- Key Obama regulatory appointees at NHTSA (auto safety) and FTC [commerce, antitrust] used to work for AAJ, the trial lawyers’ lobby [Wood, PoL]
- “Adventures in Lawyer Advertising: Muscle, Talent, Results, and Terrible Acting” [Above the Law]
- Why so many great folk musicians are barred from U.S. tours [Jesse Walker/Reason, WSJ Law Blog]
- Folks behind venerable Martindale-Hubbell lawyer directory wouldn’t stoop to comment spam, or would they? [Turkewitz and more; related Popehat, Bennett]
- Palestinian sues Baron Cohen, Letterman, others over “Bruno” portrayal [AP/Baltimore Sun]
- A Rhode Island hospital settles a med mal case [White Coat]
- For a “cockeyed caravan” of law stories, follow a certain site (thanks!) [Arthur Charity, NJEsq.net, alas it seems a short-lived venture]
- Santa’s got a sleighful of health and safety problems [Bella English, Boston Globe]
A crack in the CPSIA concrete?
In what one hopes is a break from the “no legislative fix needed” united front put forward by the law’s advocates, Consumer Product Safety Commission chair Inez Tenenbaum has acknowledged in a letter to Rep. George Radanovich (R-Calif) that at least some legislative action establishing exceptions to the law’s sweeping bans might be helpful. Product Safety Letter has the story. Relatedly:
- Handmade Toy Alliance board member Rob Wilson notes
that “Congress Wrote the CPSIA; Only Congress Can Amend It“, and the HTA has now had a chance to meet with CPSC commissioners (more from Rick Woldenberg, who also challenges Tenenbaum on the rhinestone ban and notes Rep. Dingell’s efforts to press her on the law’s shortcomings); Carter Wood thinks it’s time for a Senate hearing; - Crafter Whimsical Walney, now out of business as regards children’s goods, is not entirely thrilled about the New York Times’s belated coverage of the CPSIA fiasco;
- The ban on brass, and its effects on school bands and kids’ music generally, comes in for criticism from Ryan Young at CEI Open Market, Deputy Headmistress, Rick Woldenberg again, and a Washington Times editorial;
- “You only know if a product is safe if it’s been tested,” claims Rachel Weintraub of the Consumer Federation of America, drawing a riposte from Rick Woldenberg;
- Glenn Cook at the Las Vegas Review-Journal calls CPSIA the law Congress “refuses to fix“, while Quin Hillyer at the American Spectator calls it the “worst low-profile law on the books“.
PUBLIC DOMAIN IMAGES from Elise Bake, Der Ball Der Tiere (“The Animals’ Ball”, German, 1891), courtesy ChildrensLibrary.org.
Sluggish wheels of justice
A case over Rhode Island sludge disposal is finally over after 27 years [Providence Journal]
On overcriminalization
My Manhattan Institute colleague Marie Gryphon has a new paper out on the subject (“It’s a Crime: Flaws in Federal Statutes That Punish Standard Business Practice”, while James Copland has some comments (“Vague law is bad law”) on the “honest services fraud” cases before the U.S. Supreme Court.
Central Valley taxpayers shell out
Civil rights suits are causing a stir in California local government: “The downsides weigh heavily in landmark lawsuits against Modesto and Stanislaus County, which have cost taxpayers $8.3 million and counting, and have not produced more minority office holders or new sidewalks or better storm drains.” [Modesto Bee]
Scott Rothstein and the legal profession’s image
The South Florida Daily Business Review finds a range of opinions:
“I don’t think he made us all look bad. I think he made lawyers wearing $5,000 suits and driving $500,000 cars look bad,” said David Markus, a Miami criminal defense attorney.
…Still, if there is only 1 percent of bad lawyers in a state with 85,000 attorneys, the public could be more than vulnerable, [Nova Southeastern law professor Robert] Jarvis said.
“That is 850 rogue attorneys. That is a lot of rogues,” Jarvis said.
(& welcome WSJ Law Blog readers)
Canada: bogus forensics took woman’s son, sent her to jail
Testimony by now-disgraced forensic pathologist Charles Smith sent Sherry Sherret-Robinson to jail for a year on charges of infanticide, and resulted in the permanent loss of her other child. Ontario’s highest court has cleared her, but it is rather late. [Jonathan Turley via Radley Balko; Wikipedia on Charles Randal Smith, CBC and more]
Federal workshop on government openness
Alas, it’s closed to the press and public. [Doherty, Reason “Hit and Run”]
Poole townspeople to get a real Christmas tree
“When the Robots Attack, How Will We Hold Them Liable?”
It’s not too early to begin thinking out the liability implications of robotics. [WSJ Law Blog]