Overlawyered » Katrina http://overlawyered.com Chronicling the high cost of our legal system Tue, 14 Feb 2012 11:28:52 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 en hourly 1 September 12 roundup http://overlawyered.com/2011/09/september-12-roundup/ http://overlawyered.com/2011/09/september-12-roundup/#comments Mon, 12 Sep 2011 12:37:28 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=24482
  • Ninth Circuit: Holland America cruise line not responsible for customer’s swimming mishap at Mexican beach [Metropolitan News-Enterprise]
  • “President Perry would mean high noon for trial lawyers” [Kurt Schlichter, Washington Examiner; Politico; Prof. Bainbridge ("If the trial lawyers hate Rick Perry, maybe I should reconsider him")] Christie praises Perry’s “laudable” record on liability reform [PolitickerNJ] “Perry’s ‘loser pays’ is an economic winner” [Patrick Gleason and Jason Russell, Washington Times; Mass Tort Prof; background] Missing the point on the Texas med-mal experience [Coyote, earlier here, here, etc.] A bad sign: Gov. Perry reaches out to Maricopa County sheriff Joe Arpaio [NRO, background] Another: courting social conservative vote, he pledges interference in state marriage law Houston Chronicle.
  • Alan Lange and Tom Dawson discuss their Dickie Scruggs book [Above the Law, background]
  • Hospital pays $25M to settle lawsuit charging lack of Katrina preparedness [White Coat]
  • Democratic majority on CPSC plans to ram through burdensome CPSIA testing and certification rule next month [Commissioner Nancy Nord, more]
  • For matching willing buyers with sellers through Canadian pharmacy ads, Google agrees to pay fine of $500 million, a forfeiture geared to the revenue the pharmacies (not it) took in from the ads [Atlantic Wire, Chris Fountain]
  • “Woman Won’t Have to Pay for Her Own Cavity Search” [Lowering the Bar]
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    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2011/09/september-12-roundup/feed/ 3     Get that anti-Scruggs blogger! Get him! http://overlawyered.com/2010/07/get-that-anti-scruggs-blogger-get-him/ http://overlawyered.com/2010/07/get-that-anti-scruggs-blogger-get-him/#comments Thu, 15 Jul 2010 20:58:31 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=18288 During the long series of scandals that brought down former tort potentate Richard (”Dickie”) Scruggs, of tobacco-asbestos-Katrina-mass tort fame, no blogger achieved the status of “must” reading more consistently than David Rossmiller of Insurance Coverage Blog. Now Alan Lange of Mississippi site YallPolitics (and co-author of Kings of Tort, a book on the scandal) has posted a massive document dump of emails between the Scruggs camp and its public relations agency, as made public in later litigation (see also). It shows the principals:

    * boasting of their success in manipulating major media outlets to inflict bad publicity on the targets of Scruggs’s suits;

    * plotting ways of striking back against critics — in particular, Rossmiller — with tactics including going after him with legal process, as well as creating fake commenters and whole blogs to sow doubt about his reporting;

    * wondering who they might pay to secure “Whistleblower of the Year” awards, or something similar, for their clients;

    * apparently oblivious, just days before the fact, as to how the ceiling was going to cave in on them because of Judge Henry Lackey’s willingness to go to law enforcement to report a bribe attempt from the Scruggs camp.

    The whole set of documents, along with Rossmiller’s summary and reaction, really must be seen to be believed. It will easily provide hours of eye-opening reading, both for those who followed the Scruggs affair in particular, and for everyone interested in how ambitious lawyers manipulate press coverage to their advantage — and how they can seek to use the law against their blogger critics. (& welcome readers from Forbes.com and Victoria Pynchon’s “On the Docket” column there).

