Japan – Overlawyered

Rising city land costs and the NIMBY factor

Walter Olson — Sun, 31 Mar 2019 15:59:43 +0000

As booming demand to live and work in the most sought-after cities runs into not-in-my-back-yard (NIMBY) restrictions on new housing construction, the ideas of Henry George are getting back into the conversation. Who will invest in civic amenities, even the most basic, if their effect is to cause rents to rise even further? [Tyler Cowen, Bloomberg; related and more on New Zealand cities where strict controls on building have contributed to unaffordable prices]

Related: “Why Is Japanese Zoning More Liberal Than US Zoning?” [Nolan Gray, Market Urbanism]

Tags: Japan, land use and zoning, New Zealand, prop

Rising city land costs and the NIMBY factor is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Schools roundup

Walter Olson — Fri, 02 Mar 2018 11:11:08 +0000

“Wyoming: Efforts to strip state courts of jurisdiction to hear K-12 funding lawsuits reintroduced; courts could declare funding system unconstitutional but could not order more funding” [Gavel To Gavel, more on school finance litigation]
Coalition of accusers’-rights groups sue Education Department demanding restoration of earlier Obama versions Title IX guidance [KC Johnson Twitter thread pointing out weaknesses in suit]
“A High School Student Faces Expulsion for Noticing the Square Root Symbol Looks Like a Gun” [Scott Shackford]
How a political machine based on the schools lobby ran one affluent suburban county (Montgomery County, Maryland) before fumbling its grip [Adam Pagnucco, The Seventh State]
Costs approach $1M in Southern California special ed dispute over one student’s education [Ashly McGlone, San Diego Union-Tribune]
Japan: “Of course, this ignores the absurdity that students are being required, or feel required, to dye their hair because of a policy that was supposedly meant to prohibit students from dying their hair.” [Lowering the Bar]

Tags: disability & schools, Japan, Maryland, schools, Title IX, Wyoming

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

Japan: families sue over failure to warn of volcano eruption

Walter Olson — Thu, 26 Jan 2017 05:15:18 +0000

“Twelve people from five families of those killed in the 2014 eruption of Mount Ontake are set to sue the state and the Nagano Prefectural Government, demanding a total of 150 million yen in compensation, it has been learned.” The suit will argue that the Japan Meteorological Agency failed to raise the alert level for the volcano despite an increase in temblors, “partly on the grounds that the temblors were not accompanied by crustal movements.” [Mainichi]

Tags: disasters, failure to warn, Japan

Japan: families sue over failure to warn of volcano eruption is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Japan tries to stimulate legal sector, but public not litigious enough

Walter Olson — Fri, 08 Apr 2016 10:21:20 +0000

The Japanese government made a concerted effort to boost the number of lawyers, but there is little for them to do in the famously unlitigious country and many have seen their incomes stagnate [Mitsuru Obe, Wall Street Journal]

Tags: Japan, lawyers

Japan tries to stimulate legal sector, but public not litigious enough is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

How one samurai judge handled positive externalities

Walter Olson — Thu, 25 Feb 2016 05:15:17 +0000

In old Japan, it is said, the courts of Edo (now Tokyo) were presented with the complaint of a shopkeeper whose upstairs neighbor had enjoyed the delicious smell of his cooking without, as the plaintiff said would be fair, paying a price for it. To find out how the samurai judge cleverly resolved the complaint, read on…. [Dan Lewis, Now I Know]

Tags: eat drink and be merry, environment, Japan

How one samurai judge handled positive externalities is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Liability and torts roundup

Walter Olson — Thu, 24 Oct 2013 04:05:08 +0000

Struggling with a new-design gas can? There’s a reason for that [Scott Reeder, earlier on Blitz bankruptcy]
NYT video retrospective on Stella Liebeck-McDonald’s (hot coffee spill) case is getting a lot of attention;
Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway has made itself the biggest name in asbestos defense, and some trial lawyers hope to make hay with that [Scripps/WPTV]
California trial lawyers chief: yes, we’re going to partner up more with elected officials as in lead paint case [Chamber-backed Legal NewsLine]
It’s differences in procedure, more than in substantive law, that mostly explain why the U.S. has hundreds of times as many product liability suits as Japan [J. Mark Ramseyer via Point of Law]
“Injured by big government? Call: 717-671-1901 [promotion for Commonwealth Foundation, a Pennsylvania free-market-oriented outfit]
How litigation finance might remake the lawsuit landscape [Nora Freeman Engstrom via TortsProf]

Tags: asbestos, Japan, product liability, Stella Liebeck

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

Prosecution and police roundup

Walter Olson — Thu, 11 Oct 2012 04:12:49 +0000

Forfeiture: “Defend the Right to Carry Cash and Travel Unmolested” [Eapen Thampy, Agitator]
Recent Japanese racketeering law, unlike our RICO, actually focuses on organized crime [Adelstein]
Sheriff’s flack to Fiona Apple: shut up and sing [Ken at Popehat]
Jimenez case: 99-year sentence, “substantial likelihood defendant was not guilty of this offense” [Jacob Sullum]
Conrad Black continues to speak out on barbarities of “prosecutocracy” [NY Sun]
“Are whistle-blowers the new IRS business model?” [Victor Fleischer, NYT DealBook]
“Minnesota Farmer Found ‘Not Guilty’ in Raw Milk Case” [Katherine Mangu-Ward, Reason]
Utah man shoots neighbor he thinks “telepathically raped” his wife, is ruled mentally fit for trial [CBS]

Tags: forfeiture, Japan, prosecutorial abuse, taxes, whistleblowers

Prosecution and police roundup is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

July 5 roundup

Walter Olson — Thu, 05 Jul 2012 04:13:14 +0000

“After drunken driver kills son, mother billed for cleanup” [Greenville News, S.C.]
Cities, states and school districts in California will be among losers if Sacramento lawmakers pass bill authorizing phantom damages [Capitol Weekly; more on phantom damages]
New from Treasury Dept.: steep exit fees for many corporations departing U.S. domicile [Future of Capitalism, TaxProf]
Jonathan Lee Riches is back filing his hallucinatory lawsuits again, and courts don’t care to stop him [Above the Law] More: Lowering the Bar.
Funny 1988 letter from Wyoming lawyer to California lawyer about fees [Letters of Note via Abnormal Use]
L.A. family is considering adding another valedictorian lawsuit to our annals [L.A. Times, earlier]
Effort to compensate Japanese nuclear accident victims is proceeding without much litigation [WaPo]

Tags: California, feeing frenzy, Japan, Jonathan Lee Riches, Los Angeles, schools, Wyoming

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

“Japanese Anime Pokes Fun at America’s Legal System”

Walter Olson — Thu, 10 Feb 2011 05:06:35 +0000

A recent anime (Japanese cartoon) portrays America as a land where pretty much any misadventure can be turned into grounds for a lawsuit. Siouxsie Law has the (funny? horrifying?) video clip, the plot line of which involves the catastrophic misuse of a microwave oven and its fictional legal consequences.

Tags: Japan, wacky warnings

“Japanese Anime Pokes Fun at America’s Legal System” is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

October 21 roundup

Walter Olson — Thu, 21 Oct 2010 13:29:49 +0000

“Japanese landlords sue families of suicide victims” [Telegraph via Tyler Cowen]
Best candidate you’ve never heard of: lawprof Jim Huffman runs for a U.S. Senate seat in Oregon [Weekly Standard]
“Freedom of culinary expression: Chefs speak out on behalf of salt” [“My Food, My Choice” via Ponnuru, NRO]
“In-House Counsel Expect More Regulatory Litigation, Survey Finds” [NLJ]
“Oladiran’s ‘Motion of the Year’ Earns Him Sanctions” [AtL]
Resisting a music-delivery-system claim: “Patent Trolls and Public Goods” [Julian Sanchez]
More transparency for New Jersey lawyer/lawmakers? [Philly.com]
“Ninth Circuit: marine mammals don’t have standing…yet” [six years ago on Overlawyered]

Tags: Japan, music and musicians, New Jersey, Oregon, patent trolls, salt, suicide

October 21 roundup is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system