New Mexico – Overlawyered

September 10 roundup

Walter Olson — Tue, 10 Sep 2019 09:59:58 +0000

The beet grows on: some unintended consequences of mid-century sugar regulation [Chad Syverson via Bryan Caplan, EconLib]
Veteran Houston attorney charged with misdemeanor assault “for slapping a plaintiff’s attorney before a deposition.” [Angela Morris, Texas Lawyer, update]
I have a theory as to why Politico didn’t use a picture of Elena Kagan, Elizabeth Warren, Stephen Breyer, or Ruth Ginsburg speaking at Federalist Society events to illustrate Ted Olson’s piece comparing the Society’s activism heat index with that of the ABA;
Citing “misogynistic history,” state high court makes New Mexico first to abolish spousal testimonial privilege [ABA Journal, New Mexico v. Gutierrez]
Don’t go away angry, ex-sheriff Arpaio. Just go away [Jon Gabriel, Arizona Republic; our coverage over the years]
“Pro se allegation: After my friend got divorced, he refused to help set me up with his ex-wife. That’s intentional emotional abuse (also, he’s guilty of money laundering and tax evasion). Tenth Circuit: Yeah, we’re pretty sure the district court got this one right when it ruled against you.” [Institute for Justice “Short Circuit” on Anderson v. Pollard, 10th Circuit]

Tags: Federalist Society, Houston, New Mexico, privilege, pro se

September 10 roundup is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Occupational licensure roundup

Walter Olson — Mon, 07 Jan 2019 10:53:09 +0000

New report estimates state and national economic costs of occupational licensing [Morris Kleiner and Evgeny Vorotnikov, Institute for Justice] Reform efforts proceed at both state and federal levels [Angela Erickson, Cato Policy Report] Another study: licensing reduces labor supply significantly [Peter Blair and Bobby Chung, NBER]
Cosmetology schools serve as lobbying force behind high prerequisites before newcomers can practice in field [Meredith Kolodner and Sarah Butrymowicz, New York Times]
“Occupational Licensing and Accountant Quality: Evidence from the 150-Hour Rule” [John M. Barrios, Cato Research Briefs in Economic Policy]
“At public meeting, hydrogeologist criticizes Albuquerque, N.M.-based water district for fortifying ditch roads with rock rubble. District employee complains to the state professional engineer board, claiming that hydrogeologist’s critique amounted to the unlicensed practice of engineering. Correct, says the board. New Mexico Court of Appeals (2013): Actually, the First Amendment is pretty clear that state agencies can’t punish folks for talking at public meetings without a license. Tenth Circuit (2018): Sadly, though, the hydrogeologist is now time-barred from seeking damages over this contretemps.” [John K. Ross, Short Circuit on Turner v. Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District, see related Oregon case of Mats Järlström covered earlier here and here, and an update] On the other hand, New Mexico making genuine progress on licensing thanks to executive order signed by outgoing Gov. Susana Martinez [Cato podcast with Paul Gessing]
Opening up new practitioner categories could help reach underserved dentistry markets [Cato podcast with Sal Nuzzo] Letting the feds get involved in licensing issues is fraught with risk [Cato Daily Podcast with Caleb Brown and Lee McGrath]
1758 pamphlet on Edinburgh barbers’ exclusive right to cut hair sheds light on issues that are still with us [Daniel Klein]

Tags: accounting, First Amendment, New Mexico, occupational licensure, Scotland

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

Police roundup

Walter Olson — Tue, 25 Sep 2018 10:02:10 +0000

Among other barriers it erects against police accountability, California keeps prosecutors from knowing when and which cops have been shown dishonest. Time for reform [Jonathan Blanks, Cato]
“NYC has shelled out $384M in 5 years to settle NYPD suits” [Yoav Gonen, Julia Marsh and Bruce Golding, New York Post]
“Federal Judge Breaks Up Albuquerque’s Car Theft Ring” [Jacob Sullum, Reason on forfeiture ruling; Tim Cushing, TechDirt; Ilya Somin on legal implications] Class-action suit challenges civil forfeitures [George Hunter, Detroit News; C.J. Ciaramella, Reason]
Update on police union scandal in Orange County, Calif.: union’s law firm will pay $600K to a former mayor of Costa Mesa it targeted for harassment and intimidation [Steven Greenhut, earlier]
“Thrown Chairs, Resignations, And An Envelope Full Of Cash Follow Exposure Of 2-Man PD’s Acquisition Of $1 Million In Military Equipment” [Tim Cushing, TechDirt]
Denver cops, before handcuffing a journalist for photographing their actions on a public street, advise her she’s violating HIPAA. No, that’s not how it works [Alex Burness, Colorado Independent]

