Backdoor regulation of consumers, and its political attractions
Government often makes a show of regulating business when its real aim is to regulate what consumers or citizens do. When direct coercion seems “brutal, unfair, and wrong… Switching to indirect...
View Article“Can sex be mutually nonconsensual?”
“Male and female student have a drunken hookup. He wakes up, terrified she’s going to file a sexual misconduct complaint, so he goes to the Title IX office and beats her to the punch. She is found...
View ArticleLiability roundup
Florida law firm that served drinks isn’t responsible for death of employee who walked home intoxicated and was hit by train [Florida appeals court, Salerno v. Del Mar Financial Service] Family speaks...
View ArticleAbout that “no level of alcohol drinking is safe” study
How much risk did that recent “no level of alcohol drinking is safe” study find? For the one-drink-per-day group, “a total of 400,000 bottles of gin [was] associated with one extra health problem.”...
View ArticleOctober 3 roundup
“Rejected Applicant Sues Law Schools for Violating Magna Carta” [Kevin Underhill, Lowering the Bar] “Attorney sued for malpractice is suspended after releasing client’s psychiatric records” [Stephanie...
View ArticleSeptember 25 roundup
“Small claims court for copyright” idea, now moving rapidly through Congress, could create a new business model for troll claimants [Mike Masnick, TechDirt; EFF on CASE Act] A contrasting view: Robert...
View ArticlePublic health roundup
After a crackdown on saloon drinking backed by Theodore Roosevelt and others, creative New Yorkers opened 1500 new “hotels” and complied with rules linking alcohol to food by serving desiccated...
View ArticleThe seamy side of the recovery industry — and how the law enables it
Lengthy exposé of abuses and money-chasing in the drug- and alcohol-recovery industry has many angles, some relating to the legal environment in which the abuses arise: “We kept hearing about people...
View Article“Get Out of My Bedroom, Andrew Cuomo!”
In the name of fighting patriarchy, the law is taking some seriously wrong turns on the subject of sex while under the influence of alcohol, writes Nancy Rommelmann. “From now on, you will not be the...
View ArticleCOVID-19 pandemic roundup
“However peaceable we might be in our intentions, our assembling is a physical threat. Our judgments about liberty, I think, need to reflect that.” [Eugene Volokh on freedom of assembly during an...
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