Overlawyered: Chronicling The High Cost Of Our Legal System

Author Archive

Baltimore vs. Wells Fargo, cont’d

The city is trying to keep alive its litigation blaming urban decay on mortgage lenders. The Baltimore Sun quotes the tart response of Andrew L. Sandler, an attorney representing the bank, who notes that plaintiff’s attorney John Relman has filed a similar action in Memphis:

“One year, they file a suit saying that the lender didn’t make enough loans in minority communities: redlining. The next year, they file a suit saying that they made too many loans in minority communities: reverse red-lining,” Sandler said. “This is just a commercial enterprise for these lawyers. … The same lawyers have been shopping the same complaint to various municipalities for two years.”

(cross-posted from Point of Law).

Filed under: ,

April 22 roundup

  • Liquor commissioner of New Hampshire nabbed on DWI rap, refuses breathalyzer test [WMUR]
  • Slumber party liability waivers are something we’ve reported on before. But home trampoline disclaimers? [Free-Range Kids]
  • Website’s terms and conditions include giving up your immortal soul [Popehat]
  • Scottish jury says charges “not proven” against lawyers in case of monetary demand for return of stolen Leonardo da Vinci painting [Guardian, earlier]
  • If you’re going to shake down food makers with false claims of contaminants in their wares, it’s best to vary your story patterns [Tacoma News-Tribune, Seattle Times]
  • “My task is simple: spew foundationless tripe that turns itself into a pre-trial settlement demand.” [The Namby Pamby, a lawyer blog I really should have linked before now] More: Daniel Fisher, Forbes.
  • Why plaintiffs lawyers aren’t so thrilled about recent Toyota revelations: most are invested in blaming electronics, not stuck pedals or mats [WSJ Law Blog]
  • Duck hunters sue guide over disappointing trip [Fred Hartman, Fort Bend, Texas, Herald]

Filed under: , , , ,

John McCain and “intentional” car crashes

Arizona Sen. John McCain is under fire for asserting on the Bill O’Reilly show that “the drivers of cars with illegals in it … are intentionally causing accidents on the freeway.” It would be natural to assume he was referring to the well-established “swoop-and-squat” racket described repeatedly in these columns — here, for instance. You might think illegal aliens would avoid these scams for fear of deportation, but you would be wrong: they are well represented among the participants.

I hold no brief for McCain, and I doubt very much that the workings of this particular criminal subculture should figure among the top twenty policy considerations in deciding how best to handle illegal immigration. And if a Senate spokeswoman is to be credited, McCain may actually had in mind the phenomenon of high-speed police chases — though it is far from clear why those crashes would ordinarily count as intentional. But blogger incredulity about the idea that car crashes can ever be intentional seems misplaced.

Filed under: ,

Title IX sports enforcement

The U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) is chipping away at one of universities’ few defenses by limiting the use of student surveys intended to measure interest in athletic offerings. “This reform rollback by the Obama Administration is a gift to the trial lawyers’ lobby and will mean that more sports teams will be eliminated [as] at Duquesne University where 4 men’s teams were recently terminated, said CSC President, Leo Kocher. ” [College Sports Council; Neal McCluskey, Cato at Liberty; earlier; background; more at CSC’s Saving Sports]

Filed under:

On foreign bribery, two-tiered justice?

Several recent investigations of large companies under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) have resulted in large fines as punishment for bribery payouts totaling hundreds of millions. Now a FCPA prosecution of an individual, Charles Paul Edward Jumet, for improperly paying $200,000 to obtain lighthouse and buoy contracts in Panama, has resulted in a 7.25 year prison sentence. While Jumet’s conviction is based on other charges as well (making false statements to federal agents), Mike Koehler at FCPA Professor wonders whether justice is being served equally.

Filed under: