“U.S. personal injury lawyers allegedly concealed evidence and induced clients to commit perjury to drive up asbestos-related settlements and garner bigger fees, according to lawsuits unsealed on Tuesday in the bankruptcy of a gasket maker.” [Reuters, earlier] My 1998 piece on asbestos witness-coaching is here.
Archive for January, 2015
College trademark dispute ends peacefully
Both Oklahoma State University and New Mexico State University use a version of “Pistol Pete” as a mascot. OSU found that although NMSU had agreed to use a variant, some items sold in connection with its school continued to use the version infringing on OSU’s. Suit was filed, but rather than expensively shooting it out in court, the two have now agreed to let a token fee cover a small leeway for infringement, and leave it at that. [Trademarkologist]
Free speech roundup
- Pennsylvania has passed that grotesque new law seeking to muzzle convicts from discussing crimes when “mental anguish” to victims could result. Time for courts to strike it down [Radley Balko, earlier]
- “First Amendment challenge to broad gag order on family court litigants” [Eugene Volokh]
- Federally funded Indiana U. program to monitor political opinion on Twitter didn’t much like being monitored itself by critics [Free Beacon, earlier (project “intensely if covertly political”)]
- Holocaust denial laws abridge the freedom of speech. Do they even accomplish their own aims? [Sam Schulman, Weekly Standard]
- Is it defamatory to call someone a “censorious a**hat”? [Adam Steinbaugh, Eric Turkewitz, earlier on Roca Labs case]
- We should take up a collection to translate Voltaire into French [Reason, Huffington Post on Dieudonne case, yesterday on talk of “Fox maligned Paris” suit]
- Some would-be speech suppressers upset over Citizens United ruling also quite happy to drown out Justices’ speech [Mark Walsh, SCOTUSBlog] “Campaign finance censors lose debate to Reddit” [Trevor Burrus] Citizens United “probably the most misunderstood case in modern legal history.” [Ilya Shapiro]
To save historic California buildings…
…curb ADA bounty-hunting [Steven Greenhut, San Diego Union-Tribune, and thanks for mention]
Paris mayor: we’ll sue Fox News over “no-go” claims
State of the Union 2015
As I did last year I’m tweeting reactions to President Obama’s State of the Union address so you wouldn’t have to watch. Here are Twitter highlights, mostly in regular rather than reverse chronological order:
Joining the #CatoSOTU Twitter convo with @CatoInstitute scholars tonight? Here's a list of scholars live-tweeting: http://t.co/W3F0yoCS4E
— CatoEvents (@CatoEvents) January 20, 2015
I'm thinking I don't need to learn the details of Obama's new tax plan, since it's never going to pass. #RationalIgnorance #CatoSOTU
— Jason Kuznicki (@JasonKuznicki) January 20, 2015
Per rumor, Obama to unveil details of manager overtime mandate. Terrible idea (1/2) http://t.co/tRF2eovU5q http://t.co/jxcF7DjG8k #CatoSOTU
— Walter Olson (@walterolson) January 20, 2015
More on why manager overtime edict could be among Obama's worst legacies (2/2) http://t.co/PfwyWmWAzQ http://t.co/eEeBo0v1ux #CatoSOTU
— Walter Olson (@walterolson) January 20, 2015
MT @PGEddington Obama to push more regulation of cyber security, yet feds can’t even protect own bldgs http://t.co/Z4Z8tbM7uZ #CatoSOTU
— Walter Olson (@walterolson) January 21, 2015
To me, #SOTU's modern low point came in 2010 when Obama hectored #SCOTUS justices. You bet they remember http://t.co/syxtcCTmVh #CatoSOTU
— Walter Olson (@walterolson) January 21, 2015
What POTUS will say tonight: I plan to pay for free community college with tax hikes on college savings accounts #CatoSOTU
— Nicole Kaeding (@NKaeding) January 21, 2015
"Free from the grip of foreign oil" — yet so much of his own base has fought the drilling and pipelines that made that possible #CatoSOTU
— Walter Olson (@walterolson) January 21, 2015
"Will we allow ourselves to be sorted into factions and turned against one another…?" And then on to the let's-get-the-1% pitch #CatoSOTU
— Walter Olson (@walterolson) January 21, 2015
The SOTU is always a good time to remember that it’s a *very* limited set of *enumerated* powers the Constitution actually allows. #CatoSOTU
— Aaron Ross Powell (@ARossP) January 21, 2015
Politics creates factions. #CatoSOTU
— Trevor Burrus (@TCBurrus) January 21, 2015
At @overlawyered I just RT'd tweet re: Prez's lame "pay gap" talk. Didn't mention it was from last year's #SOTU — if that matters #CatoSOTU
— Walter Olson (@walterolson) January 21, 2015
So depressing to hear big applause for the oft-refuted demagogy on gender pay gap. Here's Cathy Young: http://t.co/QXESJKuAuU #CatoSOTU
— Walter Olson (@walterolson) January 29, 2014
“@MTannerCato: Yes, let's make it more expensive to hire workers. That will do wonders for low skill employment. #CatoSOTU” ????
