- “The Cash Machine: How the Philly D.A. seizes millions in alleged crime money — whether there’s been a crime or not.” [Isaiah Thompson, Philadelphia City Paper via Alkon] Jacob Sullum on the Motel Caswell forfeiture case [syndicated, earlier]
- Online symposium on Brandon Garrett’s Convicting the Innocent: Where Criminal Prosecutions Go Wrong [Co-Op]
- Victims of Detroit police raid on art gallery nightclub get some justice [Ferndale 115]
- John Baker on mens rea and “strict liability” crimes [Fed Soc, PDF]
- Radley Balko has moved his Agitator blog to Huffington Post. And (via @normative) Cato’s Police Misconduct project is tweeting at @NPMRP.
- Want to cross-examine someone on that traffic-camera ticket? Be prepared to pay travel costs for the camera company person [Scott Greenfield] “The mission creep of rape shield law” [same]
- “Does the Criminalization of Tort Inhibit Safety Investigation?” [Beth Haas, Faculty Lounge]
Posts Tagged ‘Philadelphia’
Torts roundup
- Adventures in causation: Per $19 million Mississippi verdict, fumes from leftover gasoline caused birth defects, asthma [Insurance Journal]
- Legal academia watch: lawprof proposes massive expansion of liability for parents [TortsProf]
- University of Virginia’s torts giant: “A Tribute To Jeffrey O’Connell” [U.Va. Dean Paul Mahoney, Virginia Law Review (PDF) via TortsProf]
- “Proposed civil justice reform in Canada” [Ted Frank]
- “Town Owes $10M To Pupil Paralyzed In School Beating” [New Jersey Law Journal; Irvington, N.J.]
- Businesses steer clear of Philadelphia litigation climate [Jim Copland, Inquirer; Trial Lawyers Inc. update]
- Longtime West Virginia attorney general Darrell McGraw, disliked by business, toppled in re-election bid [Charleston Gazette-Mail]
September 26 roundup
- I suppose it will be said to “politicize” the Florida Supreme Court races to point out that Justices Quince and Pariente joined awful, politicized rulings on everything from liability suits to Bush v. Gore [Florida Current]
- Courtesy of the taxpayers: “TV sitcoms to incorporate Obamacare pitches?” [Jazz Shaw, HotAir]
- “Bringing out-of-state cases to Philadelphia simply for … filing fees is a wrong-headed policy.” [WSJ Law Blog]
- GM and Chrysler bailout: Steve Chapman corrects Jumpin’ Jenny Granholm and other myth-spinners [Chicago Tribune/ABJ, earlier]
- “Transit agencies may get reprieve from patent troll” [Greater Greater Washington, earlier here, etc.]
- Another view of the beef producers vs. ABC (“pink slime”) case [Steven Brill, Reuters, earlier]
- “A Fine for Doing Good: The Justice Department sues a bank for prudent lending” [WSJ editorial]
Property rights roundup
- “Property Rights Panel at the Cato Institute’s Constitution Day” [Ilya Somin] Related: “Sackett v. EPA and the Due Process Deficit in Environmental Law” [Jonathan Adler]
- Feds’ fishy forfeiture attack on Massachusetts scallopman [Ron Arnold, Examiner]
- California politicos seek crackdown on lenders’ supposed “retaliation” against municipalities considering seizing mortgages by eminent domain: “You Can’t Use Voluntary Action to Try to Stop Government Coercion” [Coyote; earlier here, here, here] Will Congress step in to shut down the grab? [Kevin Funnell]
- “The government of Honduras has signed a deal with private investors for the construction of three privately run cities with their own legal and tax systems.” [A Thousand Nations, Todd Zywicki, FedSoc Blog]
- A Philadelphia business owner decides to clean up and improve an adjacent, neglected city-owned lot, and soon has sad cause for regret [Philly Law Blog]
- Georgia claimant: “Hi, I own your land although I have no evidence of that” [Lowering the Bar, update]
- “Blight” condemnation could stymie hopes for historic preservation in Denver [Castle Coalition]
August 17 roundup
- Judge OKs settlement in Skechers shoe promotion suits, valued at $40 million [WaPo, earlier]
- “Philadelphia woman faces $600-a-day fine for feeding needy neighborhood kids” [Fox]
- “Minister Found Guilty of Aiding Miller-Jenkins Kidnapping” [BTB, my latest, earlier]
- Yes, the HHS waiver eviscerates welfare reform [Andrew Grossman, Kaus, more, yet more; Bader, more; Kay Hymowitz, City Journal (quoting Doug Besharov on the reversal: “The domestic policy staff doesn’t believe in ‘work first'”); contra, Josh Barro, Dave Weigel] USDA: Por favor, acepte food handout [Barton Hinkle, Bader, NR (backs off)]
- Reason “nanny of month” is New Jersey dog seat belt law [Ted Balaker, Hit and Run; our earlier coverage]
- “Malicious prosecution, unfair trials and the U.S. Constitution” [Alison Frankel, Reuters]
- Manchester, Conn.: “Mom Arrested for Letting Her Kids, 11 & 7, Walk to Pizza Shop” [Lenore Skenazy, Free-Range Kids] “Desperate Dad: ‘I Let My 12 y.o. Play Outside. Is that Criminal?'” [Skenazy, The Agitator; update on another case]
Labor roundup
- I dreamed someone sabotaged the memory care unit by switching Rosa DeLauro’s name tag with Rosa Luxemburg’s [Fox; Raising Hale, Labor Union Report with more on alleged nursing home sabotage and the Connecticut pols that enable it]
- New York’s Scaffold Law will inflate cost of Tappan Zee Bridge rebuild by hundreds of millions, according to Bill Hammond [NYDN]
- “In Michigan, a ballot measure to enshrine union rights” [Reuters, WDIV]
