John Tierney does some good reporting on the compromise federal jury verdict that criminally convicted William Hurwitz on sixteen counts of drug-dealing: “Lapses in medical judgment – or even just differences in medical judgment – have been criminalized. A doctor can be suddenly redefined as a non-doctor. All it takes is a second opinion from a jury.” Also: Kirkendall, Sullum, Kevin MD, Szalavitz, Balko, Satel (2004), Cato (2004), Hurwitz web site. Related on Overlawyered: Jan. 19, 2006, Jun. 15-17, 2001.
Tagged as:
crime and punishment,
medical
“A Canadian man who admitted shoplifting C$106 in razor blades has been awarded C$12,000 ($10,645) for injuries he suffered when he was tackled by store security guards. … [Daniel] Baines, who represented himself, said employees of the supermarket in a Vancouver suburb used unreasonable force when he struggled during his capture.” (Reuters, Apr. 20). Which suggests once again that Canada has still not “Americanized” its litigation system in any thoroughgoing way: how unlikely is it that a suit in a large American city by an injured-while-struggling thief, if successful, would result in an award as modest as $10,645? More: compare Jun. 13, 2006 (Rochester, N.Y. case).
Tagged as:
Canada,
crime and punishment
B.J. Khalifah of Grosse Pointe, Mich., who had a letter to the editor in the WSJ last week, takes a view of the litigation process that makes even ours look relatively upbeat (WSJ Law Blog, Apr. 24).
A common complaint about abusive class action litigation is that the lawyers rake in the big bucks while the class members walk away with pennies. Still, Overlawyered repeat offender Lakin Law Firm (many entries) may be taking it to a whole new level. The Madison Record reports:
Mark Brown of the Lakin Law Firm bargained a class action lawsuit down to a penny at a hearing before Madison County Circuit Judge Dave Hylla.
The suit alleges that in 1999, Old Kent Mortgage charged three borrowers $100 for a credit report, paid less than that for the report, and improperly retained the difference.
The problem with this theory at the hearing was that apparently Lakin didn’t have any idea how much the bank paid for the reports, couldn’t identify any fraudulent statements made by the bank, and couldn’t produce a contract that was breached. Other than that, the lawsuit seems fine, and I’m sure that each class member will be happy with his penny.
In all seriousness, given that just to bring the suit Lakin had to dig up as its client — the Stevens family — someone who had taken out a mortgage four years earlier (the mortgage was taken out in 1999, and Lakin did not bring the suit until 2003), I suspect that there won’t be a whole lot of other class members making claims anyway. What’s a little odd is that this suit was reportedly filed four years ago and apparently nothing has happened on the case yet.
Incidentally, the Stevens family seems to have very bad luck with banks and mortgages; they and the Lakin Law Firm filed another class action lawsuit against the bank over mortgage closing costs in 2004.
Tagged as:
class actions,
Madison County
As David noted the other day, Florida attorney Willie Gary, whose doings are often mentioned on this site, had asked that a court award fees of $11,000 an hour for his work in a trade secrets suit against Motorola. Readers may be interested in the sequel: Circuit Judge Leroy Moe awarded Gary and other lawyers only around a quarter of their request, amounting to $23 million of the asked-for $96 million in fees and costs. The judge also passed over a request that Motorola be hit with $100 millions in sanctions and restitution, though Gary might be able to obtain further consideration of that request. (Adrian Sainz, “Motorola ordered to pay $22.9 million”, AP/Miami Herald, Apr. 20)(via Ashby Jones, WSJ Law Blog).
Tagged as:
technology,
Willie Gary
In Opinion Journal:
Even the tort bar understands how deeply loathed it is by the American public. The Association of Trial Lawyers of America didn’t last year change its name to the bland “American Association for Justice” for nothing.
So no, even the old liberal lawsuit bulls such as Henry Waxman or [Barney] Frank won’t start calling for the repeal of the 2005 Class Action Fairness Act, or for other blatant legislative assists to the trial bar. Instead, Democrats intend to reward the legal industry with more subtle payoffs. The most obvious gift will be a moratorium on further legal reform. Beyond that, Democrats will rely on two tried-and-tested tools to aid and abet the legal community. They’ve employed both in the past few weeks. …
A Democratic Congress means far more regulation, and any new regulation is an opportunity to insert a line or two giving the tort bar greater rights to sue. These provisions will be subtle and technical, designed to escape notice. But just in case they do raise a red flag, they’ll also be tucked into bipartisan or must-pass legislation (such as the Iraq supplemental), making it that much harder for Republicans or President Bush to shoot them down.
