card check – Overlawyered

Kaus: Card check and the election

Walter Olson — Tue, 02 Nov 2010 11:57:19 +0000

“The card check proposal now has a good chance of being Exhibit A in the post-election Case against Democratic Overreach. (Likely defense: ‘We were only pandering! You took us seriously!’)” [Newsweek “Kausfiles”]

Tags: card check

Kaus: Card check and the election is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

October 4 roundup

Walter Olson — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 12:36:23 +0000

O.J. Simpson trial 15 years after [Tim Lynch, Cato at Liberty; a couple of my reactions back then]
Hackers expose internal documents of British copyright-mill law firm [Steele, LEF] Insult to injury: now that target law firm may be fined for privacy breach [same]
BAR/BRI antitrust case: “Judge Cites ‘Egregious Breach’ of Ethics, Slashes Law Firm Fee from $12M to $500K” [ABA Journal]
“Confessions of former debt collectors” [CNN Money via CL&P]
Big investigative series on prosecutorial misconduct [USA Today]
“Even with malpractice insurance, doctors opt for expensive, defensive medicine” [Jain/WaPo] “Medical malpractice suits drop but take a toll” [Pittsburgh Post-Gazette; Paul Carpenter, of the Allentown Morning Call, on problem and possible solutions] A contrary view: Ron Miller.
“Card check is dead … long live card check” [Hyman]
“Canada: Deported Russian spy sues for readmittance” [four years ago on Overlawyered] A role model for some in the spy ring recently deported from the U.S.?

Tags: antitrust, attorneys' fees, card check, copyright, debtor-creditor law, defensive medicine, OJ Simpson, Pennsylvania, prosecutorial abuse

October 4 roundup is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

September 20 roundup

Walter Olson — Mon, 20 Sep 2010 12:46:23 +0000

“Family sues for $25 million over death of Virginia Beach homeless man” [Pilot Online]
New paper proposes voucherizing indigent criminal defense [Stephen Schulhofer and David Friedman, Cato Institute, more]
“Why the Employee Free Choice Act Has, and Should, Fail” [Richard Epstein, SSRN]
Free-market lawprofs file brief in class action arbitration case, Concepcion v. AT&T [PoL]
Enactment of Dodd-Frank law results in flood of whistleblower-suit leads for plaintiff’s bar [Corporate Counsel, ABA Journal] “Will Whistle-Blowing Be Millions Well Spent?” [Perlis/Chais, Forbes]
Sept. 28 in House: “Congressional Hearing on the Problems of Overcriminalization” [NACDL]
Abusive-litigation angle seen in NYC mosque controversy [Painter, Legal Ethics Forum]
Snark alert: Mr. Soros does something nice for Human Rights, and Human Rights does something nice for him [Stoll]

Tags: arbitration, card check, class actions, Employee Free Choice Act, international human rights, NYC, whistleblowers

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

Passing labor-law bill will “Defeat the Right Forever”

Walter Olson — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 15:22:52 +0000

Or at least that’s the theme of a panel discussion this week from the lefty Kossack folks, claiming that card check will consign conservatives to “permanent minority” status. [ShopFloor]

Tags: card check, politics

Passing labor-law bill will “Defeat the Right Forever” is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

May 12 roundup

Walter Olson — Tue, 12 May 2009 11:29:55 +0000

Florida: “Law firm is found liable for injuries to client who fell off a chair” [WPBF via Bernabe]
Monsanto, known for hardball litigation over its patented seeds, might regret taking on duPont [AmLaw Litigation Daily, earlier here and here]
Kenyan man sues women’s rights activists for leading sex boycott that his wife joined [Daily Nation]
Notice a “sign this EFCA petition” message in your Twitter stream, about the controversial card-check union bill? Better check out its bona fides [Point of Law]
RIAA said it was going to stop filing new cases against music downloaders, but that might depend on what the definition of new cases is [Ars Technica, AmLaw Litigation Daily]
EEOC guidance warns employers about violating ADA in trying to cope with H1N1 flu virus in workplace [Daniel Schwartz, Workplace Prof Blog; related, earlier]
Cluelessness, more than censor’s urge, might explain that ghastly bill filed by Rep. Linda Sanchez to combat “cyberbullying” by throttling online speech [Jacob Sullum; earlier here, etc.]
Buxom British gals claim victory after Marks & Spencer rescinds $3 surcharge on larger-size bras [AP/Idaho Statesman, The Sun via Amy Alkon]

Tags: card check, communicable disease, patent litigation, RIAA and file sharing, Twitter, United Kingdom

May 12 roundup is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

March 21 roundup

Walter Olson — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 14:41:49 +0000

