September 11 – Overlawyered

Citing 2002 federal law, MGM Resorts names Las Vegas shooting victims in suit

Walter Olson — Thu, 19 Jul 2018 04:05:42 +0000

MGM Resorts, which operates the Mandalay Bay hotel casino in Las Vegas, has invoked a law passed by Congress in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks to ask for a ruling that it is not liable to more than 1,000 victims of the Oct. 1, 2017, massacre during which a gunman in a Mandalay Bay room killed 58 people and injured nearly 500. The Support Anti-Terrorism by Fostering Effective Technologies (SAFETY) Act of 2002 limits claims against some makers of security equipment and sends lawsuits against such firms by terror victims to federal court. According to a critic, MGM is taking a broad view of the law’s provisions, claiming its protection because it employed a security vendor with SAFETY Act certification and because the shooting was an act of “mass violence.” The U.S. Department of Homeland Security “has not designated the Las Vegas shooting a terrorist attack.”

The use of declaratory judgment and similar processes, familiar from fields like insurance law, can lead to public relations damage, especially if aimed at parties minding their own business who had not filed a claim or action and might never have done so. It is not clear from coverage how many of the 1,000+ persons named in MGM’s legal filings had evinced no intent to file claims or suits; a suit against MGM was filed last November on behalf of 450 victims. [Jason Tashea, ABA Journal; Rachel Crosby, Las Vegas Review-Journal] More: Howard Wasserman on jurisdiction.

Tags: Nevada, September 11, terrorism

Citing 2002 federal law, MGM Resorts names Las Vegas shooting victims in suit is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Don’t delegate foreign and counter-terror policy to trial lawyers

Walter Olson — Mon, 19 Sep 2016 09:52:01 +0000

The Washington Post’s editorialists agree with former U.N. Ambassador John Bolton and former attorney general Michael Mukasey: President Obama is right to plan a veto of a bill passed in the House by a voice vote enabling lawsuits by victims of terror attacks against sovereign countries such as Saudi Arabia over conduct that allegedly contributed to the attacks. Delegating foreign and counter-terror policy to trial lawyers not only wrenches away delicate questions of negotiation and sanctions-imposition from the executive branch to which our Constitutional scheme confides them, but also invites foreign legal systems to begin opening up avenues for lawsuits against the government of the United States. There’s a reason comity and sovereign immunity have stood for centuries as pillars of international law. News coverage: Karoun Demirjian, Washington Post and more.

Tags: international law, Saudi Arabia, September 11, sovereign immunity, terrorism

Don’t delegate foreign and counter-terror policy to trial lawyers is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Saudis: We might sell off $750 billion in US assets if opened to 9/11 suits

Walter Olson — Mon, 18 Apr 2016 04:15:30 +0000

I take a dim view of the doings of the Riyadh regime, but it’s bonkers to let US-Saudi relations stand or fall on the skill of random trial lawyers. A bill under consideration in Congress would bring such a day closer by stripping sovereign immunity protection from foreign countries in suits alleging responsibility for terror attacks on U.S. soil. It is the executive branch exercising its foreign relations powers that should have the final word on such responsibility; the U.S. State Department opposes the legislation. [Tim Worstall, Forbes]

Tags: Saudi Arabia, September 11, sovereign immunity, terrorism

Saudis: We might sell off $750 billion in US assets if opened to 9/11 suits is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Labor and employment roundup

