- Judge Kozinski blasts prosecution of McAfee exec Probhat Goyal [Ribstein, Greenfield; related on federal overcriminalization, Rittgers/Cato]
- “If only laws were like sausages” [Robert Pear, NY Times]
- “Public Radio Looks at California ADA Lawsuits” [Frith, CJAC on “This American Life,” Thomas Mundy and Morse Mehrban]
- Guitar maker described as “litigation-addled”: “Gibson continues its IP-based business plan” [Coleman]
- Judge who heard Madison County, Ill. asbestos docket retires, is picked by lawyers as trustee of asbestos bankruptcy trust [Chamber-backed MC Record]
- Ted Frank’s Center for Class Action Fairness objects to Classmates.com class action settlement [CCAF, more, yet more]
- New Labor Department regs could chill management speech to workforce [Russ Brown, Open Market]
- Too bad there weren’t legal blogs around in 2000, some light might have been shed on Bush v Gore [Legal Blog Watch, Ann Althouse] Hey wait a minute [ten years ago on Overlawyered]
Posts Tagged ‘class action settlements’
Objecting to the Classmates.com class action settlement
Today is the last day for class members to object in the Classmates.com class action settlement —$117 thousand for the class, $1.05 million for the attorneys. For more details on how to file, see my post at the Center for Class Action Fairness (which is not affiliated with Overlawyered).
Unpleasant buzz
Patrick at Popehat is not happy with a class action settlement over consumer non-injury from the Google Buzz service:
Mason and Ram will apply for, and probably get, $2,125,000 of that [$8.5 million] common fund, for all of their hard work representing thousands of people just like me, who weren’t damaged by Google because they ignored Google’s offer to try Google Buzz, a demonstrated failure that’s used by about seven people (not all of whom are class representatives) nationwide. …
If there’s any justice, and there isn’t, the Northern District of California will award Mason and Ram a dollar for every consumer who was injured by Google Buzz. That and five hundred more dollars will cover their airfare home.
November 2 roundup
Headline stories of the week:
- Crude for sure: Law.com runs highlights of the tapes of American lawyers stage-managing the Ecuador-Chevron suit [Corporate Counsel, ShopFloor]
- Why such broad gag orders in Kansas pain-doc advocacy case? [Jacob Sullum, Reason; Adam Liptak, NYT]
- Spectacular fall of lawyer Adorno in Miami fire fee case [ABA Journal, PoL, earlier]
- Fiscal 2010 saw biggest increase in regulatory burdens placed on US economy since measurements began [Heritage]
- Watch for nonstandard definitions of “rights”: “Unions Fear Rollback of Rights Under Republicans” [NYT]
- Marijuana, freedom and the California ballot [David Boaz, Cato at Liberty] Alas, text of Proposition 19 also contains “antidiscrimination” provisions that restrict private liberty [David Henderson]
- New papers from U.S. Chamber’s Institute for Legal Reform unveiled at last week’s Legal Reform Summit: ways to fix the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) (more on FCPA from Nathan Burney via Greenfield); Beisner-Miller-Schwartz on cy pres in class actions, via CCAF and Trask; and a new paper on asbestos claiming in Madison County, Illinois;
- Will Supreme Court clients be as keen on hiring Tribe after revelation of his letter trashing Sotomayor? [Whelan, NRO]
October 18 roundup
- Touchy tandem jump: “Gay Skydiving Instructor Sues Over Firing” [Legal Blog Watch]
- Bucks County, Pennsylvania, plans to ticket people who forget to lock their cars [Ryan Young, CEI]
- Soft surface contact only next time: man hit in eye by exotic dancer’s heel wins $650K [NBC Miami, evidently a different case from this 2008 hit-by-exotic-dancer’s-shoe mishap, also in Florida]
- Breyers ice cream class action settlement with $0 for class might draw objections [CCAF]
- “Who are the Top Plaintiff’s Lawyers?” [Mark Behrens and Cary Silverman via AmLaw]
- California voters mulling attorney general choice should keep in mind lawsuit abuse issues [John Sullivan, Daily Journal courtesy CJAC]
- Mine safety enforcement push bogging down in litigation [WaPo]
- Liability a concern as elementary school in Attleboro, Mass. bans game of “tag” [four years ago on Overlawyered]
October 12 roundup
- Representing Prof. Michael Krauss, Ted Frank will file objection to Classmates.com class action settlement [CCAF]
- Not without condescension, Harvard historian/New Yorker writer Jill Lepore asks why Woodrow Wilson’s so disliked these days; Radley Balko offers some help [The Agitator, NYT “Room for Debate”]
- China needs true private property rights, according to Charter 08 document, which helped Liu Xiaobo win Nobel Peace Prize [Tyler Cowen]
- Axelrod “foreign funders under every rug” demagogy might be turned against his own allies [Stoll; New York Times refutes earlier Obama talking point; Atlantic Wire; Sullum]
- R.I.P. influential class actions and mass torts scholar Richard Nagareda [Vanderbilt Law School]
- “Web Seminar Makes Case for Patent Troll Lawsuit Targets to Fight Back” [Washington Legal Foundation Legal Pulse]
- Contrary to WSJ report, if Congressional staffers are profiting in stock trades by way of insider knowledge, they probably do face some risk of legal liability [Bainbridge; a not entirely unrelated inside-trading controversy]
- Underpublicized: “California’s Proposed ‘Green Chemistry’ Regulations Move Forward” [Wajert]
September 3 roundup
- TSA asserts security-line authority against … suspected embezzlers? [Coyote, Ken at Popehat]
- “How the Next Hurricane Could Bankrupt Florida” [Eli Lehrer, Frum Forum]
- In Yahoo settlement “vast majority of the class gets nothing” [Frith, Cal Civil Justice]
- Royal road to legal riches: work for the federal prosecutor in Manhattan [David Zaring, Conglomerate]
- Taxpayers, get ready to bail out union pension plans [The Lid]
- Japan moving closer to U.S.-style securities litigation? [D&O Diary]
- “Is the Contemporary Supreme Court Really That Conservative?” [Bartels, ConcurOp]
- “EEOC encourages anonymous harassment complaints” [eleven years ago at Overlawyered]
Lowe’s drywall settlement
The home improvement chain says it never sold drywall from China at all, let alone the contaminated kind that has generated problems for thousands of homeowners. But it’s still agreed to a gift-card deal that includes $2.2 million in fees for plaintiff’s attorneys. [WSJ; ProPublica (“Proposed Lowe’s Drywall Settlement Offers Small Payouts to Victims, Big Fees for Attorneys”)] More: Fulton County Daily Report.
August 5 roundup
- Wouldn’t it be nice if Congress lifted the ban on Internet gambling [Steve Chapman]
- Design of New Orleans shotgun houses is an adaptation to tax laws [Candy Chang]
- Lawyer-enriching Costco class action settlement draws an objection from a blogger often linked in this space [Amy Alkon]
- “Fourth Circuit slaps down N.C. attorney general’s suit against TVA” [Wood/PoL, Jackson]
- South Carolina jury’s $2.375 million award based on premise that Nissan should have followed European, not U.S. crashworthiness standards [Abnormal Use]
- City of Cleveland won’t take no for answer in dumb lawsuit against mortgage lenders [Funnell]
- Charles H. Green at TrustMatters hosts Blawg Review #275;
- Duke lacrosse fiasco: Nifong’s media and law-school enablers [three years ago at Overlawyered]
Who got the lowest settlement from Expedia class action?
It’s a contest! [California Civil Justice Blog, earlier]