A Christmas event in Mosgiel, a small village in New Zealand, decided, for liability reasons, not to allow children to sit on Santa’s lap; instead, the children conveyed their Christmas wishes from decorated “elf chairs.” (AFP, Nov. 28).
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New Zealand
Tipple your way to court, 2003: “Shouldn’t have let him get so drunk” (Australia), May 12. 2002: “‘Woman freezes; sues city, cabbie’“, Sept. 18-19; “Wasn’t his fault for lying drunk under truck“, Aug. 16-18; “Hey, no fair talking about the pot” (highway rollover), Apr. 12-14; “European workplace notes” (employer responsible for vodka overdose), Feb. 25-26; “‘Drunken Driver’s Widow Wins Court’s OK To Sue Carmaker’“, Feb. 25-26. 2001: “‘Teen hit by train while asleep on tracks sues railroad’“, Dec. 12; “‘Man suing after drunken driving crash’“, Aug. 20-21; “Don’t rock the Coke machine“, Jul. 20-22; “Court says tipsy topless dancer can sue club“, Jul. 3-4; “Jury: drunk driver hardly responsible at all for fatal crash“, Jun. 15-17; “It was the bar’s fault“, Apr. 13-15; “‘Court upholds workers compensation for drunk, injured worker’“, Apr. 6-8; “‘Woman who drove drunk gets $300,000′” (Ontario), Feb. 7-8 (& see Sept. 24, second case: $18 million); “‘All you can drink’ winner sues over fall“, Jan. 31-Feb. 1. 2000: “Zapped pylon-climber sues liquor-servers, utility“, March 6. 1999: “Personal responsibility wins a round” (judge rejects case from Pa. man who got drunk and climbed high voltage catenary), Sept. 17-19.
Maybe crime does pay, 2003: “‘Robber sues clerk who shot him during holdup’“, May 6; “Not an April Fool’s joke“, Apr. 1; “‘Burglars to be banned from suing victims’” (U.K.), Mar. 10-11; “‘Family of electrocuted thief gets $75,000′“, Feb. 26; “Tried to outrun Coast Guard in chase“, Feb. 14-16; “‘No suits by lawbreakers, please’“, Jan. 27-28 (& Jan. 31-Feb. 2). 2002: “‘Mom who drugged kids’ ice cream sues’“, Nov. 1-3; “‘Patient sues hospital for letting him out on night he killed’” (Australia, psychiatric case), Oct. 16-17; “‘Crime pays for teenage lout’” (Australia), Sept. 3-4; “‘After stabbing son, mom sues doctors’“, May 31-Jun. 2; “‘Barbed wire might hurt burglars, pensioner warned’“, May 28-29; “Hospital rapist sues hospital“, May 22-23 (& Mar. 5-7, 2003: court dismisses case); “Lawyers say taxpayers owe $41 million to smuggled illegals’ survivors“, May 10-12; “L.A. police sued, and sued” (by family of gunman killed in shootout), Apr. 12-14; “Should have arrested him faster” (frostbite in the open), Mar. 1-3; “Vandal’s dad sues store over blaze“, Feb. 6-7; “Paroled prisoner: pay for not supervising me“, Jan. 4-6. 2001: “Firefighter’s demand: back pay for time facing criminal rap“, Aug. 29-30; “‘Man suing after drunken driving crash’“, Aug. 20-21; “‘Criminals could sue their victims’” (U.K.), July 26; “‘Woman who drove drunk gets $300,000′” (Ontario), Feb. 7-8; “Crime does pay” (Denver burglar shot by police gets $1.2 million), Feb. 2. 2000: “‘Burglar sues for compensation’” (Australia), Nov. 21 (& see Apr. 1-2, 2002); “‘Fla. DUI Teen Sues Police’” (should have arrested him, he argues), Nov. 14; “Killed his mother, now suing his psychiatrists“, Oct. 2; “Not my fault, I” (woman who murdered daughter sues psychiatrists), May 17; “$65 million Texas verdict: driver at twice the legal blood limit” (drunk driver’s estate sues automaker), March 28; “From the labor arbitration front” (disallowed firing of employee who pleaded no contest to larceny), March 28; “Crime does pay, cont’d” (North Hollywood, Calif. bank robber killed in police shootout), Feb. 23 (& update March 23: mistrial declared after jury deadlock in suit by robber’s family); “County to pay ‘mountain man’ burglar $412,500“, Feb. 15. 1999: “‘Two men shot in suspected drug deal win $1.7 million’“, Dec. 15 (& update June 6, 2001: appeals court overturns); “California’s worst?” (bank robber sues after hidden tear-gas device goes off in loot), Dec. 14; “Drunks have rights, too“, Dec. 1 (& update Jul. 24-25, 2000: appeals court throws out award). See also our editor’s article on New York’s “mugger millionaire” case.
