80 percent of chief legal officers and general counsels in a new survey disagreed with the statement, “Outcomes are driven more by the merits of the case than by litigation costs.” [Tony Mauro, NLJ via PoL]
Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category
About those oil-spill-liability “caps”
Don’t trust the reports of a supposed $75 million limit on damages, which are being spread by some who should know better — including New York Times columnist Paul Krugman.
More: Katrina Kuh at Prawfsblawg takes a look at proposed legislation on the topic. And welcome readers of Daniel Gross’s Slate column.
Subway descends
“If you sell sandwiches that happen to be, oh, 12 inches long, and you dare to refer to said sandwiches as being a ‘footlong,’ then Subway would like to have a word with you.” [Bruce Carton, Legal Blog Watch; cease and desist letter, PDF, via NPR]
Beginning of the end for vaccine-autism litigation?
Beck et al see hope in a decision by the Federal Circuit.
Ban on driving days after sobering up
A new law enforcement trend seems to press impaired-driving law into service as a way of pursuing other, unrelated law enforcement goals [Sullum, Reason]
And I say this without relish
No sooner do I blog on the food nannies’ campaign for a federally redesigned hot dog (earlier here and here) than Hot Air “Green Room” observes that Mayor Bloomberg’s anti-salt minions have gotten Heinz to promise to reformulate ketchup.
May 18 roundup
- Upside-down logic of Supreme Court’s Comstock, Graham cases: imprison youthful offenders for life only if they haven’t had protections of formal trial [Popehat, Pilon, Shapiro, Volokh, Pattis] Kennedy returns to use of international “consensus” as guide in constitutional interpretation [Shapiro, Bader]
- Connecticut AG Richard Blumenthal, noted scourge of misleading ad promotion (as in the Sony ghost blurber case), falsely claimed Vietnam service [Raymond Hernandez, NY Times] Cf. the curious “Harvard swim captain” claims investigated by Chris Fountain. More: AllahPundit.
- Louisiana politico Theriot: my suit against online critics is meant not to shut anyone up but to pick up useful tips on governance [Times-Picayune, Jefferson Report, Volokh, NY Times]
- South Carolina juries not allowed to hear evidence about seat belt use in car crashes [Pero]
- More links on “Lady KaGa” Supreme Court nomination [Cato at Liberty, Ted at PoL]
- Risk of “minor” injuries may result in end to Naval Academy tradition of stunt climb [John J. Miller, NRO]
- “Art of the Steal,” documentary on epic battle over donor intent in case of suburban Philadelphia Barnes collection [Kauffmann/TNR, L.A. Times, CultureGrrl/ArtsJournal]
- “Why Good Intentions are Often Not Enough: The Potential for Ethical Blindness in Legal Decision-Making” [Kath Hall (Australian National University), SSRN via Andrew Perlman, Legal Ethics Forum]
“South Carolina Supreme Court Brings Down the Hammer on Discovery Abuse”
Trial courts should do more to police “oppressive” discovery requests, according to one state’s high court. [Abnormal Use]
Suit: cellphone bill exposed my affair
An Ontario woman wants Rogers Wireless Inc. to pay C$600,000 for sending her household a “global” invoice that wrongly alerted her husband to lengthy phone calls from which he deduced her extramarital affair, leading him to walk out on her. [Toronto Star]
Hardships of prolonged jury service
They’re felt more than ever in today’s economy, notes Amy Alkon.