Chicago – Overlawyered

Detective: fraudsters broke limbs of supposed crash victims

Walter Olson — Fri, 29 May 2020 15:55:45 +0000

Also from the draft-post archives, this time 2003: was it just too grotesque? Detective Ken Bigg “said that in an attempt to ward off suspicion from insurance companies, the [Chicago-area] crew would alternate between breaking arms and legs” of the victims they would then insert into staged crash scenes. “Bigg said police only learned of the scam when authorities at various homeless shelters began calling to report unusual numbers of residents showing up with broken arms or legs,” and that “the homeless ‘victims,’ who were often recruited from shelters, rarely saw much of [the] money, receiving ‘anything from nothing to $1,500’ on settlements that ranged from $10,000 to $100,000 apiece.” [AP/Northwest Indiana Times; one defendant reportedly nicknamed “Bonecrusher”; more on claims fraud]

Tags: Chicago, claims fraud

Detective: fraudsters broke limbs of supposed crash victims is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Schools roundup

Walter Olson — Mon, 11 Nov 2019 10:58:24 +0000

“Sen. Kamala Harris introduces bill to lengthen school day by three hours” [Yelena Dzhanova, CNBC]
“The Hidden Costs of Chicago’s Teacher Strike” [John McGinnis, Liberty and Law]
“The logic behind school busing is back. And so is flight from government-operated schools.” [Matt Welch, Reason, mentioning new report on controlled choice by David Armor for the Cato Institute Center for Educational Freedom]
Ambition of suppressing or even banning private schooling [earlier] by no means confined to the UK’s loony-Left Labour Party, so be ready for it [Ira Stoll, Education Next]
“The Seattle school district is planning to infuse all K-12 math classes with ethnic-studies questions that encourage students to explore how math has been ‘appropriated’ by Western culture and used in systems of power and oppression” [Catherine Gewertz, Education Week; “framework” via Amir Sariaslan on Twitter]
“Threatening Teachers’ Ability to Control Their Classrooms: The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights gets it wrong on school discipline.” [Gail Heriot] Survey finds significant rise in number of teachers attacked by students [Hans Bader; earlier here, etc.] More: Max Eden, Quillette.

Tags: Chicago, Kamala Harris, school discipline, schools, Seattle

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

Wage and hour roundup

Walter Olson — Fri, 01 Nov 2019 10:01:45 +0000

After Target, under pressure from activists, announced a $15 companywide minimum wage, “workers say they’ve had their hours cut and lost other benefits, such as health insurance.” [Eric Boehm, Reason]
New Chicago scheduling ordinance is “the ultimate intrusion of government in the workplace.” [Chicago Tribune editorial; Allen Smith, SHRM; Fisher Phillips]
“As predicted, the $15 wage is killing jobs all across the city” [New York Post editorial; Billy Binion, Reason; Michael Saltsman and Samantha Summers, Crain’s New York letter (defenders of hike playing fast and loose with numbers) ]
The Federalist Society held a teleforum with Tammy McCutchen of Littler Mendelson on the lower courts’ reception of the Supreme Court’s decision one year ago in Encino Motorcars on FLSA interpretation [earlier]
By next year I expect Left Twitter to be asserting in the alternative that this famous Seattle restaurant 1) never existed, 2) remains open and has no plans to close, and 3) was sunk by issues unrelated to the minimum wage. [Jason Rantz, KTTH (Sitka & Spruce)] More on restaurants: Legal Insurrection (closure of West Coast chain); Tyler Cowen (NBER working paper on what kinds of restaurants are most likely to be affected);
“In the past five years, nearly two-thirds of companies have faced at least one labor and employment class action and, overwhelmingly, companies report that wage and hour matters are their top concern in this category.” [Insurance Journal, Carlton Fields Class Action Survey]

Tags: Chicago, minimum wage, restaurants, Seattle, wage and hour suits

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

Downfall of the Excuseman

Walter Olson — Thu, 03 Oct 2019 04:05:48 +0000

Dear lawyers: you might want to avoid portraying a superhero character in your advertising “if you actually do the thing your character purportedly fights against” such as injuring your clients and then making excuses [Kevin Underhill, Lowering the Bar; Cook County, Ill. judge sentences Jordan Margolis to three years]

Tags: chasing clients, Chicago, don't

Downfall of the Excuseman is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Schools and childhood roundup

Walter Olson — Fri, 27 Sep 2019 09:58:18 +0000

Britain’s Labour Party conference pledges to take over private schools, confiscating endowments as well as land and property [Benjamin Kentish, Independent]
New York Department of Education readies moves to place private and religious schools under much tighter government control [Peter Murphy, City Journal]
Chicago teachers’ union sends delegation on “solidarity trip” to Venezuela [Mark Glennon, Wirepoints; Hannah Leone, Chicago Tribune]
So-called Blaine Amendments bar religious schools in participating in voucher programs to which they would be admitted were they nonsectarian. A case of religious discrimination, and if so, violative of the First Amendment? [Ilya Shapiro and Dennis Garcia on Cato merits brief in Supreme Court case of Espinosa v. Montana, Trevor Burrus and Patrick Moran on certiorari stage brief]
“The [California] draft curriculum says that ethnic studies courses created by districts from the proposed curriculum will… ‘critique empire and its relationship to white supremacy, …capitalism, and other forms of power and oppression'” [Valerie Strauss, Washington Post/Lowell Sun; Elizabeth Castillo, Cal Matters; Joanne Jacobs]
“Kamala Harris expresses ‘regret’ over California truancy law” [Katie Galioto, Politico; background; “Souvarine”, Daily Kos (“criminal penalties for parents of truant children” are among “the earliest and most enduring progressive victories”; also tracing publicity on the issue to a certain scribbler of “libertarian claptrap,” though I made clear I was building on the earlier work of, e.g., the Marshall Project)]
Despite strenuous efforts in Seattle and D.C. suburbs to impose “equity lens” on school systems and train all sides about implicit bias and systemic racism, no sign that actual outcome gaps are likely to budge [Rebecca Tan, Washington Post]

Tags: California, Chicago, New York state, religious liberty, schools, Seattle, United Kingdom, Washington D.C.