Pools & swimming, 2003: “‘Lawyers spoil fun’” (Ga. water park), May 19; “‘Florida jury awards $100M for pool accident’“, Feb. 13. 2002: “Australia’s litigation debate“, May 24-26. 2001: “Australian roundup” (bodysurfer), Nov. 23-25; “Needed: assumption of risk“, Jul. 27-29. 2000: “‘How’s the pool?’” (Las Vegas Strip’s Frontier Hotel recommended for its pre-big-lawsuits deep end), Feb. 23; “Latest shallow-end pool dive case“, Jan. 24. 1999: “Razor wire on the pool fence” (homeowner finds it too big a legal risk to let local kids swim), Jul. 27.
“Should have watched his step answering call of nature“, Mar. 8-9, 2003.
Couldn’t help eating it, 2003: “Give me my million“, Jun. 20-22; “Judge tosses McDonald’s obesity case“, Jan. 23 (& Jan. 27-28); “Anti-diet activist hopes to sue Weight Watchers“, Jan. 13-14. 2002: Letter to the editor, Oct. 23; “Claim: docs should have done more to help woman quit smoking and lose weight“, Sept. 18-19; “Personal responsibility roundup“, Sept. 12; “Fat suits, cont’d“, Jul. 26-28; “‘Ailing man sues fast-food firms’“, Jul. 25; “Sin-suit city“, Jun. 10; “McArdle on food as next-tobacco“, May 27; “‘Targeting “big food”‘“, Apr. 29-30; “Life imitates parody: ‘Whose Fault Is Fat?‘”, Jan. 23-24. 2001: “‘Diabetic German judge sues Coca-Cola for his health condition’“, Nov. 18. 2000: “‘Caffeine added to sodas aims to addict — study’“, Aug. 18-20. 1999: “Toffee maker sued for tooth irritation“, Nov. 5-7; “Not just our imagination” (calls for class-action suits against fast-food, meat purveyors), Sept. 25-26.
Warning labels and disclaimers, 2003: “‘Wacky Warning Label’ winners“, Jan. 13-14. 2002: “Satirical-disclaimer Hall of Fame” (Australian humor magazine), Oct. 28-29; “‘Warning …’” (Dave Barry humor column), Aug. 16-18; “Read the label, then ignore it if you like” (flammable carpet adhesive), Jul. 12-14; “Pitcher, hit by line drive, sues maker of baseball bat“, Apr. 19-21; “Injured in ‘human hockey puck’ stunt“, Mar. 18; “‘Before you cheer … “Sign here”‘“, Mar. 15-17; “Didn’t know cinema seats retracted“, Feb. 13-14; “Warning on fireplace log: ‘risk of fire’“, Jan. 25-27. 2001: “Et tu, UT?” (Utah will not enforce parent-signed release forms for children), Nov. 16-18; “Disclaimer rage?“, Oct. 15; “Needed: assumption of risk“, Jul. 27-29; “Quite an ankle sprain” (failure to warn of gopher holes in parks), Apr. 20-22; “‘Wacky Warning Label’ winners“, Jan. 19-21. 2000: “Columnist-fest” (Girl Scout horseback riding disclaimer), Apr. 6; “Rise of the high school sleepover disclaimer“, Mar. 22; “From our mail sack: skin art disclaimers” (tattoo consent form), Mar. 1; “Weekend reading: columnist-fest” (Laura Pulfer on warning labels), Feb. 5-6; “Never iron clothes while they’re being worn” (Wacky Warning Label contest winners), Jan. 18 (& letter to editor, Jan. 21-23). 1999: “Christmas lawyer humor” (Yuletide greetings consisting entirely of disclaimers), Dec. 23-26; “Weekend reading” (disclaimers “creeping into nearly every aspect of American life”), Jul. 31-Aug. 1.