Tags: California, Denver, forfeiture, New Mexico, NYC, police, police unions

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

Schools and childhood roundup

Walter Olson — Mon, 05 Feb 2018 11:03:07 +0000

Chicago mayor not the only one pushing this awful idea: New Mexico lawmakers propose requiring high school grads to apply to college or file alternate life plan [Dan Boyd, Albuquerque Journal]
“New York’s Bid to Control Religious Schools” [Avi Schick, WSJ/Yeshiva World]
“Couple’s three girls were taken away after Walmart reported innocent bath time photos” [Derek Hawkins, WaPo/The State, Jacob Sullum, Reason]
Also soliciting public comment: “Education Department delays Obama rule encouraging racial quotas in special ed” [Jerome Woehrle, Liberty Unyielding; Erica L. Green, New York Times; Hans Bader/CEI last fall] “Civil Rights Commission Takes on Issue of Minorities in Special Education” [Christina Samuels, EdWeek] And: “Federal Special Education Law and State School Choice Programs” [Tim Keller and Nat Malkus, Federalist Society]
New from Cato, edited by George H. Smith and Marilyn Moore: “Critics of State Education: A Reader.”
“Everybody Hates DC’s Proposal Forcing Daycare Workers to Get College Degrees” [Eric Boehm, Reason, earlier here and here]

Tags: Child Protective Services, New Mexico, New York state, occupational licensure, racial quotas, religious liberty, schools, Washington D.C.

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

New Mexico addiction suit against pharmacist falls short

Walter Olson — Thu, 13 Jul 2017 10:03:17 +0000

Plaintiffs sued a New Mexico pharmacist for selling them opioids, resulting in their addiction. One big problem, however: “the plaintiffs had conspired with a nurse practitioner to write up fraudulent prescriptions.” And New Mexico adheres to a rule followed by various states in various forms known as the in pari delicto rule. It “is based on a public policy to preclude anyone who injures him or herself in the course of criminal activity from recovering in tort for those injuries. Put another way, perhaps more appetizing for those of you who delight in legal jargon, criminal conduct is an intervening act that cuts off liability.” [Stephen McConnell, Drug & Device Law]

Tags: illegal drugs, New Mexico, opioids, personal responsibility

New Mexico addiction suit against pharmacist falls short is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Labor and employment roundup

Walter Olson — Mon, 26 Jun 2017 04:05:08 +0000

Rhode Island bill would lock in existing public employee union benefits until new contract reached. Why bargain in good faith? [Providence Journal editorial]
NYC Mayor De Blasio signs “Fair Work Week” package imposing on fast-food and retail employers various constraints typical of unionized workplaces; meanwhile, court strikes down 2015 NYC law imposing punitive terms on nonunion but not union car washes [Seth Barron, City Journal; Ford Harrison on new legal package]
How reliable a guide is Paul Krugman on the minimum wage? [Scott Sumner and commenters] “Thing is, there has been an awful lot more empirical research on the effects of minimum wage increases than this one paper by Card and Krueger.” [Thomas Firey, Cato] “New Paper Shows Workers Commute Away From Minimum Wage Rises” [Ryan Bourne, Cato]
House hearing: “Illinois worker recounts ordeal to decertify union” [Sean Higgins, Washington Examiner]
New Mexico: “‘Ban the box’ issue not so clear cut” [Joel Jacobsen, Albuquerque Journal]
In which Jonathan Rauch and I for once disagree, but still a good survey of ideas for reinventing unionism (works councils, Andy Stern/Eli Lehrer, Ghent, etc.) [The Atlantic]

Tags: criminal records and hiring, labor unions, minimum wage, New Mexico, NYC, Paul Krugman, public employment, Rhode Island