It’s a measure of how well Republicans played tort abuse to their political advantage that Democrats today are reluctant to brazenly flack for the legal class. If the GOP wants to keep it that way, it will have to start working harder to expose the quiet ways in which the left is now helping trial lawyers bilk the system.
The other means is by taxpayer-funded subpoenas and hearings to develop evidence and publicity for the trial bar.
Strassel claims that there is such an earmark created at the behest of ATLA, subtly providing an implied cause of action against chemical manufacturers in H.R. 1591, the soon-to-be-vetoed Iraq War supplemental funding bill. Indeed, the provision is difficult to find amidst the provisions for the milk income loss contract program and renewal grants for women’s business centers. I suspect Strassel is referring to the anti-preemption provision in Section 1501(a) of the bill, effectively permitting lawsuits against chemical facilities that comply with Department of Homeland Security regulations without once mentioning the word “lawsuit.” If there is a terrorist attack on a chemical facility, trial lawyers will have a deep pocket to blame.
Perhaps we, as a society, would agree with the Democratic Party and would prefer trial lawyers, instead of the Department of Homeland Security, to be in charge of chemical plant security. (Trial lawyers do have the advantage of getting to operate only in hindsight.) But shouldn’t that critical decision be made openly?
Tagged as:
AAJ,
deep pocket,
politics,
trial lawyer earmarks
Elsewhere around the world Ferrero Group, the Italian candy company, sells (with a suitable warning label) a treat called Kinder Surprise which consists of chocolate surrounding a small toy. However, the product is said to be illegal for sale in the United States: according to Donald Mays of Consumer Reports, “a nonfood item cannot be imbedded in a food product” under a law dating back to the 1930s. (”Choking-Hazard Easter Eggs Appear On Store Shelves”, WNBC, Apr. 5). If accurate, this would help explain something we’ve noted a couple of times in earlier posts (Feb. 1, 2002, Jan. 18, 2007), namely that store-bought Mardi Gras King Cakes do not have the little figurine baked into their batter that is found in the more authentic New Orleans versions.
Tagged as:
food safety,
Italy
In Bentonville, Arkansas, Earl Adams says his two teenage boys, ages 14 and 16, were perusing the local library shelves when they accidentally ran across a copy of “The Whole Lesbian Sex Book”, for which traumatization they deserve $10,000 apiece. It happened, Adams said, while they were browsing for material on military academies (titter ye not!) and the shock to their sensibilities from exposure to the “immoral” volume resulted in the boys being “greatly disturbed” and undergoing “many sleepless nights in our house.” According to the Washington Post, Library Journal has deemed the sex guide by Felice Newman suitable for public libraries. (Emil Steiner, “Off/Beat: Arkansas Dad Sues Library Over Lesbian Book”, Washington Post, Apr. 25; “Father Says Sons Traumatized By Lesbian Library Book”, 365gay.com, Apr. 20).
Tagged as:
Arkansas,
schools
Free speech survives intact: the Washington Supreme Court has unanimously ruled that radio talk show hosts’ urging of listeners to support a ballot measure does not constitute a “contribution” to the yes side for purposes of mandatory reporting under campaign finance law. (Ryan Sager, New York Sun blog, Apr. 26). We covered the charges against KVI hosts Kirby Wilbur and John Carlson Jul. 11 and Jul. 19, 2005. Eugene Volokh has extensive coverage of the new decision. A concurring opinion by Justice James M. Johnson, joined by Justice Richard B. Sanders, terms the enforcement a case of “abusive prosecution”. More: Michelle Malkin; John Fund, OpinionJournal.com, Apr. 30.
Tagged as:
broadcasters,
campaign regulation,
free speech,
Seattle,
Washington state
Attorney (and now administrative judge) Roy L. Pearson, Jr. paid $10.50 to have some pants altered at his dry cleaners’, but was dissatisfied with the results, so sued them on grounds that their “Satisfaction Guaranteed” sign was consumer fraud. Among his claimed damages is the need for a car to find a new dry cleaner. Pearson at first demanded $1150 for a new suit, but turned down offers from the dry cleaner to settle for $3000, for $4600, and for $12000, and claims DC consumer protection law entitles him to $65 million. The Chung family has removed their “Satisfaction Guaranteed” sign. (Marc Fisher, “Lawyer’s Price For Missing Pants: $65 Million”, Washington Post, Apr. 26; Obscure Store blog; DCist, Apr. 13; ABC-7, Apr. 12).