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

Law enforcement for profit roundup

Walter Olson — Wed, 18 Sep 2019 10:01:18 +0000

“Addicted to fines: Small towns in much of the country are dangerously dependent on punitive fines and fees” [Mike Maciag, Governing, a publication that will be much missed]
“How diversion programs became a cash cow for DAs in Louisiana” [Jessica Pishko, Politico] New Orleans: “Judge steered defendants to campaign contributor’s ankle-monitor company, report says” [ABA Journal]
Greg and Teresa Almond seizure: “Alabama Cops Raided Their House, Seized Their Cash, and Ruined Their Lives Over $50 of Marijuana” [C.J. Ciaramella, Reason, sequel (more transparency)]
“Chicago Hiked the Cost of Vehicle City Sticker Violations to Boost Revenue. But It’s Driven More Low-Income, Black Motorists Into Debt.” [Melissa Sanchez, ProPublica, and Elliott Ramos, WBEZ Chicago] Related earlier on impound here, here, etc.
Are the big bucks where you expected them to be? “Follow the money of mass incarceration” [Prison Policy Initiative]
“Missouri trial courts send people to jail, charge them room-and-board as ‘court costs,’ then send them back to jail if they can’t pay, yielding — you guessed it — more court costs. Missouri Supreme Court: Cut it out.” [Institute for Justice “Short Circuit” on State v. Richey; Titus Wu, Columbia Missourian]

Tags: Alabama, Chicago, law enforcement for profit, Louisiana, Missouri, New Orleans, petty fines and fees

Law enforcement for profit roundup is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

After a mechanic took it on an unauthorized ride, Chicago impounded her car. And then….

Walter Olson — Tue, 18 Jun 2019 10:02:58 +0000

Her car was in the shop for work when a mechanic drove it on an expired license. What the city of Chicago did to her then shouldn’t happen to anyone [Elliott Ramos, WBEZ/ProPublica, Institute for Justice on its suit representing Veronica Walker-Davis and Jerome Davis, earlier]

An especially outrageous angle from an earlier Ramos/WBEZ story, quoted in our earlier coverage: “Chicago has impounded and sold off nearly 50,000 cars for unpaid tickets since 2011. Not a dime of the sales went toward the ticket debt; instead, the city and its towing contractor pocketed millions.”

Tags: Chicago, law enforcement for profit, petty fines and fees, traffic laws

After a mechanic took it on an unauthorized ride, Chicago impounded her car. And then…. is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

How Illinois is that?

Walter Olson — Sun, 09 Jun 2019 15:59:13 +0000

A very Illinois situation: “An Illinois union lobbyist can keep the public pension windfall he qualified for by spending one day as a substitute teaching, the Illinois Supreme Court has ruled.” [Ray Long, Chicago Tribune via its Twitter]

More on Illinois public employee pensions: “More than 19,000 Illinois Government Retirees Receive Pensions Over $100K” [Janelle Cammenga, Illinois Policy] “Mapping the $100,000+ Illinois Teacher Pensions Costing Taxpayers Nearly $1.0 Billion” [Adam Andrzejewski, Forbes 2016] “Top 200 Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund Pensions as of 2017” [Taxpayers United (park district employees score highly in $150K+ annual pension listings)] (via @TwoBoysCapital on Twitter)

Meanwhile, so delightfully Chicago: “JUST IN: Lawyer for ex-Ald. Willie Cochran ask for six months home confinement, saying ‘”since sending previous aldermen to jail has not done anything to curb Chicago’s tidal wave of aldermanic corruption cases, there is no reason to think that sending Mr. Cochran to jail will.'” [Chicago Tribune reporter Jason Meisner on Twitter]

Tags: Chicago, Illinois, labor unions, public employment, schools

How Illinois is that? is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Chicago’s impound accounting

Walter Olson — Tue, 08 Jan 2019 11:05:31 +0000

“Chicago has impounded and sold off nearly 50,000 cars for unpaid tickets since 2011. Not a dime of the sales went toward the ticket debt; instead, the city and its towing contractor pocketed millions.” [Elliott Ramos, WBEZ/ProPublica via (quoted) Melissa Sanchez]

Tags: Chicago, petty fines and fees, traffic laws

Chicago’s impound accounting is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

How to become a judge

Walter Olson — Tue, 20 Nov 2018 05:05:58 +0000

Man runs for Illinois county judgeship on Republican line under the name Phillip Spiwak, loses, wins after switching to Democratic line, running in Cook County, and changing name to Shannon O’Malley. [Abigail Blachman, Injustice Watch/Chicago Sun-Times]

Tags: Chicago, judicial elections

How to become a judge is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system