— C.Conrad ?? (@CConrad78710) January 21, 2015
“When we react to the headlines instead of using our heads…” But I have 10 dubious proposals in response to the Sony hack. #CatoSOTU
— Julian Sanchez (@normative) January 21, 2015
Glad that President mentioned falling crime rate and is happy about falling incarceration rate. #CatoSOTU
— Walter Olson (@walterolson) January 21, 2015
More: Cato scholars respond in a video:
Holder’s order on forfeiture reform: less than meets the eye
By one estimate, “something like 86 percent of the loot that state and local law enforcement agencies receive through federal forfeitures will be unaffected by Holder’s new policy.” [Jacob Sullum, Reason; earlier] “Eric Holder’s Asset Forfeiture Decision Won’t Stop the Widespread Abuse of Police Power” [Jonathan Blanks, New Republic] “New Holder Policy Means Fewer Bal Harbours, More Motel Caswells” [Eapen Thampy, Americans for Forfeiture Reform] More: Balko, continued.
Texas caterer nailed for “citizenship discrimination”
Missed this one from the fall: a Texas catering business will pay a fine to the U.S. government for having engaged in “citizenship discrimination.” “Culinaire International unlawfully discriminated against employees based on their citizenship status, the Justice Department claimed, because it required non-citizen employees to provide extra proof of their right to work in the United States. Culinaire has agreed to pay the United States $20,460 in civil penalties, receive training in anti-discrimination rules of the Immigration and Nationality Act, revise its work eligibility verification process, and create a $40,000 back pay fund for ‘potential economic victims.'” Employers face stringent penalties if they ask for too few documents, but that doesn’t mean they’re free to ask for any more than the right number. [Rachel Stoltzfoos, Daily Caller; Bill Watson (“Trying too hard to follow bad laws? That’s illegal”)] Several related cases, from fifteen years ago, here.
Law professor who taught tax law convicted of tax evasion
But that’s not the end of the story. Law school fires her. She sues! But loses, at least so far. [Caron/TaxProf, ABA Journal; Hamline Law School, Minnesota]
January 20 roundup
- Grand jury said to recommend charges against Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane [Philadelphia Inquirer, more, earlier here and here]
- Orin Kerr analyzes Obama admininstration proposals to expand law on computer crime [Volokh Conspiracy and more]
- “Religious Liberty Isn’t a ‘Dog Whistle’ – It’s a Necessary Practice of a Free Society” [Scott Shackford, Reason vs. Frank Bruni, New York Times]
- Scalia, Epstein, many others: videos now online from the Federalist Society’s recently concluded 2014 National Lawyers Convention;
- List of firms with non-disparagement clauses (of highly dubious enforceability) purporting to forbid negative comments from customers [Tim Cushing, TechDirt]
- “Red Tape Is Strangling Good Samaritans” [Philip K. Howard, The Daily Beast]
- I’ve written on this irony: antitrust lawyers collude among themselves to boost their fee take [Daniel Fisher]