December 11, 2008

• Republic Windows sit-down factory occupation in Chicago stirring wide interest, stoked by high-level politicos (because they're hoping to touch off more such?) [McCormick, Workplace Law Blog]; union claims federal WARN plant-closing act requires severance, but per Jon Hyman's best guess, credit-driven closure of factory probably fell into act's "unforeseeable circumstance" exception [Ohio Employer's Law]; factory got subsidies from city of Chicago [Lehrer, OpenMarket]; earlier; $400,000 being extracted from JPMorgan Chase though it is only a 40% minority owner of the firm [Sun-Times]
• Advanced forum-shopping: Mississippi public employee pension fund selects California as venue to sue NY's Morgan Stanley and other financial defendants [D&O Diary]
• Promising new searchable database of patent litigation is among first fruits of $10 million Kauffman Foundation initiative to reinvigorate law-and-economics school [Stanford IP Litigation Clearinghouse, The Recorder, AmLaw Litigation Daily, scroll; Parloff, Fortune "Legal Pad"]
• ProPublica's song and dance about supposed Goldman Sachs municipal conflicts is just as lame when they try to repeat their California formula in New Jersey [Salmon; earlier]
• New Marie Gryphon loser-pays paper called "terrific" [Moller, Cato-at-Liberty]
• Okay, not a shockeroo exactly: "Political Leanings of Supreme Court Clerks Help Sway Votes" [Legal Blog Watch]
• How can company keep from being a mass tort defendant? Avoid walking under falling safes [Beck & Herrmann]