Blamed for suicides, 2003: “‘No suits by lawbreakers, please’“, Jan. 27-28 (& Jan. 31-Feb. 2). 2002: “The blame for suicide“, Sept. 25-26; “‘Addictive’ computer game blamed for suicide“, Apr. 3-4. 2001: “Utah: rescue searchers sued“, Nov. 26, 2001; “‘Shooting range sued over suicide’“, Sept. 27; “$3 million verdict for selling gun used in suicide“, Sept. 17; “‘Suicide- Attempt Survivor Sues’” (department that issued cop his gun), Jan. 24-25.
Excuse syndromes, 2002: “Blue-ribbon excuses” (sex on train), Oct. 7-8; “So depressed he stole $300K“, Mar. 19; “Rough divorce predisposed him to hire hitman“, Feb. 13-14. 2001: “Stories that got away” (multiple-personality defense), Jul. 23; “‘Pseudologica fantastica’ won’t fly” (judge’s fibs on resume), Jun. 7 (& Aug. 20-21); “Judge buys shopaholic defense in embezzling“, May 25-27; “The malaria drug made him do it“, Mar. 28. 2000: “Blue-ribbon excuses” (baked goods mutilator, lawyer pleading incompetent self-representation), Oct. 6-9; “Predestination made him do it” (Pope’s assassin and Fatima prophecy), June 6; “Victim of the century?” (misbehaving school principal collects disability benefits for sexual compulsion), Jun. 2-4; “Prozac made him rob banks“, Mar. 1; “Blue-ribbon excuse syndromes“, Feb. 12-13; “Latest excuse syndromes“, Jan. 13-14. 1999: “Doctor sues insurer, claims sex addiction“, Oct. 13.
“Lightning bolt in amusement park’s parking lot“, Jun. 23, 2003; “‘Woman attacked by goose sues county’“, Jan. 27-28, 2003; “Quite an ankle sprain” (watch where you’re going in parks), Apr. 20-22, 2001.
“MIT sued over student’s nitrous-oxide death“, Feb. 25, 2003; “By reader acclaim: ‘Parents file suit over student’s drug death’” (abuse of Oxycontin), Jul. 25, 2001.
“Take care of myself? That’s the doc’s job“, Feb. 14-16, 2003; “Claim: docs should have done more to help woman quit smoking and lose weight” (Pa.), Sept. 18-19, 2002.
“Satirical-disclaimer Hall of Fame” (Australian humor magazine), Oct. 28-29, 2002; “Tobacco: Boeken record” (The Onion parody), June 19, 2001; “Jury orders ‘Big Chocolate’ to pay $135 billion to obese consumers” (parody), Aug. 3, 2000; “This side of parodies” (fictional account of self-inflicted icepick injury), Oct. 5-6, 1999.
Sports risks: “Sis-Boom-Sue” (cheerleading), Jan. 15-16, 2003; “Skating first, instructions later“, Sept. 25-26, 2002; “Pitcher hit by line drive sues maker of baseball bat“, Apr. 19-21, 2002; “Australian roundup” (Perth bodysurfer), Nov. 23-25, 2001; “Needed: assumption of risk” (baseball thrown into stands, skydiving), July 27-29; “‘Lawsuits could tame ski slopes’“, Feb. 6, 2001; “Promising areas for suits” (foul-ball cases and other stadium injuries), Dec. 7, 2000; “Teams liable for fans’ safety” (Colorado: hockey puck hit into stands), Aug. 15; “‘Skydivers don’t sue’“, May 26-29; “Trips on shoelace, demands $10 million from Nike“, April 7-9, 2000.
Gambling: Letter to the editor, Oct. 23; “Personal responsibility roundup“, Sept. 12, 2002; “Sin-suit city“, Jun. 10; “‘Next tobacco’ watch: gambling“, May 20-21, 2002 (& May 31); “‘Gambling addiction’ class action” (Quebec), June 20, 2001.
Hot beverages: “Litigation good for the country?” (Carl T. Bogus), Aug. 19, 2002; “British judge rejects hot-drink suits“, Mar. 29-31, 2002 (& Aug. 10, 2000); “By reader acclaim” (Illinois case; complainant sues mother), Jan. 11, 2001; “‘Court says warning about hot coffee unnecessary’” (Nevada Supreme Court), Jul. 18, 2000; “Now it’s hot chocolate“, Apr. 4, 2000.
“‘Family of boy injured by leopard may sue’“, Jul. 18, 2002; “Skinny-dipping with killer whale: ‘incredibly bad judgment’“, Sept. 21, 1999 (Oct. 7 update: case dropped).
“Wasn’t his fault for lying drunk under truck“, Aug. 16-18, 2002; “‘Win Big! Lie in Front of a Train!’“, Jun. 26-27, 2002 (& Jul. 12-14); “Australian roundup” (graffiti artist on train), Nov. 23-25, 2001; “Hit after laying on RR tracks; sues railroad“, Oct. 23, 2001.
“‘Man awarded $60,000 for falling over barrier’“, Mar. 5, 2002.
“Utah: rescue searchers sued“, Nov. 26, 2001.
“Suit blames drugmaker for Columbine“, Oct. 24-25, 2001.
“Mosh pit mayhem“, Sept. 7-9, 2001.
“Urban legend alert: six ‘irresponsibility’ lawsuits“, Aug. 27-28, 2001.
“Don’t rock the Coke machine“, Jul. 20-22, 2001.
“Tobacco: Boeken record“, June 19, 2001.
Scary!: “From dinner party to court” (U.K. hypnotist), May 22, 2001; “Hypnotist sued by entranced spectator“, March 3-14, 2001; “Girl puts head under guillotine; sues when hurt“, March 8, 2000; “Haunted house too scary“, Jan. 6, 2000; “‘Scared out of business’” (decline of community Halloween haunted houses), Nov. 5-7, 1999.
Stop having fun (children’s recreation): see schools page.
“Tendency of elastic items to recoil well known“, Mar. 6, 2001.
“By reader acclaim” (sues alleged crack dealers over own addiction), Jan. 11, 2001.
“Smoker’s suit nixed in Norway“, Dec. 18-19, 2000; “Personal responsibility takes a vacation in Miami” (Engle tobacco verdict), July 8, 1999.
“Highway responsibility” (Derrick Thomas suit), Nov. 28, 2000.
“Fat tax proposed in New Zealand“, Oct. 31, 2000.
“More things you can’t have: raw-milk cheeses“, Oct. 3, 2000; “More things you can’t have” (unpasteurized cider, New England square dances), Sept. 27, 1999; “More things you can’t have” (rare hamburgers, food sent to summer camp), August 9, 1999.
“Smoking and responsibility: columnists weigh in” (after Florida verdict), Jul. 28-30, 2000.
“‘”Whiplash!” America’s most frivolous lawsuits’” (book collects cases), Jul. 14-16, 2000.
“Inmate: you didn’t supervise me” (horseplay alone in cell), Jul. 7, 2000.
“Can’t sue over affair with doctor” (court rules it was consensual), Jun. 13, 2000.
“Risky? Who’da thunk it?” (currency speculator sues over losses), Jun. 9-11, 2000.
“‘Jury awards apparent record $220,000 for broken finger’” (hurt while dancing), May 22, 2000.
“Videogame maker agrees to furnish safety gloves“, Mar. 13, 2000.
“Letourneau scandal: now where’s my million?” (boy sues), Apr. 20, 2000.
“All dressed up“, Apr. 19, 2000.
