New York – Overlawyered

States ordered nursing homes to take COVID-19 patients, cont’d

Walter Olson — Sat, 09 May 2020 15:59:56 +0000

“States ordered nursing homes to take COVID-19 residents. Thousands died. How it happened.” We previously linked to earlier reporting on this remarkable set of decisions, with a focus on New York and New Jersey, but this report adds much detail as well as updating the ghastly toll. “Strikingly, Italian officials issued similar orders for nursing homes to admit coronavirus patients on March 8, a move under investigation by authorities for contributing to potentially preventable deaths, according to the Associated Press.” [David Robinson, Stacey Barchenger and Kelly Powers, USA Today Network, and Jo Ciavaglia, Bucks County Courier Times (Pennsylvania)]

More: Jim Geraghty rounds up many states’ problematic policies.

Tags: COVID-19 virus, New Jersey, New York, nursing homes, Pennsylvania

States ordered nursing homes to take COVID-19 patients, cont’d is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Law enforcement for profit roundup

Walter Olson — Fri, 08 May 2020 10:20:07 +0000

Kentucky: “The day before the deal was offered, prosecutors also indicted Card’s wife, mother and father. If Card gave up the cash, the written plea offer said, the Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office would drop their charges, too.” [Jacob Ryan, WFPL] Same state, different case: “Conviction Or Not, Seized Cash Is ‘Cost of Doing Business’ In Louisville” [Jacob Ryan, Kentucky Center for Investigative Reporting]
Judge in New York: “Suffolk County may not charge $80 to resolve a $50 red light camera ticket.” [The Newspaper]
“Civil Forfeiture Disenfranchises the Poor” [Cato Daily Podcast with South Carolina lawmaker Alan Clemmons and Caleb Brown] “Class-Action Lawsuit Challenges Detroit’s Asset Forfeiture Racket” [C.J. Ciaramella, Reason]
“Father and adult daughter sue feds over confiscated life savings” [Theresa Braine, New York Daily News]
“Free to Drive: States punish poverty by suspending millions of driver’s licenses for unpaid fines and fees” How about reserving license suspensions for instances of actual unsafety? [advocacy site with maps and more; related, Tachana Marc, Florida Policy Institute; New York state advocacy site]
“Missouri Cops Used Federal Loophole To Seize $2.6 Million From Drivers Who They Never Charged With Crimes” [Zuri Davis]

Tags: Detroit, forfeiture, Kentucky, Long Island, Missouri, New York, petty fines and fees, red light cameras

Law enforcement for profit roundup is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

FDA authorizes an at-home COVID-19 test — but some states still ban it

Walter Olson — Thu, 23 Apr 2020 10:02:57 +0000

A new home test for COVID-19 launches in 46 states but not in New York, New Jersey, Maryland, or Rhode Island, because lawmakers in those states have banned this sort of direct home diagnostic test. As a Maryland resident, may I scream? My new Cato post.

Tags: COVID-19 virus, FDA, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, WO writings

FDA authorizes an at-home COVID-19 test — but some states still ban it is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

“Get Out of My Bedroom, Andrew Cuomo!”

Walter Olson — Sun, 23 Feb 2020 17:05:29 +0000

In the name of fighting patriarchy, the law is taking some seriously wrong turns on the subject of sex while under the influence of alcohol, writes Nancy Rommelmann. “From now on, you will not be the ultimate arbiter of your own bad or good choices, at least not without fear of prosecution….We are talking ipso facto being considered incapable of giving consent due to having consumed alcohol.” [Tablet]

Tags: alcohol, New York, sexual assault

“Get Out of My Bedroom, Andrew Cuomo!” is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Wage and hour roundup

Walter Olson — Fri, 14 Feb 2020 10:55:13 +0000

Second thoughts about torpedoing one of the city’s best-known attractions? “New York Decides To Keep Restaurants’ Tip Credit” [Peter Romeo, Restaurant Business] “Sacramento Restaurants Closing Due To Imminent Minimum Wage Increase” [CBS Sacramento]
Toughened set of overtime rules, though less drastic than what the Obama administration tried to impose, went into effect January 1 [Ryan Golden, HR Dive]
U.K. Labour Party leadership contender Rebecca Long-Bailey “has called for an end to ’24/7 work culture’, where workers will be given the right to switch off digital devices outside their work hours to alleviate stress and anxiety. Journalists received the embargoed press release at 19:25 last night…” [Guido Fawkes]
“Recent historical episodes suggest that many workers experiencing an income shock treat the ridesharing platform as a short-term option.” Paper tests how Uber’s entry affects labor markets [Vyacheslav Fos, Naser Hamdi, Ankit Kalda, and Jordan Nickerson, Cato Research Brief]
“Give Me A Break: DOL Regulations Need Updating to Afford Workers Desired Flexibility” [Gregory Jacob, Michael Lotito, and Tammy McCutchen, Federalist Society Regulatory Transparency Project]
“What Bernie Sanders Gets Wrong About the Minimum Wage” [John Stossel] “How Seattle’s $15 minimum wage killed entry-level jobs.” [John Stossel and Maxim Lott] Minimum wage rests on a moral belief about the citizens and the state that is to say the least contestable [Pierre Lemieux]

Tags: Bernie Sanders, minimum wage, New York, restaurants, taxis and ridesharing, wage and hour suits

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

Gig/freelancer economy roundup

Walter Olson — Mon, 27 Jan 2020 11:01:02 +0000

More on the chaotic, destructive effects of California’s AB5 (earlier here, here, etc.):

