| ARCHIVE -- DEC. 2000 (II) |
December 20 --
Property taxes triple after wrongful-termination suit.
"The Delaware County [Oklahoma] Excise Board voted Monday to impose a tax
levy that will triple property taxes for Kenwood's 128 residents to pay
off a court judgment against the school
system.
"Board members voted to set the levy after Kenwood school board members
agreed Thursday to use $75,000 in federal Impact Aid funds to pay Garland
Lane, the former school superintendent, who won a $305,600 judgment against
the district in 1998 for wrongful termination.
"The school district still owes Lane $179,000. The federal trial judge
ordered that Lane and his Tulsa attorney would be allowed to collect an
additional 10 percent interest on the outstanding debt until it was paid.
"A Kenwood taxpayer who normally pays $224 in taxes for the year will
now have to pay $763, under the levy approved Monday." (Jann Clark,
"Property tax triples in Kenwood", Tulsa World, Dec. 12).
December 20 --
Obese fliers. A judge has ruled that Southwest Airlines
did not unlawfully discriminate against Cynthia Luther, whose weight exceeds
300 pounds, when it required her to buy a second seat on a flight from
Reno to Burbank ("Large Passenger Has Suit Dismissed", Yahoo/AP, Dec. 14)
(via Drudge). Days earlier,
a confidential report from an official agency in Canada
recommended that airlines be forbidden
to charge highly obese passengers for a second seat, on the grounds that
their condition should count as a disability
entitled to accommodation. The opinion from the Canadian Transportation
Agency promptly came under fire from both directions, with the Air Transport
Association of Canada charging that such a rule would be unacceptably expensive,
and Helena Spring, founder of the Canadian Association for Fat Acceptance,
saying that obesity should be viewed as a healthy condition rather than
a disability (Glen McGregor, "Treat the obese as disabled, airlines told",
Ottawa Citizen, Dec. 10). Update Oct.
25-27, 2002: complaint by obese Canadian passenger fails.
December 20 --
New batch of letters. Our letters
page catches up on more of its backlog with letters from readers on
the Florida recount, Microsoft's decision to settle its "permatemps" case,
and a view from British gangland on how lawyers ought to be paid.
December 20 --
Jury orders Exxon to pay Alabama $3.5 billion. No,
Alabama hasn't lived down the reputation for jackpot justice it earned
in cases like BMW and Whirlpool:
a jury yesterday deliberated just two hours before tagging the oil company
with the mega-verdict in a dispute over natural gas royalties owed the
state. Consultants for the state had argued that it was due $87 million,
Exxon said the figure was much lower or zero, but private attorney Bobo
Cunningham of Mobile -- whom the state had hired on contingency, promising
him 14 percent of any winnings -- convinced the jurors that $3 billion
would be a much more appropriate sum (Phillip Rawls, "Jury orders Exxon
to pay $3.5 billion to state in offshore gas case", AP/Birmingham News,
Dec.
19). Updates Dec.
1, 2003: first verdict thrown out, retrial yields $11.8 billion punitive
damage award; Apr.
18, 2004 judge cuts that verdict to $3.6 billion.
December 18-19 --
"'Belligerent' Worker Is Covered by ADA, Says Federal Court".
"A worker who suffers from major depression that makes her belligerent
and hypersensitive to criticism has a right under the Americans
with Disabilities Act to a reasonable accommodation from her supervisors,
a federal judge has ruled." After she was fired from her job as a
manager with the Unisys Corp., Tina Bennett sued arguing that she had been
suffering from major depression which manifested itself in interpersonal
difficulties. "U.S. District Judge Franklin S. Van Antwerpen found
that when a worker's depression affects her ability to think and concentrate,
she has the right under the ADA to get more feedback and guidance if it
would help her perform her job. ... Bennett met the test [for impairment
of 'major life activities'], Van Antwerpen said, since the evidence showed
she was 'belligerent and displayed an unprofessional attitude,' that she
had 'difficulty controlling her emotions' and that she was 'incredibly
sensitive to criticism.' Bennett's supervisor testified that Bennett's
peers felt that they could not approach her and have a meaningful conversation
with her, Van Antwerpen noted, and her poor interpersonal skills were listed
as a reason she was fired." Given her "evidence linking her behavior
to symptoms of her mental disability," the judge ruled, a jury must be
allowed to consider her claim for damages under the ADA. (Shannon
P. Duffy, Legal Intelligencer (Philadelphia), Dec. 13).
December 18-19 --
Behind the subway ads. "[T]here isn't a subway-riding
adult in New York who hasn't seen an ad
for 1-800-DIVORCE, with the O formed by a diamond ring and a woman's hand
to the side making a tossing motion."
