In court a lot: “The Rise and Fall of Toronto’s Classiest Con Man” [Michael Lista, The Walrus]
Archive for June, 2017
Contingency-fee state and city suits against opioid makers
They capitalize on widespread public anger and frustration at the addiction epidemic, but face formidable legal hurdles — among them the fact that the marketing practices and language the suits assail as unlawful were often specifically approved by the federal Food and Drug Administration. Much impetus for the suits comes from private law firms that pitch the actions to governments as free, while setting themselves up for gigantic contingency fees after the eventual settlement. [Nate Raymond, Reuters]
Where is Kentucky’s disability king?
“This lawyer helped steal $600 million from the government, got caught — then disappeared” (Eric Christopher Conn, Kentucky) [Avi Seik, Washington Post; Bill Estep and Linda Blackford, Lexington Herald-Leader; FBI Louisville; earlier here and here]
Campus climate roundup
- This is big: Betsy DeVos appoints First Amendment advocate Adam Kissel as Deputy Assistant Secretary for higher ed programs [Inside Higher Ed]
- “He is currently exploring restorative justice from an anti-authoritarian perspective.” [East Bay Times, Berkeleyside on wayward former Diablo Valley College faculty member]
- “Oxford apologizes for saying that avoiding eye contact is racism, but not because the claim is mad.” [“Fabius Maximus” on BBC report]
- “…the Michigan Political Union has since had to avoid other debate topics for fear of similar shout-downs.” [National Review]
- Advice for academics: “Never object to a diversity policy publicly. It is no longer permitted.” [Jon Haidt, Peter Berkowitz on Duke Divinity case]
- Things began to spin awry at Evergreen State College with plan to require “equity justification” for every faculty hire [Bret Weinstein, WSJ; Inside Higher Ed; Seattle Times editorial]
Mark calendars now: Cato Constitution Day Sept. 18
Mark your calendar now: Mon. Sept. 18 is the Cato Institute’s all-day annual Constitution Day program. I’ll be moderating a panel on “Property, Religious and Secular” with Roger Pilon and Rick Garnett, and other well-known Cato names appear through the day. The annual B. Kenneth Simon Lecture will be delivered by Columbia lawprof Philip Hamburger. Details here.
Tenth Circuit: neighbors’ RICO suit against pot growers can proceed
I wrote two years ago about how
a pro-Drug-War group [Safe Streets Alliance] is using civil RICO to go after banks, bonding companies, landlords, and other commercial vendors that do business with marijuana facilities legalized under Colorado’s Amendment 64. Whatever you think of the underlying Colorado law, RICO (I argue) puts too much power in the hands of bounty-hunting private lawyers.
Now the Tenth Circuit has ruled that Safe Streets Alliance, representing a couple named Reilly, can proceed with a racketeering suit against the Reilly’s marijuana-growing neighbors. The direct damages claimed, including noxious odors, are of the sort that might form the basis of a conventional nuisance action, but the RICO framing could make possible steeper penalties, such as triple damages and attorneys’ fees, while the continued unlawfulness of the growing under federal law (even if left unenforced) knocks out possible defenses for the growers [Eugene Volokh; my 2015 piece]
Inside an ADA mass filing operation
An investigation by Arizona’s ABC 15 “confirmed through attorneys, sources and internal documents that Litigation Management and Financial Services is comprised of the same people behind the Valley group, Advocates for Individuals with Disabilities, or AID.” The news organization also lays its hands on contracts used by the resulting ADA mass filing operation; it seems disabled plaintiffs in whose names the suits were filed got paid $50 a pop.
Sessions : DoJ will stop sending settlement money to private groups
My new piece at Cato begins:
In a memo dated June 5, Attorney General Jeff Sessions has ended the practice by which the Department of Justice earmarks legal settlement funds for non-governmental third-party groups that were neither victims nor parties to the lawsuit. This is terrific news and a major step forward in respecting both the constitutional separation of powers and the private rights that litigation is meant to vindicate.
On the separation-of-powers aspects of these slush funds, I go on to recommend a vigorous dissent by Judge Janice Rogers Brown in the recent D.C. Circuit case of Keepseagle v. Perdue. Whole thing here.
The mills of justice grind slowly, cont’d
Report from the Washington, D.C. courts: “A woman who sued the Washington, D.C., Department of Corrections for sexual discrimination is still awaiting the final resolution of her lawsuit 27 years after it was filed….The case has been before nine judges; a 10th will consider her dispute over interest this week.” [ABA Journal]
June 7 roundup
- “Copyright Troll’s Tech ‘Experts’ Can Apparently Detect Infringement Before It Happens” [Tim Cushing, TechDirt] “Judge Alsup Threatens To Block Malibu Media From Any More Copyright Trolling In Northern California” [Mike Masnick, same]
- “The Truth About Seattle’s Proposed Soda Tax and its Ilk” [Baylen Linnekin quoting my piece on the Howard County, Maryland campaign against soft drinks; my related on Philadelphia soda tax] Update: measure passes;
- “Judge calls attorney a ‘lowlife’ in tossing defamation suit, says ‘truth is an absolute defense'” [Julia Marsh, New York Post]
- Rent control in Mumbai, as closer to home, brings strife, litigiousness, and crumbling housing stock [Alex Tabarrok] “How Germany Made Rent Control ‘Work'” [Kristian Niemietz, FEE]
- Together with Judge Alex Williams, Jr., I wrote an op-ed for the Baltimore Sun on the Maryland legislature’s misbegotten scheme to require a six-state compact before fixing its gerrymander-prone redistricting system;
- Inefficient land title recording leaves billions on table, but lawmakers show scant interest in reform [Arnold Kling]