Pension costs, litigation bankrupt a Southern town

A "new Associated Press poll says most Americans support curbs on medical malpractice lawsuits. The AP poll found that 54 percent favor making it harder to sue doctors and hospitals for mistakes taking care of patients, while 32 percent are... […]

Moving beyond judicial elections? Chamber's Institute for Legal Reform has a new report out (PDF) on the subject of "Best Practices in Judicial Merit Selection" More: Gavel Grab. Earlier: here, here, etc. Latest from the Jury Verdict Research people:... […]

After getting the mammoth $145 billion judgment against it thrown out on the grounds that each member of Florida's plaintiff smoker's class had to sue separately, the suits are coming in, and the latest verdict is not good news for... […]

There are lots of them, and they're bound to encourage more unionization among health care workers and others, according to this op-ed by A. Kevin Troutman of Fisher & Phillips for the Houston Chronicle.... […]

The UK government has yet to announce a decision on compensating for pleural plaques other than "as soon as possible." [h/t GlobalTort]... […]

By nature, I am a highly verbal, nonvisual person. I learn best by reading books or listening to lectures. I rarely benefit from looking at tables, charts, pictures, and the like. I’m the kind of guy who can’t drive to an unfamiliar destination without a detailed mapquest itinerary telling me exactly which turns to take; [...] […]

Missouri v. Richard was decided earlier this week by the Missouri Supreme Court, solely on the basis of the Missouri Constitution. Missouri law, Section 571.030.1(5) punishes someone who “Possesses or discharges a firearm or projectile weapon while intoxicated.” Richard did in fact possess a loaded handgun while intoxicated (eventually to the point of u […]

One of the many interesting issues raised by the decision to try Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and other terrorist suspects in New York is whether transferring them to New York gives them any additional rights that they could assert to try to stop the prosecution against them. On Wednesday, the seven GOP Senators on the [...] […]

Someone hacked into the computers at the University of East Anglia Climate Research Unit, downloaded various files and e-mails posted on the web.  Now the climate blogosphere is all atwitter over whether the resulting disclosures are a scandal or much ado about nothing.  Excerpts and reactions from Roger Pielke Jr., Real Climate, Climate Audit, Watts [...] […]

(coauthored with Stephen Ansolabehere and crossposted) Upon the initiative of my colleague Jamal Greene who has been writing about the popularity of originalism, our July survey included several questions concerning judicial methodology. As cautious as we might be generally about measuring opinion on constitutional questions, our concerns about question wor […]