“Down repressed-memory lane I: costly fender-bender” (eggshell-psyche plaintiff), Dec. 29-30, 1999.
“Down repressed-memory lane II: distracted when she signed” (separation agreement), Dec. 29-30, 1999.
“GM verdict roundup” (lawyers shift drunk drivers’ responsibility to automakers), Dec. 16, 1999; “Drunks have rights, too“, Dec. 1, 1999.
“Rolling the dice (cont’d)” (Internet gambler sues credit card companies that advanced him money), Dec. 7, 1999; “Rolling the dice” (same), Aug. 26, 1999.
“Responsibility, RIP” (columnist Mona Charen), Nov. 2, 1999.
“The art of blame” (death of child left in hot van), Oct. 20, 1999.
“Nominated by reader acclamation” (killer’s parents sue school district, lawmen for failing to prevent Columbine massacre), Oct. 18, 1999.
“Block PATH to lawsuits” (fall out of tree in yard, sue your employer), Sept. 1, 1999.
“To restore individual responsibility, bring back contract principles” (Cato Institute paper by Prof. Michael Krauss), Aug. 16, 1999.
“Somebody might trip” (NYC condemns prints-of-the- Hollywood-stars sidewalk as slip hazard), Aug. 13, 1999.
“All have lost, and all must have damages” (huge award to salesman who hawked bad insurance policies since he’s a victim too), Aug. 3, 1999.
Through much of American history, courts discouraged lawsuits arising from risks that individuals were deemed to have assumed in the course of going about familiar activities, such as the risk of being thrown while horseback riding, of slipping on toys underfoot while visiting a house with children, or of being hit with a foul ball while attending a ball game. (Stored search on “assumption of risk”: Google, Alta Vista). Under the doctrine of “contributory negligence”, they often dismissed, as a matter of law, cases where a complainant’s own negligence had helped cause an accident. They were even less likely to entertain cases in which someone’s knowing or deliberate dereliction had placed him in physical peril, such as cases in which people sue over injuries sustained in the course of committing crimes or attempting suicide. And finally, they gave broad respect to express contractual disclaimers or waivers of liability: if a party was on notice that the other side in a transaction wasn’t willing to assume a responsibility, it wouldn’t be easy to tag them later with that responsibility in court.
By the 1950s all these old barriers to liability had come under sustained attack in the law schools, where they were viewed as insulating defendants’ misconduct from legal scrutiny and impeding the forward march of liability law as a (high-overhead) variety of social insurance. Most states moved from contributory negligence to comparative negligence, which allows a plaintiff whose negligence helped cause an accident to sue over it anyway, though for a reduced recovery. Waivers and disclaimers began to be struck down as unconscionable, against public policy, not spelled out with sufficient clarity, etc. And assumption of risk was whittled down by way of a dozen techniques: the most influential torts scholar of the postwar period, William Prosser, took the view that “that implied reasonable assumption of risk should not be allowed to reduce a plaintiff’s damage in any way” (Chase Van Gorder, “Assumption of Risk Under Washington Law“).
The result is today’s American legal environment in which plaintiffs routinely try their luck at suits after being injured climbing high-voltage utility structures while drunk, skinny-dipping in icy pools with captive killer whales, trying “wheelies” and other stunts on industrial forklifts, and smoking for decades. Some of these suits succeed at obtaining settlements while others fail, and it’s important to bear in mind that assumption of risk and related doctrines have not disappeared entirely. Their general decay, however, has been important in bringing us today’s hypertrophy of such areas of law as premises liability, product liability and recreational liability.
The website of attorney D. Pamela Gaines has useful resources on assumption of risk as it applies to such areas as premises liability, recreation and amusement parks. At the International Mountain Bicycling Association site, Tina Burckhardt explains “recreational use statutes” which grant some protection from liability lawsuits to landowners who allow free recreational use of their property.
