- New DoL classification mandate could tee up wage/hour class actions [Peter Kirsanow, NRO Corner] “Survey of wage and hour settlement highlights risk to employers” [Hyman]
- Why 24/7/365 campaigns? Because politics “has taken over so much of life” [Roger Pilon, Cato at Liberty]
- Nigerian auto tariffs have ripple effects for the worse in Prince George’s County, Md. [Tyler Cowen]
- Virginia AG Ken Cuccinelli’s dubious case against climatologist [Barton Hinkle, Richmond Times-Dispatch]
- Employers and jobs moving from California to… Michigan? [Perry]
- “Huffington Post Law Suit: Should You Work For Free?” [Suzanne Lucas, BNET, earlier here, here, etc.]
- With apparent aim of protecting music rights holders, lawmakers heap burdens on sellers of used CDs [four years ago on Overlawyered]
Author Archive
Prosecutions in Phoebe Prince school-bullying case sputter out
Not long ago advocates were promoting the South Hadley, Mass. school-suicide case as a chance to break new ground in sending teens to prison for verbal bullying, but now the cases have eventuated in probation, perhaps assisted by journalistic efforts that showed the events rather more complicated than first presented in the press [Boston Globe]
“Cost of a Law Review Article: $100,000; Student Debt to Pay for it: Priceless”
A point I make in Schools for Misrule: in part through accreditation rules, law schools are artificially pressured to channel faculty energy into published scholarly work, despite evidence that much of it will be little read or consulted [Richard Neumann/NLJ via Paul Caron, Kenneth Anderson, Volokh, Scott Greenfield]
Texas Public Policy Foundation: A case for loser-pays
Loser-pays, long the law in Alaska, is stirring significant interest in Texas these days. Ryan Brennan of TPPF makes a case for the reform [PDF] and discusses some of the choices involved in structuring it.
P.S. Tracking for S.B. 13 and H.B. 274. And more on pending Texas omnibus liability reform legislation from Texans for Lawsuit Reform and its Balance Texas Courts project.
JAMA study links low-salt diet to higher risk
Trump’s litigiousness, cont’d
It’s practically a meme: last week I pointed out at Cato at Liberty that the real estate tycoon liked to use lawyers to push others around, and now Peter Stone of the Center for Public Integrity quotes me in the course of an article documenting Trump’s very frequent resort to litigation in his business and public affairs.
“If he’s taken seriously as a candidate it’s going to be appropriate to look at his record of litigation,” conservative legal scholar Walter Olson of the Cato Institute told iWatch News . He said a big question will be “how consistent is [Trump’s record] with the Republican idea that litigation should be a last resort and not a weapon for tactical advantage.”
Atlantic Wire and Ben Smith at Politico discuss.
From Florida governor to TV lawyer pitchman
It only took Charlie Crist a few months, and was no particular surprise given his record in office [Daily Caller, WSJ Law Blog]. More: Turkewitz.
Senate confirms McConnell to federal judgeship
By a mostly partisan vote of 50 to 44, the U.S. Senate confirmed Rhode Island plaintiff’s lawyer and political kingmaker Jack McConnell to a federal district judgeship. McConnell made his Motley Rice law firm, based in South Carolina, into Rhode Island’s biggest political donor during the same period that state officials were hiring him to run, on contingency fee, what it was hoped would be a hugely lucrative suit against former makers of lead paint. The Motley firm, with associated law firms, is credited with having made billions from tobacco and asbestos litigation and has recycled large sums into the campaign coffers of state attorneys general and other friendly politicians. [Daily Caller, Plains Daily (North Dakota contributions), Politico, ShopFloor] Earlier here, here, here, etc.
Life imitates legal cliche: injury plaintiff winds up owning amusement park
Pruett Nance was hurt riding an all-terrain vehicle on the grounds of a no-longer-operating theme park in Arkansas, Dogpatch USA. The owners having not paid a $650,000 judgment, a judge has awarded Nance ownership of the park. [Arkansas Online via Childs, TortsProf]
Class action lawyers pursue Facebook, Twitter
They’re suing Facebook for allowing minors to “like” products without parental permission, and Twitter over its alleged sending of confirmatory “we won’t send you any more texts” texts.