Fourth Circuit – Overlawyered

November 7 roundup

Walter Olson — Wed, 07 Nov 2018 10:56:02 +0000

Notwithstanding one-person-one-vote, some House districts do have unusually high or low populations. Main reasons: 1) Small states get rounded up or down; 2) demographics change in existing districts over 10-year Census cycle especially where new housing is being built [Hristina Byrnes, 24/7 Wall Street, I’m quoted]
“‘Outrageously excessive’ requests for attorney fees can be altogether denied, 3rd Circuit says” [ABA Journal]
Prenda copyright troll Paul Hansmeier, who also did mass ADA filings, pleads guilty to fraud and money laundering charges [Dan Browning, Minneapolis Star-Tribune via Mike Masnick, TechDirt]
Thread: calm, factual discussion of Department of Justice brief on Title VII and gender identity [Popehat on Twitter]
We’ve often discussed the high cost of the maritime-protectionist Jones Act, and now Cato has launched a Project on Jones Act Reform;
“Landlord, a Fairfax, Va. mobile home park, imposes requirement that all adult tenants show proof of legal residence in the country; four Latino families (four men with legal status, four women who are illegal immigrants, and 10 U.S. citizen children) face fines, eviction. A violation of the Fair Housing Act? Could be, says the Fourth Circuit (over a dissent).” [IJ Short Circuit]

Tags: attorneys' fees, Fourth Circuit, housing discrimination, redistricting reform, transgender

November 7 roundup is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

A win on pretrial asset freezes

Walter Olson — Thu, 24 Aug 2017 04:15:35 +0000

Not only a good ruling from the Fourth Circuit, but a good unanimous en banc ruling: the Constitution does not permit the government to freeze untainted assets needed by a criminal defendant to prepare for trial [U.S. v. Chamberlain, with NACDL/Cato amicus brief]

Tags: Fourth Circuit, prosecution

A win on pretrial asset freezes is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Liability roundup

Walter Olson — Fri, 29 May 2015 04:05:24 +0000

Home lab butane cannabis fatality: “The Hash Oil contributory negligence lawsuit you’ve all been waiting for” [Elie Mystal, Above the Law]
With Sheldon Silver out of the speaker’s chair, New York has better chance at reducing sky-high litigation costs [Manhattan Institute, earlier on scaffold law]
Per Norton Rose Fulbright annual business survey, responding companies more than twice as likely to be facing five or more lawsuits if based in U.S. than if based elsewhere [Norton Rose Fulbright, Bob Dorigo Jones]
“Hearing: H.R. 1927, the “Fairness in Class Action Litigation Act of 2015” [April House Judiciary Committee with John Beisner, Mark Behrens, Alexandra Lahav, Andrew Trask]
Legal outlook for Illinois defendants deteriorates as Madison County sees resurgence in suits and Cook County remains itself [ICJL]
Brown v. Nucor Corp.: did Fourth Circuit just try to gut Wal-Mart v. Dukes rules against combining bias plaintiffs in dissimilar situations into class action? [Hans Bader/Examiner, Derek Stikeleather/Maryland Appellate Blog]
No wonder New York City consolidation trials are so popular with asbestos lawyers if they yield average of $24 million per plaintiff [Chamber-backed Legal NewsLine] Information in eye-opening Garlock asbestos bankruptcy (allegations of perjury, witness-coaching, etc.) now unsealed and online [same, earlier]

Tags: asbestos, Chicago, class actions, Fourth Circuit, Illinois, Madison County, New York, NYC, tort reform, Wal-Mart v. Dukes

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

Fourth Circuit ruling in social anxiety disorder ADA case

Walter Olson — Thu, 02 Apr 2015 04:15:00 +0000

A deputy clerk of court in North Carolina allegedly suffered from social anxiety disorder, characterized (per the DSM) as “marked and persistent fear of … social or performance situations in which [a] person is exposed to unfamiliar people or to possible scrutiny by others.” While these fears led her to request to be insulated from customer service responsibilities, they did not inhibit her from secretly tape recording interviews with four supervisors involved with her firing. Reversing a lower court, the Fourth Circuit allowed her ADA accommodation claims to go forward in what Robert Fitzpatrick calls a “remarkable, and potentially far-reaching decision.” Excerpts from Fitzpatrick’s account:

Similarly, in a footnote, the Court indicated that if the plaintiff, took longer than necessary to complete her microfilming work and procrastinated in returning to the front desk, as the defense had alleged, “this may constitute avoidant behavior consistent with a diagnosis of social anxiety disorder.”

The court also reasoned that because the employer, on top of the various reasons it cited in firing her, later cited additional grounds for firing when the case reached a judge, this suspicious “piling on” could be read as evidence of pretext.

Tags: disabled rights, Fourth Circuit, lawyering vs. privacy

Fourth Circuit ruling in social anxiety disorder ADA case is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

“Short Circuits” on transit police arbitration

Walter Olson — Wed, 18 Mar 2015 09:53:18 +0000

Our friends at the Institute for Justice have recently gone public with a beta version of what had been an internal newsletter, called Short Circuits, providing condensed (and sometimes acidulous) summaries of cases out of the federal courts of appeals. You can subscribe here. One of recent interest:

WMATA, a transit agency that serves the greater D.C. area, fires two police officers. (One allegedly struck a passenger and lied about it. The other allegedly altercated with a companion and lied about it.) Arbitrators order the pair reinstated, but by then their Maryland certification has lapsed, and, after the transit police chief voices strenuous opposition to their recertification, Maryland commissioners refuse to recertify the two. WMATA can’t have uncertified officers, so they are fired again. 4th Circuit: Which is cool.

Tags: Fourth Circuit, Maryland, police unions, public employment, transit, Washington D.C.

“Short Circuits” on transit police arbitration is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

D.C. Circuit: IRS can’t rewrite ObamaCare. Fourth: Oh, yes it can

Walter Olson — Tue, 22 Jul 2014 19:22:44 +0000

A panel of the D.C. Circuit ruled today that the IRS is not free to rewrite the ObamaCare statute to extend tax credits from users of state-run health exchanges, as per the law’s language, to users of the federal exchange as well, because the federal government is not a “State.” [Halbig v. Burwell; Ilya Shapiro, Cato] Later today, a panel of the Fourth Circuit ruled that yes, it’s free to do so. [King v. Burwell] Given the instant one-day circuit split and the importance of the issue, further court consideration is inevitable, and the Obama administration has already indicated that it will seek en banc consideration by the full D.C. Circuit, packed with its own recent appointees. More: The work of my Cato colleague Michael Cannon and Case Western lawprof Jonathan Adler helped undergird the suit; Cannon has commentary here and here and Adler here and here.

Tags: D.C. Circuit, Fourth Circuit, ObamaCare, taxes

D.C. Circuit: IRS can’t rewrite ObamaCare. Fourth: Oh, yes it can is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system