Overlawyered http://overlawyered.com Chronicling the high cost of our legal system Tue, 24 Nov 2009 16:48:23 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 en hourly 1 “How Litigators Tried to Sneak a Pet Earmark into Health Reform” http://overlawyered.com/2009/11/how-litigators-tried-to-sneak-a-pet-earmark-into-health-reform/ http://overlawyered.com/2009/11/how-litigators-tried-to-sneak-a-pet-earmark-into-health-reform/#comments Tue, 24 Nov 2009 16:48:23 +0000 Ted Frank http://overlawyered.com/?p=14897 The Progressive Policy Institute (!) criticizes a provision almost snuck into the health-care bill that would have been a windfall for trial lawyers at the expense of the rest of us. Earlier and earlier on Overlawyered, which was the first to publicize the provision.

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]]> http://overlawyered.com/2009/11/how-litigators-tried-to-sneak-a-pet-earmark-into-health-reform/feed/ 0 November 24 roundup http://overlawyered.com/2009/11/november-24-roundup/ http://overlawyered.com/2009/11/november-24-roundup/#comments Tue, 24 Nov 2009 13:45:56 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=14891
  • “California’s Largest Cities and Counties Spent More Than $500 Million in Litigation Costs in Two Years” [CACALA]
  • Violence Policy Center blames handgun carry permits for offenses that include … strangulation? [Sullum]
  • New allegations in New York school district lawyers pension scandal [Newsday]
  • Plush doll twade dwess dispute made Tonstant Weader fwow up [Schwimmer]
  • “School Hit With a Lawsuit over Dodgeball Game Injury” [FindLaw "Injured", Bronx]
  • Too bad judges are so reluctant to sanction lawyers for filing papers that contain false assertions [Coleman]
  • Hundreds of asylum clients could be deported after law firm founders are convicted of fraud [ABA Journal]
  • Congratulations to superlative juryblogger Anne Reed, picked to run Wisconsin Humane Society [Deliberations; also Turkewitz]
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    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2009/11/november-24-roundup/feed/ 0     Coshocton pulls WiFi http://overlawyered.com/2009/11/coshocton-pulls-wifi/ http://overlawyered.com/2009/11/coshocton-pulls-wifi/#comments Tue, 24 Nov 2009 12:00:56 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=14885 An Ohio town discontinues its municipal WiFi network after MPAA lawyers rattle swords about a copyrighted movie that moved through the system. Andrew Moshirnia at Citizen Media Law explains. And (h/t reader CTrees) note that the town turned the system back on at Sony’s request, following a national outcry over the incident.

    And at least somewhat relatedly: “Viacom’s top lawyer: suing P2P users ‘felt like terrorism’” [ArsTechnica]

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    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2009/11/coshocton-pulls-wifi/feed/ 2     Don’t http://overlawyered.com/2009/11/dont-15/ http://overlawyered.com/2009/11/dont-15/#comments Tue, 24 Nov 2009 05:18:34 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=14882 A bright-line rule in legal ethics: don’t order that witnesses be killed [Philadelphia Inquirer, WSJ Law Blog on prosecutors' allegations in a case against New Jersey criminal defense lawyer Paul Bergrin]

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    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2009/11/dont-15/feed/ 0     Gene Cauley gets seven years http://overlawyered.com/2009/11/gene-cauley-gets-seven-years/ http://overlawyered.com/2009/11/gene-cauley-gets-seven-years/#comments Tue, 24 Nov 2009 05:05:59 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=14878 The Arkansas plaintiff’s lawyer says he was too embarrassed to make layoffs as his finances turned sour, which is why he stole the $9.3 million in class-action settlement funds [WSJ Law Blog, ABA Journal] Earlier here, here, and here.

    More from Kevin LaCroix:

    An earlier WSJ.com Law Blog post reported (here) that Cauley was in fact a protégé of Bill Lerach. Today’s article on Bloomberg (here) about Cauley’s criminal sentencing notes that Cauley joins a growing list of plaintiffs’ securities class action attorneys who have “been jailed for felonies,” including Bill Lerach himself and his former law partners, Mel Weiss, Steven Schulman and David Bershad, and including even Marc Dreier.

    These gentlemen of course made their living for many years accusing corporate officials of fraud. Ahem. Yes, well…isn’t ironic, don’t you think?

