The Georgia high court has unanimously rejected a taxi industry suit arguing that the legalization of ride-sharing services like Uber and Lyft, by undercutting the monopoly power of Atlanta taxi medallions and other legal entitlements, amounts to a taking for which the state owes them compensation [Nick Sibilla, Forbes]
Archive for May, 2017
NPR: isn’t there a right to eat, Mr. Congressman?
Dear Scott Simon, NPR “Weekend Edition” host: you don’t win a specific policy argument just by proclaiming a grand universal right to food, health care, housing, water, or whatever. [John Cochrane, The Grumpy Economist]
May 31 roundup
- “Heir hunters” chase missing relatives entitled to inherit unclaimed fortunes, for a share of the recovery. Some relatives might not even be relatives [James Fanelli, New York Daily News first, second stories]
- Put up a statue of Clarence Darrow for the Scopes case? OK, but then take it back down for the L.A. Times case [Mark Pulliam, Law and Liberty]
- Lawyer who founded Prenda Law is disbarred [Joe Mullin, ArsTechnica]
- “Escaping the ICWA Penalty Box: In Defense of Equal Protection for Indian Children” [Timothy Sandefur, Children’s Legal Rights Journal]
- “Russian bank owners sue BuzzFeed over Trump dossier publication” [Josh Gerstein, Politico]
- On OMB regulatory management, Trump administration is headed in its own new direction [Andrew Grossman]
“The Permission Society”
Should law have as a fundamental organizing principle that persons have a general right to embark on enterprises not specifically prohibited, or that a wide range of activities should require advance permission by official gatekeepers? New Timothy Sandefur book reviewed by Josh Windham [Libertarianism.org]
UPS didn’t ask questions about volume shipments from Indian reservations
“A federal judge on Thursday ordered delivery giant UPS Inc. to pay New York City and the state nearly $247 million in damages and penalties for illegally shipping cigarettes” to New York buyers from Indian reservations. “UPS argued it followed the rules and can only do so much to police what its 1.6 million daily shippers send in sealed packages.” The delivery service says the shipments accounted for about $1 million in revenue. [AP/New York Post]
Free speech roundup
- “There are about 10 to 20 [criminal libel] prosecutions each year throughout the country” [Eugene Volokh on criminal defamation complaint by Montana judge against election opponent who had accused him of misconduct]
- “Shutting down Fake News Could Move Us Closer to a Modern-Day ‘1984’” [Flemming Rose and Jacob Mchangama, Washington Post/Cato]
- Glad to be in America with our First Amendment: EU acts to adopt Europe-wide rules requiring social media companies to take down so-called hate speech [Mashable, Engadget] More: DW. And a decree ordering media to take down news officially dubbed false is one that would *not* read better in the original German [Flemming Rose, Cato]
- Idaho defends its ag-gag law against First Amendment challenge before Ninth Circuit [Baylen Linnekin]
- “The playing field for independent speech has improved, but there are challenges still for small groups that want to influence elections.” [Cato podcast with campaign attorneys Michael G. Adams and Neil Reiff]
- On the origins of “no-platforming” [Mark Peters, Boston Globe, quotes me]
Logic of olive oil settlement might be hard to press
Lawyers sued over the labeling of Filippo Berio olive oil as “imported from Italy” because the Italian-packed product derives from olives grown not only in Italy but also in other countries such as Greece and Tunisia. In the settlement of the class action Kumar v. Salov North America Corp., “the attorneys look to get over 300% of what their clients will.” [Ted Frank and Will Chamberlain, CEI]
Bankruptcy trusts yield evidence of asbestos double-dipping
North Dakota and Mississippi have become the third and fourth states to enact laws requiring more transparency of the trusts formed to administer companies declaring bankruptcy amid asbestos litigation [Sara Warner, Huffington Post] “With Obama’s veto threat gone, asbestos ‘double-dipping’ bill reintroduced” [Jessica Karmasek, Legal NewsLine] “State AGs Probe Asbestos Bankruptcy Trusts To Recover Medicare Payments” [Daniel Fisher] And per a paper from the U.S. Chamber, Ohio’s pioneering asbestos claim transparency law is working well [Institute for Legal Reform]
Before bringing a monkey into the courthouse in your purse, read this
“‘I said, ‘I need to see your monkey,’ [sheriff’s deputy Pat] McIver said. ‘She unzipped her purse, the monkey stuck its head out and looked around, and then she zipped it back up.'” Readers will not be surprised to learn that there is a service animal angle. [Lowering the Bar]
Does the law itself change when a federal agency files an amicus brief?
It might seem dangerous to entrust them with a power like that [Ilya Shapiro and Frank Garrison on Cato certiorari petition in donning and doffing FLSA case DuPont v. Smiley]