Posts Tagged ‘Oklahoma’

What’s scarier than asset forfeiture operations?

Asset forfeiture operations with private helpers working on contingency fee:

After seizing more than $1 million in cash in drug stops this year, a district attorney has suspended further roadside busts by his task force because of growing criticism over a private company’s participation.

District Attorney Jason Hicks, whose territory includes four Oklahoma counties, hired Guthrie-based Desert Snow LLC with a deal to pay it between 10 and 25 percent of seizure proceeds, depending on whether its “trainers” were present or only department officers. “Sometimes, no drugs were found and no one was arrested, but task force officers took money found in the vehicles anyway after a drug-sniffing dog got excited.” Now criminal charges arising from the stops are being ended, an investigation has been launched into allegedly missing funds, and “some” money is being returned to motorists. A judge said he was “shocked”

after learning the private company’s owner pulled over a pregnant driver along Interstate 40 and questioned her even though he is not a state-certified law enforcement officer….

Forfeited funds are split among the law enforcement agencies of the task force after Desert Snow is paid.

It bears repeating again and again: contingency fees and law enforcement authority don’t mix. Not ethically, anyway. (via Ed Brayton; more from Eapen Thampy, Americans for Forfeiture Reform).

Filed under: contingent fee, forfeiture, Oklahoma

June 15 roundup

“The NYT revisits the Tawana Brawley rape hoax scandal — and Al Sharpton’s role.” [Ann Althouse]
Is there any hope of reforming or repealing FATCA, the crazy overseas banking regulation? [Frederic Alain Behrens, SSRN via TaxProf, earlier here, etc.]
Urbanophile is no fan of Toronto mayor Rob Ford, but also no fan of the campaign to drive him from office [Aaron Renn]
Landlords face legal risk taking on ex-offenders — so where are they supposed to live? [Volokh]
When does a strong central state advance individual liberty? Arnold Kling reviews Mark Weiner’s The Rule of the Clan [EconLib]
Unenforceability of contract holds back Indian tribes’ prosperity [Terry Anderson]
“Oklahoma High Court Nullifies State Tort Reform Law” [WLF, TortsProf, Tulsa World, Reuters, NewsOK, Beck (“the Oklahoma Supreme Court was plainly out of control in Ysbrand, and unfortunately it remains out of control to this day”), Douglas v. Cox]

Filed under: Canada, contracts, FATCA, Indian tribes, Oklahoma, state high courts

Product liability roundup

“Oklahoma Court Tosses Jury Verdict Over ‘Defective’ Louisville Slugger” [Daniel Fisher/Forbes, Abnormal Use] “In contrast, a New Jersey case against the same defendant resulted in a multi-million-dollar settlement divorced from any showing of culpability.” [PoL]
An expert witness wore two hats [Chamber-backed Madison County Record]
5-4 Washington Supreme Court decision in asbestos case bodes ill for makers of safety devices [Pacific Legal Foundation]
“Defective design and the Costa Concordia” [Rob Green, Abnormal Use; Rick Spilman, The Old Salt]
Calif. appeals court says man shot by 3 year old son can sue Glock [SFGate]
“Evidence of Drug Use May Be Relevant in Product Liability Litigation” [Farr, Abnormal Use]
“What used to be in chemistry sets that are not in there anymore are actual chemicals” [BBC, earlier here, here]

Filed under: asbestos, baseball bats, chemistry sets, cruise ships, expert witnesses, guns, Oklahoma, product liability, Washington state

Litigation kills gas can manufacturer

An American producer is bankrupt because it couldn’t idiot-proof its product sufficiently to ward off the attentions of our product liability system. The next gas can you buy will probably come from somewhere like China, whose manufacturers are apt to be less reachable by American plaintiffs. [Point of Law]

Filed under: Oklahoma, product liability

June 28 roundup

Cato Institute settles lawsuit over its governance [Adler]
As regulators crack down on payday lending, Indian tribes fill the gap [Business Week] Tribal leaders say they are at war with the CFPB, and no, there is no Elizabeth Warren angle [Kevin Funnell]
“SEA LAWYER. A shark.” [1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue via Nancy Friedman]
Trial lawyers in Oklahoma, as in Texas and Florida, endow slate of favored GOP candidates [Tulsa World]
Simple reforms could ease path to more interstate adoptions of foster kids [Jeff Katz, Washington Post]
“Can you say ‘overzealous service mark claimant’?” [@internetcases]
“Today, anyone can sue anyone else, regardless of how ridiculous the claim may be. But it wasn’t always like this.” [Don Elliott, The Atlantic]

