The distinguished panel includes Lester Brickman and Myriam Gilles (Cardozo), Richard Epstein (NYU), Jim Copland and Ted Frank (Manhattan Institute), R. Matthew Cairns (Gallagher, Callahan & Gartrell and the 2011 president of the Defense Research Institute), Russell Jackson (Skadden), and Andrew Trask (McGuire Woods). You can follow the discussion here.
Posts Tagged ‘class actions’
Class action demands pay for Huffington Post bloggers
The site generally promised to pay nothing to its bloggers, and has lived up to that promise. [Romenesko/Washington Post, Radley Balko, Atlantic Wire, Coyote (FLSA is a more unreasonable law than you may assume), Max Kennerly (“unjust enrichment” theories not going anywhere), Volokh (next: suits on behalf of unpaid commenters), Lawrence Cunningham (“close to zero” chance of suit prevailing); & followup (with Jack Shafer’s views)]
April 6 roundup
- Lack of defect poses problem for plaintiff: Toyota prevails in first acceleration case [NLJ]
- Australia: writer Andrew Bolt on trial for alleged racially disparaging columns [Herald Sun, Crikey, The Age]
- “Attorneys Put Themselves Before Consumers in Class Action over Faulty Computer Chip” [CJAC, Frank/CCAF on NVidia case]
- Ruling by Federal Circuit is thinning out rush of patent marking cases [Qualters, NLJ, earlier]
- Podcast: Lester Brickman and “Lawyer Barons” [PoL, earlier here and here]
- “Are class actions unconstitutional?” [Lahav, Mass Tort Lit, on Martin Redish book]
- “Free speech belongs on campuses too” [Ilya Shapiro, Cato, on Widener case, with kind mention of Schools for Misrule]
- King Canute turns attention to dry land: states mull bills to forbid use of distressed properties as appraisal comps [Funnell]
Judge Posner weighs in on class actions
An uninvited-fax case gives the judge a chance to express some views on the typicality, credibility and adequacy of class representatives. [Trask]
March 24 roundup
- “Woman suing Carnival: Ship sailed too fast, made me sick” [Gene Sloan, USA Today “Cruise Log”]
- U.S. Department of Justice sues Illinois school district for denying Muslim teacher’s request for three-week Mecca-trip leave [WaPo]
- “California Assembly Says Complying with Government Standards Not Enough to Avoid Punitive Damages” [Cal Civil Justice]
- “Four Loko Suit Is an Example of Bogus Economic Loss Classes” [Russell Jackson]
- New Benjamin Barton book on lawyer-judge bias reviewed by Larry Ribstein [TotM, earlier]
- “Prolific Colorado Consumer Attorney Filed 2/3rds of State’s FDCPA Cases Since 2007” [ABA Journal]
- Different kind of false marking case? Judge says company knowingly claimed inapplicable patent [WSJ Law Blog]
- “Extra-special education at public expense” [five years ago on Overlawyered]
March 15 roundup
- “A conversation with class action objector Ted Frank” [American Lawyer]
- Reviews of new Lester Brickman book Lawyer Barons [Dan Fisher/Forbes, Russell Jackson] Plus: interview at TortsProf; comments from Columbia legal ethicist William Simon [Legal Ethics Forum]
- “Collective Bargaining for States But Not for Uncle Sam” [Adler] Examples of how Wisconsin public-sector unionism has worked in practice [Perry] Wisconsin cop union: nice business you got there, shame if anything were to happen to it [Sykes, WTMJ] “Union ‘rights’ that aren’t” [Jeff Jacoby, Boston Globe]
- “Minnesota House Considering Significant Consumer Class Action Reform Measures” [Karlsgodt]
- 10,000 lawyers at DoD? Rumsfeld complains military overlawyered [Althouse via Instapundit]
- “Are Meritless Claims More Prevalent in Copyright?” [Boyden, Prawfs]
- Claim: availability of punitive damages reduces rate of truck accidents. Really? [Curt Cutting]
- Now with improved federalism: “The Return of the Lawsuit Abuse Reduction Act” [Carter Wood, more, earlier here].
After California’s zip-code-privacy ruling
The lawsuits against store chains over inquiries in check-out lines were just the start: one lawyer has sued gas station operators on the theory that it violates state law to ask drivers at the pump to key in their zip code to verify their credit cards. [Russell Jackson, earlier]
“NJ housewife suing Century 21 for $5M over 80 cents”
Turns out her dad is a lawyer who has filed class actions against other retailers over their coupon policies. [New York Post] Update: drops suit after flurry of press attention.
February 17 roundup
- Gender imbalance in Wikipedia and geographic bees? Find something else to worry about [Heather Mac Donald, Slate, via Secular Right; Perry] “On Equality: The Anti-Interference Principle” [Donald Kochan, Chapman, SSRN]
- High-profile NY attorney suspended after “avalanche” of complaints [Turkewitz, more]
- Credit unions vs. class action lawyers [Funnell]
- Obligation to use club cards to facilitate recalls? CSPI’s strange lawsuit against Safeway [Goldfarb, Food Liability Law]
- “Arkansas Justice Has a Generous Lawyer Friend, Disclosure Forms Reveal” [Weiss, ABA Journal]
- NYC pols plan regulatory squeeze on popular inter-city “Chinatown bus” operators [DNAInfo, Reason]
- “Kentucky appeals court reverses $42 million fen-phen fraud judgment” [Courier-Journal, PoL]
- $1,500 per lead brought in: why you see so many mesothelioma ads on the web [three years ago on Overlawyered]
California bars retailers from asking for zip codes, class actions follow
Lawyers jump into action with multiple suits after the California Supreme Court decides it’s a violation of state consumer privacy law to ask customers for their zip code at the checkout. [L.A. Times, Recorder, WSJ Law Blog] Ira Stoll discusses the silliness of the purported consumer protection rationale. More: Coyote.