Overlawyered » Erin Brockovich

The twitching teens of LeRoy, N.Y.

Walter Olson — Sun, 11 Mar 2012 12:57:12 +0000

Susan Dominus explores an outbreak of tics and other neurological symptoms among teenage girls in a town near Rochester, as hyped on outlets like “Today” and CNN. Roving Tort-Finder Erin Brockovich, who parachuted into the town to blame possible chemical spills, does not come off well either: “Things only go wrong,’ [King's College London epidemiologist Simon] Wessely wrote in 1995, ‘when the nature of an outbreak is not recognized, and a fruitless and expensive search for toxins, fumes and gases begins.’” [NY Times Magazine]

Tags: Erin Brockovich, New York, toxic torts

The twitching teens of LeRoy, N.Y. is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Brockovich meets Tourette’s in Leroy, N.Y.

Walter Olson — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 12:07:54 +0000

“In non-Western countries, demons and witchcraft are still sometimes blamed for outbreaks of fainting and fits [PDF]. Pollution, poisoning, chemical weapons, and other environmental concerns are dominant in the West (a fact that makes Brockovich something of a mass hysteria machine). Some bloggers are now claiming that the upstate New York girls fell ill because of the HPV vaccine or fracking.” [Ruth Graham, Slate]

Tags: Erin Brockovich, New York state, toxic torts

Brockovich meets Tourette’s in Leroy, N.Y. is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

January 5 roundup

Walter Olson — Wed, 05 Jan 2011 12:04:34 +0000

Notables including Alan Morrison, Richard Epstein, Kathleen Sullivan sign amicus brief urging court review of multistate tobacco settlement [Daniel Fisher/Forbes, Christine Hall/CEI, Todd Zywicki]
“Congress rediscovers the Constitution” [Roger Pilon, WSJ]
Chief Justice John Roberts Jr. profiled [Roger Parloff, Fortune]
When outside investors stake divorce litigants: yes, there are legal ethics angles [Christine Hurt]
Mexico, long noted for strict gun control laws, has only one legal gun store [WaPo]
Judge throws out “parasitic” lawsuit piggybacking on Wisconsin drug-pricing settlement [Madison.com]
Erin Brockovich sequel: Talking back to the Environmental Working Group on dangers of chromium-6 in drinking water [Oliver, Logomasini/CEI]
“Little white lies” to protect the bar’s image [five years ago on Overlawyered]

Tags: constitutional law, divorce, Erin Brockovich, guns, John Roberts, litigation finance, Mexico, pharmaceuticals, tobacco settlement

January 5 roundup is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Below-average cancer rates found in town of Brockovich fame

Walter Olson — Tue, 14 Dec 2010 05:03:19 +0000

After alarmist coverage about how the water supply of rural Hinkley, Calif. is laced with carcinogenic chromium 6, it may have surprised some L.A. Times readers to learn that the town’s cancer rate is actually a bit below average. One interviewed local family blames the pollution for a variety of ills ranging from stroke to cognitive deficits to miscarriage to tumors in a pet dog. When the movie “Erin Brockovich” came out, it was pointed out that workers at the utility plant where the contamination originated had a life expectancy exceeding the California average.

P.S. I see that Tim Cavanaugh of Reason is on the case too.

Tags: Erin Brockovich, toxic torts

Below-average cancer rates found in town of Brockovich fame is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

November 23 roundup

Walter Olson — Tue, 23 Nov 2010 13:18:10 +0000

Growth of regulatory state makes lobbying more attractive path than innovation [Morris Panner, WaPo]
Long-awaited Norma Zager book flays Erin Brockovich role in Beverly Hills High School controversy [CJAC]
Colorado high court: no need to limit medical fee awards to sums plaintiffs actually paid [CCJL, Law Week Colorado]
Please, law firm marketers, don’t assume we’re in need of your services [Popehat]
Updates on prosecutorial silencing of pain treatment activist Siobhan Reynolds [Sullum, more, yet more, Balko]
Comments of NTSB official notwithstanding, riding motorcycle without helmet is no “public health issue” [Boaz, Cato] Watch out for more paternalism premised on government health care expenditures [Coyote]
No contracting out? Can California really be this screwed up? [Coyote]
Claim: railroad should have warned against walking on the right-of-way [six years ago on Overlawyered]

Tags: California, Colorado, damages, Erin Brockovich, public health

November 23 roundup is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

July 28 roundup

Walter Olson — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 05:08:07 +0000

