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Cato Supreme Court Review 2018-19

Walter Olson — Thu, 24 Oct 2019 09:59:22 +0000

The full Cato Supreme Court Review for the 2018-19 term can be read here, with an introduction by Trevor Burrus. Among this year’s highlights: Michael McConnell on the Maryland Peace Cross case and government-sponsored religious symbols, Bruce Kobayashi and Joshua Wright on the Apple indirect-purchaser antitrust case, Braden Boucek on the Tennessee liquor Commerce Clause case, and Simon Lecturer George Will on “The Insufficiently Dangerous Branch.”

Or listen to a Cato audio with Trevor Burrus, Ilya Shapiro, and Caleb Brown:

Tags: antitrust, Apple, Cato Institute, religious liberty, Supreme Court

Cato Supreme Court Review 2018-19 is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

On tech monopolies

Walter Olson — Sun, 28 Jul 2019 15:58:52 +0000

I join Cato colleagues Ryan Bourne and Caleb Brown to discuss the rise and fall of tech monopolies over the years. Related here.

Tags: Amazon, antitrust, Apple, Facebook, Google, on TV and radio, technology

On tech monopolies is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

February 27 roundup

Walter Olson — Wed, 27 Feb 2019 10:59:17 +0000

In move to protect itself against patent trolls, Apple plans to close retail stores in the troll-favored Eastern District of Texas [Joe Rossignol, MacRumors; Sarah Perez, TechCrunch]
Don’t: “Civil Rights Lawyer Faked Cancer to Delay Cases, Illinois Bar Authorities Say” [Scott Flaherty, American Lawyer]
Don’t: “* lies about joint stipulation for extension * FABRICATES OPPOSITION BRIEF * constructs false chain of emails, forwards to partner. Dude, just doing the work would have been WAY less effort.” [Keith Lee thread on Twitter, with punch line being what the New York courts did by way of discipline; Jason Grant, New York Law Journal]
I’m quoted disagreeing (cordially) with Sen. Mike Lee on whether criticism of judicial nominees at hearings based on their religious views oversteps Constitution’s Religious Test Clause [Mark Tapscott, Epoch Times; my 2017 post at Secular Right]
Colorado may become 13th state to enact National Popular Vote interstate compact, an attempted workaround of the Electoral College. This critique of the idea is from 2008 [John Samples, Cato; Emily Tillett, CBS]
New York law imposes strict liability on simple possession of a gravity knife, leaves enforcement to official whim, and lacks a mens rea (guilty mind) requirement. The Constitution demands better [Ilya Shapiro on Cato Institute cert amicus brief in Copeland v. Vance, earlier and more on such laws]

Tags: Apple, don't, patent trolls, religious liberty, Texas

February 27 roundup is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Fifth Circuit: Apple not liable for crash of driver reading texts

Walter Olson — Thu, 17 Jan 2019 11:02:27 +0000

“The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit has a rejected a products liability claim against Apple alleging that a woman’s neurobiological response to looking at a text message on her iPhone 5 while behind the wheel was the cause of a car crash that killed two people and paralyzed a child.” [John Council/Texas Lawyer, Tim Cushing/TechDirt; Meador v. Apple]

Tags: Apple, cellphones, deep pocket, Fifth Circuit

Fifth Circuit: Apple not liable for crash of driver reading texts is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Playing politics with pensions

Walter Olson — Sun, 15 Apr 2018 16:01:12 +0000

A mini-roundup: “How State Pension Funds — and 401k Managers — Prioritize Politics over Returns” [Ike Brannon, Cato/Forbes.com, more; related, Eric V. Schlecht, Economics 21] “The California state teacher retirement system open letter to Apple about ‘smartphone addiction’ provides another point in favor of giving these workers individual accounts with a private provider.” [Caleb Brown on Twitter] “Those shares belong to the college savers, not him”: Illinois treasurer uses 529 funds to push Facebook, other firms on political issues [Cole Lauterbach, Illinois News Network]

And as to scale and solvency: “A $76,000 Monthly Pension: Why States and Cities Are Short on Cash” [Mary Williams Walsh, New York Times on strains in Oregon]; Eric Boehm, Reason.

