Erin Brockovich – Overlawyered

Environment roundup

Walter Olson — Mon, 07 Mar 2016 05:05:36 +0000

Eminent domain on the silver screen: “Wild River” (1960) starring Montgomery Clift and Lee Remick tells story of TVA’s taking of the last parcel for a dam [Gideon Kanner]
Berkshire Hathaway: up to now, climate change has not produced more frequent insured weather-related events [Tyler Cowen]
Erin Brockovich goes on the Dr. Oz show to spread doubts about fluoride in drinking water [Hank Campbell, ACSH; more Brockovich follies]
California declares relatively unprocessed “aloe vera whole leaf extract” to be a dangerous chemical, which means it can be added to the Prop 65 list; note however that the refined aloe vera used in consumer products is not so included [Conkle Law]
Some environmentalists plan to sue fund managers who don’t act against global warming [The Guardian, Nature]
A tale of Superfund joint and several liability: “How tort reform helped crack down on polluters” [Ross Marchand, R Street Institute]
“Great Moments in US Energy Policy: In the 1970’s, The US Government Mandated Coal Use For New Power Plants” [Coyote]

Tags: climate change, eminent domain, Erin Brockovich, joint and several liability, Prop 65, Superfund, Wall Street

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

Erin Brockovich in Fridley, Minn.

Walter Olson — Mon, 03 Sep 2012 19:12:03 +0000

Reader Dave Westheimer writes, regarding a news item that we briefly noted earlier:

Guess who’s coming to the suburb where I live? Erin Brockovich. She’s here and in the news.

Of course she’s not hearing “Fridley’s concerns” — she’s hearing the concerns of novices who’ve never heard of the Texas Sharpshooter Fallacy.

FWIW, “one of the worst Superfund sites in the country” refers to the old FMC plant in the southwest corner of the city by the Mississippi, well away from the closest residential neighborhood and more likely to affect Minneapolis than Fridley, if it affected anything at all. Fridley’s biggest industry is Medtronic’s headquarters. It’s a typical postwar residential suburb, mostly built in the 50s and 60s.

The neighborhood newspaper ran what I thought was a fawning article about her appearance here, written by an intern, along with a separate article about how the intern who wrote the article was so excited to meet her. So much for objectivity.

As the city’s water report (PDF) says, Fridley has never been in violation of the cancer causing agents standards in the Federal Safe Drinking Water Act.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to pour myself another tall glass of city water.

Tags: Erin Brockovich, Minnesota, Superfund, toxic torts

Erin Brockovich in Fridley, Minn. is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Environmental roundup

Walter Olson — Wed, 20 Jun 2012 04:06:44 +0000

Nebraska Sen. Johanns proposes bill to curb EPA surveillance overflights (which, contrary to some erroneous reports going around, are manned flights) [Daily Caller, earlier]
“Time to Discard the Precautionary Principle at the CPSC” [Nancy Nord]
Victimology beats science with 9/11 dust fund [Point of Law, ACSH] Two NYC plaintiff’s firms fight over $50 million in 9/11-responder fees [Reuters]
“Court dismisses climate change ‘public trust’ suit” [Katie Owens, WLF]
Erin Brockovich promotes Fridley, Minnesota cancer cluster, local man “eager to hear” her spiel [StarTrib, earlier]
Jonathan Adler guestblogs on environmental policy at The Atlantic [Volokh]
Businesses’ donations on environmental advocacy? Never trust content from “Union of Concerned Scientists” [Ron Bailey]
Talking back to “Gasland,” the anti-fracking advocacy flick [Ron Bailey and more, Mark Perry, Business Week on local economic impact]

Tags: climate change, CPSC, environment, Environmental Protection Agency, Erin Brockovich, global warming, oil industry, September 11

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

Environment roundup

Walter Olson — Wed, 30 May 2012 04:06:22 +0000

“A loose coalition of eco-anarchist groups is increasingly launching violent attacks on scientists.” [Nature]
“Jury Blames ‘Erin Brockovich’ Doc For His Patient’s Illness, Not Defendants” [Daniel Fisher, Forbes]
“Judge declines to toss Chevron RICO case against lawyer over $18bln award” [Reuters, Folkman/Letters Blogatory] Videos tell Chevron side of story in hotly disputed Ecuador Lago Agrio dispute [“Amazon Post“]
NGOs’ bag of tricks: Greenpeace helped pack International Whaling Commission thirty years ago by paying dues for small states to join [Skodvin/Andresen via Spiro/OJ]
Distinguishing the areas of clear vision from the blind spots in Chicago Tribune’s flameproofing series [Coyote, earlier]
Wilderness regs prevent town of Tombstone, Ariz. from rebuilding water pipes destroyed in fire [Daily Caller]
Look! Over that factory! It’s a plume of (shudder) … water vapor! [Coyote]
National Science Foundation grantee: “Tort actions may impel industry to … redesign chemical molecules … to be less toxic.” [David Oliver, Ted Frank]

Tags: Arizona, Chevron, environment, Erin Brockovich, international law, science and scientists, toxic torts

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

The twitching teens of LeRoy, N.Y.