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    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2009/11/gene-cauley-gets-seven-years/feed/ 0     Update on Ogborn v. McDonald’s http://overlawyered.com/2009/11/update-on-ogborn-v-mcdonalds/ http://overlawyered.com/2009/11/update-on-ogborn-v-mcdonalds/#comments Mon, 23 Nov 2009 21:11:53 +0000 Ted Frank http://overlawyered.com/?p=14873 Those of you who have attended my “Law of McDonald’s” talks in California and Florida may recall the case of the strip search hoax. A Florida man who was unusually persuasive would call dozens of fast food restaurants until he could find someone who would believe he was with the police and who would disrobe employees (or themselves) at his instructions; though there have been other lawsuits seeking to blame the fast food restaurants for this, courts have generally thrown them out. One exception was the case of Ogborn v. McDonald’s, where two targets of the hoax successfully sued for millions. On Friday, the Kentucky Court of Appeals largely affirmed the lower court judgment, though it reduced the punitive damages received by Donna Summers (who gave an Alford guilty plea for her role in the strip search) from $1 million to $400,000. McDonald’s hasn’t yet decided whether to appeal to the Kentucky Supreme Court. (Andrew Wolfson, “Appeals court upholds $6.1 million strip-search verdict against McDonald’s”, Kentucky Courier-Journal, Nov. 20, via ABA Journal).

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    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2009/11/update-on-ogborn-v-mcdonalds/feed/ 6     Competition through litigation (ad division) http://overlawyered.com/2009/11/competition-through-litigation-ad-division/ http://overlawyered.com/2009/11/competition-through-litigation-ad-division/#comments Mon, 23 Nov 2009 18:18:05 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=14869 The New York Times doesn’t have statistics, but its reporter thinks Lanham Act litigation (filed by companies against their competitors over allegedly misleading advertising) is on the rise these days.

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    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2009/11/competition-through-litigation-ad-division/feed/ 0     Home-mixed rum ‘n’ Cokes still OK http://overlawyered.com/2009/11/home-mixed-rum-n-cokes-still-ok/ http://overlawyered.com/2009/11/home-mixed-rum-n-cokes-still-ok/#comments Mon, 23 Nov 2009 16:10:05 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=14865 Jacob Sullum on the FDA’s threat to ban caffeinated alcoholic drinks [Reason “Hit and Run”. Earlier here, here, here, etc.

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    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2009/11/home-mixed-rum-n-cokes-still-ok/feed/ 0     Milwaukee law firms in Google keywords dustup http://overlawyered.com/2009/11/milwaukee-law-firms-in-google-keywords-dustup/ http://overlawyered.com/2009/11/milwaukee-law-firms-in-google-keywords-dustup/#comments Mon, 23 Nov 2009 16:00:49 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=14863 When you search Google on the name of the prominent Milwaukee personal injury firm of Habush, Habush & Rottier, you get a paid ad link from one of its competitors, the Brookfield, Wisc. firm of Cannon & Dunphy. So now Habush is suing its rival. [Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel]

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    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2009/11/milwaukee-law-firms-in-google-keywords-dustup/feed/ 0     November 23 roundup http://overlawyered.com/2009/11/november-23-roundup-2/ http://overlawyered.com/2009/11/november-23-roundup-2/#comments Mon, 23 Nov 2009 12:55:37 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=14852
  • “Ten Ways Lawyers Rip Off Clients” [Lawrence Delevingne and Gus Lubin, Business Insider]
  • White House visitor logs contain more entries for trial lawyer lobbyist Linda Lipsen (5x) than for Hillary Clinton (3x) (h/t ShopFloor)
  • Time magazine has a cover story on child overprotectiveness [Free-Range Kids]
  • “Why so many talented people give up on moving to the US”: one immigrant’s 7 year journey through the legal paperwork [Pete Warden]
  • Speaking for the whole New York profession? “New York Bar Association president decries tort reform proposals” [Rizo, Legal NewsLine]
  • Chamber of Commerce “needs to develop thicker skin” in response to Yes Men parody [LA Times]
  • New York: “Judges collect pension and regular pay, and it’s perfectly legal” [Jonathan Bandler, Journal News]
  • Cook County “out $14K for toilet paper injury” [Chicago Sun-Times]
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