taxis and ridesharing – Overlawyered

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

California moves to throttle the gig economy

Walter Olson — Thu, 19 Sep 2019 09:58:10 +0000

If driving for a gig economy platform appealed to you because you could wrap the timing of the work around the other obligations in your life, the California legislature sends its sincerest condolences [Megan McArdle, Washington Post/Paducah Sun; Michael Munger, The Hill, Steven Greenhut in July; earlier here, etc.] More: Richard Epstein, Hoover.

Tags: California, taxis and ridesharing, wage and hour suits

California moves to throttle the gig economy is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

One bad regulation begets another

Walter Olson — Wed, 08 May 2019 04:05:18 +0000

After New York moves to ban ride-sharing services from drivers with out-of-state licenses, Connecticut considers going tit for tat [John McGlothlin, Law and Liberty]

Tags: competition through regulation, taxis and ridesharing

One bad regulation begets another is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

February 20 roundup

Walter Olson — Wed, 20 Feb 2019 10:54:16 +0000

Get me Civics, and make it an emergency: West Virginia legislature “moves to withhold judicial retirement benefits until state supreme court overturns a ruling” [Gavel to Gavel]
Do threats to publish intimate pictures of Jeff Bezos fall under provisions of criminal blackmail law? [Eugene Volokh]
Manuel Reyes, head of the Puerto Rico Food Marketing, Industry and Distribution Chamber, argues that policy shifts have heightened the costs of the Jones Act [Cato Daily Podcast with Caleb Brown, earlier]
Battle of the Ilyas: Ilya Shapiro vs. Ilya Somin on sanctuary city and state litigation [Federalist Society podcast]
“Most comprehensive study to date on the effects of voter ID argues that these laws have no effects on overall turnout or on the turnout of any group defined by race, gender, age, or party affiliation,” or on real or perceived fraud; results “cannot be attributed to mobilization against the laws” either [Enrico Cantoni and Vincent Pons, National Bureau of Economic Research] [via]
Worst Pigouvian tax idea of the year? Oklahoma lawmaker proposes taxing Uber surge pricing to combat DUI [Ryan Bourne]

Tags: judges, taxes, taxis and ridesharing, voter fraud, West Virginia

February 20 roundup is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

August 15 roundup

Walter Olson — Wed, 15 Aug 2018 09:55:00 +0000

“Lawmakers are doing nothing to stop wheelchair ramp scams: businesses” [Julia Marsh and Yoav Gonen, New York Post, earlier on NYC ADA shakedowns]
Not a flattering picture: inside the politicized office of one state’s (Minnesota’s) attorney general [Rachel M. Cohen, The Intercept, Briana Bierschbach, Minnesota Public Radio, J. Patrick Coolican and Jessie Van Berkel, Minneapolis Star-Tribune (Swanson releases criminal record of aide-turned-critic]
Remembering when the U.S. went through its first moral panic about plastic guns, in 1986 [Dave Kopel]
Until 2012, after 60 Minutes did an exposé, “it was perfectly legal for members of Congress to trade on inside information. Not for you, of course. You’d go to jail. But for some strange reason, mystifying to all, that law simply did not apply to Congress.” [Kevin Underhill, Lowering the Bar]
“Federal Court: Miami Taxi Companies Have ‘No Right To Block Competition’ From Uber” [Nick Sibilla, Forbes]
“Not even consumer law professors routinely read consumer contracts and disclosures” [Jeff Sovern, CL&P]

Tags: ADA filing mills, attorneys general, contracts of adhesion, guns, Minnesota, politics, taxis and ridesharing

August 15 roundup is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

August 8 roundup

Walter Olson — Wed, 08 Aug 2018 09:54:48 +0000

North Carolina’s heartbalm law strikes again, as judge orders man who slept with married woman to pay jilted husband $8.8 million [Virginia Bridges, Raleigh News & Observer, more on homewrecker tort]
Cornell economist Rick Geddes explains the federal government’s postal monopoly [David Henderson]
Trademark swagger: “Chicago Poke Chain Sends C&D To Hawaiian Poke Joint Demanding It Not Be Named ‘Aloha Poke'” [Timothy Geigner, Techdirt] “Shipyard Brewing Loses Its Lawsuit Over Ships and The Word ‘Head'” [same]
“Man files lawsuit under False Claims Act against manufacturer of batteries for use in intercontinental ballistic missile launch controls, asks for $30 mil, settles for $1.7 mil. What follows is—in the trial court’s words—a “hellish” dispute over the man’s attorneys’ fees. Third Circuit: We feel you; the order reducing requested fees is affirmed in almost every respect.” [John K. Ross, Short Circuit, on U.S. ex rel. Palmer v. C&D Technologies]
Using the law to suppress one’s competition: New York Taxi Workers Alliance cheers City Council’s move to cap Uber and ridesharing [Reuters] It’s totally normal and not at all suspicious that the city council president who wants tougher enforcement against Airbnb is also president of the state’s hotel lobby [Eric Boehm, Reason; Biloxi, Mississippi]
For those still keeping score, it’s improper and prejudicial for the head of the nation’s law enforcement apparatus to declaim publicly against a criminal trial in progress, whether or not the defendant happens to be his own campaign manager [David Post, Volokh; April Post and podcast on inapplicable “fruit of the poisonous tree” claim]