“Non-equity theaters, music venues and jazz clubs, dance companies, small cultural festivals of all types face very real threats” [Brendan Rawson, Cal Matters] Translators and interpreters hard hit by law [Dan Plante, KUSI]
Women-owned businesses “reeling” [Elaine Pofeldt, Forbes] Disabled workers “hugely impacted” [Markos Moulitsas, Daily Kos]
California Assemblyman Kevin Kiley (R-Granite Bay) has asked members of the public for their stories about how AB5 has affected them. You can see the results here;
“Ready, Fire, Aim: How State Regulators Are Threatening the Gig Economy and Millions of Workers and Consumers” [U.S. Chamber Employment Policy Division]
“The New York Times is hiring a contractor to write about California real estate, but because of AB5 they will not be hiring anyone in California.” [Emma Gallegos on Twitter]
Not an isolated outrage: union allies nearly got such a bill passed in New Jersey in recent weeks [Alida Kass, Star-Ledger; Jen Singer, Philadelphia Inquirer] New York’s Gov. Andrew Cuomo has now signaled support for something similar [Evie Fordham, Fox Business] And backers want to take the idea national through a bill called the PRO Act, or HR2474/S1306, in the U.S. Congress [Kim Kavin, Daily Kos; Markos Moulitsas, Daily Kos]

Tags: art and artists, California, New Jersey, New York, small business, wage and hour suits

Gig/freelancer economy roundup is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

L.A. official’s tweets help NRA win First Amendment case

Walter Olson — Thu, 09 Jan 2020 05:05:50 +0000

Last month a court struck down Los Angeles’s ordinance intended to discourage city contractors from dealing with the National Rifle Association (NRA), ruling it a First Amendment violation intended to chill speech and association. An amusing feature: the bill’s sponsor just couldn’t help grandstanding on Twitter and elsewhere about taking down the NRA, which provided the court with valuable evidence of the city’s intent. Moreover, the gun rights group has been making headway against similar efforts in San Francisco and New York state (led there by Gov. Andrew Cuomo) to target its pocketbook. I explain in a new piece at National Review.

Tags: Andrew Cuomo, Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, WO writings

L.A. official’s tweets help NRA win First Amendment case is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Banking and finance roundup

Walter Olson — Fri, 03 Jan 2020 13:11:02 +0000

Senator Elizabeth Warren and her Accountable Capitalism Act represent an attempt to revive a theory of the corporation that fell out of favor long ago, that corporate status is a grant of favor in exchange for which the state may demand services or cooperation [Abdurrahman Kayiklik, Columbia Law School Blue Sky Blog; earlier with links to Warren on corporate governance and other topics]
Bill in Congress would enlist banks in watching gun sales [Robert VerBruggen/NRO; Noah Shepardson, Reason] NRA, in litigation, contends it has evidence New York state officials negotiated with U.K.’s Lloyds to curtail insurance availability in a way specifically targeted at the association [Stephen Gutowski thread]
“The Misguided Quest to Limit Choice in Consumer Credit” [Diego Zuluaga]
“The CFPB and Payday Lending Regulations” [Peter Van Doren last February; earlier on payday lending; Federalist Society Regulatory Transparency Project video on regulation-through-investigation of payday lenders with Jamie Fulmer, Chris Peterson, and Brian Knight]
Federalist Society podcast on Community Reinvestment Act with Aaron Klein and Diego Zuluaga;
Learned a new word, lutulent, which means “muddy, turbid, thick” and is more or less the opposite of luculent (“lucid, clear, transparent”) [Keith Paul Bishop on unclarities in new California law requiring gender quotas on boards (“a lutulent mess”); earlier here, etc.]

Tags: banks, CFPB, Elizabeth Warren, guns, New York

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

Exxon beats the New York rap

Walter Olson — Sat, 14 Dec 2019 16:58:23 +0000

“If a state like New York can bend and twist legal concepts like that of securities fraud to carry on an essentially political vendetta against a corporate enemy, how safe are other businesses?” My new Cato post reports on a judge’s scathing rejection of a case that should never have been brought, the New York Attorney General’s attempt to hang fraud charges on Exxon over its statements on climate change.

Tags: climate change, Eric Schneiderman, Exxon, New York, WO writings

Exxon beats the New York rap is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

New York: adoption ministry must comply or close

Walter Olson — Sun, 08 Dec 2019 16:57:33 +0000

New York bans the operation of adoption agencies that will not serve customers of all sexual and gender orientations and conditions of wedlock, whether or not such agencies receive any public funds or contracts. New Hope Family Services, a ministry that works with expectant mothers to place their newborns, has agreed to stop accepting new clients and now the question is whether it can go on servicing pending and completed placements. New York state is arguing no, but a Second Circuit panel of Judges José Cabranes, Reena Raggi, and Edward Korman has granted a preliminary injunction pending consideration of the agency’s First Amendment claims: “the strong public interest pertaining to adoption services, i.e., the welfare of children, both those already adopted and those awaiting adoption, is best served by granting rather than denying the requested injunction.” [ruling in New Hope Family Services v. Poole; Emma Folts/Daily Orange, Julie McMahon/Syracuse.com, Nicole Russell, Washington Examiner quoting me; my related WSJ piece on recent Western District of Michigan decision]

Tags: adoption, New York, religious liberty, sexual orientation, transgender

New York: adoption ministry must comply or close is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system