Tags: Apple, California, cellphones, colleges and universities, Illinois, Oregon, Wall Street

Playing politics with pensions is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Medical roundup

Walter Olson — Fri, 19 May 2017 10:05:20 +0000

“Apple Watch can detect an early sign of heart disease…. Apple has been communicating privately with the FDA for years about medical devices and so far the FDA has taken a light touch to Apple but these issues are coming to a head.” [Tyler Cowen]
“[Investor] lawsuits targeting life sciences firms jumped 70 percent from 2014, according to a survey provided earlier this year by Dechert.” [Amanda Bronstad, New York Law Journal]
Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad signs medical malpractice reforms into law [Brianne Pfannenstiel, Des Moines Register]
Summing up what is known re: talc and ovarian cancer as background to jury’s $105 million verdict against Johnson & Johnson [BBC (in story’s second half), earlier here, here, and here]
$5,300 for an MRI that would cost Medicaid $500? Personal attendants for crash victims, even the ones well enough to participate in mixed martial arts? All part of Michigan no-fault crash system [Detroit Free Press investigative series, see yesterday’s post]
Dear D.C.: ditch the FDA deeming regs and let vaping save smokers’ lives [Jeff Stier/Henry Miller, NRO, Tony Abboud/The Hill (vaping trade association), Juliet Eilperin/Washington Post (FDA temporarily suspends enforcement)]

Tags: Apple, claims fraud, FDA, Iowa, medical malpractice, Michigan, securities litigation, tobacco

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

“Forcing Apple to Shut Down Drivers’ Phones Is a Terrible Idea”

Walter Olson — Thu, 16 Feb 2017 11:14:32 +0000

What could go wrong? [Katherine Mangu-Ward, Reason; Nick Farr, Abnormal Use]

Tags: Apple, cellphones

“Forcing Apple to Shut Down Drivers’ Phones Is a Terrible Idea” is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Lawsuit: Apple should pay for distracted-driver crash

Walter Olson — Wed, 11 Jan 2017 05:05:00 +0000

The driver responsible for a fatal Texas crash was using the FaceTime app and a lawsuit says Apple should have to pay for the resulting damages [NY Daily News, complaint via Amy Alkon]

Tags: Apple, cellphones, third party liability for crime

Lawsuit: Apple should pay for distracted-driver crash is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

July 20 roundup

Walter Olson — Wed, 20 Jul 2016 04:05:28 +0000

Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), and Brian Schatz (D-Haw.) call for federal investigation into AirBnB effects on housing market [Kevin Boyd, Rare] “Santa Monica convicts its first Airbnb host under tough home-sharing laws” [Los Angeles Times]
“Florida man claims he invented iPhone in 1992, sues Apple for $10 billion” [Don Reisinger, Fortune, auto-plays]
More on why Philadelphia soda tax is a bad idea [Baylen Linnekin, earlier here and here] Reining in FDA, legal home distilling, school lunch waste: 9 food issues for the next President [same]
Judge Alsup: once having launched infringement claim, mass copyright filer can’t escape counterclaim so easily by dropping it [opinion in Malibu Media v. John Doe (“motion seems more like a gimmick designed to allow it an easy exit if discovery reveals its claims are meritless”) via Techdirt]
IKEA dresser recall shows CPSC acting aggressively. Did it act wisely? [Abby Wisse Schachter, Wall Street Journal]
Don’t use “implied contract” to escape the implications of freedom of association re: cake-baking [David Henderson]

Tags: Apple, cellphones, CPSC, Elizabeth Warren, hotels

July 20 roundup is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Suit seeks to make tech firms pay for campaign against distracted driving

Walter Olson — Fri, 25 Mar 2016 04:05:45 +0000

“In the lawsuit, the Coalition Against Distracted Driving and Stephen L. Joseph, as an individual, seek an injunction against Apple, Samsung, Google, and Microsoft, requiring those companies to pay $1 billion annually to fund an ‘effective and ongoing national public education campaign’ to educate drivers on the dangers of using smart phones and smart watches while driving.” The suit seeks to define the behavior at issue as a nuisance under California law. [Jared McClain, Washington Legal Foundation]

Tags: Apple, cellphones, Google, Microsoft, nuisance, regulation through litigation

Suit seeks to make tech firms pay for campaign against distracted driving is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system