Buffalo – Overlawyered

Environment roundup

Walter Olson — Thu, 12 Jan 2017 11:21:10 +0000

“Rockefeller Foundations Enlist Journalism in ‘Moral’ Crusade Against ExxonMobil” [Ken Silverstein] Massachusetts was using courts to investigate heretics back before the oil industry was even whale oil [Reuters on subpoena ruling] Washington Post shouldn’t have run Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) on climate politics without noting his brutal efforts to subpoena/silence opponents on that topic;
“Should you go to jail if you can’t recognize every endangered species?” [Jonathan Wood]
Sandy Ikeda reviews Robert H. Nelson, Private Neighborhoods and the Transformation of Local Government [Market Urbanism]
D.C. Circuit shouldn’t let EPA get away again with ignoring cost of power plant regs [Andrew Grossman on Cato amicus brief]
Under what circumstances should libertarians be willing to live with eminent domain in the construction of energy pipelines? [Ilya Somin and earlier] Economic benefits of fracking are $3.5 trillion, according to new study [Erik Gilje, Robert Ready, and Nikolai Roussanov, NBER via Tyler Cowen]
“Dramatically simpler than the old code…[drops] mandates for large amounts of parking.” Buffalo rethinks zoning [Aaron Renn, City Journal] Arnold Kling on California’s housing shortage; John Cochrane on an encouraging Jason Furman op-ed; “Zoning: America’s Local Version Of Crony Capitalism” [Scott Beyer]

Tags: Buffalo, climate deniers to the wall, eminent domain, endangered species, environment, Environmental Protection Agency, Exxon, land use and zoning, oil industry

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

Police and community roundup

Walter Olson — Mon, 15 Dec 2014 05:05:32 +0000

Oh, no: “Ferguson to Increase Police Ticketing to Close City’s Budget Gap,” because three arrest warrants per household is still too low [Bloomberg News via Zach Weissmuller (& thanks for quote), earlier]
In years 2011/12 alone, one Buffalo officer “killed as many dogs in the line of duty as the entire NYPD.” [WGRZ]
“He believed the poor had the right to buy and sell.” Tunisia yes, Staten Island too? [David Boaz, USA Today]
“The language of protest: Race, rioting, and the memory of Ferguson” [Abigail Perkiss, NCC/Yahoo, mentions me]
“Red light cameras to go dark in New Jersey” [Josh Kaib, Watchdog Wire] “Public opinion swings hard against traffic cameras” [AutoBlog]
On interpreting statistics on race and policing, point counter-point [Scott Alexander, Ezra Klein, Alexander] Reminder: increasing ranks of black officers does not necessarily lead to fewer shootings of black civilians [Jamelle Bouie, Slate]
“Sex, Spice, and Small-Town Texas Justice: The Purple Zone Raid” [Reason.tv video]

Tags: Buffalo, crime and punishment, Missouri, New Jersey, police, red light cameras, Texas

Police and community roundup is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Buffalo Bills to pay nominal $3 million for sending text messages

Walter Olson — Fri, 25 Apr 2014 04:15:10 +0000

“The Buffalo Bills have agreed to pay up to $3 million – largely in the form of debit cards redeemable only at the team store – to settle a class-action lawsuit that accused the team of sending too many alerts to fans who signed up for a text-messaging service.” Plaintiff Jerry Wojcik contended “that the team violated the terms of its text service by sending him 13 messages over two weeks when it promised to send no more than five per week. … He claimed in his suit that the extra texts violated the federal Telephone Consumer Protection Act, and he sought statutory damages of $500 per excessive message for negligent violations and up to $1,500 per message for willful violations.” His lawyers will pocket $562,500. [Buffalo News]

Tags: Buffalo, football, statutory damages, telecommunications

Buffalo Bills to pay nominal $3 million for sending text messages is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Labor and employment roundup

Walter Olson — Thu, 23 Jan 2014 04:05:24 +0000

Labor Department wants to shut down consignors-as-volunteers consignment-sale business plan [Bloomberg BusinessWeek, Sean Higgins/Examiner]
Operating Engineers Local 17: “Legality of union violence at heart of court case” [Buffalo News]
Alternative to “Ban the Box”: revisit extent to which old convictions stay on the books [Eli Lehrer; Baltimore Sun on municipal proposal]
Human capital investment by women has narrowed gender pay gap, desire for time flexibility crucial in explaining what remains [Tyler Cowen on Claudia Goldin paper]
Carl Horowitz on UAW push to organize VW in Chattanooga [Capital Research Center]
Seyfarth Shaw’s 10th annual Workplace Class Action Litigation Report [Seyfarth, Daniel Fisher]
Sixth Circuit: transfer can count as adverse action even when employee had previously requested it [Jon Hyman]

Tags: Buffalo, criminal records and hiring, labor unions, Sixth Circuit, wage and hour suits, workplace

Labor and employment roundup is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

At Canisius College October 30

Walter Olson — Fri, 18 Oct 2013 10:15:06 +0000

I’m honored to announce that I’ll be giving a talk in the Frank G. Raichle Lecture Series, part of the pre-law program at Canisius College in western New York. Details here in a press release from the college. Previous speakers in this lecture series include an extraordinary list of legal notables including Chief Justice Rehnquist, Justices O’Connor, Scalia, Ginsburg, and White, among many others such as Alex Kozinski, Harry Edwards, John Langbein, and Randall Kennedy.

