University of Alberta Faculty of Law Blog

Indirect Purchasers

can sue for antitrust injuries in Canda, so says the Supreme Court. In three companion cases (here, here, and here), the court allowed for an expansive class of plaintiffs 

This can't go well for all, but my colleague Jason will undoubtedly have commentary on this either here or in another forum, so I will stop for now.

Law Student Opportunities

The Charles Koch Institute offers excellent opportunities to gain valuable, transferrable skills while working for a non-profit organization and aquire knowledge that will directly impact your  careers. 

• Are you interested in a non-profit career in Washington, DC? The Koch Associate Program (www.KochAssociateProgram.org) is for you. Every Thursday associates participate in professional development workshops, attend educational lectures, and engage in reading discussions about the principles and ideas of a free society, while working full-time at a partner organization.
• For students interested in getting involved at the state level,Liberty@Work (www.LibertyatWork.org) is for them. These participants work full-time at one of many freedom advancing non-profit organizations across the country. Each Wednesday, participants engage in internet-based group projects, reading discussions, and career development seminars.

Brits Choose Death

Our Supreme Court recently chose life (or at least the option of) when it came to the question of pulling the plug on a patient against the desires of the doctors. Now news comes from the fallen cradle of liberty that their Supreme Court has sided with forces of death. In their Judgment (accompanied by this press release), the Court ruled that a hospital could indeed pull the plug against the wishes of the family members:

Britain's highest court has ruled in favor of a hospital that gained court approval to withhold treatment from a terminally ill man despite the family's opposition.

In a unanimous judgment handed down on Wednesday, the Supreme Court ruled that the Court of Appeal was correct in allowing Aintree University Hospital in Liverpool to withhold treatment from David James, 68, who suffered colon cancer, organ failure and a stroke, among other problems.

 

No Worker's Comp for Sex Injury

File this under 'really! Trial bench, what were you thinking`:

Australia's highest court has ruled a bureaucrat injured while having sex on a work trip is not entitled to workers' compensation. An Australian woman has lost her bid for compensation for an injury while having sex in a motel room. The bureaucrat, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was hospitalised in November 2007 after a glass light fitting above a bed she was having sex in fell onto her face injuring her nose and mouth. The woman also suffered psychological injury. The woman was visiting a regional office observing the budget review process, meeting regional staff and undertaking training — and staying in a motel room booked by her employer.

...

The woman was originally granted compensation by the Full Bench of the Federal Court in December of last year, a decision the High Court has now reversed.

Smart Quotes and Apostrophes

They said video killed the radio star, and it seems that smart quotes are killing the apostrophe.

Better Stock up

on Sriracha, that is, as it looks like there may be an impending shutdown of production. If such shutdown were to take place, here is just how I might end up:

 

Scientific Errors

I posted earlier on how many scientific studies can be wrong.  This story points out that the current model of scientific research, including peer review, is creating bad science. Why? Because of the perverse incentives the current models of research generate. What was that? Incentives matter. Oh never mind:

To Eisen, the Wolfe-Simon affair represents the "perfect storm of scientists obsessed with making a big splash and issuing press releases" — the natural outcome of a system in which there's no career gain in trying to replicate and validate previous work, as important as that process is for the advancement of science.

This model, permeates our thinking so much so that even in Law we feel the pressure to conform to the peer-review big grants model of research. I have never understood what peer review means in law. My personal experience has basically been: I don't agree with your ideological position so I am going to reject your paper. Indeed, the very service student-edited journal provide, namely verifying the accuracy of citations and data, is absent from the glorious scientific peer reviews (as the article points out). 

Judge Kreep Banished

There is something disturbing about prosecutors having blanket powers to boycott a judge they don't like. Nonetheless, they have that power in California (and other states). Will Baude documents the strange case of Judge Gary Kreep who was narrowly elected (yes they do that in California) to the superior court bench (trial division). What was so special about him, you say? Well, as this story tells us:

Kreep was elected to the bench in an upset win last year. His campaign attracted national attention because of his prominent role in the so-called “birther” movement questioning the constitutional soundness of Obama’s birth certificate through his Ramona-based U.S. Justice Foundation.

The local bar association gave him the lowest rating of “lacking qualifications” in his race against a veteran prosecutor, and Kreep edged out a win by about 1,000 votes. Instead of trumpeting his decades of work as a conservative activist, he ran a campaign as an outsider, challenging the downtown legal establishment.

When he was on the bench downtown, several lawyers said, Kreep would occasionally make inappropriate comments, such as mentioning the appearance of a female lawyer. He could be short tempered and condescending, too, according to two lawyers who did not want to be identified.

And as the story and Baude's post note, one would have thought that Judge Kreep would have been a darling to the prosecution and a thorn in the side of the defense. 

It turns out that Judge Kreep really does believe in the Constitution and in upholding rights such as the Fourth Amendment. But "Kreep often declined to take away a defendant’s 4th Amendment rights against search and seizure — something prosecutors can legally request at various points during the criminal process." Yup - there you have it! A judge who believes in the righst for all.

