The Supreme Court should strike down the multistate compact by which state attorneys general carried out the Great Tobacco Heist of a decade ago, argues Hans Bader of the Competitive Enterprise Institute [Washington Times and CEI; earlier here, here]. I’ve discussed the MSA at chapter length in my book The Rule of Lawyers as well as in shorter form here and elsewhere.
P.S. AEI’s Michael Greve analyzes the legal background at Balkinization.
Scott Greenfield on curiously convenient cop testimony.
A local NBC affiliate covers the extraordinary lawsuit-abuse ring run by a tow-operator-gone-wrong in San Benito, Santa Clara and Monterey counties. Attorney Greg Adler deserves credit for cracking the scheme (via Legal Ethics Forum; earlier here and here).
The Manhattan Institute publication Minding the Campus, which monitors higher education and its reform, is out with an excerpt from my forthcoming book Schools for Misrule. You can check it out here.
Stewart Baker has some advice for the complainant in a criminal (!) defamation proceeding filed in France against NYU law professor Joseph Weiler. Adam Liptak covers the case in the NYT here; earlier here, etc. More: Dan Markel, Prawfs.
“Nearly 35 percent of all the imaging costs ordered for 2,068 orthopaedic patient encounters in Pennsylvania were ordered for defensive purposes, according to a new study presented today at the 2011 Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS).” [AAOS, ABA Journal, Frank]
Related: David Freddoso, “Trial lawyers release malpractice primer.“
“The city of Lodi ended a long legal battle over groundwater contamination earlier this month,” accepting $6.3 million from insurers for local businesses. [Lodi News-Sentinel] We covered the convoluted litigation, in which the California city sued numerous local businesses, in reports here and here.
Ted Frank and Scott Greenfield suspect that some New York lawyers are soon going to be donating to judges they dislike, just to keep from drawing them for their case.