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    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2010/07/get-that-anti-scruggs-blogger-get-him/feed/ 4     January 14 roundup http://overlawyered.com/2010/01/january-14-roundup-3/ http://overlawyered.com/2010/01/january-14-roundup-3/#comments Thu, 14 Jan 2010 05:09:51 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=15558
  • Anti-vaccine activist files defamation suit over much-discussed Wired article against Dr. Paul Offit, author Amy Wallace and Conde Nast [Orac and many followup posts]
  • “Kid Suspended for Bringing Peppermint Oil to School” [Free-Range Kids]
  • Eric Turkewitz names his favorite Blawg Reviews of the year and has kind words for ours;
  • “New Guide to FTC Disclosure Requirements for Product Endorsements” from Citizen Media Law;
  • U.K. safety panel: press misreported our views, we do want businesses to grit icy public paths [update to earlier post]
  • Another kid trespassing on the railroad tracks, another case headed to court [Oregonian]
  • “Katrina negligence lawsuit has implications for all hospitals” [USA Today, earlier]
  • “Judicial Misconduct: The Mice Guard The Cheese” [WSJ Law Blog on this Houston Chronicle piece]
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    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2010/01/january-14-roundup-3/feed/ 0     Hospital emergency preparedness suits http://overlawyered.com/2010/01/hospital-emergency-preparedness-suits/ http://overlawyered.com/2010/01/hospital-emergency-preparedness-suits/#comments Mon, 04 Jan 2010 13:27:48 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=15390 Hurricane Katrina legal aftermath, cont’d: “About 200 lawsuits have been filed in Louisiana alleging that these institutions [hospitals and nursing homes] are liable for the deaths and for the suffering of other patients who survived because corporate failure to plan adequately for flooding and implement evacuation constituted negligence or medical malpractice.” [New York Times] (& welcome Above the Law, On the Record readers)

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    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2010/01/hospital-emergency-preparedness-suits/feed/ 3     “Lawsuits put global warming on more dockets” http://overlawyered.com/2009/12/lawsuits-put-global-warming-on-more-dockets/ http://overlawyered.com/2009/12/lawsuits-put-global-warming-on-more-dockets/#comments Tue, 01 Dec 2009 05:33:39 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=14950 USA Today on the Fifth Circuit’s recent ruling on a Katrina case, Comer v. Murphy Oil. More on the case at Point of Law here, here, and here.