The law firm that picks up the phone when you call, Wilens & Baker,
believes in the economies of scale obtainable from a volume business.
It's also unusual among advertisers in its emphasis on such lines as immigration
and bankruptcy law: "There are a thousand lawyers advertising now, and
980 are personal injury lawyers," says Michael Wilens. (Laura Mansnerus,
"From a Captive Audience, Clients", New York Times, Nov.
15) (reg).
December 18-19 --
How to litigate an American quilt. For all their
cozy and nonadversarial image, quilts these days "are hot items in copyright
litigation" as designers head to court to accuse each other of swiping
patterns. In one pending action, Paul Levenson, a New York attorney
who makes a specialty in quilt law, is representing Long Island designer
Judy Boisson in a suit against the Pottery Barn chain "over an allegedly
infringing quilt that, like one of Ms. Boisson's, contains eight-pointed
pastel 'Missouri Star' blocks on a white background. One of the burdens
that Mr. Levenson has to overcome is the fact that many quilt blocks and
borders have been in the public domain for more than 100 years, and that
the communal spirit that led pioneer women to make quilts is the polar
opposite of the mindset of intellectual property law. ... Home quilters
are abuzz about Ms. Boisson's copyright claims, but Mr. Levenson says her
targets are commercial entities, not grandmothers making quilts for their
own families." (Victoria Slind-Flor, "Quilts: Traditional and 'mine'",
National
Law Journal, Nov. 13).
December 18-19 --
Smoker's suit nixed in Norway. "A Norwegian court
ruled [last month] the tobacco industry
could not be held responsible for a smoker's terminal cancer in the country's
first tobacco compensation lawsuit. The Orkdal District Court said
the smoker, Robert Lund, continued to smoke even after the dangers of smoking
'became broadly known and accepted' and said tobacco's addictiveness did
not free him from responsibility
for continuing to smoke." (Doug Mellgren, "Norway puts tobacco industry
on trial", AP/Nando Times, Nov. 10).
December 18-19 --
Welcome Wall Street Journal readers. The
Weekend
Journal's "Taste" editorial commentary briefly mentioned our item on
female Santa litigation (see Dec. 13-14).
And today's (Monday's) Christian Science Monitor quotes our editor
on the subject of workplace litigation over accent discrimination (Kelly
Hearn, "What legal experts say", Dec.
18, sidebar to main story, "Pegged
by an accent").
December 15-17 --
Farm bias settlements: line forms on the left. The
U.S. Department of Agriculture recently agreed to pay more than $2 billion
to settle suits claiming it had discriminated against black farmers; a
suit by Indian farmers is proceeding as well. And now lawyers have
filed suit seeking $3 billion in damages on behalf of female and elderly
farmers allegedly treated unfairly in USDA programs. "The farmers
are represented by Washington, D.C., attorney Phillip Fraas, who helped
win the lawsuit brought by black farmers." ("Women, Elderly Farmers
Sue USDA", Omaha World Herald, Dec. 11).
December 15-17 --
U.K.: skipping, "conkers" taboo in schoolyards.
Skipping and other pastimes are being banned in British schoolyards
as potentially hazardous or antisocial, as is the age-old game of "conkers",
played by throwing chestnuts at classmates. Teachers "are nervous
about legal action from parents if the children are injured, according
to a survey by Keele University. ... [A] poll found last month that 57
per cent of parents would ask for compensation if their child was injured
at school. ... Sarah Thomson, the survey’s author, said that one headmaster
said he would prefer to 'ban all playtimes, as they are a nightmare'"
The survey of Midlands schools "concluded that playgrounds were now often
'barren, sterile and unimaginative' because of over-cautious staff."
(Glen Owen, "Playtime conkers banned as dangerous", The Times (London),
Dec.
8).
In other zero tolerance news,
the Washington, D.C. subway system made news last month after its police
arrested 12-year-old Ansche Hedgepeth for eating french fries in one of
its stations ("Girl Arrested for Eating Fries in Subway", AP/APBNews, Nov.
16; Petula Dvorak, "Metro Snack Patrol Puts Girl in Cuffs", Washington
Post,
Nov.
16). See also Adrienne Mand, "Schools' Zero-Tolerance Programs
Both Praised and Attacked", FoxNews.com, Oct. 11; "Zero tolerance turns
silly" (editorial), Detroit News,
Oct.
7.
December 15-17 --
O'Quinn a top Gore recount angel. Tied for second
among biggest donors to the Gore recount
campaign was Houston trial lawyer John O'Quinn, a frequent subject
of commentaries in this space (Aug. 4, 1999,
etc.). ("Jane Fonda, others pony up for Gore", AP/MSNBC, Dec. 8).