Tags: alienation of affection, Department of Justice, Donald Trump, hotels, Mississippi, North Carolina, qui tam, taxis and ridesharing, trademarks

August 8 roundup is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Medical roundup

Walter Olson — Fri, 08 Jun 2018 10:07:06 +0000

Wrong on many other issues, the American Medical Association is right to resist an artificial 3-day limit on opiate prescriptions [Jeffrey Singer, Cato; Jacob Sullum]
“Does Ride-Sharing Substitute for Ambulances?” [Leon S. Moskatel and David J. G. Slusky, Cato Research Briefs in Economic Policy No. 114]
Fourth Circuit tosses Maryland law banning “price gouging” of “essential” generic drugs, finding that state violates Dormant Commerce Clause by presuming to control transactions entirely outside its boundaries [Zack Buck, Bill of Health; Stephen McConnell, Drug and Device Law]
President Trump signs “right to try” legislation expanding right of terminally ill patients to enter unapproved therapies; squaring this with existing FDA regulation may present knotty problems [Michael Cannon, Cato; Michael Maharrey (“In fact, victories in 40 state legislatures preceded Trump’s signing ceremony”); earlier here, here, and at Cato Unbound last year] More cautions from Jim Beck on liability angle [Drug and Device Law]
Florida, departing from other states’ practice, caps its outside lawyers’ recovery at $50 million: “Latest Wave Of State Opioid Lawsuits Shows Diverging Strategies And Lawyer Pay Scales” [Daniel Fisher, Forbes]
In medical innovation, “equality is a mediocre goal. Aim for progress.” [Tyler Cowen]

Tags: FDA, Florida, medical, opioids, pharmaceuticals, taxis and ridesharing

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

Taxis have no constitutional entitlement to rules against ridesharing

Walter Olson — Sun, 11 Mar 2018 15:56:43 +0000

A federal court rejects claims from Philadelphia cab companies: “Exposing Taxis to Competition from Uber and Lyft Is Not a Taking that Requires Compensation Under the Constitution” [Ilya Somin, Reason]

Tags: eminent domain, Philadelphia, taxis and ridesharing

Taxis have no constitutional entitlement to rules against ridesharing is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Wage and hour roundup

Walter Olson — Thu, 18 Jan 2018 11:01:11 +0000

Among this administration’s most notable accomplishments — hurrah for Labor Sec. Alex Acosta and team — is to ditch its predecessor’s horrible overtime rules [Juliet Eilperin, Washington Post on opinion letters and internships] DoL rollback of Obama rules on tip pooling is fully justified [Christian Britschgi]
“A Seattle Game-Changer? The latest empirical research further underscores the harm of minimum wage laws” [Ryan Bourne, Regulation mag] “Report: California’s $15 Minimum Wage Will Destroy 400,000 Jobs” [Scott Shackford]
It just couldn’t have been Ontario premier Kathleen Wynne’s fault that some donut-franchise workers saw benefits and breaks trimmed after a minimum wage hike. “Instead, she attacked the employers.” [David Henderson; Robyn Urback/CBC and May Warren/Toronto Metro on changes by owners of some Tim Horton outlets]
Study: grocery stores hike prices when minimum wage rises, “poor households are most negatively affected” [Tyler Cowen on Renkin, Montialoux, and Siegenthaler paper] New York enacts a minimum wage law applying to restaurant chains with at least 30 outlets, and presto-change-o, some upstate pizzerias have new names and are now separate businesses [Geoff Herbert, Syracuse.com]
“Employer Responsibilities under the Fair Labor Standards Act After a Disaster” [Annamaria Duran, SwipeClock, promotional material for software product but informative even so]
If lawsuits succeed in forcing ridesharing into employment mold, many will find it less attractive to earn money by driving [Coyote]

Tags: Canada, minimum wage, New York state, Seattle, taxis and ridesharing, wage and hour suits

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

December 13 roundup

Walter Olson — Wed, 13 Dec 2017 10:53:34 +0000

Cakes and coercion: “Endorse the state’s right to coerce speech or conscience and you have ceded a principle that can so easily come back to haunt you.” [Andrew Sullivan, New York mag] “The legal course has some advantages. You can use state power, ultimately the barrel of a gun, to compel people to do what you think is right.” [David Brooks] Yes, courts have often found a constitutional right to discriminate, so scratch that Masterpiece Cakeshop talking point [Eugene Volokh]
Fugitive Kentucky lawyer and disability-fraud king Eric Conn arrested in Honduras [Bill Chappell/NPR, earlier here and here]
As White House belatedly consults, heeds seasoned counsel, lawsuits against travel ban begin running out of steam [Ilya Shapiro, The Hill]
Cheers for restoring schools’ discretion to serve 1 percent chocolate milk, USDA, and next bring back whole milk [Stephanie Ebbs and Erin Dooley/ABC News, earlier]
Court hears oral argument on sports betting and state commandeering case Christie v. NCAA [Ilya Shapiro/Cato, Jacob Sullum, earlier]
At recent federal court showdown with Waymo, things went from bad to worse for Uber’s lawyers [Cyrus Farivar, ArsTechnica]

Tags: discrimination law, school lunch, Supreme Court, taxis and ridesharing

December 13 roundup is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system