- Dodd-Frank major oops: Faced with new liabilities, agencies refuse to let their ratings be used in bond issuance [WaPo, Salmon] SEC scurries to suspend requirement for six months while it figures out what to do [Salmon]
- Left-leaning law lectern: study of newly hired lawprofs identifies 52 liberals, 8 conservatives [Caron, ABA Journal, Lindgren/Volokh]
- “Progress in protecting gripe site owners against silly trademark claims” [Levy, CL&P]
- “Congress Investigates Beck, Ingraham Advertisers” [Stoll]
- “Uncle Sam Kicks Out Legal Immigrants for Down Profits in Recession” [Shapiro, Cato]
- Judge punishes Goodyear for discovery heel-dragging by denying it chance to disprove liability in $32M case [Las Vegas Sun]
- “$2.3M verdict against Dole thrown out on fraud grounds” [PoL, background]
- Paul Campos vs. Elena Kagan: this time it’s personal [Lawyers Guns & Money]
Author Archive
Bar exam hypothetical parody
From Elizabeth Wurtzel. Not much more extreme than some real ones I’ve seen.
20th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act
I’ve got some thoughts on that milestone at Cato at Liberty.
Alabama law: contracts based on gambling are void
And electronic bingo players have now sued under the 158-year-old law to demand reimbursement of their losses. [Kent Faulk, Birmingham News]
UK historian who salted Amazon with self-serving reviews loses legal case against rivals
It is unclear from the BBC’s account whether the sock-puppetry amounted to anything that would have been actionable in an American court. A detail worth noting, though: “Initially, when confronted by the allegations of his involvement, Prof Figes instructed his lawyer to threaten legal action.”
Privacy/information collection “best practices” bill
Declan McCullagh at CNet and Jim Harper at Cato warn about a proposed bill sponsored by Rep. Bobby Rush (D-Ill.) that could impose significant regulatory burdens and legal risks on many small businesses, websites and even individuals that gather information about customers or other persons. The bill is presently titled the “Building Effective Strategies To Promote Responsibility Accountability Choice Transparency Innovation Consumer Expectations and Safeguards Act, or BEST PRACTICES Act of 2010.”
July 26 roundup
- Emerging newspaper business model: copyright lawsuits against bloggers? [Kravets, Wired, Ron Coleman, TechDirt, PoL]
- Five NYC hospitals to use “health courts” to seek agreements before medical malpractice cases go to trial [WSJ]
- Serpentine asbestos politics behind “California state rock” fracas [Cal Civil Justice, more, PoL, Bailey, earlier here and here]
- From Andrew Grossman: “Feinberg: ‘priests, mayors or even sheriffs could vouch for [BP trust fund] claims of local businesses.’ Has he ever been to Miss, La.?!”
- Va. lawyer, real estate agent sanctioned for “frivolous claims supported by wild speculation” [ABA Journal]
- An injury lawyer reads and reacts to my first book, The Litigation Explosion [Alan Crede]
- Le Corbusier’s writing made him sound like certain pro se litigants [Johnson, PrawfsBlawg]
- “Tip: Photoshopping Self Into Charity Photos Not Likely to Reduce Sentence” [Lowering the Bar, more]
Delegate to Durban conference up for 10th Circuit nod
Keith Harper, now with Kilpatrick Stockton, is a longtime Native American Rights Fund attorney and class counsel in the gigantic Indian trust fund litigation, Cobell. Some critics focus on his prospective appointment for an “Oklahoma seat” on the court, others are not happy with developments in Cobell. [Tulsa World, Kimberly Craven/Billings Gazette]
“Humiliated” talent-show reject wants to sue host
“A woman who blames illness for her failure on Britain’s Got Talent wants to sue the TV show for discrimination because she felt humiliated by the judges.” Emma Amelia Pearl Czikai says she was jeered after health problems related to fibromyalgia hurt her performance. [Sky News]
July 24 roundup
- San Francisco considers, then tables, ban on pet sales at stores [Amy Alkon]
- Florida: we’ll pull you into our courts as an online-defamation defendant even if you’ve never set foot here [CBS4.com]
- Bratz case: “Alex Kozinski gives Barbie a spanking” [AtL]
- GEICO launches counterattack against crash fraud in New York [PoL]
- When a lawyer sues the wrong doctor: hey, isn’t everyone entitled to mistakes now and then? [American Medical News, sanctions affirmed in Virginia case]
- “[Congressman Alan] Grayson’s shakedown lawsuit threatens D.C. business” [LaFetra, PLF/Examiner]
- Asbestos: Do component makers have a duty to warn about other manufacturers’ hazardous products? [Cal Biz Lit and two followups on California decisions, NAM and Levy Phillips & Konigsberg on a since-settled New York case against Foster Wheeler]
- Subsidies for durum wheat flowed in happy circle for everyone but taxpayer and consumer [Mark Perry]