animals – Overlawyered

Liability roundup

Walter Olson — Tue, 18 Feb 2020 11:02:31 +0000

“Syracuse woman sued for not letting adopted cat sleep in bed with her” [CNYCentral]
St. Louis talc cases: “Thus, in order to vindicate their Due Process rights regarding personal jurisdiction…, the defendants had to litigate with over $5 billion in potential liability hanging over their heads. Not too many defendants [can] do that.” [Jim Beck on Johnson & Johnson win]
Allegation: “instructed Thomas to get behind the wheel of Thomas’ Avalanche to make it appear that Thomas was driving the vehicle at the time of the staged accident.” [WDSU on indictment of five in New Orleans car-crash scheme] “Those cameras right there saved between $150,000 and $200,000 just by capturing the fraud and us not having to go and defend it.” [Mike Perlstein, WWL] “Don’t listen to the lawyers, take tough action to curb [Louisiana] car insurance costs” [R.J. Lehmann and Marc Hyden, The Advocate; earlier here, here, and here]
Washington Legal Foundation monograph on judicial oversight of expert testimony [Evan Tager et al.; related webinar] “Stupid expert tricks,” pharmaceutical edition [Jim Beck]
“Art Imitates Life: ‘Billions’ Describes Six-Figure, Part-Time Jobs On Asbestos Trusts” [Daniel Fisher, Legal Newsline, 2018]
“DOJ eyes requirement that False Claims Act whistleblowers disclose litigation funding” [Alison Frankel, Reuters, remarks by Deputy Associate Attorney General Stephen Cox]

Tags: animals, asbestos, claims fraud, expert witnesses, problem jurisdictions, qui tam, whistleblowers

Liability roundup is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

“TripAdvisor Sued for Negligent Camel Supervision”

Walter Olson — Tue, 21 Jan 2020 11:01:33 +0000

“A woman is suing TripAdvisor after a runaway camel tossed her to the ground during a tour in Morocco.” [AP] One problem for the claim is the website terms of service, which “say right up front that defendants don’t actually operate the tours themselves, they just facilitate booking the tours. Interactions with the tour operators, or their camels, are ‘at your own risk.'” A further potential problem “is that camels are known to be stubborn and difficult animals… so there’s going to be a potential assumption-of-risk issue with any camel-ride-related injury claim, most likely. This may be why the camel’s alleged pregnancy is being emphasized.” There follows more on camel pregnancy, and what leads up to it, than you probably wanted to know [Lowering the Bar]

Tags: animals, assumption of risk, recreation

“TripAdvisor Sued for Negligent Camel Supervision” is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

“Woman Upset She Didn’t Lose Weight Loses ‘Diet’ Dr Pepper Lawsuit Appeal”

Walter Olson — Sun, 05 Jan 2020 17:01:06 +0000

The Ninth Circuit has “refused to reinstate a class-action lawsuit by a woman who argued that the makers of Diet Dr Pepper committed fraud.” “No reasonable consumer would assume that Diet Dr Pepper’s use of the term ‘diet’ promises weight loss or management,” wrote Judge Jay Bybee. The unanimous three-judge panel also declined to accept of lawyers for named plaintiff Shana Becerra that the depiction of “attractive, fit models in the ads implies that Diet Dr Pepper will help its consumers achieve those bodies.” [AP/NBC Los Angeles; opinion in Becerra v. Dr Pepper/SevenUp at Court Listener]

Also: “Woman sues Blue Buffalo dog food company for making her pooch fat” [Emily Saul, New York Post]

Tags: animals, class actions, obesity, soft drinks

“Woman Upset She Didn’t Lose Weight Loses ‘Diet’ Dr Pepper Lawsuit Appeal” is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Trouble at the dog park

Walter Olson — Mon, 02 Sep 2019 11:59:48 +0000

Suburban D.C.: “This is not verified,” she continued, “But we have heard through reliable sources that this woman has threatened a lawsuit against the village over the [dog] park. Well, many dog park users are lawyers, too, so we’re wondering, should we get a lawyer? Do we have grounds to sue?” [Jessica Contrera, Washington Post/Bangor Daily News]

Tags: animals, Washington D.C.

Trouble at the dog park is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Liability roundup

Walter Olson — Fri, 16 Aug 2019 10:01:15 +0000

“TriMet faulted Laing for failing to heed warning signs … and earbuds playing loud music. Laing’s attorneys argued it couldn’t be determined what volume the music was playing at at the time of impact.” [Aimee Green, Oregonian; $15 million jury verdict for woman who dashed in front of train reduced to $682,800]
“When Are Athletes Liable for Injuries They Cause?” [Eugene Volokh on Nixon v. Clay, Utah Supreme Court]
Former Alabama Sen. Luther Strange has written a law review article on local government abuse of public nuisance law in industrywide litigation [Stephen McConnell, Drug and Device Law] “California’s disturbing lead paint ruling is going interstate. Magistrate cites it in opioid MDL to support tribal nuisance claims under Montana law” [Daniel D. Fisher on Blackfeet Tribe v. Amerisource] Federal judge should have said no to Rhode Island climate change/public nuisance suit [Michael Krauss, Forbes]
“Will New York law change veterinary malpractice?” [Christopher J. Allen, Veterinary News]
Supreme Court’s 5-4 ruling on class action counterclaim removal in Home Depot U.S.A. v. Jackson leaves Congress to fix what Judge Paul Niemeyer called a loophole in the Class Action Fairness Act [Diane Flannery, Trent Taylor & Drew Gann, McGuireWoods, Federalist Society teleforum with Ted Frank]
In Missouri, logjam for liability reform breaks at last as Gov. Mike Parson signs four pieces of legislation into law [Daily Star Journal (Warrensburg, Mo.); Beck on forum-shopping measure]

