- Seeking to address widespread pharmaceutical shortages, Obama executive order downplays government role in causing them [Fair Warning, WSJ editorial, earlier here, here, here, here, etc.]
- “The school has a strict no-hugging policy….” [WKMG Orlando]
- Retired Justice John Paul Stevens isn’t buying the “Thomas should recuse” meme [USA Today via Legal Ethics Forum]
- Not COPPA-cetic: among other unintended consequences, Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act has encouraged parents to help kids to falsify ages online [Danah Boyd via Jim Harper, Suderman, Reason, Stewart Baker, earlier]
- Lawmaking from the bench: Maryland high court strikes down law limiting landlords’ lead paint liability [Ronald Miller] “Maryland court sides with plaintiffs in slip-and-fall cases” [Emily Babay, Examiner]
- Trial lawyers help bail out Bexar County Democratic party [San Antonio Express-News]
- Supreme Court agrees to hear case arguing that aggressive enforcement of local housing code violates federal Fair Housing Act [Magner v. Gallagher, SCOTUSBlog, Illinois Municipal League, Daniel Fisher, Inverse Condemnation]
Posts Tagged ‘Maryland’
Great moments in public sector economics
I’ve got some observations at Cato at Liberty about the arguments one Montgomery County, Md. councilman has made for a public takeover of local electric utility Pepco — as well as some background about the trade-off often found between leafy splendor and storm-outage resilience in residential settings.
Home office? Keep it quiet
If you run a home office in Nashville, you mustn’t let clients visit, while in Montgomery County, Maryland, employees may not pick up paychecks at a home-based business [Radley Balko; Harvey Jacobs, WaPo]
Great moments in higher ed litigation
NPR “Marketplace” via James Taranto:
AMY SCOTT: The lawsuit began after Towson University started offering an MBA — a degree students could already get a short drive away at historically Black Morgan State University. Attorney Michael Jones represents the coalition suing the state. He says federal law prohibits states from starting new programs that are already established at a nearby Historically Black College or University, or HBCU.
MICHAEL JONES: Once these programs were duplicated elsewhere, it affected the abilities of the HBCUs to be competitive in terms of attracting students regardless of race.
June 22 roundup
- Supreme Court disbars Bill Lerach [Richard Samp, WLF] And check out the byline of the former class-action king’s recent contribution to The Nation; do you think it omits anything material? [h/t Bob Lenzner]
- Ted Frank guessed right on outcome of Wal-Mart case but still lost big betting on it [PoL]
- After feds seize online bettors’ money, Anne Arundel County, Maryland police department crows over windfall [CEI] And c’mon Maryland, surely we in the home state of H.L. Mencken and Frederick Douglass can do better in the liberty rankings than this;
- “Wrongful-Death Lawsuit Filed After Man Killed by Rooster” [Lowering the Bar]
- Hotel union behind California bill mandating fitted sheets [Daily Caller, earlier]
- Fifth Circuit upholds constitutionality of Texas law banning barratry (stirring up litigation) [Christian Southwick, Legal Ethics Forum]
- A Linda Greenhouse column I agree with? One of us must be slipping [vagueness in criminal statutes, see related Harvey Silverglate]
The publicity squeeze
After taking heat in the press, Montgomery County, Md. has waived a $500 fine levied against a kids’ lemonade stand [WUSA, Daily Caller]
For Maryland’s guest teachers, an expensive lesson in labor rights
The U.S. Department of Labor ruled in April that Prince George’s County, Maryland, in suburban Washington, had violated federal labor law by failing to reimburse immigrant teachers for visa application fees. It fined the schools $1.7 million and also ordered them to pay $4.2 million in back pay to 1,044 teachers, most of whom come from the Philippines. “If that finding stands, the system will be unable to renew any three-year visas for its foreign employees.” Many teachers are distraught about the prospect of losing their jobs and green cards, which could happen as early as next month; Charisse Cabrera “said she would rather keep her job than recoup the back pay, about $4,000 per teacher.” [Washington Post, PhilStar.com]
May 9 roundup
- New DoL classification mandate could tee up wage/hour class actions [Peter Kirsanow, NRO Corner] “Survey of wage and hour settlement highlights risk to employers” [Hyman]
- Why 24/7/365 campaigns? Because politics “has taken over so much of life” [Roger Pilon, Cato at Liberty]
- Nigerian auto tariffs have ripple effects for the worse in Prince George’s County, Md. [Tyler Cowen]
- Virginia AG Ken Cuccinelli’s dubious case against climatologist [Barton Hinkle, Richmond Times-Dispatch]
- Employers and jobs moving from California to… Michigan? [Perry]
- “Huffington Post Law Suit: Should You Work For Free?” [Suzanne Lucas, BNET, earlier here, here, etc.]
- With apparent aim of protecting music rights holders, lawmakers heap burdens on sellers of used CDs [four years ago on Overlawyered]
No sign of Fort Detrick cancer cluster
But that hasn’t stood in the way of a push to sign up clients for law firms in the vicinity of the Frederick, Md. armed forces base. [WJZ, Army Times]
April 14 roundup
- “Raging Bitch”: Frederick (Md.) brewery says its beer label is a First Amendment issue [Frederick News-Post]
- UK soccer: Sunderland fan sues club after being hit by stray Djibril Cissé shot [Guardian]
- DirectBuy: “When 36 AGs Object to Your Class Action Settlement, That’s Not a Good Sign” [Karlsgodt] “Court reduces fees after CCAF objection to HP settlement” [Ted Frank] Russell Jackson on ink-cartridge settlements;
- Time for Congress to repeal the Uniform Federal Drinking Age Act [Glenn Reynolds/WSJ via WSJ Law Blog]
- Claim: business investment isn’t really much impaired by regulatory uncertainty [Lardner]
- Update: “Righthaven drops suit against mildly autistic hobby blogger” [Romenesko, earlier] And it sues, then drops suit against, writer based on his article about one of its suits [ArsTechnica, PaidContent]
- George Wallace hosts Blawg Review #304 at Declarations and Exceptions and #305 at A Fool in the Forest;
- Suspicious website promotes nonexistent law firm [Brian Baxter, AmLaw Daily]