…now has its own book-length compilation: Kevin L. Hoover, The Police Log: True Crime & More from Arcata, California (via Sam Smith’s Progressive Review, which is newly redesigned along blog lines). Update July 2009: blotter now located here.
Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category
Thanks to Mike DeBow…
…for his contributions as a guest blogger over the past week. Aside from Mike’s postings at Southern Appeal, be sure to check out the outstanding links page he maintains at his Cumberland School of Law faculty website, and the conservative/libertarian legal scholarship reading list and pre-law reading list that he co-edits in conjunction with the Federalist Society. Also watch for his work to appear soon on Point of Law, the new Manhattan Institute website I’m editing.
“Judge Says Artist Can Make Fun of Barbie”
Merits of loser-pays: Five years ago, the Mattel toy company sued artist/photographer Tom Forsythe for copyright and trademark infringement over “a series of 78 photographic images of the wildly famous doll showing her nude, and sometimes posed provocatively, in or around various household appliances. … After a lengthy legal tussle, which included a series of appeals, a federal judge late last week instructed Mattel to pay Mr. Forsythe legal fees of more than $1.8 million.” (Bill Werde, New York Times, Jun. 28).
Woes of NY liability
As seen from Rochester: “Unlike many other states, New York does not limit lawsuit awards against municipal governments. High awards deplete public coffers and ultimately hike taxes. And New York is the highest-taxed state.” (Jay Gallagher, “Liability claims pick taxpayer pockets”, Rochester Democrat & Chronicle, Jun. 22).
Outsourcing enforcement in Mass
Massachusetts consumer protection law includes “item pricing” regulations.” A shopper who picks up an item marked $3.19, but is charged $3.59 at the checkout, has been the victim of a violation of these rules. If a state wishes to address such incidents, a practical question arises: how to enforce legal rules when they involve such trifling amounts of money per incident? Enter class action lawyers, naturally. According to the Boston Globe, Massachusetts Attorney General Thomas Reilly has farmed out the enforcement of these rules to a group of private attorneys — who are doing quite well for themselves. Cases against Home Depot and Wal-Mart have been settled; a settlement with Walgreen is pending. If the Walgreen settlement is finalized, the outcome of all this acitivity will be the payment of $3.2 million to the private attorneys, $3.9 million to “an eclectic group of charitable, consumer, and nonprofit groups,” and $425,000 to the AG’s Office. The list of favored groups includes, among others, the Roscoe Pound Institute and Public Citizen. The Globe points out that “it would be impossible to identify consumers hurt by item-pricing failures”; one of the private attorneys claims in the story that the payments to the favored groups will benefit Massachusetts residents, with most being used to “spur greater awareness of consumer rights.” Cases against other retailers (in addition to Walgreen) are pending. (Bruce Mohl, “Reilly turns to private enforcement of item pricing,” Boston Globe, June 27)
Bay Area radio appearances
I’ll be a guest Monday morning at 8:30 a.m. PDT on Napa, Calif.’s KVON radio 1440 AM. And then on Tuesday morning at 8 a.m. PDT I’ll be joining host Lee Rodgers on his popular show on KSFO 560 AM. In both cases I’ll be discussing my book The Rule of Lawyers, which came out in paperback earlier this month (more). To book a broadcast interview on the book, email me directly or contact Jamie Stockton at the St. Martin’s/Griffin publicity department: 212-674-5151, ext. 502. (bumped 6/28)
Academic notes
U. of Wisconsin law professor (and blogger) Ann Althouse is not exactly impressed by Judge Guido Calabresi’s apology for his ACS remarks: “You’d think someone who makes principles of democracy central to his legal argument wouldn’t stop at saying his argument is complicated and academic.” Her earlier post on this subject is also worth reading, as is Point of Law’s treatment.
The July-August issue of Legal Affairs magazine includes a debate on the question of American courts’ use of foreign law, featuring Judge Richard Posner (advising against) and Georgetown law professor Vicki Jackson (making the case in favor).
“Diary of a Bashed Attorney”
“July 2 — Thank God I’m not a litigator. Jerry just got a 137 page motion to dismiss his 85 page complaint. By fax yet, right before a holiday weekend. Jerry says he’ll see the defendant’s motion and raise it a hundred. I think Jerry should consider therapy.” — humorist Madeleine Begun Kane, on her former career as a lawyer, first published Pacific Magazine & Funny Times, March 5, 1993.
Scruggs watch
Last week lawyers associated with uber-tobacco lawyer Richard Scruggs fanned out across the country to file a dozen lawsuits against thirteen large non-profit hospitals in eight states. According to one press account, the lawsuits allege that “the institutions are not living up to their charitable missions, are overcharging uninsured patients and are using overly aggressive collection tactics.” (Rob Kaiser, “Class actions filed against non-profit hospitals,” Chicago Tribune, June 18) Scruggs characterizes the litigation as his attempt “to stop profiteering by nonprofit hospitals.” (Bill Lewis, “St. Thomas among hospitals accused of ‘profiteering,'” Nashville Tennessean, June 18)
The Tennessean article further explains:
“The lawsuit said Saint Thomas unfairly benefits from its long-held tax-exempt status, and the suit alleges a breach of contract, consumer fraud and deceptive business practices because Saint Thomas and the other nonprofits allegedly haven’t provided enough charity care in return for their tax exemptions….
“He criticized the hospitals named in the lawsuits for charging what he said were their highest rates to patients who do not have insurance, while giving discounts to big insurance companies. If the poor or uninsured patients cannot pay their bills, the hospitals garnishee wages and bank accounts, seize houses and force people into bankruptcy, he said.”
University of Chicago law professor Richard Epstein, quoted in the Tribune article, had this reaction: “Dicky Scruggs has got a lot of money, and he’s looking for a lot of trouble,” Epstein said. “The question is, what’s the law that’s being violated?”
Brookings study of state regulation
I became aware only this week of the publication earlier this year of Paul Teske’s book, Regulation in the States, by the Brookings Institution Press. I have not yet read it, and so cannot recommend it to you from that vantage point. However, the abstract looks interesting, I think it might interest a substantial set of Overlawyered readers, and the time of a guest blogger is short. So, here’s a clip from the book’s abstract:
“Regulation in the States provides original quantitative analyses of state-level regulation across all the states in ten important sectors such as telecommunications, electricity, and professional licensing. Each section uses the same template for research and discussion, enabling cross-comparison among industries. Teske finds that commonly held fears of regulatory capture by industry are overblown, as are worries about an inevitable ‘race to the bottom.’ Legislatures and agencies still tend to base their policy decisions on their own ideologies and analysis. Teske also examines important exceptions, however, such as the case of occupational regulation.”
For a short, mostly favorable review by a political scientist, click here.