The intention of protecting American authors from overreaching foreign defamation suits certainly seems a good one. But what about the details? Howard Wasserman, who has raised various objections in the past, finds the bill that just passed the Senate “a dramatic improvement over earlier versions.” [Prawfsblawg]
Author Archive
“99 Cents Only Stores sued over price increase”
Although the company president says the California-based chain has “basically bombard[ed]” its customers with notifications about its price increase to 99.99 cents an item, class action lawyers say it’s unfair and misleading. [L.A. Times] One reader is reminded of the words of Lionel Hutz: “Mr. Simpson, this is the most blatant case of fraudulent advertising since my suit against the film, ‘The Never-Ending Story.’”
P.S. Orange County attorney Dan Callahan, described as having filed one of the suits, looks to be the same Daniel Callahan of Callahan and Blaine who has appeared in these columns twice before.
“Students Aren’t Allowed To Touch Real Rocks”
Lenore Skenazy at Forbes: “How the Consumer Product Safety Commission drives parents — and everyone else — crazy.” Besides the CPSIA rock-poster story of the headline (earlier), the CPSC has scared parents about not-very-terrifying Graco high chairs and Little Tykes workbenches, to say nothing of those McDonald’s Shrek glasses with traces of cadmium.
Related: the Federalist Society presents a podcast on CPSIA with CPSC commissioners Nancy Nord and Robert Adler; rules for making kids’ products recall the IRS code in complexity; the new public database of alleged product-related injuries, a la NHTSA’s, draws critical attention from manufacturers and CPSC commissioner Anne Northup; and the commission tackles the dangers of clacker balls.
July 23 roundup
- “What Really Happened To Phoebe Prince?” [Emily Bazelon, Slate, related series on “cyber-bullying”; ABA Journal]
- Obama backs so-called Paycheck Fairness Act; why business should resist [USA Today, Hyman, ShopFloor, Furchtgott-Roth] Another slant on “paycheck fairness” [AP on Bell, Calif., sequel]
- Unlinked back in February: “Doctors cut back hours when risk of malpractice suit rises, study shows” [Eric Helland and Mark Showalter, JLE, Brigham Young release via Bob Dorigo Jones]
- Also unlinked from back when: thanks for kind mention to Mark Herrmann in “Memoirs of a Blogger,” PDF [Litigation mag courtesy WSJ Law Blog, Drug and Device Law]
- Ditto: Nora Freeman Engstrom on accident-law settlement mills, “Run-of-the-Mill Justice” [Georgetown Journal of Legal Ethics, SSRN, via LEF, Ronald Miller]
- Australia: “Welfare cheat wins right to IVF on jail time” [Melbourne Age]
- “The Nightmare of Legal Discovery” [Lammi, WLF Legal Pulse, related from WLF]
- Tribunal: “Mosquito” teenager-repellent device violates European Convention on Human Rights [Ku, Opinio Juris]
Welcome KPNW listeners
I was a guest this morning on Wake-Up Call with Holloway and Lundun, from Eugene/Springfield in western Oregon, to discuss JournoList and other media follies.
“New Financial Regulations Will Make Whistleblowing Lucrative”
I’m quoted in this report by Dunstan Prial of FoxBusiness.com and in this report by David Savage of the Los Angeles Times on the large-scale bounty incentives in the Dodd-Frank financial regulation bill, which bring us closer to an “informer model of law enforcement” that “encourages people to be disloyal to their friends and co-workers.” Earlier here and here. Other coverage of the whistleblowing provisions: Coyle/NLJ, Koehler/FCPA Professor, Baer/Prawfsblawg.
“Worst state attorneys general”, cont’d
Hans Bader of the Competitive Enterprise Institute informs me that Connecticut’s Richard Blumenthal has in a sense won his recount after all: a recalculation taking into account a bit of overlooked data has now moved him up from #3 to #2 on this year’s list, though he’s still essentially tied with Oklahoma’s Drew Edmondson. In first place: California’s Jerry Brown, while perennial favorites Patrick Lynch of Rhode Island and Darrell McGraw of West Virginia fill the #4 and #5 places, and a newcomer, William Sorrell of Vermont, makes an appearance at #6.
More: Bader in the Examiner on the selection process.
Court: competitive cheerleading not varsity sport
Thus achieving two of feminist litigators’ goals at once: 1) sending a message that cheerleading is not a government-approved aspiration for young women; 2) further humbling men’s college sports, since quota incentives are now likely to bring renewed pressure for budget and roster cuts at universities like Quinnipiac. Congratulations! [Inside Higher Ed, earlier here and here] More: Neal McCluskey, Cato at Liberty; Atlantic Wire.
Related: Fascinating USA Today coverage of multiple lawsuits arising from the tense relationship between men’s and women’s athletics at Lock Haven University in Pennsylvania (h/t Jim Copland).
July 22 roundup
- Update from Germany: “Teacher Loses ‘Rabbit-Phobia’ Trial” [Spiegel, earlier]
- Farther shores of for-your-own-goodery: “Should Obese Kids Be Placed In Foster Care?” [Katz, CBS News]
- Just one problem with that $725 million AIG securities suit settlement [D&O Diary]
- After Texas passed bill requiring evidence of impairment, more than 99% of silicosis claimants dropped out [LNL, PoL]
- Lindsay Lohan disserved by lawyer who can’t keep a confidence [Turkewitz]
- Pearlstein’s the Washington Post’s anti-business business columnist [McArdle, Wood/ShopFloor]
- Lawyer shenanigans in Fosamax trial in New York [Walk, Drug & Device Law]
- Unwelcome surprise: health care bill turns out to tax many house sales [David Boaz, Cato at Liberty]
$13 million settlement for USDA-er Shirley Sherrod’s group
The immediate controversy over Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack’s removal of Sherrod from her post is interesting enough — both the NAACP and many conservatives withdrew their initial support for Sherrod’s firing and began defending her as more context emerged — but perhaps the more durable story worth public attention is the background, which includes a $1 billion lawsuit discrimination settlement of which $13 million went to Sherrod’s advocacy group [Rural Development Leadership Network via Tom Blumer, Examiner, h/t reader Aaron W.; ten years ago] More: FoxNews.com.