February 07, 2008

Site down later this afternoon

We're upgrading to a newer version of Movable Type and expect the site to be down for part of this afternoon. Back before long, absent some problem.

February 05, 2008

Hillary's "disastrous" mortgage scheme

What was she thinking?

January 24, 2008

Stuart Taylor, Jr. on telecom immunity

He's for the bill (nonsubscriber link works only temporarily):...

doubts about the legality of Bush's actions are no justification for holding hostage telecoms that relied on the administration's assurances of legality and were in no position to second-guess its assertions that the surveillance program was essential to national security.

Not, that is, unless we want to risk that the telecoms, credit card companies, banks, airlines, hospitals, and other private companies -- whose cooperation is essential to finding terrorists before they strike -- will balk or delay when the next president seeks their help in an emergency.

January 13, 2008

Statue of Adam Smith

Guess where?

January 11, 2008

Around the web, January 11

• Rigsby deposition: when State Farm called a meeting to brainstorm ways to counter Mississippi AG Hood's P.R. campaign against them, state troopers showed up and took down license plates [Lange/YallPolitics]
• Special welcome mat for New York business? After chipmaker AMD talks of locating a big factory upstate, NY pols rush to jump-start an antitrust investigation of its rival Intel [AP/NYTimes]
• Lawprofs' campaign contributions make interesting reading [Bernstein @ Volokh]
• Trial and error in medicine is unacceptable because medical error is unacceptable. Have we thought through the implications of that? [Dr. Wes]
• Washington state AG Rob McKenna continues his push to fix his state's unique sovereign un-immunity rule [KUOW; earlier, more]
• Florida lawyers rush to file thousands of tobacco suits as deadline set by state high court approaches [Herald, Times-Union]

January 10, 2008

Three Quadrillion for Pain and Suffering

The Washington Times has an interesting summary of the claims filed against the federal government for the Army Corps of Engineer's alleged negligence in the design and construction of the New Orleans Levees. One claimant is asking for Three Quadrillion dollars, which would give his attorney (assuming a 33% contingent fee...) a mere one quadrillion (about 80 times the gross national product).

"I understand the anger," said Baton Rouge economist Loren Scott. "I also understand it's a negotiating tactic: Aim high and negotiate down." Umm, I dunno. There's such a thing as aiming a tad too high...

January 09, 2008

Don't Talk About My Frivolous Suit!

David J. Pfahler, who sued an 8 year-old boy for injuring him in a ski accident, has now asked a judge to bar the boy's parents from talking about the lawsuit, the Denver Post reports. Pfahler's lawyer hopes that the gag order, if issued, can halt a barrage of derision in the media so extensive and hilarious that "the plaintiffs will be unable to have a fair trial." I doubt it, but I suppose it is worth a shot.

Pfahler also complains of receiving death threats from enraged members of the general public. Moderate your enthusiasm, tort reformers.

January 08, 2008

Unconstitutional to tax emotional-distress damages?

The Supreme Court is being urged to resolve that question, which flared up when a three-judge panel of the D.C. Circuit found such taxation unconstitutional, and then subsided when the full circuit sitting en banc reversed that decision. The case, which arose under whistleblower statutes, is called Murphy v. IRS. [TaxProf/ABA Journal]

January 07, 2008

Around the web, January 7

• Despite New York's 2003 abolition of ad damnum clauses (earlier, as well as here), many in the press continue to find news in the notional damages numbers lawyers announce when they file suits [Turkewitz]
• If you're a commenter from Langston Law Firm dropping by a blog that's probing the Scruggs scandal, best not to take an abusive tone [Lotus/Folo]
• Resentment of chain stores, and legislation aimed at curtailing their spread, goes back a long way [Moynihan/Reason]
• Proposal for medical no-fault liability via contract [NCPA via Robinette/TortsProf]
• Early inferences from Supreme Court's Tellabs decision on pleading standards in securities litigation under PSLRA [Kuwayti & Tkachenko/WLF]
• If you thought the fees paid to outside lawyers in the Mississippi/MCI tax case were indefensible, well, here's someone defending them [Bill Minor/NEM Daily Journal]
• Blawg Review #141 is hosted by Charon QC in the UK; for a panoramic tour of the blawgosphere try zipping through #140, #139, #138, #137, #136, #135, #134, #133, #132, #131 and others listed at Blawg Review.

January 04, 2008

Around the web, January 4

• Aside from the terrorism-suit issue, Bush's pocket veto of defense bill also spared the country an expansion of the FMLA via military-related leave [Schwartz, Connecticut Employment Law Blog, Jottings of an Employer's Lawyer]
• Even for those jaded by all the reports of Scruggs-duggery, the Kerri Rigsby deposition has some pretty amazing stuff regarding those stolen Katrina insurance files [Rossmiller]
• Did California's lawsuit against EPA land in Ninth Circuit via venue gamesmanship, and if so who was the game-player? [Adler @ Volokh via ShopFloor]
• We want your hard drive: one of the scarier discovery requests [NYLJ]
• Attorney for asbestos-diagnosis figure Dr. Ray Harron denies that his client is hard to find [WV Record/earlier]
• Justice at Stake campaign, which campaigns against (among other things) money in judicial elections, has new blog [Gavel Grab]