paywall):
Under all but the most dire situations, BP should have little trouble servicing its debts. The biggest risk to the company is a government-driven collapse, but experts doubt the U.S. government can carry out its harshest threats, such as forcing BP to pay the salaries of workers laid off because of the federal moratorium on deepwater drilling. “I cannot imagine that the U.S. government has anything close to the authority to do that” says Jim Langdon, executive partner at the law firm of Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld.
Warning: “This Machine Has No Brain”
“…Use Your Own” [Maggie Koerth-Baker, BoingBoing, seen on a hardwood floor sander, with picture]
“It Wasn’t Me, Officer! It Was My GPS”
When drivers say faulty driving instructions caused their accident, should someone else have to pay? [Tom Vanderbilt, Slate] Earlier on the Google Maps pedestrian suit here.
June 11 roundup
- Automakers fight Bruce Braley/trial lawyer effort on Capitol Hill to overturn NHTSA preemption [Dow Jones, WSJ Law Blog, David Freddoso/Examiner, Carter Wood and more at PoL]
- Twombly/Iqbal can curb sue-’em-all, sort-’em-out-later charges of civil conspiracy [Sachse/Drug & Device Law, earlier]
- Claim: Obama, Kagan, Sotomayor typify “postradical” law school generation [David Fontana, Chronicle of Higher Ed via Wasserman/Prawfs (counter: “there are a lot of us liberal doctrinalists out here …And students are learning that vision in law school”), Althouse (“Spare me! There are plenty of strongly liberal and lefty lawprofs and if you want theoretical ambition you can find it.”)]
- FTC report contemplates much wider federal intervention in media business [Jarvis/BuzzMachine, Tapscott/Examiner, Coyote, Steele/LEF, Stoll/Future of Capitalism, LA Times, ShopFloor, Jarvis/NY Post, Pethokoukis/Reuters, Suderman/Reason] Is scary McChesneyite “Free Press” making headway in administration? [Riggs, Daily Caller]
- “Law and Society Boycott Resolution Gets Arizona Immigration Law Wrong” [Chin, Prawfs]
- “Appeal of Crunch Berries Case Dismissed” [Lowering the Bar, earlier]
- “Senior U.N. official” demanding end to U.S. use of drones against Al Qaeda in Afghanistan also happens to be NYU lawprof [NY Times, 16th/last paragraph of story]
- Unintended consequences: 1932 cut in judges’ pensions changed Supreme Court history [Magliocca, ConcurOp]
Overblown glass
Rick Woldenberg looks at the risk angles, as well as the politics, of the cadmium-in-Shrek-glasses McDonald’s scare.