Walter Olson — Fri, 07 Mar 2014 04:05:34 +0000

Second wave of retired NYC cops, firefighters arrested on 9/11 disability fraud charges, Vance says sums stolen could reach $300 million [Reuters] Related on disability fraud [Coyote]
Members of U.S. Commission on Civil Rights blast EEOC plans on employer criminal background checks in report now put online [USCCR, Washington Times]
Your Friends look hot: FBI details indictment of 10 unionists in 2012 arson at Philadelphia Quaker meetinghouse [FBI press release (“‘The Helpful Union Guys,’ or THUGs”); Trey Kovacs, Workplace Choice]
Lawyers for UAW seek do-over at Volkswagen in Chattanooga [Benjamin Sachs and Jordan Grossman/On Labor, Fred Wszolek, Real Clear Policy, WRCB (views of Sen. Bob Corker)]
Do low-wage employers benefit from government welfare programs? [Bryan Caplan]
NLRB revives much-criticized “ambush elections” scheme [Aloysius Hogan, CEI, earlier]
Minimum wage law makes zero sense as safety net or as redistribution [Jeffrey Miron] “In the Court of Logic, Federal Minimum Wage Loses by Nine to Zero” [Ira Stoll, NY Sun]

Tags: criminal records and hiring, labor unions, minimum wage, National Labor Relations Board, September 11, United Auto Workers, workplace

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

Private terrorism lawsuits disrupt U.S. foreign policy

Walter Olson — Tue, 18 Feb 2014 11:51:41 +0000

With encouragement from both Congress and an active plaintiff’s bar, victims and survivors have been suing various foreign entities in U.S. courts charging complicity, sometimes indirect and roundabout, with participants in international terrorism. But a suit against Bank of China over a Palestinian Islamic Jihad attack suggests that “when it comes to battling global terror, civil suits by American citizens often do more harm than good.” Both the United States and Israel have reportedly negotiated with the Chinese institution to develop ways of combating illicit money transfers, but privately directed damages litigation tends to deter cooperation and perpetuate mistrust, and is hard to call off even when it has begun doing real harm to diplomacy. Even when lawsuits against some of the more obvious bad actors succeed, “the U.S. government has for years blocked financial judgments awarded to American plaintiffs against Iran and other foreign governments. Why? Such judgments are seen as conflicting with American foreign policy interests.” [James Loeffler and Moria Paz, Slate]

Earlier on lawsuits over terrorism: suing U.S. government over Kenya, Tanzania embassy bombings; Ted Frank 2007 essay; everybody “except the guys who did it“; Egyptian hotel forum-shopping; Tanzania gem smuggling; 9/11 suits and more.

Tags: Israel, September 11, terrorism

Private terrorism lawsuits disrupt U.S. foreign policy is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

January 10 roundup

Walter Olson — Fri, 10 Jan 2014 04:05:17 +0000

Faking a Sept. 11 injury would seem basically as disgraceful as faking a war injury, no? [NY Post, Legal Ethics Forum; earlier on Ground Zero compensation here, here, here, here, here (2008 fraud), here, etc. ]
“Illegal Aliens May Get License to Practice Law in California” [Volokh, earlier] A curious companion headline from only three and a half years ago, and also from California: “Government seeks forfeiture, managers’ prison time for hiring illegal aliens”
A look back at the Keller Satanic-ritual-abuse case from Texas [Slate]
Piacentile v. Amgen case “offers a little window into the ugly side of the qui tam business” [Steve McConnell, Drug and Device Law; related from same blog on case of U.S. ex rel. Watson v. King-Vassel, here and here]
“Father and Daughter Sentenced in $1.5 Million Insurance Fraud Case” [San Diego D.A.]
Michael McConnell in the Yale Law Journal on religious freedom;
Child support law madness, Virginia division [Hans Bader]

Tags: California, child abuse, child support, immigration law, insurance fraud, qui tam, religious liberty, September 11, Virginia

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

Torts roundup

Walter Olson — Mon, 30 Dec 2013 04:05:12 +0000

Bad lawsuit on bad theory: “Cantor Fitzgerald, American Airlines Settle 9/11 Lawsuit” [Financial Advisor mag]
New Jersey court: only golfer, not his companions, responsible for yelling “Fore” to warn of errant ball [TortsProf]
“The New Lawsuit Ecosystem: Trends, Targets and Players,” 158-page report for Chamber of Commerce, topics include emerging areas of litigation (food class actions, data privacy); also lists leading plaintiff’s lawyers in various areas [Chamber’s Institute for Legal Reform]
“Eleventh Circuit Stacks Deck Against Defendants in Never-Ending Engle Product Liability Litigation” [Cory Andrews, WLF]
Beck vs. Prof. Chemerinsky on prescription drugs and pre-emption [Drug and Device Law]
“Outrageous Court Decisions: O’Brien v. Muskin Corp.” [Schearer; above-ground pool dive defect claim, New Jersey 1983]
New York rejects medical monitoring cause of action [Behrens]