Walter Olson — Sun, 11 Mar 2012 12:57:12 +0000

Susan Dominus explores an outbreak of tics and other neurological symptoms among teenage girls in a town near Rochester, as hyped on outlets like “Today” and CNN. Roving Tort-Finder Erin Brockovich, who parachuted into the town to blame possible chemical spills, does not come off well either: “Things only go wrong,’ [King’s College London epidemiologist Simon] Wessely wrote in 1995, ‘when the nature of an outbreak is not recognized, and a fruitless and expensive search for toxins, fumes and gases begins.’” [NY Times Magazine]

Tags: Erin Brockovich, New York, toxic torts

The twitching teens of LeRoy, N.Y. is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Brockovich meets Tourette’s in Leroy, N.Y.

Walter Olson — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 12:07:54 +0000

“In non-Western countries, demons and witchcraft are still sometimes blamed for outbreaks of fainting and fits [PDF]. Pollution, poisoning, chemical weapons, and other environmental concerns are dominant in the West (a fact that makes Brockovich something of a mass hysteria machine). Some bloggers are now claiming that the upstate New York girls fell ill because of the HPV vaccine or fracking.” [Ruth Graham, Slate]

Tags: Erin Brockovich, New York state, toxic torts

Brockovich meets Tourette’s in Leroy, N.Y. is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

January 5 roundup

Walter Olson — Wed, 05 Jan 2011 12:04:34 +0000

Notables including Alan Morrison, Richard Epstein, Kathleen Sullivan sign amicus brief urging court review of multistate tobacco settlement [Daniel Fisher/Forbes, Christine Hall/CEI, Todd Zywicki]
“Congress rediscovers the Constitution” [Roger Pilon, WSJ]
Chief Justice John Roberts Jr. profiled [Roger Parloff, Fortune]
When outside investors stake divorce litigants: yes, there are legal ethics angles [Christine Hurt]
Mexico, long noted for strict gun control laws, has only one legal gun store [WaPo]
Judge throws out “parasitic” lawsuit piggybacking on Wisconsin drug-pricing settlement [Madison.com]
Erin Brockovich sequel: Talking back to the Environmental Working Group on dangers of chromium-6 in drinking water [Oliver, Logomasini/CEI]
“Little white lies” to protect the bar’s image [five years ago on Overlawyered]

Tags: constitutional law, divorce, Erin Brockovich, guns, John Roberts, litigation finance, Mexico, pharmaceuticals, tobacco settlement

January 5 roundup is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Below-average cancer rates found in town of Brockovich fame

Walter Olson — Tue, 14 Dec 2010 05:03:19 +0000

After alarmist coverage about how the water supply of rural Hinkley, Calif. is laced with carcinogenic chromium 6, it may have surprised some L.A. Times readers to learn that the town’s cancer rate is actually a bit below average. One interviewed local family blames the pollution for a variety of ills ranging from stroke to cognitive deficits to miscarriage to tumors in a pet dog. When the movie “Erin Brockovich” came out, it was pointed out that workers at the utility plant where the contamination originated had a life expectancy exceeding the California average.

P.S. I see that Tim Cavanaugh of Reason is on the case too.

Tags: Erin Brockovich, toxic torts

Below-average cancer rates found in town of Brockovich fame is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

November 23 roundup

Walter Olson — Tue, 23 Nov 2010 13:18:10 +0000

Growth of regulatory state makes lobbying more attractive path than innovation [Morris Panner, WaPo]
Long-awaited Norma Zager book flays Erin Brockovich role in Beverly Hills High School controversy [CJAC]
Colorado high court: no need to limit medical fee awards to sums plaintiffs actually paid [CCJL, Law Week Colorado]
Please, law firm marketers, don’t assume we’re in need of your services [Popehat]
Updates on prosecutorial silencing of pain treatment activist Siobhan Reynolds [Sullum, more, yet more, Balko]
Comments of NTSB official notwithstanding, riding motorcycle without helmet is no “public health issue” [Boaz, Cato] Watch out for more paternalism premised on government health care expenditures [Coyote]
No contracting out? Can California really be this screwed up? [Coyote]
Claim: railroad should have warned against walking on the right-of-way [six years ago on Overlawyered]

Tags: California, Colorado, damages, Erin Brockovich, public health

November 23 roundup is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

July 28 roundup

Walter Olson — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 05:08:07 +0000

“N.J. High Court to Review Drunken Drivers’ Right to Sue Bars That Served Them” [NJLJ]
Recipe for Oakland-style public unionism: “Public Safety Employer-Employee Cooperation Act” pending on Capitol Hill would impose public-service collective bargaining and labor arbitration on local governments nationwide [Cavanaugh/Reason, more, effects on police misconduct accountability]
iPhone class action of doubtful benefit to consumers [Hahn & Passell, Regulation 2.0]
U.K.: “Fired Top In-House Lawyer Testifies She Was Bullied by Underling” [ABA Journal]
Due this fall: Norma Zager book “Erin Brockovich and the Beverly Hills Greenscam” [Pelican Publishing] Weitz firm invokes Brockovich association to drum up Gulf spill business [Michael Daly, NYDN]
Paperwork nightmare: “Health Care Reform’s Terrible, Tiny Tax” [Megan McArdle]
Three views of Sherrod fiasco [Rick Esenberg, Radley Balko, John Derbyshire]
This time the feds look serious about foisting low-flow showerheads on unwilling consumers [Heritage Foundry]

Tags: bullying, cellphones, class actions, dramshop statutes, environment, Erin Brockovich, labor unions, New Jersey, police unions, public employment, United Kingdom

July 28 roundup is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system