I’ve got a new opinion piece up at the Daily Caller on the USDA’s new nutritional chart. And tune in to C-SPAN’s “Washington Journal” on Monday morning at 8:30 a.m. Eastern when I’m scheduled to be a guest on this subject.
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According to the actor, in an op-ed (co-authored with Stephen DeMaura) in today’s WSJ:
Two women get into a fight in the ladies’ restroom at a restaurant. Afterward, they sue the restaurant owner, claiming someone should have been in there to break up the fight. It costs the small-business owner $2,000 to pay each plaintiff to drop the complaint, which was cheaper than fighting the lawsuit would have been.
This completely ridiculous story is true, and the restaurant owner was one of us, Mr. Norris. …
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Per this four-year-old, on video.
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“The suit [by a Florida man against the Winn-Dixie supermarket chain and a flower importer] states the roses should have been stripped of their thorns and the stems should have been wrapped more carefully.” [UPI]
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“It’s refreshing to find a show that can demonstrate to litigation-happy America that it’s possible, even desirable, to amicably resolve disputes without going to court.” [Radley Balko, Reason, on USA Network's "Fairly Legal"]
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My Cato colleague Ilya Shapiro on the Obama Education Department’s unsettling insistence that colleges and universities, on pain of losing federal dollars, pare back the due process accorded to those accused of sexual misconduct. [Cato at Liberty]
Plus: earlier on Yale’s submissive reaction to Title IX complaint and suspension of a fraternity. More: “hostile environment” Title IX complaints leveled against other schools as well; Cathy Young on campus sexual assault numbers.
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New at Cato: I blast a weak NYT editorial, and explain how school finance litigation exemplifies the phenomenon some have nicknamed The Permanent Government. More on Abbott v. Burke here.
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- “Italian Seismologists Charged With Manslaughter for Not Predicting 2009 Quake” [Fox, earlier]
- “With context in place, it appears the WHO isn’t saying cell phones are dangerous” [BoingBoing, Atlantic Wire, Orac]
- Wrongful convictions and how they happen — new book “Convicting the Innocent” by Brandon Garrett [Jeff Rosen, NY Times]
- SEC to Dodd-Frank whistleblowers: no need to go through company’s internal complaint route [D&O Diary, WSJ Law Blog]
- “British Press Laws Facing Twitter Challenge” [AW]
- Despite legislated damages cap, jackpot awards continue in Mississippi [Jackson Clarion-Ledger] More problems with that $322 million Mississippi asbestosis verdict [PoL, earlier]
- Golf club erects large net to comply with legal demands to prevent escape of errant balls, is promptly sued by neighbors who consider net too ugly [five years ago on Overlawyered]
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“Every time we go to hire an attorney to defend a lawsuit, as soon as we say ‘Ford Explorer,’ they charge us more money,” explains a company spokeswoman. Today’s Explorer is based on a design entirely different from the model that attracted rollover litigation in the 1990s, which doesn’t seem to matter. [Edward Niedermeyer, Truth About Cars]
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At what point if ever do they rise to the level of legal infringement? [Matthew Belloni, THREsq.]
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- More views on California prisoner release: Steve Chapman (California can incarcerate less and be safer), John Eastman/City Journal (state’s pols share blame for conditions), Sarah Hart, FedSoc SCOTUScast (sharing dissenters’ foreboding). Earlier here and here;
- Stephen Carter, “Economic Stagnation Explained, at 30,000 Feet” [Bloomberg/RCP]
- Long-running legal campaign aimed at blocking new coal-fired power plants [Conn Carroll, Examiner]
- Unconsciously? “We hope it sends a message that if you … unconsciously ignore the law, you could go to jail.” [WSJ Law Blog on prosecution of executive following pool drain entrapment death]
- Following outcry: “Disney withdraws application to trademark ‘SEAL Team 6′” [AP, earlier]
- More fact-checking of Scott Horton Guantanamo Harper’s article mysteriously awarded prize by ASME [Alex Koppelman/AdWeek, Joe Carter/First Things, Jack Shafer/Slate (citing "slipperiness and many flights of illogic"), FishBowlNY, Politico, Noah Davis/Business Insider, Cutline, earlier] Horton is a lecturer at Columbia Law and his piece drew on work done at Seton Hall Law. More: defense of Horton at leftist TruthOut site;
- Germans hesitate to join nanny-state parade [four years ago on Overlawyered]
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“Was it a lack of common sense or utility company negligence that prompted a 16-year-old boy to climb a power pole, get shocked and fall 35 feet and into paralysis?” [St. Petersburg Times] Earlier zapped pylon-climbers here, here (also a Tampa Electric case), and here.
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“Philly judges tell reporter he can’t take notes in court” [Legal NewsLine]
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- Reforms billed as loser-pays advance in Texas, but they’re very scaled-down [WSJ, WLF and more, Legal Blog Watch, Wood/PoL, Cary Gray/Houston Chronicle, WSJ Law Blog, earlier]
- “Refutation of Toyota sudden acceleration hysteria doesn’t stop Toyota sudden acceleration litigation” [Ted at PoL]
- “Five Questions With Legal Scholar Richard Epstein” [Jamie Weinstein, Daily Caller; his views on Title IX]
- Employers glad for small favors: “Refusing to Hire Applicant Who Fails Drug Test Not an ADA Violation” [Robin Weideman, California Labor and Employment Law Blog; Ninth Circuit]
- “Study Shows Litigation Doesn’t Improve Nursing Home Safety” [Studdert et al, NEJM via Daniel Fisher]
- Risperdal? No thanks: “Mother battles Michigan over daughter’s medication” [AP]
- Personal-injury litigation plummets in Australia following enactment of state-level reforms [seven years ago on Overlawyered]
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Ted at Point of Law has details on an environmental-remediation law that has helped perpetuate a culture of big-ticket litigation: “One verdict awarded $54 million for environmental damage to a piece of land that was never worth more than $108,000.” We covered the long-running Exxon v. Grefer case, in which a jury ordered the oil company to pay $1 billion (later knocked down to $112 million) over an instance of contamination on land owned by a Louisiana judge’s family.
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The New York Times profiles Martin Singer, “pit bull” lawyer to celebrities and frequent Overlawyered mentionee. “Mr. Singer acknowledges that defamation suits are tough to win, and seldom pay much. Usually, his aim is suppression. ‘Our goal is to try to kill the story, to take action before things get out,’ says Mr. Singer.” Earlier here, here, here, and here.
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