October 18-20 – EEOC: employer must accommodate “Church of Body Modification” beliefs. Massachusetts: “Last year Costco Wholesale Corp. fired Kimberly M. Cloutier of West Springfield for refusing to remove [her eyebrow] ring. She filed a $2 million suit against the corporation. Cloutier, 27, belongs to the Church of Body Modification, and maintains that her piercings, which include several earrings in each ear and a recently acquired lip ring, are worn as a sign of faith and help to unite her mind, body and soul. ‘It’s not just an aesthetic thing,’ Cloutier said. ‘It’s your body; you’re taking control of it.’
“Cloutier filed suit against Costco in Springfield’s U.S. District Court after a finding in May by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission that Costco probably violated religious discrimination laws when its West Springfield store fired Cloutier in July 2001. The commission’s area director in Boston, Robert L. Sanders, determined that Cloutier’s wearing of an eyebrow ring qualified as a religious practice under federal law, and that Costco refused to accommodate Cloutier.” (Marla A. Goldberg, “Eyebrow ring, firing spark $2 million suit”, MassLive/ Springfield Union-News, Oct. 16) (& see Megan McArdle, Oct. 21, and reader comments).Update Dec. 11, 2004: First Circuit federal appeals court grants summary judgment in favor of store. (DURABLE LINK)
October 18-20 – U.K.: “Dr. Botch” sues hospital for wrongful dismissal. “A surgeon who was struck off the medical register after being held responsible for the deaths of four women and the maiming of six others is suing his former hospital for wrongful dismissal. Steven Walker, nicknamed ‘Dr Botch’, is claiming up to £100,000 in compensation for lost wages and ‘unfair’ treatment after being sacked by the Victoria Blackpool Hospital in Lancashire last November.” (Rajeev Syal and Hazel Scotland, “‘Dr Botch’ issues writ against hospital in claim for £100,000″, Daily Telegraph (UK), Sept. 22). (DURABLE LINK)
October 18-20 – Enron: “Who Enabled the Enablers?”. “Congressional investigators and plaintiffs’ lawyers are closing in on Enron Corp.’s so-called enablers — the banks that made Enron’s suspect deals possible. But the lawyers on those deals haven’t received much attention. Yet.” (Paul Braverman, “Who Enabled the Enablers?”, The American Lawyer, Oct. 8). See also Otis Bilodeau, “Enron Report Casts Harsh Light on Lawyers”, Legal Times, Sept. 30; Otis Bilodeau, “More Lawyers Snared in Enron Trap”, Legal Times, Sept. 3; Susan Koniak, “Who Gave Lawyers a Pass?”, Forbes, Aug. 12. (DURABLE LINK)
October 16-17 – Ohio’s high-stakes court race. A key race to be decided at the polls next month could challenge the four-to-three margin by which a bloc of activist (to say the least) judges currently control the Ohio Supreme Court. Legal reformers’ hopes are riding on Republican Lt. Gov. Maureen O’Connor, running for a vacant seat on the court. Her opponent, Democrat Tim Black, “backed heavily by trial lawyers and labor unions,” is considered likely to vote with the current court majority (its deplorable record) which has expanded liability in many unprecedented ways, struck down democratically enacted tort reform and revived the city of Cincinnati’s lawsuit against the gun industry. (Jim Siegel, “Black vs. O’Connor could change Ohio Supreme Court”, Gannett/Newark, Ohio Advocate, Oct. 14). (DURABLE LINK)
October 16-17 – “Inundations of Electronic Resumes Pose Problems for Employers”. Employers are deluged with resumes arriving by email as well as on paper, each of which represents both a paperwork obligation and a potential source of liability. “Under the current federal standard, anyone who submits a resume electronically is a job applicant. Even people who are not looking at any job in particular or are clearly unsuited — say, a high school student applying for the position of chief executive — qualify. In and of itself, this would not be a concern, but the government also requires every company with more than 100 employees to track the race, gender and ethnicity of every one of these so-called job applicants.” Plaintiff’s lawyers can also demand that a defendant company produce these applications, and then proceed to troll through them for patterns suggesting disparate rejection of protected groups.
