- Current Louisiana governor has brought back parishes’ coastal-erosion suits against oil companies [Erin Mundahl, Inside Sources]
- Roundup saga: EPA says glyphosate not likely to be carcinogenic to people [Tom Polansek, Reuters, earlier]
- “Can Land Uninhabitable by an Endangered Species Nonetheless Be ‘Critical Habitat’ Under the Endangered Species Act?” Supreme Court grants cert in Weyerhaeuser v. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service [Jonathan Adler]
- “Oakland Would Pay 23.5% Of Recovery From Its Global Warming Lawsuit To Private Lawyers” [John O’Brien, Legal Newsline; more, John Burnett, Washington Examiner]
- Does this mean casually picking a feather up off the ground will no longer merit prison time? Department of Interior announces new interpretation of migratory bird law meant to bring sense to “incidental take” issue;
- For elephant conservation, sustainable use based on property rights might lead to better results than trade bans [Branden Jung, Wisconsin Law Review/SSRN]
Posts Tagged ‘animals’
July 26 roundup
- “It’s time for our justice system to embrace artificial intelligence” [Caleb Watney, Brookings]
- Ontario woman named vexatious litigant and barred from filing lawsuits without leave tells newspaper “to hold off on publishing her story until all of her matters before the court were concluded, or else” [Jesse McLean and Emily Mathieu, Toronto Star]
- Psittacine hearsay? Parrot said to have repeated “don’t (expletive) shoot” in murder victim’s voice; wife convicted [AP/Detroit News] “The parrot was not involved in any court proceedings.” [Evening Standard (U.K.)]
- Pennsylvania’s abuse-of-process law, not particularly strong in the first place, survives a challenge [Hillary Hunter, WLF]
- No, that’s not how the law works. Sanctions next? “Baton Rouge police officer injured in deadly ambush sues Black Lives Matter” and five leaders of it [CBS]
- “When the first section heading of an opinion is ‘Design Basics and the Art of the Intellectual Property Shakedown,’ you can probably guess how things are going to turn out for Plaintiff Design Basics, LLC.” [John Ross, Short Circuit on this Seventh Circuit case]
July 19 roundup
- “Biometric Privacy Laws: How a Little-Known Illinois Law Made Facebook Illegal” [Jane Bambauer]
- Organized dentists work to block legal recognition of independent dental therapist practices [Mary Jordan, Washington Post]
- Some yearn to bring back Warren Court (or even more interventionist) antitrust doctrine. Just don’t [John McGinnis]
- “O’Neil is the Wang of Ireland” says apparel trademark disputant [Timothy Geigner, Techdirt]
- “Religious people should live under the same laws as everyone else” was a nice slogan while it lasted [Julie Zauzmer, Washington Post on nuns’ construction of chapel in field so as to block pipeline, plus resulting Twitter thread]
- “Therapy animals are everywhere, but proof that they help is not” [Karin Brulliard, Chicago Tribune]
Lawsuit against dog dismissed
Randall Kevin Jones was injured by police canine Draco when apprehended, and proceeded to sue the animal itself, among others, under Georgia law for negligence. The Eleventh Circuit ordered the claim against the dog dismissed, noting “that the practical problems with suing a dog are virtually endless.” [Jordan Fowler, Washington Legal Foundation] To quote the opinion in Jones v. Fransen:
…under the express terms of Georgia law, only a person may be held liable for breaching a legal duty. … Not surprisingly, O.C.G.A. § 50-21-22(4), which we use to determine the meaning of words used in Georgia’s tort statutes, does not define the word “person” to include dogs.
In a 2001 case called Dye v. Wargo, the Seventh Circuit likewise dismissed an attempt to sue a police dog.
P.S. “I have here a stack of affidavits declaring the defendant a good boy.” — @jhimmibhob on Twitter.
