Articles

President's weekly report — March 29, 2013

March 29, 2013 | By ROB RIVETT

Individual Rights — School Choice Victory We had a nice victory from the Indiana Supreme Court when it upheld in Meredith v. Pence that state’s school choice program. As we’ve explained, this is a great victory for school choice because Indiana’s program is expansive and the teacher-funded attack on that state’s vouche ...

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California displaces Pennsylvania as worst state for civil justice

March 29, 2013 | By ANASTASIA BODEN

After a reign of two years, Pennsylvania has given up its crown.  California now claims the woeful title of worst place for civil justice in the nation.  This critique may be due in part to the fact that, according to the American Tort Reform Association, California is the “undisputed heavyweight champion of the consumer class action.̶ ...

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PLF sues fish and wildlife service to compel it to do its job

March 29, 2013 | By TONY FRANCOIS

This week, PLF filed suit against the United States Fish & Wildlife Service, after the Service delayed delisting two species, and down-listing another, for more than five years.   The Service has known that these three species should be reclassified based on its own 5-year status reviews, published in the Federal Register in March 2008.   ...

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Freedom in the 50 states

March 28, 2013 | By TIMOTHY SANDEFUR

The Mercatus Center’s annual report tracking freedom in the states has just been released. Unsurprisingly, California ranks near the bottom. California not only taxes and regulates its economy more than most other states, but also aggressively interferes in the personal lives of its citizens…. The total tax burden comes to 10.8 percent ...

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Does the right to procedural fairness end with class action certification?

March 28, 2013 | By CHRISTINA MARTIN

Today, PLF submitted an amicus brief in the California Supreme Court in Duran v. U.S. Bank Nat’l Ass’n – a case which asks whether plaintiffs can make an end run around the usual procedures governing lawsuits if they proceed as a class action. In this case, Sam Duran and Matt Fitzsimmons brought a class action … ...

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PLF’s Jim Burling talks with John Stossel tonight

March 28, 2013 | By TIMOTHY SANDEFUR

PLF’s Director of Litigation, Jim Burling, will be a guest on Stossel tonight at 6pm Pacific, 9 Eastern, on the Fox Business Network. He’ll be discussing “Green Tyranny”—how environmental restrictions are expanding government’s control over our lives and our own private choices. Other guests include Bjorn Lomborg and ...

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California Legislature considering granting more powers to Coastal Commission

March 28, 2013 | By PAUL BEARD

The California Legislature is considering two bills that would grant the California Coastal Commission—already perhaps the Nation’s most powerful land-use agency—even more power over property owners. Assemblyman (and ex-Coastal Commissioner) Mark Stone is sponsoring AB 203, which would allow the Commission to halt the processing ...

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Cert sought in global warming nuisance case

March 28, 2013 | By DAMIEN SCHIFF

In Native Village of Kivalina v. ExxonMobil Corp., the Ninth Circuit held that the Clean Air Act displaces any otherwise existing federal law of public nuisance.  (PLF filed an amicus brief supporting the energy companies).  Consequently, the court’s ruling eliminates the Village’s tort lawsuit, which sought damages from the defendant ...

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Kentucky decides not to repeal—so the lawsuit proceeds

March 26, 2013 | By TIMOTHY SANDEFUR

The Kentucky legislature adjourned today without taking up a bill to repeal that state’s anti-competitive licensing law for moving companies. Although the bill made it through the Senate, existing moving companies lobbied hard to have the House Transportation Committee kill the legislation. That means the existing law—which bars new moving ...