Tags: golf, New Jersey, pools, preemption, September 11, toxic torts

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

Environment roundup

Walter Olson — Thu, 17 Jan 2013 04:05:40 +0000

Bill McKibben et al press Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions against energy producers, hint at direct action [Andrew Sullivan]
Billion-dollar compensation program may be unstoppable, though: “Cancer Not Increased by Exposure to World Trade Center 9/11 Attack Debris” [Ronald Bailey, Ted Frank/PoL, earlier here, here, here, here, etc.]
“EPA cries ‘uncle’ in face of lawsuit, withdraws threat against W.Va. chicken farmer” [David Martosko, Daily Caller]
Jim Manzi finds lead-and-crime thesis less “blindingly obvious” than does Kevin Drum [NRO, and Drum’s response]
In state’s dispute with EPA, plenty of Virginia moderates think federal agency has overreached [A. Barton Hinkle, Richmond Times-Dispatch]
“Lawsuits seek to generate “awareness” of global warming, costs states a bundle” [@andrewmgrossman on Laurence Hurley/EENews story; Michael Greve/Liberty and Law]
EPA’s departing Jackson has been poster child for “we can’t wait” governance approach [Jim Huffman]

Tags: climate change, crime and punishment, environment, Environmental Protection Agency, lead paint, oil industry, September 11, Virginia, West Virginia

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

Environmental roundup

Walter Olson — Wed, 20 Jun 2012 04:06:44 +0000

Nebraska Sen. Johanns proposes bill to curb EPA surveillance overflights (which, contrary to some erroneous reports going around, are manned flights) [Daily Caller, earlier]
“Time to Discard the Precautionary Principle at the CPSC” [Nancy Nord]
Victimology beats science with 9/11 dust fund [Point of Law, ACSH] Two NYC plaintiff’s firms fight over $50 million in 9/11-responder fees [Reuters]
“Court dismisses climate change ‘public trust’ suit” [Katie Owens, WLF]
Erin Brockovich promotes Fridley, Minnesota cancer cluster, local man “eager to hear” her spiel [StarTrib, earlier]
Jonathan Adler guestblogs on environmental policy at The Atlantic [Volokh]
Businesses’ donations on environmental advocacy? Never trust content from “Union of Concerned Scientists” [Ron Bailey]
Talking back to “Gasland,” the anti-fracking advocacy flick [Ron Bailey and more, Mark Perry, Business Week on local economic impact]

Tags: climate change, CPSC, environment, Environmental Protection Agency, Erin Brockovich, global warming, oil industry, September 11

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

October 31 roundup

Walter Olson — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 12:14:37 +0000

A pack of gum, e.g.: “What the Proceeds of a BlackBerry Class Action Could Buy” [Rebecca Greenfield, Atlantic Wire]
A million law firm ads later: “Pfizer’s Anti-Smoking Drug [Chantix] Isn’t Riskier Than Patches, FDA Says” [Bloomberg]
Over 9/11 attacks: “Court Recommends al-Qaida Pay $9 Billion to Insurers” [NYLJ]
Green alarmism over cosmetics — justified? [Dana Joel Gattuso, CEI; related here, here]
Arpaio-Thomas follies continue in Arizona courtroom [Coyote, earlier]
Upcoming: November 4 conference “Silenced” in D.C. on blasphemy laws and hate speech; Bruce Bawer, Nina Shea et al. [Federalist Society]
“I dreamed I swayed the jury… in my Maidenform bra” [Retronaut, scroll]

Tags: Arizona, BlackBerry, hate speech, pharmaceuticals, September 11

October 31 roundup is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system