Robert F. Kennedy Jr. – Overlawyered

One jab too many? RFK Jr. aspires to vaccine post

Walter Olson — Thu, 12 Jan 2017 15:19:33 +0000

Early reports that President-elect Donald Trump would pick longtime Overlawyered and personal favorite Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. to head a panel on vaccine safety and scientific integrity — I am not making this up — appear to have been based on RFK, Jr.’s own account of his interaction with the President-elect, whose office promptly clarified that no such decision has been made. [Azeen Ghorayshi/BuzzFeed]

More: Seth Mnookin reviews the sad record on RFK and vaccines.

Tags: Robert F. Kennedy Jr., vaccines

One jab too many? RFK Jr. aspires to vaccine post is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

October 12 roundup

Walter Olson — Wed, 12 Oct 2016 10:13:15 +0000

RIP automotive journalism legend Brock Yates, an incisive critic of auto safety scares [Christopher Smith, CarThrottle, Corvair Alley]
New California law regulating trade in autographed collectibles might have unintended consequences [Brian Doherty]
Federal magistrate judge approves service of process via Twitter; suit alleged terrorism finance [US News]
Cf. Tom Wolfe, Mau-Mauing the Flak-Catchers: groups that “shut down” NYC planning hearing are funded by none other than city taxpayers [Seth Barron, New York Post]
Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., sometimes known in this space as America’s Most Irresponsible Public Figure, has taken job with personal injury firm Morgan & Morgan, known for billboards and TV ads [Daily Mail]
“The Coming Copyright Fight Over Viral News Videos, Such As Police Shootings” [Mike Masnick, TechDirt]

Tags: autos, NYC, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Twitter

October 12 roundup is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Morgan & Morgan marches on, now with RFK Jr.

Walter Olson — Thu, 21 Apr 2016 04:27:30 +0000

Orlando trial lawyer John Morgan, whose personal injury law firm bids for the distinction of the nation’s largest, has long been active in politics and policy (including the good libertarian cause of legalizing medical marijuana). So there isn’t much that’s newsy about his hosting an April 29 fundraiser for Hillary Clinton headlined by former President Bill Clinton. More noteworthy is that his law firm, per a March 31 announcement, is now welcoming to its practice as of counsel wayward scion Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., the celebrity environmentalist and frothing hothead long associated with the Florida firm of Levin Papantonio. Along with Kennedy, of course, comes metric tons of baggage — on anti-vaccine scaremongering, on hyperbolic crusades against farms, on demands to put his ideological adversaries behind bars, as would-be EPA administrator, and so much more.

P.S. We have often referred to RFK for short in the past as America’s Most Irresponsible Public Figure®. Is it time to retire that nickname in light of the continued rise of other public figures who might justly contend for that title?

Tags: Florida, politics, Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

Morgan & Morgan marches on, now with RFK Jr. is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Environment roundup

Walter Olson — Thu, 07 May 2015 04:05:02 +0000

Environmental law’s oft-praised public trust doctrine may have made California drought worse [Gary Libecap, Regulation magazine, via Peter Van Doren, Cato] Blame Nestlé for California water crisis? Well, people can try [Coyote]
True to “so-called Seattle Process of inclusive and abundant dialogue,” tunnel to replace Alaskan Way viaduct has developed into expensive fiasco [Karen Weise, Bloomberg]
Jefferson’s method of surveying “abstract and commodifiable” land, well suited to flat Midwest, curbed litigation and greatly advanced American prosperity [Steve Sailer, Chronicles]
RFK Jr.’s Waterkeeper “tightly intertwined with more than one of the players in [Skelos] investigation” [Scott Waldman, Capital New York]
High overhead: “what they are doing is pricing people out of the ceiling fan market” [Michael Bastasch, Daily Caller, re: Rep. Marsha Blackburn criticism of energy regulations]
Didn’t know San Francisco had such a high rate of vacant rentals: “America’s Rent-Controlled Cities Are Its Least Affordable” [Scott Beyer] Craziness of city’s housing policy long predates today’s war against techie newcomers [Coyote]
“Chimpanzee almost gets habeas corpus — and in any event the Nonhuman Rights Project gets a court hearing” [Volokh, earlier on chimpanzees and rights]

Tags: animal rights, California, environment, land use and zoning, landlord tenant law, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., San Francisco, Seattle

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

Pharmaceutical roundup

Walter Olson — Mon, 02 Mar 2015 10:05:58 +0000

War on painkillers finds new casualty in ailing veterans [Washington Post, Brian Doherty]
“Woman says ‘Fifty Shades of Grey’ lube doesn’t deliver, should be registered with FDA” [Legal NewsLine]
“Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s Twisted Anti-Vaxx History” [Russell Saunders, Daily Beast back in July]
Using antitrust law, New York seeks to force maker to go on producing older formulation of drug [Ilya Shapiro on Cato brief in Second Circuit] Courts have mostly rejected claims of a duty to supply grounded in obligation to patients [James Beck, Drug & Device Law]
“Patients see [biotech] startups and hope for a cure. Too many lawyers see them and hope for a payday.” [Standish M. Fleming, WSJ]
Argument that policymakers undervalue pharmaceutical aids to heroin rehabilitation [Jason Cherkis]
After suing the obvious defendants in New England Compounding Pharmacy contamination case, lawyers started in on the less obvious [Drug and Device Law, background on regulation-spurred rise of compounding pharmacies]

Tags: antitrust, FDA, illegal drugs, opioids, pharmaceuticals, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., shotgun defendant selection, vaccines