Earlier on the same day (October 30) I’ll be addressing the Buffalo Lawyers’ Chapter of the Federalist Society.

Tags: accolades, Buffalo, live in person, Schools for Misrule

At Canisius College October 30 is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

January 16 roundup

Walter Olson — Wed, 16 Jan 2013 04:08:38 +0000

Woman embroiled in neighbor dispute claims disability bias based on depression, but now faces $107,000 award of legal fees [Buffalo News]
B.C., Canada: “Law Firm Unsuccessfully Seeks Fees From Their Own Insurer’s Negligence Payout” [Erik Magraken]
“Worst case a client has ever asked you to take” meme reaches ABA Journal [earlier]
Hans Bader on re-election of “legally insane” Chicago judge [CEI “Open Market”, earlier]
Far-fetched theories of constitutional tax immunity claim more victims, this time in Canada [National Post]
Law geek alert: Prof. Green will be blogging key federal courts decision Erie RR v. Tompkins (1938) daily through the month [Prawfs]
Appreciations of the late political economist James Buchanan [David Boaz, Alex Tabarrok, Tyler Cowen and more, Arnold Kling, Radley Balko]

Tags: Buffalo, Canada, real estate

January 16 roundup is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Buffalo lawmakers irate at law firm ad set in council chambers

Walter Olson — Fri, 05 Aug 2011 05:32:38 +0000

“What’s next? A dog food commercial?” fumed Council President David A. Franczyk, who says, as do colleagues, that they were never informed that a prominent local injury-law practice was filming a TV ad in its historic chambers [Buffalo News via WSJ]. The firm of Cellino & Barnes, which we’ve met previously on this site, says it has no plans to discontinue showing the ad despite the lawmakers’ displeasure.

Tags: Buffalo, chasing clients, movies film and videos

Buffalo lawmakers irate at law firm ad set in council chambers is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Who’s linking to us this week?

Ted Frank — Sat, 24 May 2008 15:32:08 +0000

If you’re reading our blog, you might be interested in some of the blogs that link to us, which include the ones in our sidebar to the right, Judgepedia, Right Thinking, Adam Smith Institute, Patterico, The Objective Eye, Locomotive Breath 1901, Lumpen, Rougblog, New Age, A Brief History, Tai-Chi Policy, Moorewatch, DBKP, Jane Genova, BuffaloG, Not Frequently Updated, Not PC, Nobrainer, and Walker.

Tags: Buffalo, on other blogs

Who’s linking to us this week? is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Congress: let’s sue OPEC

Walter Olson — Thu, 22 May 2008 03:57:29 +0000

This wretched proposal to pursue sensitive foreign policy goals by way of treble-damage antitrust suits against sovereign nations is met by a hail of dead cats from Below the Beltway, Gateway Pundit, Liberty Reborn, Buffalog, Coalition of the Swilling, Sense of Events, Q and O, Coyote, Politics in the Zeros, Socrates’ Academy, It’s a Funny Thing, Bronze Blog, Discerning Texan, Blog About Nothing, It Looks Obvious, NoBrainer’s, Wheeling Intelligencer, and Collideoscope, among others. Earlier here.

And yet more: Perry de Havilland, Samizdata (“a derangement of legislators”)(via ASI).

Tags: antitrust, Buffalo, hail of dead cats, OPEC

Congress: let’s sue OPEC is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

“Innovative” city suits against foreclosing lenders

Walter Olson — Thu, 15 May 2008 02:59:21 +0000

City governments, sometimes in league with private counsel working on contingency fee, “have started suing banks and mortgage companies to recoup their costs” on such services as “fire departments, police, code enforcement or even demolition” in blighted neighborhoods. “The lawsuits were filed in recent months under different theories, in state and federal court. Cleveland and Buffalo filed suits under public nuisance laws. Minneapolis’ suit was brought on consumer fraud grounds, while Baltimore took the unusual approach of filing suit in federal court under alleged Fair Housing Act violations.” Bank of New York says it was included in Buffalo’s suit against 39 lenders even though it neither originated nor purchased loans, but merely acted as trustee. (Julie Kay, “Empty Homes Spur Cities’ Suits”, National Law Journal, May 9).

Tags: Baltimore, Buffalo, Cleveland, contingent fee, fair housing, Maryland, Minnesota, mortgages, New York state, nuisance, Ohio

“Innovative” city suits against foreclosing lenders is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system