Aside from his role representing the state of Texas in the tobacco litigation
(May 22, 2000), O'Quinn is probably best
known for having reaped a huge fortune suing on the theory that silicone
breast implants cause autoimmune and related illnesses, a theory that
O'Quinn and his p.r. firm, Fenton Communications, still strive tenaciously
to keep alive -- a far more dogged refusal-to-concede than in the Gore
case, which lasted mere weeks. See also Doug Bandow, "Ending silicone
breast implant saga", TownHall.com, Dec.
13.
December 13-14 --
Supreme Court: forget that recount. Looks like it's
really, really over this time, but every time we allow ourselves to think
so, a hand resembling David Boies's pops out of the ground and starts pulling
us down as in the last scene of Carrie. (Charles Babington,
"High Court Overrules Gore Recount Plea", washingtonpost.com, Dec.
12; Supreme
Court opinions (PDF)). The courts are going to come out of this
one looking more partisan, partial and willful, writes Stuart Taylor, Jr.,
who predicted the Supreme Court's 5-4 split; but the real blame should
be laid on the Florida Supreme Court for having "betrayed its trust and
done grave damage to the rule of law". ("The Dangers of Judicial
Hubris", Slate, Dec.
11). "It should now be obvious to most people that the Rule of
Trial Lawyers isn’t a good substitute for the Rule of Law. ... it’s worth
noting that three of the four justices who voted for Al Gore’s 'adventures
in recounting' on Friday had been personal-injury trial lawyers."
(John H. Fund, "Saved from rule of trial lawyers", MS/NBC, Dec. 9).
And Christopher Caldwell, in a column making too many interesting points
to recount, asks the question: why did the candidates file most of the
Florida lawsuits against their own side, with Gore suing Democratic-run
counties and Bush suing those run by the GOP, the opposite of what you
might expect if the point of election
challenges is to expose and correct partisan irregularities?
("Bench Press", New York Press, Dec. 12).
December 13-14 --
Latest female Santa case. Donna Underwood of Mount
Hope, W.V. has sued a company that had hired her to play Santa Claus for
children at a mall in Beckley. "She said the company fired
her after one of the mall's managers complained about having a female
Santa." ("Woman Fights for Right to Be Mr. Claus", FoxNews.com,
Dec. 11). In October (see Oct. 12)
the Kentucky Commission on Human Rights said it was okay for Wal-Mart not
to employ a female Santa.
December 13-14 --
"Economy-class syndrome" class action. A Melbourne,
Australia law firm is filing a proposed class action on behalf of victims
of "economy-class syndrome" against airlines
and travel agents. The suit will claim that the complainants were not
warned that sitting for prolonged periods in cramped conditions might lead
to blood clots in the legs and elsewhere, and were not advised to get up
from time to time to walk about the cabin. (Alison Crosweller, "'Economy-class
syndrome' victims to sue", The Australian, Dec. 11).
December 13-14 --
Internet service disclaimers. Anxious to limit their
liability, Internet service providers
insert into their service agreements a lot of "defensive legalistic blather
designed to keep the company out of court", which taken literally would
place many of their ordinary users in violation for doing things like maintaining
multiple chats at once. They also reserve the right to change the
rules: "'They could suddenly demand you wear a bra and panties and dance
in the street, and you are contractually bound to it, the way this is written,'
says Andrew Weill, a partner at Benjamin, Weill & Mazer, an intellectual
property firm in San Francisco." In practice users treat the language
as a joke (but also are slower to sue). (John Dvorak, "Nihilists
at Home", Forbes, Oct.
2).
December 13-14 --
Hamilton's example. "Few men contributed as much
to the ratification of the Constitution as Alexander Hamilton, who wrote
the majority of The Federalist Papers. Hamilton worked as a lawyer. Unlike
the landed gentry, he had to earn a living. The individual whose economic
policies ensured the young Republic's survival did not amass a huge personal
fortune. In Alexander
Hamilton, American, Richard Brookhiser explains: 'His skill and success
put him in great demand . . . and if he did not become rich from his practice,
it was because of the interruptions of public life and because he charged
low fees.'
"Low fees? Those words seldom appear in stories about, for instance,
the tobacco lawsuits.
Hamilton didn't eat in a soup kitchen or live in a shelter, but he didn't
make enough to buy the era's equivalent of a sports team, either. And if
all lawyers followed his example, then audiences would not hoot and howl
during a certain intense Shakespearean scene." ("Law school" (editorial),
Richmond Times-Dispatch, Nov. 28).