Tags: animals, Class Action Fairness Act, climate change, forum shopping, Missouri, opioids, personal responsibility, public nuisance, railroads, Rhode Island, sports, Supreme Court

Liability roundup is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

May 9 roundup

Walter Olson — Thu, 09 May 2019 10:02:15 +0000

Next sector for a boom in IP litigation: trade secrets? [Ike Brannon]
Creating split among federal appeals courts, Seventh Circuit rules auto-erotic asphyxiation falls under insurance policy exclusion for “self-inflicted injury.” [Volokh; Tran v. Minnesota Life Insurance Company] In its commentary, the Institute for Justice is willing to go there: “Will the Supreme Court resolve the split? Don’t hold your breath.”
“The county has assigned at least four prosecutors to handle the Bellevue cat case” as Miska, the most notorious cat in King County, Washington, lawyers up [KIRO, update]
I’m quoted in article on Supreme Court’s agreeing to consider whether 1964 ban on employment discrimination because of sex includes ban on transgender discrimination [Nicole Russell, Washington Examiner]
Federalist Society podcast on populist antitrust with Babette Boliek, Geoffrey Manne, William Rinehart, Hal Singer, and Joanna Tsai;
Did a mobile home park violate housing discrimination law by checking applicants’ lawful immigration status? Fourth Circuit ruling threatens to open “disparate-impact” floodgates Supreme Court warned of in earlier case [Ilya Shapiro and Nathan Harvey on Cato cert amicus in Waples Mobile Home Park v. de Reyes]

Tags: animals, antitrust, housing discrimination, intellectual property, Seattle, Supreme Court, transgender

May 9 roundup is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

April 25 roundup

Walter Olson — Thu, 25 Apr 2019 10:01:50 +0000

Man evicted from lodgings abandons his ailing fish. A suitable case for criminal prosecution? [Carissa Byrne Hessick; Clint Bullock and Chelsea Donovan, WECT]
Guardianship and public administrator abuses will be one topic of elder abuse task force announced by Michigan attorney general [Beth LeBlanc, Detroit News]
“Red Flag Law is sort of like the Department of Pre-Crime from the movies” [Cato Daily Podcast with Dave Kopel and Caleb Brown on emergency gun confiscation proceedings; related, Kopel testimony via Cato, earlier]
“Man sues parents for getting rid of his vast porn collection” [Associated Press]
Three candidates vie to replace long-serving Jim Hood: “AG candidate [Mark] Baker says Mississippi should end its alliance with private lawyers” [Brian Brueggemann, Legal NewsLine]
“Is It Time to Revisit the Constitutionality of Unauthorized Practice of Law Rules?” [Michael Rosman, Federalist Society]

Tags: animals, guns, Mississippi, unauthorized practice, wills and trusts

April 25 roundup is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

“Is this picture of a falcon illegal?”

Walter Olson — Thu, 15 Nov 2018 10:57:16 +0000

Animal-welfare regulation vs. rights of expression: “State and federal falcon-speech regulations fall into four categories: (1) generally banning images of falcons in all expression that is not about falcons; (2) specifically banning commercials that feature falcons but are not about falcons; (3) limiting compensation for falcon-related expression; and (4) dictating the content of falcon education programs.” So many different First Amendment problems there, and now “a new lawsuit filed by Pacific Legal Foundation on behalf of the American Falconry Conservancy and its members aims to strike down those anti-speech regulations.” [Jim Manley, Pacific Legal]

Tags: animals, endangered species, First Amendment

“Is this picture of a falcon illegal?” is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Environment roundup

Walter Olson — Fri, 16 Mar 2018 10:04:53 +0000

“Lolita the killer whale has lived at Miami Seaquarium since 1970. Do the conditions of her confinement, including sharing her tank with dolphins that engage in inappropriate sexual behavior, amount to ‘harm’ and ‘harassment’ in violation of federal statute? The Eleventh Circuit says no.” [John Ross, Short Circuit, on PETA v. Miami Seaquarium]
California suit about Prop 65 warnings on coffee grinds on [Sara Randazzo/WSJ, Pierre Lemieux/EconLog, earlier]
NYC mayor De Blasio, who recently filed long-shot suit, says he hopes to “bring death knell to fossil fuel industry” [John Breslin, Legal NewsLine] “People don’t need to smoke cigarettes, but they have needed energy for many decades,” one of many reasons suing Big Oil is different from suing Big Tobacco [Amy Harder, Axios]
Squirrel rescue saga: “I begged and pleaded for a few more weeks, but was essentially told I needed to release him even though it was the middle of winter.” [Christine Clarridge, Seattle Times]
Aluminum smelter vs. orchards: a historic instance of nuisance litigation working well as a regulatory method? [Douglas Kysar, SSRN]
“Privatizing Federal Grazing Lands” [Chris Edwards, Cato]

Tags: animal rights, animals, Bill de Blasio, climate change, environment, nuisance, oil industry, Prop 65

Environment roundup is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

“Plaintiff: California Must Admit the Truth About Bigfoot”

Walter Olson — Mon, 12 Mar 2018 04:05:34 +0000

“[The legal filing] is also plainly a publicity stunt, intended to get you to watch a Bigfoot documentary on Netflix. While writing about it arguably plays into this tactic, I am going to do it anyway because even a petition intended as a publicity stunt should be better than this one.” [Lowering the Bar]

Tags: animals, California

“Plaintiff: California Must Admit the Truth About Bigfoot” is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system