Tagged as:
asbestos,
bloggers and the law,
domestic violence,
eat drink and be merry,
insurance fraud,
loser pays,
New Zealand,
North Carolina,
oil industry,
Supreme Court,
Sweden,
Victim Compensation Fund
- “Public pool owners struggle to meet chair-lift deadline” [Springfield, Ill. Journal-Register, earlier]
- Punitive damages aren’t vested entitlement/property, so why the surprise they’d be cut off in an administered Chrysler bankruptcy? [Adler]
- More on how Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) reauthorization would chip away rights of accused [Bader, Heritage, earlier]
- Defending sale of raw milk on libertarian principle shouldn’t mean overlooking its real risks [Greg Conko/CEI; Mark Perry on one of many heavy-handed enforcement actions against milk vendors]
- More tributes to longtime Cato Institute chairman Bill Niskanen [Regulation magazine (PDF), earlier]
- Asbestos lawyers wrangle about alleged swiping of client files [Above the Law]
- “Nathan Chapman & Michael McConnell: Due Process as Separation of Powers” [SSRN via Rappaport, Liberty & Law]
Tagged as:
asbestos,
Cato Institute,
Chrysler,
colleges and universities,
constitutional law,
pools,
punitive damages
“A state court judge in Madison County, Ill., [has] ordered an end to the court’s practice of allotting trial dates to local asbestos plaintiffs firms before they had filed any cases. The order was hailed by defense advocacy groups like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the American Tort Reform Association, which have long criticized Madison County’s system on the grounds that it allowed local firms to market their trial slots to out-of-state plaintiffs.” [AmLaw Litigation Daily, sub-only; Chamber-backed Madison County Record]
Tagged as:
asbestos,
Madison County,
procedure
“This January, the justices stopped [attorney James] Wylder’s argument dead in its tracks once again, concluding that the McLean County Circuit Court should have dismissed his three negligence suits against Illinois Central Railroad. Wylder had argued that Illinois Central was responsible for the alleged asbestos-related injuries of workers at an asbestos plant because the asbestos had arrived there by rail.” [Chamber's Madison County Record, more; background on "asbestos conspiracy" line of Illinois cases, LNL]
Tagged as:
asbestos,
deep pocket,
Illinois,
Madison County,
railroads
- “A 4-Page Playdate Waiver? Is This the New Normal?” [Lenore Skenazy, Free-Range Kids; our 2000 post on "Rise of the High-School Sleepover Disclaimer"]
- Spirit Airlines sets what it calls DOTUC fee, for “Dept. of Transportation Unintended Consequences” [Stoll]
- How fairly are fathers treated in family court? [Nina Shapiro, Seattle Weekly via Alkon]
- “‘Insider’ Trading by the Representative Plaintiff in Shareholder Litigation” [Bainbridge]
- “Donation controversy focuses attention on Madison County asbestos litigation” [St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Chamber-backed LNL]
- Update: Appeals court reinstates Duluth doc’s defamation claims [DNT, earlier here, here, here; "bedside manner" criticism]
- U.K.: “‘Psychic’ Sally Morgan Sues Critics for £150,000 After Refusing $1 Million to Prove Her Powers” [D.J. Grothe, HuffPo] “She’ll be calling witnesses such as ‘an uncle, or father, or a man… with a b in his first name’.” [@thegagthief]
Tagged as:
airlines,
asbestos,
divorce,
family law,
libel slander and defamation,
Madison County,
recreation,
Seattle,
securities litigation,
United Kingdom
- Latest of periodic Towers Watson (formerly Towers Perrin/Tillinghast) surveys: tort costs fell in 2010 excluding oil spill liability [Towers Watson]
- “Will Newt Neuter the Courts?” [James Huffman, Defining Ideas] Obama’s high court appointees are fortunately friendlier toward civil liberties than he is [Steve Chapman]
- Unanimous Cal Supremes: companies not legally responsible for other companies’ asbestos products used as replacement for theirs [Cal Biz Lit, Jackson, Beck, Mass Tort Prof]
- Claim: jurors considered policy implications of verdict and you can’t have that [On Point; defense verdict in Baltimore, Maryland school-bullying case]
- Airfare display mandate: “‘Protecting’ Consumers from the Truth About the Cost of Government” [Thom Lambert, TotM]
- Critical assessment of AP-backed new copyright aggregator “NewsRight” [Mike Masnick] Promises not to be “Righthaven 2.0″ [Cit Media Law]
- Restatement (Third) of Torts drafters vs. Enlightenment scientific views of causation [David Oliver in June]
Tagged as:
airlines,
asbestos,
Baltimore,
Barack Obama,
bullying,
California,
deep pocket,
juries,
Newt Gingrich,
RightHaven,
taxes,
Tillinghast,
toxic torts