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

Environment roundup

Walter Olson — Wed, 08 Oct 2014 04:05:42 +0000

Called on his “jail ’em” rants, RFK Jr. tries to walk things back. Not gonna work [Andrew Stuttaford, Steven Hayward, earlier]
If you think plastic bags have a high energy cost, one of Andrew Sullivan’s readers has news for you [The Dish; related, Julian Morris/Albuquerque Journal]
There she is! The one who favorited that tweet! Bring her to justice! [@gabrielmalor via @andrewmgrossman]
Some online commenters insist there must be a link between Ebola and GMOs, and in a sense they’re right: GM techniques likely to prove vital in developing therapies against the disease [Abbie Smith]
Ann Althouse annotates a long New York Times Magazine article promoting the Louisiana coastal-erosion lawsuit [earlier]
Who’s more credible on Chevron/Ecuador, Steven Donziger or his many critics? [Joseph Nocera, New York Times] Appeals court opens doors to more revelations in case [Paul Barrett, Business Week] More: Oh, and about Mia Farrow… [Phelim McAleer, New York Post]
“Newfoundland judge dismisses moose vehicle collision class action lawsuit” [Canadian Press, earlier]

Tags: Chevron, environment, Louisiana, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Twitter

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

“Collateral Damage: A Farm Family Under Attack”

Walter Olson — Thu, 25 Sep 2014 10:04:16 +0000

Video now out from Save Farm Families on the Hudson Farm case (earlier). Description:

Collateral Damage: Farm Families Under Attack reviews the questionable political and academic actions that enabled the New York-based Waterkeeper Alliance to push forward with its lawsuit against the Hudson family, and the continuing threat that environmental extremists pose to family farmers, not just in Maryland but across the nation.

I wrote about the case here, here, and here. It raises questions of legal ethics (when the mistaken factual basis for a claim is revealed, aren’t the attorneys obliged to withdraw it?), ideological adventurism in the environmental sphere by state-affiliated law schools, and the need for loser-pays. Maryland Attorney General Doug Gansler, who failed in a bid for the Democratic nomination for governor, comes off badly in the video, and America’s Most Irresponsible Public Figure® Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., even worse.

[cross-posted from my Maryland blog Free State Notes; more on RFK Jr.’s latest foray into public discussion, in which the celebrity scion/frothing hothead again demands the incarceration of various persons who take the opposite side from him in environmental controversy]

More coverage: Mark Newgent/Watchdog and Len Lazarick/Maryland Reporter.

Tags: agriculture and farming, Maryland, Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

“Collateral Damage: A Farm Family Under Attack” is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Upcoming film on Hudson Farm case

Walter Olson — Thu, 03 Jul 2014 12:47:02 +0000

The group Save Farm Families is doing a nonfiction film (link to trailer) about the Hudson Farm case, in which Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s Waterkeeper group, backed by a University of Maryland environmental law clinic, sued an Eastern Shore chicken farming family on charges a judge later threw out as unfounded. More at my local policy blog Free State Notes.

Tags: agriculture and farming, law clinics, Maryland, Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

Upcoming film on Hudson Farm case is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Environment roundup

Walter Olson — Fri, 23 Aug 2013 04:05:17 +0000

California officials profess surprise: fracking’s been going on for decades in their state [Coyote]
Taxpayers fund Long Island Soundkeeper enviro group, affiliated with RFK Jr.’s Waterkeeper network, and a Connecticut state lawmaker does rather nicely out of that [Raising Hale]
Backgrounder on Louisiana coastal erosion suit [New Orleans Times-Picayune] “Lawsuit Blaming Oil Companies For Wetland Loss Might As Well Blame The Plaintiffs” [Daniel Fisher, Forbes]
US ties for worst of 25 countries when it comes to delay in mining permits [Sharon Koss, NTU] “Number One in DataMining” [@sonodoc99]
“BP Is Rapidly Becoming One Giant Law Firm” [Paul Barrett, Bloomberg Business Week]
“Mann v. Steyn — Mann wins round one” [Adler]
An insider’s view of EPA and how it uses power [Brent Fewell]

Tags: BP Transocean oil spill, Connecticut, environment, Environmental Protection Agency, Louisiana, oil industry, Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

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

Environment roundup

Walter Olson — Thu, 13 Jun 2013 04:05:24 +0000

Slate: it’s “fascinating, in a horrified head-shaking …way” to hear RFK Jr. spin his “delusional and dangerous” theories about vaccines [Slate and more, my two cents on the wayward scion]
What insurance industry behavior tells us about climate change [Eli Lehrer]
Concern that EU regulations on registration of seed varieties could squeeze smalls, locals, heirlooms [Glyn Moody, TechDirt; Domenic Berry]
Environmental suits as backdoor grab for policy control [U.S. Chamber, Ron Arnold, DC Examiner and more (“sweetheart litigation”), WLF]
Symposium on conservatives and the environment: Jonathan Adler, Eli Lehrer, Shi-Ling Hsu and others [Duke Environmental and Policy Law Forum]
U.K. study: cancer rates and mortality rates among pesticide workers are below the norm [Health and Safety Executive via Angela Logomasini, CEI]
“Wi-fi made us sick” suit cost city of Portland $172K, but at least voters didn’t put sponsor on school board [Will Radik, Bad Skeptic]
“EPA acknowledges releasing personal details on farmers” [Fox News] GOP senators introduce bill to curb EPA wetlands overreach [Ilya Shapiro]
Attorneys’ fees often amount to 80-90% of settlement amounts: latest annual Prop 65 report is out [California attorney general’s office, background]

Tags: agriculture and farming, climate change, consent decrees, environment, Environmental Protection Agency, insurers, Prop 65, Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

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