With the rise of Internet job postings, the numbers have exploded: “The Boeing Co. has projected that it will receive about 1.3 million resumes this year, compared with last year’s mere 790,000 resumes. Lockheed Martin Corp. has said it gets about 4,000 resumes a day, or upwards of 1.4 million annually.” “I know of a company that keeps a warehouse in Salt Lake City just to store resumes,” says chairwoman Cari Dominguez of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. “They’re just so afraid of throwing them away.” For two years the EEOC has been studying how to ease employers’ retention burdens by updating the definition of applicant, but it still hasn’t acted. (Tamara Loomis, New York Law Journal, Sept. 25). (DURABLE LINK)
October 16-17 – “Patient sues hospital for letting him out on night he killed”. Australia: “A man who stabbed his prospective sister-in-law to death hours after being discharged from a psychiatric hospital is suing Newcastle health authorities for damages.” Attorney Mark Lynch said that his client “should be ‘compensated for his premature discharge’ and the tragic events that followed.” After murdering Kelley-Anne Laws in 1995, Kevin William Presland, now 44, spent 2 years in jail and a psychiatric institution. (Leonie Lamont, “Patient sues hospital for letting him out on night he killed”, Sydney Morning Herald, Oct. 15). (DURABLE LINK)
October 16-17 – “Law to Protect Debtors Can Be a Windfall for Lawyers”. Mutiny among the bounty-hunted dept.: The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act is a federal law passed in 1977 to combat harassment and other abuses in debt collection. “In the last decade, the law has also given rise to what some say is an unintended consequence: thousands of federal lawsuits taking issue with the wording of collection letters. …..Successful plaintiffs in these cases are entitled to $1,000, but their lawyers can collect vastly larger sums,” such as $40,000 or $50,000 if the defendant resists, even if the dispute concerns only an arcane matter of wording. Federal judge Gerard L. Goettel has criticized the trend, noting, “There is nothing in the act to suggest that it was intended to create a cottage industry for the production of attorneys’ fees.” “Plaintiffs’ lawyers obtain leads for such suits by scouring the dockets in small claims courts for collection actions and by savvy questioning of people seeking to file bankruptcy actions, [Indianapolis lawyer Dean R. Brackenridge, who represents collection agencies and lawyers,] said. ‘It is oftentimes like Christmas morning,’ he said, imagining the scene in the bankruptcy lawyers’ offices. ‘They’re opening up a grocery sack of collection letters that may give rise to these lawsuits.’” (Adam Liptak, “Law to Protect Debtors Can Be a Windfall for Lawyers”, New York Times, Oct. 6). (DURABLE LINK)
October 16-17 – New York tobacco-fee challenge, cont’d. The Albany paper reports on Judge Charles Ramos’s probe into whether lawyers who helped handle the state of New York’s copycat suit in the tobacco litigation are entitled to an arbitration award of $625 million in fees (see Jul. 30-31). “The New York firms [asking a collective $14,000 an hour for their services] were politically well connected and regular campaign contributors to both Democrats, trial lawyers’ traditional allies, and to Republicans, including [former attorney general Dennis] Vacco and Gov. George Pataki. The Albany firm’s senior partner, Dale Thuillez, represented Pataki’s first inaugural committee. … Since the settlement, the firms have given a total of more than $200,000 to the campaign war chests of both parties.” (Andrew Tilghman, “Tobacco case legal fees under fire”, Albany Times-Union, Oct. 14). (DURABLE LINK)
October 15 – Incoherence of sexual harassment law. The case of men subjected to sexual taunts at the workplace by other men — have they suffered sexual harassment in the law’s eyes, or no? — reveals the lack of any real logical coherence in our current scheme of sexual harassment law. Several law profs seem to think that by taking due note of this incoherence they demonstrate the need to extend the scope of harassment law yet further, to suppress yet more forms of workplace speech and social interaction than currently. (Margaret Talbot, “Men Behaving Badly,” New York Times Magazine, Oct. 13)(reg)(see also Mark Kleiman blog, Oct. 13). In the case of Burns v. City of Detroit, still working its way through the courts per the latest we can find on Google, Michigan judges are expected to address the question of whether some forms of speech penalized by the current state of harassment law are in fact protected by the First Amendment to the Constitution. (Kingsley Browne, “Harassment law chills free speech”, Detroit News, Jul. 9, reprinted at Center for Individual Freedom site; Brian Dickerson, “Harassment law becomes a hot potato”, Detroit Free Press, Jun. 14 and “Harassment law headed for a tune-up”, Jun. 17; more from Center for Individual Freedom) (via Howard Bashman this summer, #1, 2, 3). (DURABLE LINK)