- Massachusetts voters rejected unionizing child care providers, but legislature decided to do it anyway [Boston Herald]
- SEIU flexes muscle: “Surprise strike closes SF courtrooms” [SFGate, NBC Bay Area]
- If it goes to arbitration, forget about disciplining a Portland police officer [Oregonian via PoliceMisconduct.net] Boston police overtime scandal [Reason] Related, San Bernardino [San Diego Union-Tribune]
- Louisiana teacher union furor: “Now There’s A Legal Defense Fund For Schools The LAE Is Threatening To Sue” [Hayride, earlier]
- As unions terrorize a Philadelphia construction project, much of the city looks the other way [Inga Saffron, Philadelphia Inquirer, PhillyBully.com; via Barro]
Judges roundup
The good, the bad, and the beyond belief:
- “Ten Commandments” judge no favorite with business defendants: “Trial lawyers putting their campaign cash behind Roy Moore for Alabama chief justice” [Birmingham News via Charlie Mahtesian, Politico; same thing twelve years ago]
- From James Taranto, a brief history of Supreme Court leaks [WSJ “Best of the Web,” mentions my Daily op-ed]
- Pennsylvania: Judge’s swearing-in ceremony “was filled with appreciation to those who helped him get elected, including some convicted felons” [Judges on Merit; Walter Phillips, Philadelphia Inquirer]
- Roberts just carrying forward the Frankfurter-Bickel-Bork tradition of judicial deference? [Steven Teles, Carrie Severino, further Teles] Ted Olson on just-finished Supreme Court term [FedSoc and video]
- Columnist-suing attorney doesn’t lack funding in race for appellate judgeship in Illinois’ Metro-East [Chamber-backed Madison County Record]
- Study: SCOTUS Justices time their resignations depending on political party of President [James Lindgren, Volokh]
- Alameda County judge charged with elder theft, perjury [The Recorder]
- Profile of 5th Circuit’s Edith Jones; law wasn’t her first career choice, and Cornell riots influenced her path [Susanna Dokupil, IWF]
Prosecution and police roundup
- Appalling: localities partner with tax-farming “probation” firms to run up routine misdemeanor fines into crushing debts for citizenry [NYT, Tuccille/Reason] “Pay Up: Criminal Justice Debt in Philadelphia” [Penn Law/YouTube, Brennan Center]
- “The institute estimates a wrongful conviction rate in sex assault cases of between 8-15%” [Richmond Times-Dispatch; Urban Institute via Balko] For the guilty, marginalization may worsen recidivism: “Do Sex Offender Registries Make Us Less Safe?” [Prescott, Regulation mag, PDF] Sex-offense detention for dollars [Greenfield]
- Majority of Florida voters support Stand Your Ground [Quinnipiac; Glyn/NRO; earlier, Sun-Sentinel] Collection of cases in which Florida SYG defense was asserted [Tampa Bay Times; Ta-Nehisi Coates; Jacob Sullum on TBT’s slant, related by Sullum here and here] Bipartisan origins of Florida SYG statute differ greatly from what you may have heard [Daily Caller, auto-plays video] “Two studies on Stand Your Ground” [Robert VerBruggen/NRO] Florida lawyer Troy Webber’s analysis of law [Hussein & Webber] Related: Jeralyn Merritt.
- Problems with police dogs as evidence [Balko, Greenfield]
- Tennessee: “Mom jailed for letting kids play at park” [Lenore Skenazy, Free-Range Kids, related]
- Tenth Circuit adopts broad view of already-broad federal wire fraud statute [Paul Enzinna/PoL]
- New Gotham law will fine taxi drivers up to $10K for giving ride to a prostitute, drivers will have to take a course on recognizing what hookers look like [Amy Alkon]
June 25 roundup
- OSHA cracks down on a shooting range with punitive fines. A coming trend? [Kopel, earlier on David Michaels here, here, here, etc.] Gun control lobbying on the public dime, courtesy Mike Bloomberg & Co. [Ron Arnold, Examiner]
- Scheme to use eminent domain to seize underwater home mortgages advances [Future of Capitalism, Felix Salmon]
- One lawyer for every 257 Americans [Funnell]
- Posner knows it: court appointment of experts can head off hired-gun arms race [Josh Wright, Truth on the Market]
- New Canaan, Ct.: “Mom Arrested for Letting Her 13-year-old Babysit Siblings” [Lenore Skenazy, Free-Range Kids]
- John Stossel show on lawsuit abuse, warning labels and related topics;
- Phillies Phanatic: “The most-sued mascot in baseball is heading back to court” [Time, earlier]
March 12 roundup
- How ObamaCare will drive up cost of contraception [Avik Roy] Better idea: sell Pill over the counter [Virginia Postrel, Bloomberg]
- Had been seized by authorities: obese 9-year-old returns home after dropping 50 pounds [Cleveland Plain Dealer, earlier]
- Best campaign funding mechanism ever? [Ron Paul Forums, JPG, more explanation; but is it lawful?]
- More appreciations of Bill Stuntz crimlaw book [Leon Neyfakh, Boston Globe, Stephen Smith and Jonathan Jacobs, Liberty and Law]
- Changes in court rules could curb Philadelphia’s allure for mass tort forum-shoppers [Alison Frankel, Reuters] “Further Empirical Evidence on Forum Shopping in Philadelphia Civil Courts” [Josh Wright, earlier]
- Coming: federal authority over private firms’ IT-security departments? [Jim Harper/Cato; Constantine von Hoffman/CIO]
- “0.1% claim rate in ‘successful’ class action” [Ted Frank/PoL, AT&T case]