May 24 roundup
- “Court: Lawyer Who Gave Himself Award Can’t Sue People Who Reported He Did That” [Lowering the Bar]
- ADA reform moves closer to governor’s desk in Texas [Texans Against Lawsuit Abuse, HB 1463, Texas Restaurant Association; recent Arizona reform]
- Of many effects of rising tide of state attorney general activism, count wider standing for states as one [Paul Nolette, Law and Liberty]
- If towns like Palmdale didn’t realize that California law now puts them under pressure to adopt districted rather than at-large council elections, entrepreneurial Malibu lawyer is there to present $4.6 million reminder [Robin Abcarian, L.A. Times]
- Choice of law school commencement speakers tracks familiar notions of which ideas are respectable and which not [John McGinnis, Law and Liberty]
- “Treating [dogs] as products for product liability purposes creates some significant problems.” [Nick Farr, Abnormal Use]
March 22 roundup
- Gorsuch hearing “unlikely to change a single vote on anything” [Ilya Shapiro] “No, there is no way to force Supreme Court nominees to give revealing answers” [Orin Kerr] Members of Supreme Court bar are keen on the nominee [letter courtesy SCOTUSblog] And many law professors, even [letter via Will Baude]
- “Nice Try! Judge Nixes Attempt To Turn $4 Million Worth Of Stickers Into $10 Million Bonus” [Daniel Fisher]
- Problems here would seem to go beyond lack of court interpreter: “Interpreter no-show stalls Chigwedere witchcraft case” [The Herald, Zimbabwe]
- “The Strange Case of Everet vs. Williams: When Two Highwaymen Took Each Other To Court” [Paul Anthony Jones, Mental Floss]
- Important Phil Hamburger op-ed: Chevron entrenches a judicial bias in favor of state, Gorsuch is right to oppose it [New York Times]
- It’s cute when legislators try to legalize dachshund racing [Lowering the Bar, Idaho, earlier]
“Contractor sues Chesapeake couple for $90K over squirrel attack”
A Virginia contractor bitten and scratched by a squirrel has sued a nearby couple who he says had fed the animal and encouraged it to interact with humans. “We’ve already proven the fact that this wasn’t our squirrel…It’s not a pet,” said the defendant husband. [Virginian-Pilot (Norfolk), Lowering the Bar]
“RSPCA should be stripped of prosecution powers, say MPs”
Discontents of privatized prosecution: “The RSPCA should be stripped of its powers to routinely prosecute animal welfare cases, according to MPs.
The Commons environment committee said there was a “conflict of interest” between the charity’s power to prosecute and its role in investigating cases, campaigning and fundraising…. Evidence heard included testimony from the Self-Help Group (SHG) for farmers, pet owners and others experiencing difficulties with the RSPCA which said some people felt alienated by the charity’s ‘targeting of vulnerable, ill or elderly people” and the removal of their animals.'” [BBC]
They’ll be watching you (and your kibble purchases)
King County (Seattle) uses grocery loyalty card data to figure out who owns pets, according to a new report from local station KOMO. It then sends them letters warning of a $250 fine if they do not license the animals. The “county said they pay the company who pays stores such as Safeway …for access to customer data contained in every one of those reward card swipes.” And “the mailers work. Just last year they brought in more than $100,000 in new pet licenses.”
But remember, government needs access to Big Data to fight terrorism. [cross-posted from Cato at Liberty]
September 28 roundup
- Today at Cato, Josh Blackman discusses his new book Unraveled: Obamacare, Religious Liberty, and Executive Power with comments from Washington Post Supreme Court reporter Robert Barnes and Philip Klein of the Washington Examiner, Ilya Shapiro moderating [watch live 12 noon Eastern]
- Breed-specific laws fuel mass euthanasia: “Montreal Gearing Up To Sentence Huge Numbers Of Innocent Dogs To Death” [Huffington Post]
- Feds prepare to mandate mechanical speed governors capping road speed of tractor-trailers; truckers warn of crashes and traffic jams [AP/San Luis Obispo Tribune]
- “You have to go back to the Red Scare to find something similar,” said Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-Texas) of advocacy-group subpoenas by Hill committee in “Exxon Knew” probe. Or just five months to the CEI subpoena [Washington Post hearing coverage which oddly omits mention of CEI episode]
- “I’m not here to take away your guns.” Why Hillary Clinton’s assurances ring hollow [Jacob Sullum] Trump’s comments defending stop-and-frisk and no-fly no-buy further undercut his never-impressive claims as defender of gun liberty [AllahPundit, Leon Wolf, Ilya Somin]
- Why my Cato colleagues believe the Trans-Pacific Trade Partnership (TPP) is worth supporting as a trade liberalization measure despite some suboptimal aspects [Daniel J. Ikenson, Simon Lester, Scott Lincicome, Daniel R. Pearson, K. William Watson, Cato Trade]