December 11-12 --
What was the Florida court thinking? In Slate,
University of Utah law professor Mike McConnell clears up why the actions
of the Florida Supreme Court in the recount
case are properly reviewable by the federal courts: "Article II, Section
1 [of the Constitution] provides that electors [of a state] shall be appointed
'in such Manner as the Legislature thereof may direct.' Any significant
deviation from state statutory law is therefore a federal issue."
McConnell explains how the Florida high court has now (again) attempted
to impose a method for the counting of votes (and thus for the resultant
appointment of electors) markedly at odds with the manner laid down before
the election by its legislature, making it proper for the U.S. Supreme
Court to intervene a second time to vacate its action. And McConnell
raises the interesting question: if the Florida high court really thought
a statewide hand count advisable, why didn't it order one earlier, when
it had access to the same basic information and there was much more time
to conduct one? ("What was the Florida court thinking?", Dec.
9).
More: Michael Barone on how the Florida fiasco is likely to bring judicial
activism into further disrepute ("Red Queen rules", U.S. News &
World Report, Dec. 18). George Will finds lawyer David Boies
getting away with some pretty fast moves before the Sunshine State jurists
("Truth Optional", Washington Post, Dec.
10). The Chicago Tribune says the Florida court's "reckless
leaps of illogic not only have threatened the integrity of the election,
but also have risked tossing the nation into real turmoil." ("A Supreme
Blow for the Rule of Law" (editorial), Dec. 10)
December 11-12 --
"Stock Options: A Gold Mine For Racial-Discrimination Suits?".
Lucrative tactic for lawyers representing disgruntled minority employees
of firms like Microsoft, Gateway, Sun, Cisco and AOL: claim that had it
not been for racism your client would have gotten stock options.
Given the way these stocks have been behaving lately, they'd better hurry
up with this theory while the options are still worth something (Jordan
Pine and Linda Bean, DiversityInc.com, Dec.
5 (reg after first page teaser)).
December 11-12 --
New Jersey OKs retroactive tort legislation. "Filling
in for Gov. Christie Whitman, the New Jersey Senate president, Donald T.
DiFrancesco, [last month] signed into law a measure that eliminates a two-year
statute of limitations on wrongful death lawsuits involving victims of
murder or manslaughter. The law is meant to give distraught families
time to deal with the trauma of losing a loved one before turning to the
task of seeking compensation from the people, businesses or institutions
[emphasis added] they believe are responsible for the death. Yesterday's
measure applies retroactively, and therefore allows ... past victims' families
to sue, [according to a spokeswoman for Sen. DiFrancesco]. "Frank
Askin, founder of the constitutional litigation clinic at Rutgers University,
said that he did not see a problem with the clause being retroactive, so
long as the defendants in lawsuits had been convicted, thus establishing
beyond reasonable doubt that a murder or manslaughter did occur, and that
the evidence was clear and convincing." Askin's answer seems curiously
beside the point given that the most frequent financial targets of such
suits are sure to be not the actual individual killers, but the "businesses
or institutions" that will be accused of such sins as "negligent security"
(based on, say, allegedly inadequate lighting or patrolling of parking
lots). These defendants normally will not have been charged with
any criminal offense at all in connection with the incidents, let alone
had such guilt established beyond reasonable doubt, yet now are apparently
being opened to suit retroactively, despite the expiration of the statute.
Sen. DiFrancesco is expected to run for governor of New Jersey in 2001.
("New Law Ends Time Limits On Wrongful Death Lawsuits", New York Times,
Nov. 18) (more on
decay of statutes of limitation).
December 11-12 --
Florida lawyers' day jobs, cont'd. The election
isn't the only reason a lot of lawyers hang out in the Sunshine State these
days: "If South Florida is the Wild Wild West of the class-action
world, then the region's posse of plaintiff lawyers are the cowboys.
Some of the wealthiest, most prominent power brokers in the community,
these litigators have turned South Florida into a hotbed for class-action
lawsuits." (Julie Kay, "Along for the Ride", Miami Daily Business
Review, Oct. 24) (quotes our editor). St. Petersburg Times
columnist Bob Trigaux found in October that the state of Florida won the
not-coveted award for the year's worst suit ("The most frivolous lawsuit
award goes to ...", Oct.
4) (also quotes our editor) (and see Dec.
8-10).
December 11-12 --
Trustworthy professionals. Nurses, pharmacists and
veterinarians score highest in a survey of which occupations are viewed
as most honest and ethical; teachers, clergy, judges and police also do
well. Attorneys are "consistently rated among the top five professions
for prestige, but near the bottom for ethics and honesty." (Daniel B. Wood,
"Who people trust -- by profession", Christian Science Monitor,
Nov.
28).
