Prof. Lester Brickman of Yeshiva University’s Cardozo School of Law, a noted legal ethicist and the leading academic critic of the asbestos litigation, has a devastating new 137-page article out in the Pepperdine Law Review. His contention: mass attorney solicitation of claimants has combined with willfully unreliable medical screening and witness-coaching by law firms to generate hundreds of thousands of fundamentally fraudulent claims which are obtaining unjustified payouts in the billions and even tens of billions of dollars. The only likely catalyst for reform at this point, he argues, would be a full investigation by a grand jury armed with subpoena powers. (Stuart Taylor, Jr., Dec. 31; Paul Hampel, “Many asbestos suits are fraudulent, professor says”, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Jan. 13). The article, not online but available to those with LEXIS access or in law libraries, is Lester Brickman, “On the Theory Class’s Theories of Asbestos Litigation: The Disconnect Between Scholarship and Reality”, 31 Pepp. L. Rev. 33. For our coverage of asbestos, see, e.g., Nov. 12, Oct. 24, Sept. 25, and earlier posts.
Chronicling the high cost of our legal system
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Point of Law- The price of New York ethics, cont'dIra Stoll, Future of Capitalism: The New York state attorney general, Andrew Cuomo, won't accept campaign contributions from people with matters before his office. Conveniently enough, however, he will, and does, accept such contributions from their lawyers, Bloomberg News reports.... […]Walter Olson
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- Latest Labaton pension fund controversy: MissouriAn "uproar" has broken out over the state employee pension fund's prospective hiring of lawyers to file securities suits. "At least six firms from around the country have been courting the board of the Missouri State Employees Retirement System, or... […]Walter Olson
- In Congress, promoting the return of notice pleadingsRep. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) has introduced H.R. 4115, the Open Access to Courts Act of 2009, to restore notice pleadings, i.e., the status quo ante Twombly and Iqbal. Nadler's news release announced the bill, "Nadler, Johnson, and Conyers Introduce Bill... […]Carter Wood
- The price of New York ethics, cont'd
- Volokh
- Cato brief in McDonald v. ChicagoAvailable here. An outstanding brief, as one might expect. The bulk of the brief (21 pages, comprising Part I) shows that from the Founding Era into through the framing of the Fourteenth Amendment, national citizenship was paramount to state citizenship. Part II briefly argues that Slaughterhouse violated canons of constitutional construction–such as by in […]David Kopel
- NYT: “Wave of Debt Payments Facing U.S. Government”Wait, you mean we’re expected to pay all that money back? Copyright © 2009 This feed is for personal, non-commercial use only. The use of this feed on other websites breaches copyright. If this content is not in your news reader, it makes the page you are viewing an infringement of the copyright. (Digital Fingerprint: [...] […]Orin Kerr
- Puffery PlaintiffsThe NYT reports that more companies are challenging claims made in competitors’ ads. Companies that were once content to fight in grocery-store aisles and on television commercials are now choosing a different route — filing lawsuits and other formal grievances challenging their competitors’ claims. Longtime foes like Pantene and Dove, Science Diet and […]Jonathan H. Adler
- WaPo on Climate E-mails (and More)The Washington Post covers the disclosure of e-mails from the University of East Anglia Climate Research Unit — e-mails that appear to have been subject to an FOI request and that were either hacked by an outsider or stolen and released by an insider. In one e-mail, the center’s director, Phil Jones, writes Pennsylvania State University’s [...] […]Jonathan H. Adler
- Thoughts on Sarah Palin and Going RogueLike Ilya, I’ve been reading Sarah Palin’s book and following her media appearances. It’s difficult to say anything original about a polarizing figure such as Palin. And no matter what you say, around half of the VC readership will be convinced you are a complete idiot (which half depending on which side you [...] […]Orin Kerr
- Cato brief in McDonald v. Chicago
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Update: “Asbestos exposed”
Dana Joel Gattuso covers Lester Brickman’s Pepperdine Law Review study of asbestos litigation (see Jan. 21) and provides an accessible introduction to the 137-page piece. (Tech Central Station, Mar. 9). [cross-posted from Overlawyered, where it ran Mar…
Asbestos: send in the prosecutors?
Prof. Lester Brickman of Yeshiva University’s Cardozo School of Law, a noted legal ethicist and the leading academic critic of the asbestos litigation, has a devastating new 137-page article out in the Pepperdine Law Review. His contention: mass attorn…
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