CPSC – Overlawyered https://www.overlawyered.com/ Chronicling the high cost of our legal system Mon, 18 Jun 2018 01:19:55 +0000 en-US hourly 1 Zen Magnets prevails in CPSC action https://www.overlawyered.com/2018/06/zen-magnets-prevails-in-cpsc-action/ Mon, 18 Jun 2018 04:05:16 +0000 https://www.overlawyered.com/?p=71257 Six years into its battle, tiny-magnet maker Zen Magnets has won another key round against the Consumer Product Safety Commission in court, persuading a Colorado federal court to reverse a Commission order ordering a halt to its sales [Nancy Nord] A larger and at the time better known maker of tiny magnet sets, Buckyballs, folded […]

Zen Magnets prevails in CPSC action is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

]]> Six years into its battle, tiny-magnet maker Zen Magnets has won another key round against the Consumer Product Safety Commission in court, persuading a Colorado federal court to reverse a Commission order ordering a halt to its sales [Nancy Nord] A larger and at the time better known maker of tiny magnet sets, Buckyballs, folded under the Commission’s pressure. More on Zen Magnets’ fight here and here.

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Zen Magnets prevails in CPSC action is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

]]> March 14 roundup https://www.overlawyered.com/2018/03/march-14-roundup-3/ https://www.overlawyered.com/2018/03/march-14-roundup-3/#comments Wed, 14 Mar 2018 10:05:27 +0000 https://www.overlawyered.com/?p=65990 “Special economic zones can be anything from tools of crony capitalism to seeds of a freer world order.” [Tom W. Bell on The Political Economy of Special Economic Zones by Lotta Moberg] 33 state constitutions have “baby Ninths,” which like federal version suggest existence and protection of some unenumerated individual rights. Potential there [Anthony B. […]

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  • “Special economic zones can be anything from tools of crony capitalism to seeds of a freer world order.” [Tom W. Bell on The Political Economy of Special Economic Zones by Lotta Moberg]
  • 33 state constitutions have “baby Ninths,” which like federal version suggest existence and protection of some unenumerated individual rights. Potential there [Anthony B. Sanders, Rutgers Law Review forthcoming/SSRN]
  • Judge hears argument on Seattle law ordering landlords to accept first otherwise qualified tenant who applies [Heidi Groover/The Stranger, earlier]
  • Labeling of food, other products as “natural” helps keep class action lawyers in business [Julie Creswell, New York Times]
  • SESTA, FOSTA, and trafficking: L.A. Times editorial warns on dangers of abridging Section 230 protections for Internet freedom [earlier here, here, etc.]
  • Saga of Zen Magnets versus the CPSC, told in detail [Alan Prendergast, Westword (Denver); earlier; related, Nancy Nord]
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    March 14 roundup is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

    ]]>     https://www.overlawyered.com/2018/03/march-14-roundup-3/feed/ 5     CPSC: Your product may be legal, but you’ll still need to destroy it https://www.overlawyered.com/2017/06/cpsc-product-may-legal-youll-still-need-destroy/ Tue, 13 Jun 2017 16:24:54 +0000 https://www.overlawyered.com/?p=64868 Last year the Tenth Circuit struck down the CPSC’s ban on tiny desk magnet sets. Pursuing the legal consequences of an earlier recall order, however, the CPSC has required the destruction of $40,000 worth of rare-earth magnets from the inventory of defiant manufacturer Zen Magnets. You can watch the resulting “funeral” at my new Cato […]

    CPSC: Your product may be legal, but you’ll still need to destroy it is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

    ]]>     Last year the Tenth Circuit struck down the CPSC’s ban on tiny desk magnet sets. Pursuing the legal consequences of an earlier recall order, however, the CPSC has required the destruction of $40,000 worth of rare-earth magnets from the inventory of defiant manufacturer Zen Magnets. You can watch the resulting “funeral” at my new Cato post.