Alas, the prosecution boycotted him, and now he has been reassigned to traffic court. In Canada, that would be the equivalent of sending a Queen's Bench justice down to provinical court (and maybe there are some who would deserve that - just kidding). But, to see a properly elected judge demoted seems a bit counter-democratic and counter-constitutional. Then again, this is California!

Westbrook on Coase

All you need to know about the late Ronald Coase in a short concise article.

Email Required

It seems that lawyers are now expected to have an e-mail address that they actively use, as one South Carolina lawyer found out. Not sure if and when Facebook and twitter will next be required. 

Car Taxes

With all the chatter about the need for stable funding for municiplaities, American states are also finding out that their traditional sources of revenue, like the gas tax, are not that stable. The problem with the state is that its left hand never knows what its right hand does. So when the state taxes gasoline to raise revenue (don't think it was to discourage driving), but also insists on better mileage for cars, it seems logical that better mileage means less consumption of gasoline. This means less revenue, which means the state needs to find different ways to raise money.

In the old days, kings used to get innovative. They taxed based on the size of one's windows. They taxed tea! Today, they want to tax drivers based on mileage. Of course, user pay is the issue. Heavy car users should pay more for roads than lighter automibile users. Of course, this is foolproof, because human innovation never figures out how to outwit the state. And of course, privatization of the roads never occurs to the politicos, because that would diminsh their reason for existing in the first place. 

ONCA Defers to Universities

Omar Ha-Redeye has a good update on the latest ONCA case involving allegations of misconduct against the University of Ottawa by some Saudi Doctors who were training there. In contrast to our Court of Appeal, the ONCA has decided to wash its hands of such cases and look the other way when it comes to Universities policing themselves with respect to academic discipline issues. I suspect that some day the Supreme Court is going to get involved given the divergence of caselaw between the provinces. 

I do suspect, however, that sheer numbers may be behind the ONCA's decision. In Alberta, with only a handful of higher educational institutions (although growing), the courts can maintain a level of deferrence but also sneek a peak every now and then as they did in the Pridgen case. On the other hand, Ontario with its larger population of students and more educational institutions and less judges per capita than Alberta, the ONCA may have decided to shut the door (for now?).

What is also interesting is that the students took a civil litigation approach as opposed to the Human Right Commission approach. I am not sure whether they would have had better luck there, but I suspect that future aggrieved students may choose to pursue their grievances in that venue.

Email not E-mail

Apparently, we can now say email instead of e-mail. Why, you say? Because, the NYT says its ok. We can say websit and use tweet as a verb. Horay! 

Toronto the Boring City

"Elusive British graffiti artist Banksy took a swipe at the New York Times today for denying him a spot on the newspaper’s coveted op-ed page, where he was planning to trash the new World Trade Center tower." That story was not what was interesting for me, but rather his critique of the new tower. Among other choice words for the new tower, was that it “looks like something they would build in Canada.”

In other words, boring and unoriginal. Now before you get all mad at Banksy, we read this story about how the City of Toronto wishes to reject any greatness and embrace its mediocrity:

When one of the world’s most renowned architects wants to transform a neighbourhood in your city, you would think the obvious next step would be to say yes.

When Frank Gehry returns to his hometown and says he wants to build a project featuring breathtaking architecture, university and gallery space, retail, residential and would create a public realm in the heart of the financial district, you let him do it.

Right?

Not so fast, says Toronto’s city planners.

Given that our mayor has embraced Edmonton's greatness, perhaps he can invite Frank Gehry here. 

Sriracha!

Who doesn't love Sriracha - the most amazing hot sauce out there (along with Tobasco). Click here to find out more!

Bad Economics

There are always a certain group of writers who love to throw darts at economics. If you have read any of these 18 points, chances are you have been reading bad criticisms of economics.

Ubaka's Awesome Poster

Our dormant, these days, co-blogger Ubaka Ogbogu recently presented a paper in a poster session on stem cell research.  The poster has been described as the coolest poster, and I suggest that you click here to download the poster and see for yourself the very innovative method of presenting complex legal ideas.

I am proud to have him as my colleague!

Air Canada says no Ice?

Dear Air Canada,

I am probably one of the few who actually like your services. I have an Aeroplan frequent flyer membership and I try to book first with you before considering other airlines. That is why I was saddened to see you drop your direct flights to London from Edmonton.

That being said, if the reason you dropped it is because of some petty squabble with the Edmonton Airport over some Icelandair flights, I think I may have to re-evaluate my view of you. Not because you dropped the route, but because you wrote the airport a letter after the fact.

Really, Icelandair air?

Sincerely,

A very loyal customer

Michael Cooper is Running for Office

I recently found out that my former student, and now lawyer at a downtown law firm, is running for the nomination for the Conservative Party of Canada for the riding of St. Albert.  I had the pleasure of coaching Michael Cooper in the Laskin National Moot as well as interacting with him when he ran one of the student clubs here. 

I recall that he was very smart, articulate, and hard working. Additionally, he had a lot of passion for the law and public policy. I wish him the best of luck in his nomination, and if he wins, he will make an excellent candidate and ultimately MP for St. Albert. You can also follow him on Twitter at @Cooper4SAE.

I was wrong?

Can a judge say he was wrong about a prior case? Of course - John Yoo explains why it was good for Judge Posner to say so.