Filed under: adoption, Cato Institute, debtor-creditor law, Indian tribes, Oklahoma, trademarks, wayward Republicans

December 12 roundup

Liability suits bankrupt manufacturer of gasoline cans [Tulsa World]
Faces life imprisonment: “Greece’s statistics chief faces criminal probe” for “not cooking the books” [FT via @OlafStorbeck]
Man injured by runaway car can sue county on grounds bus shelter was built too close to street [Seattle Times]
Title IX trips up track teams [Saving Sports: Delaware, West Virginia, Maryland]
“‘Not gay enough’ softball players settle suit” [SF Chron]
Now it’s the Obama administration that’s upset with ABA over ratings of judicial nominees [Whelan]
Lawyer kiosks in UK newsstands [Knake, LEF] Lawyers open kiosk at Florida mall [ABA Journal]

Filed under: bar associations, judicial nominations, Oklahoma, product liability, roads and streets, Title IX

Court dismisses suit blaming cellphone firms for driver distraction

A novel lawsuit theory that obtained more-than-respectful coverage in the New York Times did not succeed in convincing the Oklahoma courts, notes Russell Jackson. “The Court of Civil Appeals’ decision in Doyle is a strong demonstration that trying to use civil legal duties to make the US a Nanny State is simply wrongheaded.”

Filed under: cellphones, New York Times, Oklahoma

November 1 roundup

Election edition:

On Oklahoma ballot: grossly overbroad measure to ban use of foreign law [Atlantic Wire, Transplanted Lawyer, earlier Volokh]
Michigan race: “Dems cross the line with bigoted Supreme Court ad” [Stephen Henderson, Freep; earlier on attacks on Justice Robert Young]
Jacob Sullum is another non-fan of Andrew Cuomo’s record;
What was the exact nature of that Vancouver fundraiser so many Senate hopefuls attended? Carter Wood wishes he could add a footnote to an already strong column by George Will on the Linda McMahon-Richard Blumenthal Senate race in Connecticut;
Speaking of which, Will’s latest election roundup column is just out, while Nate Silver at the NYT’s Five Thirty Eight blog offers an outstanding hour-by-hour election-night guide;
Iowa poll shows former AAJ/ATLA president Roxanne Conlin, of SomePeopleJustNeedToBeSued.com fame, trailing far behind in bid to unseat Sen. Chuck Grassley [WHO-TV via Carter Wood’s PoL election roundup;
Trial lawyers pour cash into California insurance commissioner race [CJAC]
Latest effort by New York Times to lionize activist AGs as “next Eliot Spitzers” recalls earlier Times pieces written to same formula, in the most amusing of which it lionized as the next Spitzer Ohio’s since-disgraced Marc Dann. Yet (the shaky electoral performance of such Times favorites as Massachusetts’ Martha Coakley aside) there’s reason to suspect voters this year will return a roster of AGs that’s less inclined toward business-bashing, not more [Jack Fowler at NRO].
Government a threat to liberty? Doesn’t just depend on whether “our” team’s in charge [Gene Healy, Examiner]

Filed under: Andrew Cuomo, attorneys general, California, Connecticut, Iowa, judicial elections, Michigan, Oklahoma, politics

Mauch Chunk once more?

The historic town of Mauch Chunk, Pa. changed its name to Jim Thorpe, Pa. as part of a deal to honor the Native American-descended athlete. Now a lawsuit is invoking the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act of 1990 (NAGPRA) to demand removal of Thorpe’s remains to Oklahoma [Never Yet Melted]

Meanwhile, scientists, universities and museums are considering their legal options in the face of new Interior Department interpretations of NAGPRA mandating “that after appropriate tribal consultation, transfer of culturally unidentifiable remains is to be made to a tribe from whose tribal or aboriginal lands the remains were excavated or removed.” [Indian Country Today, April; earlier posts on Kennewick Man controversy]

Filed under: Indian tribes, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, science and scientists

Delegate to Durban conference up for 10th Circuit nod

Keith Harper, now with Kilpatrick Stockton, is a longtime Native American Rights Fund attorney and class counsel in the gigantic Indian trust fund litigation, Cobell. Some critics focus on his prospective appointment for an “Oklahoma seat” on the court, others are not happy with developments in Cobell. [Tulsa World, Kimberly Craven/Billings Gazette]

Filed under: Indian tribes, Oklahoma, Tenth Circuit