“A Mississippi court has reversed a $322 million asbestos verdict against Union Carbide — believed to be the largest in U.S. history — after the judge failed to disclose his own father had pending asbestos litigation against the same company. … The jury ruled for Brown even though nine treating physicians, an independent medical examiner and an X-ray technician all testified that the plaintiff had no symptoms of asbestos-related disease.” [Daniel Fisher, Forbes; earlier here, here and here]
Tagged as:
asbestos,
jackpot justice,
Mississippi,
recusals
- Prodded by UNICEF and the Hague Convention, countries cut back on international adoption, leaving kids to future of orphanage life [Reason.tv video, interviewing among others Harvard's Elizabeth Bartholet; more]
- Critics: lawyers are main winners in NYC rent settlement [NYDN] NYC rent stabilization rules gave landlords incentive to do luxury conversions [FWIW]
- Breast-aurant rivals in court: “Hooters Suing Twin Peaks, Which Previously Sued Grand Tetons” [Lowering the Bar, earlier]
- Jonathan Chait: it’ll be “useful” for debate if CEOs “fear for their personal safety” [Matt Welch, related, similar (see "Patterns of Intimidation"), also related to "occupation" as tactic]
- Ethics complaint charges that boilerplate affidavits led to fee approval for lawyer in Bronx Surrogate’s Court [ABA Journal]
- “Widow allowed to sue tobacco companies [whose products] husband didn’t use” [Florida, DBR] Appeals court: manufacturer not under legal duty to warn of asbestos injury caused by another manufacturer’s products [Business Insurance]
- Debit card fee: made in D.C. [Glenn Reynolds; related, Joe Weisenthal]
Tagged as:
asbestos,
banks,
family law,
NYC,
product liability,
tobacco
- Unauthorized practice of law (UPL) regulation tends to serve interests of lawyers, not consumers [Thomas Morgan, Gillian Hadfield and more, Eric Rasmusen, George Leef, William Henderson, all at last week's Truth on the Market symposium; Bader/Examiner; related Greenfield on "lawyer practitioner" idea] In which I am described as a “voice of reason” on the notion of lawyer-deregulation [Greenfield, Bader/Open Market, earlier]
- Trial lawyer stimulus: Obama jobs bill requires states to waive defenses to lawsuits [Joel Griffith, Big Government]
- Because it’s done such a great job with drugs: government panel calls for heavier FDA hand in restricting availability of medical devices [Wajert, Beck, FairWarning] Better idea: “Moving to a Safety-Only [FDA] System” [Tabarrok on Boldrin/Swamidass]
- “Do we really need a breastfeeding discrimination law?” [Hyman]
- Welcome forum-shoppers: “St. Clair County [Ill.] Courthouse overflowing with out-of-towner law suits” [Madison County Record]
- Lawyers in black-farmer action deploy Cornell’s Theodore Eisenberg in quest for $90.8 million payday [BLT]
- “Ohio Man Sues Coworkers Who Won’t Share Mega Millions Lottery Win” [AOL; more on the evergreen lawsuit genre of co-worker lottery suits]
Tagged as:
asbestos,
FDA,
forum shopping,
lottery,
Madison County,
unauthorized practice
- House Judiciary holds hearing on asbestos-claim fraud and abuse, with Prof. Brickman headlining [Main Justice, Legal NewsLine, WSJ law blog, PoL, Brickman testimony]
- Endangered species habitat in Nevada: “Elko County wants end to 15-year-old trout case” [AP]
- “Why is the Eastern District of Texas home to so many patent trolls?” [Ted Frank/PoL, more] Tech giants say multi-defendant patent suits place them at disadvantage [WSJ Law Blog] Plus: “Patent company has big case, no office” [John O'Brien, Legal NewsLine]
- Lawsuit settlement and the lizard brain [Popehat]
- “U.S. Commission on Civil Rights Looks Into Eminent Domain Abuses” [Kanner, Somin] U.K.: “Squatters could be good for us all, says judge in empty homes ruling” [Telegraph]
- Madison mob silences Roger Clegg at news conference where he releases new study of UW race bias [ABA Journal, Althouse]
- Life in Australia: “Another motorized-beer-cooler DUI” [Lowering the Bar]
Tagged as:
asbestos,
Australia,
Eastern District of Texas,
eminent domain,
endangered species,
Lester Brickman,
Nevada,
patent trolls,
settlement,
United Kingdom
Illinois courts may finally be tiring of liberal applications of “civil conspiracy” doctrine under which “Asbestos companies bear a sort of collective guilt and thus plaintiffs can sue companies they never actually had any contact with. Jurors in Bloomington have ordered up more than $120 million in damages against companies including Honeywell and Owens-Illinois, even though those companies never sold products to the plaintiffs, or employed them in their factories.” [Daniel Fisher, Forbes]
Tagged as:
asbestos,
Illinois
- Burning Man, risk, and self-reliance [Claire Gordon, related]
- Jacob Sullum challenges Mark “tax-the-snacks” Bittman [Reason; related, Rick Esenberg] “Fat tax” would be hard to target, hard to enforce, disliked by voters [David Gratzer]
- “CSX claims racketeering in Pittsburgh law firm’s legal tactics” [Post-Gazette; earlier here, here, here, etc.] A different view: Max Kennerly.