“N.J. High Court to Review Drunken Drivers’ Right to Sue Bars That Served Them” [NJLJ]
Recipe for Oakland-style public unionism: “Public Safety Employer-Employee Cooperation Act” pending on Capitol Hill would impose public-service collective bargaining and labor arbitration on local governments nationwide [Cavanaugh/Reason, more, effects on police misconduct accountability]
iPhone class action of doubtful benefit to consumers [Hahn & Passell, Regulation 2.0]
U.K.: “Fired Top In-House Lawyer Testifies She Was Bullied by Underling” [ABA Journal]
Due this fall: Norma Zager book “Erin Brockovich and the Beverly Hills Greenscam” [Pelican Publishing] Weitz firm invokes Brockovich association to drum up Gulf spill business [Michael Daly, NYDN]
Paperwork nightmare: “Health Care Reform’s Terrible, Tiny Tax” [Megan McArdle]
Three views of Sherrod fiasco [Rick Esenberg, Radley Balko, John Derbyshire]
This time the feds look serious about foisting low-flow showerheads on unwilling consumers [Heritage Foundry]

Tags: bullying, cellphones, class actions, dramshop statutes, environment, Erin Brockovich, labor unions, New Jersey, United Kingdom

July 28 roundup is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Hinkley, Calif. cancer rates

Walter Olson — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 05:05:49 +0000

Michael Fumento has a noteworthy statistical update on the case that made Erin Brockovich famous.

Tags: Erin Brockovich, toxic torts

Hinkley, Calif. cancer rates is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

February 18 roundup

Walter Olson — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 05:08:29 +0000

Math curriculum wars in Seattle school district head for court [Seattle Times]
Stuart Taylor, Jr. reviews new Abigail Thernstrom book on the Voting Rights Act [New Republic]
Gail Wilensky: Dems could’ve gotten GOP votes for health care reform if they’d compromised on medical liability [The Hill]
Erin Brockovich swoops down on Florida cancer cluster [Fumento/CEI, more, also on Florida case]
Barry Goldwater was right: right-leaning bloggers favor lifting military gay ban by 62-37 margin in National Journal bloggers poll;
Jim Copland vs. Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter [Point of Law, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, more]
Why is there no iPod or iPhone equivalent for automobiles? Regulation might have something to do with it [Ryan Avent and more via Sullivan; McArdle and more (commenter: "Motorcycles would never, EVER be approved by NHTSA if they were invented today.")]
So reassuring: for now FTC says it’s “unlikely to actually investigate individual bloggers” [Lewis, NYLJ] More from late last year on commission’s semi-retreat on blogger freebies [Publisher's Weekly, GalleySmith, GalleyCat, Reason "Hit and Run", William S. Galkin] Icons to make disclosure easy [Louis Gray]

Tags: Arlen Specter, Erin Brockovich, FTC endorsement rules, military, NHTSA, publishers, schools, Seattle, Voting Rights Act

February 18 roundup is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

November 16 roundup

Walter Olson — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 05:04:20 +0000

German law firm demands that Wikipedia remove true information about now-paroled murderers [EFF] More: Eugene Volokh.
“Class Actions: Some Plaintiffs’ Lawyers Fed Up, Too?” [California Civil Justice]
Drop that Irish coffee and back away: “F.D.A. Says It May Ban Alcoholic Drinks With Caffeine” [NYT]
Profile of L.A. tort lawyers Walter Lack and Thomas Girardi, now in hot water following Nicaraguan banana-pesticide scandal [The Recorder; my earlier outing on "Erin Brockovich" case]
Federalist Society panel on federalism and preemption [BLT]
Confidence in the courts? PriceWaterhouseCoopers would rather face Satyam securities fraud lawsuits in India than in U.S. [Hartley]
Allegation: Scruggs continuing to wheel and deal behind bars [Freeland]
Not much that will be new to longtime readers here: “Ten ridiculous lawsuits against Big Business” [Biz Insider] P.S.: Legal Blog Watch had more lists back in June.

Tags: alcohol, banana pesticide litigation fraud, Dickie Scruggs, Erin Brockovich, FDA, federalism, Federalist Society, Germany, India, preemption, Thomas Girardi, Wikipedia

November 16 roundup is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Erin Brockovich in Florida

Walter Olson — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 13:16:36 +0000

An editorial in the Palm Beach Post advises reader caution about the glamorous tort-chaser’s efforts to drum up clients for Weitz & Luxenberg and Searcy Denney Scarola Barnhart & Shipley based on allegations of a cancer cluster with a claimed link to radioactive drinking water:

The lawyers discussed water samples from 10 homes of cancer patients that showed at least trace amounts of radium, a naturally occurring metal. Those studies, however, echoed Florida Department of Environmental Protection results from 50 randomly selected homes. …

…one resident concluded on a Web site after the meeting: “Last night, we were validated.” Amid the personal appeals came the business pitch. Attorney Jack Scarola explained the contingency contract, which means that clients would pay nothing, even if they lost. He urged residents to take their time reading the contract because if “you inform yourselves well, you will find it’s in your best interest to sign with us.”

Tags: chasing clients, Erin Brockovich, Florida, toxic torts

Erin Brockovich in Florida is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system