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    CPSC: Your product may be legal, but you’ll still need to destroy it is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

    ]]>         May 10 roundup https://www.overlawyered.com/2017/05/may-10-roundup-3/ https://www.overlawyered.com/2017/05/may-10-roundup-3/#comments Wed, 10 May 2017 04:05:04 +0000 https://www.overlawyered.com/?p=64334 Redistricting, transit farebox, Court of Appeals, decriminalizing barbers, and more in my latest Maryland policy roundup [Free State Notes] And I’m quoted on the highly unpersuasive “six-state compact” scheme, which amounts to an excuse for leaving gerrymandering in place [Danielle Gaines, Frederick News-Post] After scandal over falsified safety records, fired track workers sue Washington’s Metro […]

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  • Redistricting, transit farebox, Court of Appeals, decriminalizing barbers, and more in my latest Maryland policy roundup [Free State Notes] And I’m quoted on the highly unpersuasive “six-state compact” scheme, which amounts to an excuse for leaving gerrymandering in place [Danielle Gaines, Frederick News-Post]
  • After scandal over falsified safety records, fired track workers sue Washington’s Metro on claims of discrimination and hostile work environment [Martine Powers, Washington Post]
  • Chicago mulls ordering private shopkeepers to provide bathroom access to non-customers who say they’ve got an emergency need. Too bad its own CTA is no-go zone [Steve Chapman]
  • Says a lot about why Obama CPSC ignored pleas for CPSIA relief: “US Product Safety Regulator Sneers at ‘Fabricated Outrage’ Over Regulations” [C. Ryan Barber, National Law Journal on Elliot Kaye comments]
  • “Implied certification” theory, okayed by SCOTUS in Universal Health Services last year, enables False Claims Act suits hinging on controversial interpretations of regulation [Federalist Society podcast with Marcia Madsen and Brian D. Miller] “A Convincing Case for Judicial Stays of Discovery in False Claims Act Qui Tam Litigation” [Stephen A. Wood, WLF]
  • Judge signals reluctance to dismiss hospital’s suit against Kamala Harris over her actions as California AG on behalf of SEIU in merger case [Bianca Bruno, Courthouse News via Sean Higgins/Washington Examiner, earlier]
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    ]]>     https://www.overlawyered.com/2017/05/may-10-roundup-3/feed/ 3     January 4 roundup https://www.overlawyered.com/2017/01/january-4-roundup-4/ https://www.overlawyered.com/2017/01/january-4-roundup-4/#comments Wed, 04 Jan 2017 11:00:24 +0000 https://www.overlawyered.com/?p=62475 Report: FBI investigation of Prenda lawyer Paul Hansmeier now extends to his mass ADA filings [KSTP, KMSP, Stephen Montemayor/Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Tim Cushing/TechDirt earlier] Meanwhile: “Sanctioned Austin ADA attorney now targeting websites” [KXAN on Omar Rosales, earlier] “It is a crime to ‘allow’ a pet to make a noise ‘that frightens wildlife’ on National Park Service […]

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  • Report: FBI investigation of Prenda lawyer Paul Hansmeier now extends to his mass ADA filings [KSTP, KMSP, Stephen Montemayor/Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Tim Cushing/TechDirt earlier]
  • Meanwhile: “Sanctioned Austin ADA attorney now targeting websites” [KXAN on Omar Rosales, earlier]
  • “It is a crime to ‘allow’ a pet to make a noise ‘that frightens wildlife’ on National Park Service land. Yeah.” [@KatMurti on David Rosenthal, Daily Signal]
  • Looking to the states as a counterweight to dangers from Washington? Hope your federalism insurance is paid up [Rick Hills]
  • A defense of the Consumer Product Safety Commission’s punitive, fine-happy turn in recent years. Beleaguered manufacturers are unlikely to agree [Brian Joseph, Fair Warning; the CPSIA fiasco and magnets episode]
  • Michael Greve versus Adrian Vermeule on administrative law, originalism and the Constitution [Law and Liberty]
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    ]]>     https://www.overlawyered.com/2017/01/january-4-roundup-4/feed/ 6     Circuit court strikes down CPSC rule on adult magnet sets https://www.overlawyered.com/2016/11/circuit-court-strikes-cpsc-rule-adult-magnet-sets/ https://www.overlawyered.com/2016/11/circuit-court-strikes-cpsc-rule-adult-magnet-sets/#comments Sun, 27 Nov 2016 16:52:20 +0000 https://www.overlawyered.com/?p=61603 A Tenth Circuit panel has sent the Consumer Product Safety Commission back to the drawing board in its attempt to ban tiny magnet sets intended for adult use as a desk toy or creative outlet accessory. It ruled that the commission had not conducted an adequate cost-benefit analysis of the ban in line with the […]