A triumph for good sense, good policy, and the Constitution: Supreme Court declines to disturb 2005 Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act, thus ending NYC’s wrongful and unfair lawsuit against gun makers [AP/Law.com] Interestingly, the Obama administration joined its predecessor in urging that the law’s constitutionality not be questioned [Alphecca] One of my fond memories is of giving the lead presentation to the House Judiciary Committee at a hearing on the bill during its drive for passage.
“Tinkering With DWI Evidence Costs NY Judge and Law Prof Their Jobs” [ABA Journal; Buffalo, N.Y.]
Coalition of media organizations urges First Circuit to reverse judge’s “truth-no-defense” defamation ruling, but the Circuit denies en banc rehearing [Bayard/Citizen Media Law and sequel; earlier]
Car-crash arbitration-fixing angle heating up in probe of Luzerne County, Pennsylvania judicial scandals [ABA Journal]
ACORN helping with the Census? Based on their voter work, we can be sure they’ll give it that 110% effort [Jammie Wearing Fool]
To protect the public, why do you ask? Cook County, Ill. sheriff engages in “constant surveillance of Craigslist’s erotic services” [Patrick at Popehat]
Imposed-contract provisions mean that Employee Free Choice Act is “not as bad as thought. It’s worse!” [Kaus]
West Virginia lawmaker proud of introducing ban-Barbie bill: “If I’ve helped just 10 kids out with this, to me it was worth it” [AP/Charleston Gazette-Mail, earlier]

Tags: card check, Craigslist, Employee Free Choice Act, guns, Luzerne County judicial scandal, Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act, scandals

March 21 roundup is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

“How to Deny Employees Free Choice”

Walter Olson — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 12:26:24 +0000

Stuart Taylor, Jr. on the Employee Free Choice Act.

Tags: card check

“How to Deny Employees Free Choice” is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Welcome National Journal readers

Walter Olson — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 15:11:04 +0000

The magazine’s “Top Political Bloggers” poll this morning quotes me (twice) on the subject of the horrible and misnamed Employee Free Choice Act, which would end employees’ right to a secret ballot on unionization and impose union contracts on unwilling employers through obligatory arbitration. Most of my blogging on the subject of EFCA and its “card check” provision is actually at my other blog, Point of Law, though.

Tags: arbitration, card check, Employee Free Choice Act, labor unions

Welcome National Journal readers is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

November 18 roundup

Walter Olson — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 16:15:18 +0000

Harvard’s Charles Nesson argues that Digital Theft Deterrence and Copyright Damages Improvement Act of 1999 violates Constitution by letting civil lawyers for RIAA enforce a criminal law [AP/MSNBC, Elefant]
In some circles, bitter disappointment at reports that Obama camp probably won’t pursue Bush predecessors as war criminals [Paul Campos, Horton/Harper’s; earlier]
Latest on wrangle over “exorbitant” fee: Alice Lawrence’s deposition-skipping before her death could endanger her estate’s claim against Graubard Miller law firm [NYLJ, earlier]
One benefit of role as law school mega-donor, as Mark Lanier is with Texas Tech, is that you get to rub (hunting-jacket) elbows with visiting Supreme Court justices [WSJ law blog]
Lou Dobbs and Phyllis Schlafly were among those who pushed bizarre theory of secret conspiracy to merge U.S. into “North American Union” with Canada and Mexico [John Hawkins]
Senate Dems plan to abolish secret ballot for installing unions in everyone else’s workplace, so how come they insist on one for themselves in deciding how to handle Joe Lieberman? [Dan Riehl via McArdle]
Congrats to historian Rick Brookhiser and City Journal editor Myron Magnet, among recipients of 2008 National Humanities Medal [White House release, Brian Anderson, NRO]
Jarek Molski, California entrepreneur of disabled-access complaints, loses bid for Supreme Court review of his designation as vexatious litigant [AP, Bashman]

Tags: Canada, card check, contingent fee, Harry Reid, international human rights, Jarek Molski, law schools, Mark Lanier, Mexico, RIAA and file sharing

November 18 roundup is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

New at Point of Law

Walter Olson — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 18:25:58 +0000

If you’re not visiting my other site — or subscribing to it in your RSS reader, or following its Twitter feed — here’s some of what you may have missed lately:

Sen. Obama’s “I voted for tort reform” talk: maybe not so serious;
Assaults on arbitration and pre-emption are just the start of the Litigation Lobby’s big plans for next year;
A new featured column by Richard Epstein on the peculiarly named Employee Free Choice Act;
Manhattan Institute’s Trial Lawyers, Inc. project is out with a new report on West Virginia;
U.S. Department of Commerce: foreign investors fear our litigation climate;
Albany plaintiff’s firm Powers & Santola ladles out campaign money to judges it practices before;
Through the wringer? Judge Posner is quite severe on a clothes-dryer class action.

Tags: arbitration, Barack Obama, card check, class actions, judicial elections, Manhattan Institute, New York state, Richard Epstein, Richard Posner, Twitter, West Virginia

New at Point of Law is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system