Update: May 1.
Tagged as:
personal responsibility,
Roy Pearson
Yesterday’s Daily Business Review brought us the story of lawyers running wild in worker’s compensation cases. Today, it provides another outrageous story of legal abuses, in a $3 million medical malpractice lawsuit:
Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Gisela Cardonne Ely was shocked. She had just watched a videotape of a medical malpractice plaintiff, who claimed in 2004 that she was permanently paralyzed, walking down the street with the use of a cane in 2005.
“This is the worst case of misrepresentation, of outright fraud, that I have ever had in 22 years,” Cardonne Ely said during a March 15 hearing in the case of Wanda Davis-Johnson. “I’m telling you, Mrs. Davis, I’m looking at you in the eyes. I am dismissing your case. I have seen enough. … I’m making a specific finding that there was a scheme to defraud the court.”
The woman’s attorney, of course, claims to be just as surprised as the judge. Meanwhile, the vindicated defendant hospital “will be seeking to recover $225,000 in legal costs from Davis-Johnson,” but one suspects that the odds of ever collecting that are somewhere between none and less than none.
What’s unusual about this story is that the hospital’s attorneys obtained this damning evidence in April 2005, but did not reveal it until almost two years later, in January 2007. According to the hospital’s attorneys, they were afraid that the videotape wouldn’t be sufficient to prove fraud on the part of the plaintiff. (What does it say about the system if a videotape showing an allegedly paralyzed person walking is insufficient to prove fraud?)
The plaintiff’s lawyers complained about the delay:
“If they had shown that videotape to us, we wouldn’t have spent another 21 months of litigation time, cost, stress to the doctors involved and waste of the court’s time,” Lawlor said. “I don’t have any clue what they were thinking or why anybody would go forward other than to try to set a trap for my law firm.”
But despite this, when confronted with the evidence, Lawlor didn’t exactly roll over and admit error:
But Lawlor and his law firm did not withdraw from the case or ask that the case be dismissed. Lawlor unsuccessfully argued against the defense motion to dismiss based on fraud. He also filed errata sheets to Davis-Johnson’s two depositions seeking to change her testimony.
The only thing he did do was drop his motion for punitive damages based on the allegedly “egregious” actions of the hospital.
Family reunions ought to be interesting, anyway; according to the story, the hospital’s lawyers got confirmation of the fraud when the plaintiff’s sister-in-law called up and told them.
Tagged as:
hospitals,
medical
In 1921, there were massive race riots which led to the destruction of the black section of Tulsa, Oklahoma and the murder of dozens or hundreds of blacks. (See Wikipedia for one account.) At the time, the official story exonerated local whites, blaming the riot on blacks; eventually, the whole incident was forgotten. In 1997, the Oklahoma legislature set up a commission, which issued a report four years later which found that in fact white residents, aided and abetted by the local government, were at fault.
Enter the lawyers. Eighty-two years after the incident, Johnnie Cochran, Charles Ogletree and other prominent attorneys filed a federal civil rights suit against the city of Tulsa and the state of Oklahoma on behalf of the survivors, seeking monetary damages and injunctive relief. As you might expect, courts don’t look too kindly on eight-decade old lawsuits, and so the federal district and appellate courts dismissed the suit, on the grounds that the statute of limitations had long since passed. (The Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal.)
So now the lawyers (well, not Johnnie Cochran) are in Washington, trying to get Congress to retroactively extend the statute of limitations so they can sue. Ogletree is a driving force behind the slavery reparations movement, which so far has also foundered on statute of limitations issues; if he succeeds here, be assured that he won’t be resting on his laurels.
(To be clear, unlike many of the suits we chronicle on Overlawyered, the Tulsa suit is not inherently frivolous, and it may well be legitimate to assign blame to the city and state, for actions that (unlike slavery) were illegal even at the time. But, to reiterate: eighty years.)
Tagged as:
Oklahoma,
reparations,
statutes of limitations
Strong fund-raising helps keep the North Carolinian a credible Democratic alternative; AP cites in particular the generosity of the lawyers at Lerach Coughlin (Jim Kuhnhenn, “Clinton reports $24 mil in the bank, trails Obama in primary donations”, AP/DeKalb, Ill., Daily Chronicle, Apr. 16).
Tagged as:
Bill Lerach,
Coughlin Stoia,
John Edwards,
politics
