We can expect the gun control debate to grow louder in the wake of the Las Vegas mass shooting on October 1, 2017. Shooter Stephen Paddock killed at least 58 people and injured nearly 500 others in the recent massacre. Proponents of stricter gun control will likely point to this shooting to plead for stricter regulation of our Second Amendment right to bear arms. Their rationale is that someone intent on mass killing would be … Read more
Oct 11, 2017
Mass Shootings, the Second Amendment, and the Gun Control Debate
Sep 22, 2017
The Way Some Lawyers are Trying to Make Money from Extreme Weather Disasters
Hurricane Harvey was a disaster for almost everyone it touched. Yet, showing that no disaster is without profit to someone, lawyers are already thinking of ways to blame damage from the storm on governments, architects, builders and others. As Reuters reports in a recent story by Sebastien Malo, those lawyers are trying to show that certain targets, all with presumably deep pockets, should be legally responsible for the damages and injuries millions suffered in the … Read more
Aug 16, 2017
Don’t Break the Law Just Because There’s a Solar Eclipse
Oregon will be the first state in the U.S. to experience the total solar eclipse on August 21, 2017. Given the expected increase of traffic and tourism, the Oregon State Police would like to remind you that the eclipse is no excuse to break the law. For example, unless there is a genuine emergency or another exemption applies, you have no right to stop your car in traffic to get a better view. (See ORS … Read more
Aug 3, 2017
The RAISE Act: President Donald Trump’s Immigration Reform Plan
President Donald Trump announced his plan for reforming legal immigration on August 2, 2017. Senators Tom Cotton and David Perdue joined the President’s announcement of the new plan.
The new immigration plan is formally titled Reforming American Immigration for Strong Employment Act (RAISE Act). By selecting this title, the President and lawmakers appear to communicate their intent to improve American employment and give Americans a wage raise by limiting immigration.
Here are the … Read more
Jul 27, 2017
OxyContin and Other Prescription Painkillers: Following the Tobacco Lawsuits Model?
“Recently my advertising agency ended a long relationship with Lucky Strike cigarettes, and I’m relieved.” – Don Draper, “Mad Men”.
Like Don Draper “quitting” cigarettes, more lawmakers and health researchers are ready to fight the makers of OxyContin and other opioid painkillers.
In January 2017, the City of Everett, Washington filed a lawsuit against OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma. Purdue Pharma filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit, and the court’s decision might come … Read more
Jul 25, 2017
Oregon Will Decide If You’re Smart Enough to Keep Your Kids
A recent story in the Oregonian tells how the state of Oregon has taken a married couple’s children because the state claims the couple isn’t smart enough to be parents. In fact, the state took their younger child from the hospital before his mother was even able to see him.
As the story points out, both parents have held jobs and they maintain a household. While neither parent looks like another Einstein, when has anyone … Read more
Jul 13, 2017
The Fair Work Week Act: New Work Schedule Restrictions on the Horizon for Certain Oregon Workers and Employers
The Oregon legislature passed the Fair Work Week Act (SB 828) on June 29, 2017 and the potential new law awaits Governor Brown’s signature before implementation. If implemented, the new law would be the first of its kind adopted by a U.S. State.
Supporters claim passage of the Fair Work Week Act as a win for workers in the retail, hospitality and food service industries. Opponents of the Fair Work Week Act criticize … Read more
May 16, 2017
Now That We’ve Taken Your Money, Prove Why We Shouldn’t Keep It; Or, The Advantages of a Presumption of Guilt
Some states apparently insist that even if your criminal conviction is overturned on appeal and the charges against you are dismissed, the state should still keep any fines you’ve paid unless and until you can prove that you were actually innocent of the crime you were charged with in the first place. In other words, they actually have a presumption of guilt that you have to overcome before the state will return the fines you … Read more
May 3, 2017
Yellow Traffic Lights are Too Brief but Don’t Try to Tell the State of Oregon’s Board of Engineering Examiners – It Will Certainly Ignore Your Message and Fine You for Speaking
In an email to the Oregon State Board of Engineering an electronics engineer argued that yellow traffic lights in the state were too brief and thus put the public at risk. He supported his arguments with calculations and graphs which he prepared at his own cost in his free time.
The Oregon State Board of Engineering disregarded the substance of his email but attacked the author, Mats Jarlstrom, for referring to himself as an “electronics … Read more
Apr 6, 2017
Local Governments Get in the Business of Crony Capitalism and Union Organizing
City, county and state governments throughout the United States often enact measures to protect or promote favored business groups. The City of Portland’s efforts to protect the cab companies through ordinances limiting the rates and services of other businesses that transport individuals within the metro area such as airport limos, Uber and Lyft recently received judicial approval from the Ninth Circuit in Speed’s Auto Servs. Group v. City of Portland, 2017 U.S. App Lexis 5551 … Read more
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