- Complaints over new class-action law in Canada [Reuters]
- Minnesota preacher sues Rachel Maddow [TVNewser, Mother Jones]
- Does the new Texas loser-pays bill go far enough? [Kyle Baum, WLF, earlier]
- Tell us about it: “Why the Right to Criticize Lawyers is Vital” [Hans Bader, CEI]
Tagged as:
asbestos,
Canada,
claims fraud,
class actions,
libel slander and defamation,
loser pays,
obesity,
Pittsburgh,
taxes,
Texas
- Illinois prisoner sues for land to start his own country [AP]
- “Have you got a piece of this lawsuit?” Important Roger Parloff piece on litigation finance [Fortune, now out from paywall] “Hedge Funds Finance Medical Malpractice Claims” [Jeff Segal, Michael Sacopulos and Wayne Oliver, Forbes via White Coat]
- Criminalizing bad parenting: more scrutiny of “Caylee’s Law” proposals [Steve Chapman, L.A. Times and Boston Globe editorials, New Scientist]
- Deal with ADA complainant averts closure of popular Popponesset Marketplace in Mashpee, Mass. [Cape Cod News]
- Because it’s not as if NYC needs electricity or anything: Bloomberg gives $50 million to Sierra Club campaign to stop coal burning by utilities [WaPo] “Environmental justice” arguments deployed against pipeline that would bring Alberta tar sands oil to U.S. [John Kendrick, WLF]
- Unimpaired have permanent right to sue: Fla. high court throws out asbestos-reform law [PBP]
- Red tape demanded by quality-of-life progressivism suffices to strangle poorer urban economies [Walter Russell Mead]
Tagged as:
asbestos,
Chevron,
disabled rights,
environment,
Florida,
litigation finance,
Massachusetts,
medical malpractice,
Michael Bloomberg,
prisoners,
regulation and its reform
“In a motion filed Tuesday, attorneys for Union Carbide said Circuit Judge Eddie H. Bowen neglected to notify defense lawyers that his parents had been involved in similar asbestos litigation and had settled a case against Union Carbide.” A rural Mississippi jury earlier this month returned the largest asbestos verdict in American history, $322 million, against Union Carbide and other defendants. [AP/Stamford Advocate; Jackson Clarion-Ledger] More problems with verdict: Point of Law.
Tagged as:
asbestos,
jackpot justice,
Mississippi,
recusals
Tagged as:
Alabama,
asbestos,
Cato Institute,
Donald Trump,
immigration law,
Mark Lanier,
Mississippi,
movies film and videos,
Prop 65,
South Carolina,
train
For years the Lone Star State led the nation in the volume of asbestos litigation filed in its courts, much of it dubious, but that has changed drastically in recent years. A new report from the Texas Civil Justice League (PDF) says the state’s reforms have worked well:
The great bulk of asbestos litigation in Texas resulted from entrepreneurial activity by lawyers who filed lawsuits on behalf of tens of thousands of people suffering no discernable illness. Enterprising lawyers then decided to replicate the asbestos-litigation model with silica litigation, again filing cases on behalf of thousands of people suffering no injury. With the passage of S.B. 15 in 2005, the Texas Legislature took a leading role in the national effort to end the abusive aspects of asbestos and silica litigation.
Claims without significant impairment were moved to an “inactive docket”, while cases alleging malignancy — which make up most of the docket of what are regarded as stronger asbestos cases — were expedited in several ways, particularly for claimants who were alive during the process. At the same time, Texas law and judicial practice were developing in other ways so as to allow easier dismissal of unmeritorious silica claims, and to hold asbestos claimants to a standard of causation more similar to that of other toxic torts (Borg-Warner v. Flores). The study examines and defends these developments as well. More: Chamber-backed Legal NewsLine.
Tagged as:
asbestos,
silicosis,
Texas