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

Police and prosecution roundup

Walter Olson — Fri, 16 Sep 2016 04:05:18 +0000

Mississippi AG Jim Hood, a longtime Overlawyered fave, finds way to snipe at opposing death penalty counsel [Radley Balko]
Police use forced catheterization to obtain urine samples from unwilling suspects. A constitutional issue? [Argus-Leader, South Dakota]
“Why Gary Johnson Opposes Hate-Crime Laws (and You Should Too)” [Elizabeth Nolan Brown]
Yes, the Baltimore aerial surveillance program should raise concerns [Matthew Feeney, Cato]
“The Citizen as ATM: A small Missouri city has become a legal testing ground for ticketing practices and court reform” [Carla Main, City Journal]
New Mexico, a leader on asset forfeiture reform, should now tackle mens rea reform [Paul Gessing]

Tags: Baltimore, Fourth Amendment, hate crimes, Jim Hood, mens rea, Missouri, New Mexico, petty fines and fees, surveillance

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

Frontiers of forfeiture: emptying pre-paid bank cards

Walter Olson — Fri, 10 Jun 2016 04:15:40 +0000

The Oklahoma Highway Patrol has become the latest law enforcement body to begin using “ERAD readers,” devices that allow police to freeze and seize any funds on pre-paid debit and credit cards, now used by many poorer and younger persons as a favored financial vehicle. The devices also allow police to obtain some data about conventional credit and ATM cards, but not, it appears from coverage, to freeze and seize funds in those accounts on the spot. “If you can prove can prove that you have a legitimate reason to have that money it will be given back to you,” said a police spokesman. Oklahoma “is paying ERAD Group Inc., $5,000 for the software and scanners, then 7.7 percent of all the cash the highway patrol seizes.” [Aaron Brilbeck/News 9 Oklahoma, Clifton Adcock/Oklahoma Watchdog, Scott Greenfield (highway patrol’s views of what is and is not suspicious confer a great deal of arbitrary power), Justin Gardner/Free Thought Project last October on Arizona use]

Plus: “New Mexico Ended Civil Asset Forfeiture. Why Then Is It Still Happening?” [NPR] A car is stopped for “swerving,” and soon police have confiscated the $18,000 its owner was carrying for payroll and other expenses of her southern California janitorial business [ACLU of San Diego, p. 7, “It happened to me: Janitorial business”]

Tags: banks, forfeiture, law enforcement for profit, New Mexico, Oklahoma, San Diego

Frontiers of forfeiture: emptying pre-paid bank cards is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Medical roundup

Walter Olson — Fri, 22 Apr 2016 10:15:04 +0000

After residents’ access to Texas care is threatened, New Mexico passes law making clear that care given in other states is subject to those states’ laws, not N.M.’s [Texas Alliance for Patient Access, earlier]
Shkreli notwithstanding, “the big news about generic drugs is good news. Generic drug prices are falling” [Alex Tabarrok]
Party of Science? Bernie Sanders has steered federal backing to alternative medicine [Skeptical Raptor]
“There is no problem so bad that government-imposed remedies cannot make it worse, spawn new problems or both.” For instance: crackdown on opiates [Steve Chapman, Chicago Tribune/syndicated; related upcoming April 29 Cato event with Jeffrey Miron, David Murray, and Tim Lynch]
Struggle against “sanism” might push egalitarianism too far, or maybe it’s a natural [Scott Greenfield on Michael Perlin program at National Association for Public Defense]
Once again — how many times does this make? — malpractice reform proposals in U.S. Congress run aground for failure to anticipate federalist objections [The Hill, ABA Journal, Dean Clancy, my 2011 take]

Tags: Bernie Sanders, disabled rights, illegal drugs, medical malpractice, New Mexico, pharmaceuticals, psychiatry

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

“Civil asset forfeiture is wrong”

Walter Olson — Wed, 09 Mar 2016 05:15:08 +0000

Caleb Brown interviews former New Mexico attorney general Hal Stratton on New Mexico’s move to abolish civil asset forfeiture.

Tags: forfeiture, New Mexico

“Civil asset forfeiture is wrong” is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system