    Circuit court strikes down CPSC rule on adult magnet sets is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

    ]]>     A Tenth Circuit panel has sent the Consumer Product Safety Commission back to the drawing board in its attempt to ban tiny magnet sets intended for adult use as a desk toy or creative outlet accessory. It ruled that the commission had not conducted an adequate cost-benefit analysis of the ban in line with the requirements of its enabling statute. We covered the CPSC’s legal vendetta against the defiant maker of BuckyBalls; the last surviving company to sell the product is Zen Magnets, which now is allowed to resume operations while the Commission goes back to the drawing board, assuming it decides to do so. [Nancy Nord] And: Nov. 29 statement from Zen Magnets; Abby Schachter, Weekly Standard; Brian Doherty, Reason.

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    Circuit court strikes down CPSC rule on adult magnet sets is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

    ]]>     https://www.overlawyered.com/2016/11/circuit-court-strikes-cpsc-rule-adult-magnet-sets/feed/ 2     July 20 roundup https://www.overlawyered.com/2016/07/july-20-roundup-3/ Wed, 20 Jul 2016 04:05:28 +0000 http://overlawyered.com/?p=60037 Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), and Brian Schatz (D-Haw.) call for federal investigation into AirBnB effects on housing market [Kevin Boyd, Rare] “Santa Monica convicts its first Airbnb host under tough home-sharing laws” [Los Angeles Times] “Florida man claims he invented iPhone in 1992, sues Apple for $10 billion” [Don Reisinger, Fortune, auto-plays] […]

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  • Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), and Brian Schatz (D-Haw.) call for federal investigation into AirBnB effects on housing market [Kevin Boyd, Rare] “Santa Monica convicts its first Airbnb host under tough home-sharing laws” [Los Angeles Times]
  • “Florida man claims he invented iPhone in 1992, sues Apple for $10 billion” [Don Reisinger, Fortune, auto-plays]
  • More on why Philadelphia soda tax is a bad idea [Baylen Linnekin, earlier here and here] Reining in FDA, legal home distilling, school lunch waste: 9 food issues for the next President [same]
  • Judge Alsup: once having launched infringement claim, mass copyright filer can’t escape counterclaim so easily by dropping it [opinion in Malibu Media v. John Doe (“motion seems more like a gimmick designed to allow it an easy exit if discovery reveals its claims are meritless”) via Techdirt]
  • IKEA dresser recall shows CPSC acting aggressively. Did it act wisely? [Abby Wisse Schachter, Wall Street Journal]
  • Don’t use “implied contract” to escape the implications of freedom of association re: cake-baking [David Henderson]
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    ]]>         April 6 roundup https://www.overlawyered.com/2016/04/april-6-roundup-4/ Wed, 06 Apr 2016 04:05:10 +0000 http://overlawyered.com/?p=58281 Do lawyers find ways to litigate over the effects of the leap day, Feb. 29, that is inserted into the calendar every four years? Glad you asked [Kyle White, Abnormal Use] Weren’t regulations supposed to have fixed this, or is it that accommodation rules for air transport are legally separate from those for ordinary commerce? […]

