Monthly Archives: November 2011

Motion REALLY Dismissed

Posted on November 15, 2011 by Michael Froomkin

In More Evidence That Judges Have Had it With Banks, Yves Smith points to Phillips v US Bank, N.a., Sup Ct Carroll Cty Ga.20111102, which (assuming it is real), can only be called a epic dismissal of a complaint.

Posted in Econ & Money: Mortgage Mess, Law: Everything Else | 2 Comments

Conference Software Recommendations Needed Please

Posted on November 13, 2011 by Michael Froomkin

I mentioned a few days ago that we’re going to be doing a conference on legal and policy issues relating to robotics, scheduled for April 21 & 22. As the ringleader of this plan, I need to set up systems for accepting receipt of paper proposals, sharing them out to the Program Committee, and ultimately notifying speakers of the fate of their proposals.

One can do it by hand — but software would be better. Can any of the readers here suggest something? You might think a big law school like ours would have something in hand, but legal conferences are usually by invitation so there is much less call for this sort of program (or web software) than you would find in other departments.

(I try not to bleg much here, but this time I need the advice.)

Posted in Talks & Conferences | 15 Comments

Mississippi Rejects (Absurd) Personhood Amendment

Posted on November 8, 2011 by Michael Froomkin

It wasn’t even close. AP has the votes. The amendment was not a serious attempt to do anything more than rally the troops, since it was medical nonsense to suggest that every fertilized (not even implanted!) embryo should have ‘personhood’ status. Even so, 42% of the voters (at last count) voted for it in this low-turnout off-year contest.

But if we’re going to put personhood on the ballot, how about putting corporate personhood on the ballot? That could be a fun debate.

Posted in Politics: Tinfoil | 2 Comments

Anti-Union Bill Rejected by Ohio Voters

Posted on November 8, 2011 by Michael Froomkin

AP reports:

The state’s new collective bargaining law was defeated Tuesday after an expensive union-backed campaign that pitted firefighters, police officers and teachers against the Republican establishment.

In a political blow to GOP Gov. John Kasich, voters handily rejected the law, which would have limited the bargaining abilities of 350,000 unionized public workers. With more than a quarter of the votes counted late Tuesday, 63 percent of votes were to reject the law.

via Ohio Voters Reject Republican-Backed Union Limits – NYTimes.com

It begins?

Posted in Politics: US | Comments Off on Anti-Union Bill Rejected by Ohio Voters

Occupy Corporate Law

Posted on November 7, 2011 by Michael Froomkin

via RIP Shareholder Value Meme: Make Way for A New World.

Posted in Econ & Money | Comments Off on Occupy Corporate Law

A ‘Reform’ Much Worse than the Problem

Posted on November 7, 2011 by Michael Froomkin

I’ve signed a law professors’ letter opposing HR 3010, the so-called “Regulatory Accountability Act of 2011.” Even by DC standards, this bill is unusually bad. The following summary, from Regulatory reform good for multinationals, yet bad for you, isn’t actually as alarmist as it sounds:

However, a thorough reading of the RAA leads to three conclusions. First, the bill will likely to dramatically drive up the cost of almost every rule-making process and budget of a federal agency. Second, federally elected officials will be stripped of their ability to responsibly lead our country. And third, the RAA is a highway to never-ending lawsuits by special interests against the federal government.

The RAA is designed to micromanage every federal agency in its efforts to create rules necessary to carry out legislation passed by Congress.

By doing so, it turns over 60 years of effective regulation promulgation under the Administration Procedures Act into a protracted process that will stretch the time needed for rule-making into decades. Federal agency budgets will need to be expanded by hundreds of billions of dollars to comply with the RAA and perform their usual functions of protecting the public and small businesses from unsafe products and practices.

…

… the legislation is a corporate lobbyist dream. It appears to have been written by corporate attorneys for corporate attorneys

Posted in Administrative Law | Comments Off on A ‘Reform’ Much Worse than the Problem