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    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2009/12/lawsuits-put-global-warming-on-more-dockets/feed/ 0     November 20 roundup http://overlawyered.com/2009/11/november-20-roundup-2/ http://overlawyered.com/2009/11/november-20-roundup-2/#comments Fri, 20 Nov 2009 12:05:51 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=14823
  • Judge finds Army Corps of Engineers negligent in Katrina levees suit [WSJ Law Blog, Krauss/PoL]
  • Feds raise the Gibson guitar factory in Nashville on an exotic-woods rap [The Tennessean] Eric Scheie has a few things to say about what turns out to be a remarkably comprehensive federal regulatory scheme on trade in wood enacted with little public discussion as part of the 2008 farm bill [Classical Values]
  • In the mail: Amy Bach’s new book Ordinary Injustice: How America Holds Court, very favorably reviewed by Scott Greenfield not long ago (AmLaw Daily interview with author);
  • Pension tension: link roundup on CALPERS mess [Reynolds]
  • Maine passes very sweeping law banning marketers from collecting or using wide array of information about minors, but state acknowledges that much of the law probably wouldn’t pass constitutional muster and won’t be enforced [Valetk/Law.com, Qualters/NLJ]
  • StationStops, which provides a mobile app for NYC commuter schedules, seems to have survived its legal tussle with New York’s MTA and thanks those who helped call attention to the story, with generous words for a certain “great blog”;
  • Lawsuits cost Chicago taxpayers $136 million last year [Fran Spielman, Sun-Times]
  • Blawg Review #238 is from Joel Rosenberg and bears the title, “Celebrating the International Day of Tolerance … and the NRA’s Birthday” [WindyPundit]
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    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2009/11/november-20-roundup-2/feed/ 1     July 14 roundup http://overlawyered.com/2009/07/july-14-roundup/ http://overlawyered.com/2009/07/july-14-roundup/#comments Tue, 14 Jul 2009 10:32:31 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=12275
  • Is it OK if Boulder County prosecutor Tweets the murder trial while in progress? [Colorado Daily]
  • Pierce O’Donnell terms his gigantic Katrina/New Orleans lawsuit a “crapshoot” [Hiltzik, L.A. Times]
  • Massachusetts hospital not responsible for third-party injuries from just-released colonoscopy patient’s auto accident [Ronald Miller]
  • Controversial “citizen suit” provision was removed from environment bill as one of the compromises to obtain House passage [Global Climate Law Blog and more, earlier] More: Coyote.
  • “I was shocked at the number of cases the neurologist, radiologists, and especially the neurosurgeon had against them.” [ER Stories with a first-person lawsuit tale]
  • I liked Dole Food better when it was a victim of the litigation system rather than an aggressor [L.A. Business Journal, NLJ, L.A. Times "The Envelope" on company's suit against Swedish documentary filmmaker; underlying banana-worker pesticide litigation scandal; CJAC]
  • Virginia Postrel on kidney donation, altruism, and policy [The Atlantic]
  • Grown kids appear in court to exonerate dad who spent nearly 20 years in prison on false charges of abusing them [The Columbian, Wash., via Obscure Store] More: Coyote.
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    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2009/07/july-14-roundup/feed/ 3     April 24 roundup http://overlawyered.com/2009/04/april-24-roundup-3/ http://overlawyered.com/2009/04/april-24-roundup-3/#comments Fri, 24 Apr 2009 19:59:04 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=10783
  • The customer who couldn’t be stopped? “Family of car salesman killed in 90 mph test drive gets $13M” [Obscure Store]
  • Arizona bar disciplinary authorities move toward possible suspension for two high-volume consumer lawyers [ABA Journal]
  • Trial begins on claim U.S. Army Corps of Engineers liable for Katrina levee breaks [John Schwartz, New York Times]
  • Always good for copy: now Jack Thompson is riling Utah lawmakers [GameSpot]
  • America’s Most Irresponsible Public Figure® (that’d be RFK Jr.) is now blasting Obama [Brian Ross, ABCNews.com "Blotter" via ShopFloor]
  • “Burning of Surreal Boat Sparks $1M Artists Rights Suit” [Heller/OnPoint News]
  • Nice profile of author Philip K. Howard [The New Yorker] And a big spread from the Examiner’s Quin Hillyer including a Howard profile, some tidbits on Washington politics and why overly legalistic schools can’t teach.
  • Law firm of Dewey, Cheatham, & Howe moves into Somali pirate defense [satire, h/t @trafficcourt]
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    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2009/04/april-24-roundup-3/feed/ 1     March 25 roundup http://overlawyered.com/2009/03/march-25-roundup-2/ http://overlawyered.com/2009/03/march-25-roundup-2/#comments Wed, 25 Mar 2009 11:20:17 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=10022
  • Driver on narcotic painkillers crashes car, lawyer says pharmacists liable [Las Vegas Review-Journal]
  • Who’s that cyber-chasing the Buffalo Continental Air crash? Could it be noted San Francisco-based plaintiff’s firm Lieff Cabraser? [Turkewitz]
  • Axl Rose no fan of former Guns N’ Roses bandmate or his royalty-seeking attorneys [Reuters]
  • Cheese shop owner speaks out against punitive tariff on Roquefort, now due to take effect April 23 [video at Reason "Hit and Run", earlier]
  • Too many cops and too many lawsuits in city schools, says Errol Louis [NY Daily News]
  • Law professor and prominent blogger Ann Althouse is getting married — to one of her commenters. Congratulations! [her blog, Greenfield] Kalim Kassam wonders when we can look forward to the Meg Ryan film “You’ve Got Blog Comments”.
  • “Louisiana panel recommends paying fees of wrongfully accused Dr. Anna Pou” (charged in deaths of patients during Hurricane Katrina) [NMissCommentor]
  • U.K.: “Privacy Group Wants To Shut Down Google Street View” [Mashable]
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    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2009/03/march-25-roundup-2/feed/ 2     March 24 roundup http://overlawyered.com/2009/03/march-24-roundup/ http://overlawyered.com/2009/03/march-24-roundup/#comments Tue, 24 Mar 2009 12:42:20 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=9988
  • Suit by Hurricane Katrina victims against Army Corps of Engineers set for trial April 20 [WSJ law blog, Frankel/AmLaw Daily, earlier]
  • Some criminal defense arguments are creative, which doesn’t mean they’ll work [Ambrogi/Legal Blog Watch]
  • Words to avoid in real-estate ads: safe, quiet, family-friendly, bachelor’s, walking distance [UrbanDigs.com, New York Post] And better not mention the quadruple murder in the house either [Fountain]
  • The questionable science of repressed memories [Joann Wypijewski, The Nation]
  • National coverage of 14 states’ ban on fish-nibble pedicures [WSJ via OpenMarket; earlier]
  • States move to revoke medical license of Dr. Ray Harron, accused of falsely diagnosing thousands of plaintiffs in asbestos cases [(Chamber-backed) SE Texas Record]
  • Conan tales are public domain in New Zealand, but online reading of them there draws nastygram anyway [BoingBoing and followup]
  • “Wrestler stages a fall at 7-Eleven in attempt to collect $50,000″ [Obscure Store, Philadelphia Daily News]
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