Taxpayers are paying former police officer Dave Orlowski $53,063 a year of tax-free disability payments, though he’s fit enough to compete in several triathlons a year. An old court decision permits Orlowski to refuse desk work after since he injured his shoulder in 1999. [Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel (h/t W.J.)]
Archive for June, 2010
“In Law Schools, Grades Go Up, Just Like That”
Just like magic! Loyola Law School-Los Angeles “is retroactively inflating its grades, tacking on 0.333 to every grade recorded in the last few years. The goal is to make its students look more attractive in a competitive job market.” At least ten law schools, including Georgetown and NYU, have deliberately made their grading systems more lenient in recent years, the Times reports. [NYT]
In my forthcoming book Schools for Misrule: Legal Academia and an Overlawyered America — due out next spring from Encounter — I collect some examples of the tactics law schools use in search of a competitive edge for themselves and their graduates, which might sometimes land them in hot water were they conventional businesses.
“Law Firms Sanctioned Over Billionaire Perelman’s ‘Frivolous’ Estate Claim”
“A New Jersey judge has sanctioned two firms, Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison and Lowenstein Sandler, for pursuing a ‘frivolous’ and ‘ridiculous’ legal claim on behalf of billionaire Ronald Perelman against his 85-year-old ex-father-in-law.” [NYLJ]
Newport, R.I.’s Cliff Walk
The tourist-friendly town may fence off a famed scenic path after an adverse lawsuit ruling. [NYT]
Fake product draws real cease-and-desist letter
Lawyers for the National Pork Board, which maintains the trademark “The Other White Meat,” sent a 12-page cease-and-desist letter to a website which had promoted cans of supposed “Unicorn Meat” as the “new white meat.” It is not clear whether Faegre & Benson realized that the cans were a fake product intended for April Fool’s Day. [ThinkGeek] More: Lowering the Bar.
June 21 roundup
- After Mohawk Industries settlement, many employers could be sitting ducks for suits claiming that hiring illegal workers is RICO violation [Helman, Forbes, earlier]
- Teen tries to help child lost in store, winds up facing felony rap of false imprisonment [Greenfield]
- Federal magistrate in debt collection case: letter on law firm letterhead implies threat to sue [Legal Intelligencer]
- On “professional” class action objectors [Ted at PoL]
- Coal company claims ventilation system ordered by government regulators might have been a cause of deadly April mine explosion [WSJ]
- Senate committee approves judicial nomination of John (“Jack”) McConnell, impresario of Rhode Island lead-paint litigation; William Jacobson explains critics’ charges regarding couching of legal fee as purported hospital donation [Legal Insurrection]
- Hey, stop siphoning that oil slick, we haven’t checked your life jackets and extinguishers [GatewayPundit] Gulf oil rig registered for purposes of regulation in remote Pacific island chain [Legal Blog Watch] Richard Epstein on oil spill liability [WSJ] BP will never pay full price of accident [Popehat] Check back in 2031 to see how the litigation went [Alex Beam, Boston Globe]
- American Constitution Society holds panel discussion on Iqbal and Twombly [BLT] “Is It Too Much to Ask That a Lawsuit Be ‘Plausible’?” [Richard Samp, WLF Legal Pulse]
USA Today on CPSIA casualties
The newspaper profiles Randy Hertzler of Lancaster, Pa., whose small family-owned business imports European-made specialty toys and is reeling under the costs of the 2008 enactment. [via CPSC Commissioner Anne Northup]
Oakland: “Suspect shot by cops sues”
“A drug suspect who was shot and critically wounded after he crashed his car into another vehicle and struck a police officer at the end of a chase in East Oakland is suing the city for $1.5 million.” [Henry K. Lee, San Francisco Chronicle]
“Court: Movies must be accessible to hearing, visually impaired”
The Ninth Circuit greenlights a potentially significant ADA suit, reversing a trial court that “found that the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Arizonans with Disabilities Act do not require movie theaters to provide captions and descriptions.” [Yuma Sun, Legal NewsLine]
June 20 roundup
- Happy Father’s Day! Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy proposes criminal penalties for parents who skip parent-teacher conferences [WJBK via Welch, Reason]
- Plaintiff’s bar takes to online marketing in big way, Boston’s Sokolove firm has 20-employee team [WSJ Law Blog]
- Stuart Taylor, Jr., “The Myth of the Conservative Court” [The Atlantic]
- Happy Father’s Day, cont’d: that “sex offender” neighbor could turn out to be this poor guy [Stephen Mason, Psychology Today via Alkon]
- Libertarians debate anti-discrimination law [David Bernstein and others, Cato Unbound]
- Despite trial lawyer lobbying push, Congress declines for now to create “aid and abet” securities-fraud liability [Bainbridge] “Overcriminalization in the Financial Reform Legislation” [David Rittgers, Cato]
- As international “human rights” proliferate, they’re being applied for businesses’ benefit too, to some advocates’ displeasure [Bader, Examiner]
- Happy Father’s Day, cont’d: Virginia Supreme Court rules child can sue dad after traffic collision for not strapping her properly into car seat [OnPoint News]