Tim Carney, the influential columnist at the D.C. Examiner, writes as if libertarians have been AWOL or worse when it comes to defending religious liberty from the incursions of the modern liberal-bureaucratic state. I try to set him straight in a new post at Cato at Liberty. More: Carney responds; Jordan Bloom, The American Conservative; Rick Esenberg.
Author Archive
A paradox of privacy class actions
Privacy buffs usually prefer for business practices to be opt-in (consumers participate only if they affirmative choose to) rather than opt-out (consumers are bound unless they affirmatively choose to exclude themselves). Yet when it comes to filing class action lawsuits over consumer privacy, what do they think those same lawsuits wind up doing? [Eric Goldman via Andrew Trask]
“Think carefully about ‘friending’ co-workers.”
Jon Hyman finds the National Labor Relations Board’s policy on social media in the workplace a “bungled mess.” More: Reed Smith.
June 11 roundup
- Nortel portfolio now used for offense: “How Apple and Microsoft Armed 4,000 Patent Warheads” [Wired]
- Via Bill Childs: “This shows up in Google News despite fact that it’s lawyer advertising.” [TheDenverChannel.com] At “public interest watchdog” FairWarning.org, who contributed this article about Canadian asbestos controversies? Byline credits a law firm;
- Another Bloomberg crackdown in NYC: gender-differential pricing in haircuts and other services [Mark Perry]
- A “Pro-Business Regulation Push” from Obama White House? Oh, Bloomberg Business Week, sometimes you can be so droll [Future of Capitalism]
- “Trial Lawyers’ Support of Republican Candidates Yields Less Than Stellar Results” [Morgan Smith, NY Times; Examiner editorial; more from TLRPac on Texas election results]
- “Community banks to Congress: you’re crushing us” [Kevin Funnell]
- If an emergency injunction could stop one reality-TV show, why couldn’t it stop them all? [Hollywood Reporter]
Department of Things You Hope Are a Joke
Turning governance of the Internet over to the United Nations system [The Hill, Josh Peterson/Daily Caller, more]
P.S. Oh joy: “U.N. could tax U.S.-based Web sites, leaked docs show” [Declan McCullagh and Larry Downes, CNet]
Self-proclaimed NYC “Queen of Torts”
She’s asking $30 million over a client’s dog bite. Have her subjects informed her about New York’s abolition of ad damnum clauses? [Eric Turkewitz, earlier]
Shareholder lawsuits: “Shark Attack”
The Economist on “Why American firms cannot do deals without being sued”:
In 2005, 39% of M&A deals were challenged by lawsuits, one study found. By 2011 a hefty 96% of acquisitions worth more than $500m were attracting suits…
J. Travis Laster of Delaware’s Chancery Court [has] become an outspoken public critic of “worthless”, “sue-on-every-deal” lawsuits. In March he told one group of plaintiffs’ lawyers: “I don’t think for a moment that 90%—or based on recent numbers, 95%—of deals are the result of a breach of fiduciary duty.”
“Angela Corey threatened to sue Harvard Law over professor’s criticism, educator says”
If Alan Dershowitz’s accusations are to be believed, the Florida prosecutor in the Trayvon Martin/George Zimmerman case behaved in grossly unprofessional fashion. [Jacksonville.com “The Gavel,” more, Jeralyn Merritt/TalkLeft]
Iditarod musher sues knife maker
Product liability reaches the famed Alaskan dogsled race:
Iditarod mushers are known for missing digits. …
When Mitch Seavey nearly lost his index finger last year in Ophir, however, his Iditarod was over. In a lawsuit in U.S. District Court, the former champion now says the blame lies with the Oregon company that made the knife he sliced his finger with, and Sportsman’s Warehouse, which sold it to him.
Attention! Citizens of Portland!
Your city is counting on you to report on neighbors who violate the recycling and composting rules by using the wrong bin. An army of anonymous informers cannot be defeated! [Tung Yin; OregonLive.com]