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  • Do lawyers find ways to litigate over the effects of the leap day, Feb. 29, that is inserted into the calendar every four years? Glad you asked [Kyle White, Abnormal Use]
  • Weren’t regulations supposed to have fixed this, or is it that accommodation rules for air transport are legally separate from those for ordinary commerce? “More flights seeing odd animals as emotional support companions” [WHIO]
  • Tiny desk and art magnets: Zen Magnets wins partial but important legal victory against Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) [Zen Magnets, Nancy Nord, earlier]
  • Federal government, which has passed no law on private-sector LGBT bias, considers withholding funds to punish North Carolina for declining to have one [New York Times; earlier on Obama EEOC’s wishful effort to generate such coverage through reinterpretation of other law]
  • Spirit of trade barriers: Nevada workers walk off job to protest use of workers from other U.S. states [Alex Tabarrok] Expansion of foreign trade “has revealed, not created, problems in the American economy” [Scott Lincicome] More: “Limiting trade with low-wage countries as severely as Sanders wants to would hurt the very poorest people on Earth. A lot.” [Zack Beauchamp, Vox; related Jordan Weissmann, Slate (what Sanders told NYDN “should be absolutely chilling to the developing world… inhumane”)]
  • Latest ICWA (Indian Child Welfare Act) cause célèbre is over 6-year-old Lexi, whose world is getting upended because of her 1.5% Choctaw descent (a great-great-great-great grandparent on her father’s side) [Christina Sandefur/Federalist Society blog, Naomi Schaefer Riley, New York Post earlier generally on ICWA and in my writing at Reason and Cato on the Adoptive Couple case]
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    April 6 roundup is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

    ]]>         Breaking alert: CPSC does something sensible https://www.overlawyered.com/2016/03/breaking-cpsc-does-something-sensible/ Thu, 10 Mar 2016 11:15:57 +0000 http://overlawyered.com/?p=58017 The federal Consumer Product Safety Commission has been seized by a passing fit of sense on a question of regulatory stringency, and the result could be to save makers of harmless apparel and footwear as much as $250 million a year [Nancy Nord] Tags: CPSC, CPSIA and apparel/needle trades

    Breaking alert: CPSC does something sensible is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

    ]]>     The federal Consumer Product Safety Commission has been seized by a passing fit of sense on a question of regulatory stringency, and the result could be to save makers of harmless apparel and footwear as much as $250 million a year [Nancy Nord]

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    Breaking alert: CPSC does something sensible is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

    ]]>         Environment roundup https://www.overlawyered.com/2015/08/environment-roundup-22/ https://www.overlawyered.com/2015/08/environment-roundup-22/#comments Thu, 27 Aug 2015 14:25:08 +0000 http://overlawyered.com/?p=53646 Safe Drinking Water Act along with other federal laws helped scare consumers away from public fountains and tap water, with unintended bad consequences for health and the environment [Kendra Pierre-Louis, Washington Post] Austin, Tex. ban on plastic bags isn’t working out as intended [Adam Minter, Bloomberg View] After BP’s $18.7 billion settlement with five Gulf […]

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

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  • Safe Drinking Water Act along with other federal laws helped scare consumers away from public fountains and tap water, with unintended bad consequences for health and the environment [Kendra Pierre-Louis, Washington Post]
  • Austin, Tex. ban on plastic bags isn’t working out as intended [Adam Minter, Bloomberg View]
  • After BP’s $18.7 billion settlement with five Gulf states, here come huge private lawyer paydays [Louisiana Record]
  • Energy efficiency in durable goods: mandates “based on weak or nonexistent evidence of consumer irrationality” with government itself hardly free of behavioral biases [Tyler Cowen]
  • “How Trophy Hunting Can Save Lions” [Terry Anderson and Shawn Regan, PERC/WSJ]
  • CPSC’s hard line on CPSIA testing of natural materials in toys based on “precautionary principle run amuck” [Nancy Nord]
  • Is the ideal of sustainability one we ultimately owe to hunter-gatherers? [Arnold Kling]
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