A novel lawsuit theory that obtained more-than-respectful coverage in the New York Times did not succeed in convincing the Oklahoma courts, notes Russell Jackson. “The Court of Civil Appeals’ decision in Doyle is a strong demonstration that trying to use civil legal duties to make the US a Nanny State is simply wrongheaded.”
Author Archive
Toilets that “frankly…don’t work”
Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul is voicing citizen discontent about federal low-flow plumbing mandates, a mandate intended to force conservation of a resource that in many parts of the country is not even particularly scarce [Atlantic Wire, Nick Gillespie]
Related: Where is the market failure with incandescent light bulbs? [Thomas Firey, Cato at Liberty]
Update: Adorno & Yoss law firm to dissolve
“[B]efore founding partner Henry ‘Hank’ Adorno was suspended for his handling of a $7 million class action settlement[, the] Florida law firm was once the nation’s largest certified minority-owned firm.” [ABA Journal] Our earlier coverage of the Miami fire-fee scandal (“A case of unchecked avarice coupled with a total absence of shame,” wrote one judge) is here, here, here, here, and here.
By reader acclaim: Minneapolis blogger told to pay $60K over post
“Though blogger John (Johnny Northside) Hoff told the truth when he linked ex-community leader Jerry Moore to a high-profile mortgage fraud, the scathing blog post that got Moore fired justifies $60,000 in damages, a Hennepin County jury decided Friday.” Moore, who was fired by the University of Minnesota after the post appeared, sued on a theory of “tortious interference” with his employment. [Minneapolis Star-Tribune]
“I really don’t care what the law allows you to do…”
“…It’s a more practical issue. Do you want to send your attorney a check every month indefinitely as I continue to pursue this?” [Paul Alan Levy, CL&P, on a business’s threats against the “Insurance Forums” website]
Paul Rubin: “Privacy and tracking”
The Emory law and economics expert, newly launched as a blogger at Truth on the Market, has some thoughts about Internet commerce and the (sometimes illusory) sense of being watched.
Manhattan Institute podcast on Schools for Misrule
I spoke about my new book before a luncheon crowd yesterday at my former institute in New York City — several distinguished law professors were in attendance — and Jim Copland interviewed me afterward. We talked about how this book grew out of my earlier work, why international rights are such a coming area in law schools, and much more. The resulting audio podcast runs just over 10 minutes; you may need to turn the volume up higher than normal to hear it properly. You can and should buy Schools for Misrule itself here (Amazon commission as well as regular royalty benefits me).
On the radio front, I was a guest on Jason Lewis’s nationally syndicated (Minneapolis-based) show on Monday, and will be a guest today at 11 Eastern on Ron Smith’s show on WBAL Baltimore (audio).
Radley Balko on forensics reform
Fix the incentives that underlie the system’s pervasive failures, argues the journalist who’s exposed crime-lab scandals and expert unreliability in a series of widely discussed articles. [Reason]
“I Can’t Believe It Wasn’t Legal to Sell Yellow Margarine”
Mark Perry revisits an interest-group-driven feature of the not too distant legal past [Carpe Diem]
Undercutting a $1,500 drug with a $20 equivalent
A competitor drug company warns “compounding” pharmacies of “FDA action” if they persist in any such mischief [L.A. Times]