October 15 – Chocolate, gas-pump fumes, playground sand and so much more. Unanticipated (at least to non-lawyers) consequences of California’s Proposition 65, passed in 1986, mandating warning labels on all hazardous chemicals: “The last two years have seen bounty hunter lawsuits claiming that Californians are exposed to toxins from products such as picture frames, lightbulbs, Christmas lights, electrical tape, braces, game darts, stained-glass lamps, fire logs, exercise weights, hammers, terrariums, tools, cue chalk, cosmetics, even Slim-Fast,” according to attorney Jeffrey B. Margulies. Yes, cue chalk has always terrified us. (“New legal target: chocolate”, Orange County Register, Oct. 8). (DURABLE LINK)
October 15 – Judicial selection, the Gotham way. New York stands alone in its method of picking basic-level trial judges: “closed judicial nominating conventions followed by partisan elections. Party bosses rule.” The parties then engage in collusive cross-endorsements which operate to deny most City voters a meaningful choice. The results? According to the editorialists of the New York Daily News, an unusually high number of mediocre or downright bad jurists make it to the bench, while in Brooklyn, 10 of 60 sitting judges currently face ethics questions or actual charges. (“N.Y.’s unnatural selection” (editorial), Oct. 2). (DURABLE LINK)
October 14 – Australia on the front lines. The island nation, one of the staunchest members of the worldwide coalition fighting the battle against terrorism, now finds itself on the front lines of that battle, with more than 200 of its citizens still missing following the Bali attacks. “[T]his time terrorism has come to our doorstep, to the holiday home away from home that is Bali. The tourist destination familiar to most of us as a safe, cheap and friendly island of tolerance and fun has been turned into a charred graveyard. Horrifying images of bodies burned beyond description, seriously injured young men and women, and the street scenes of utter devastation recall a war zone….Certainly more Australians have been killed in Bali than in any other international disaster. … The Bali bombings expose the lie that the act of war on September 11, 2001, was simply an attack on Americans and American values. Bali proves that all freedom-loving peoples are at risk from terrorism, at home and abroad.” (“We must remain firm in face of terror” (editorial), The Australian, Oct. 14). More: “Thirteen Australians confirmed dead, 220 missing in Bali”, ABC.au, Oct. 14; Ben Martin, “Australia terror: Fearful wait”, The West Australian, Oct. 14; Matthew Moore, “US ambassador saw writing on wall a month ago”, Sydney Morning Herald, Oct. 14; Simon Kearney & Sarah Blake, “Terror Warning: Targets Named”, Sunday Telegraph, Oct. 13. For hard-hitting commentary on the ideological implications, check out maverick Aussie journalist Tim Blair. More good links: zem blog, Gweilo Diaries (mid-October entries). Update: As of Oct. 21 the likely death toll of the blasts was thought to be 190, including 103 Australians as well as numerous Indonesian nationals and citizens of such countries as Germany, Sweden, New Zealand and the United States. See Melbourne Age, Oct. 21. (DURABLE LINK)
October 14 – Rather die than commit profiling, cont’d. “A federal judge has cleared the way for a discrimination lawsuit filed by an Arab-American who was removed from a United Airlines flight three months after the Sept. 11 attacks. U.S. District Judge Florence-Marie Cooper ruled airlines do have a legal right to remove passengers who pose a security threat, but that does not allow them to discriminate on the basis of race, ethnicity or national origin.” (“Judge rules Arab-American taken off plane can sue United Airlines”, AP/Sacramento Bee, Oct. 12). The American Civil Liberties Union helped organize the suit. See also Eugene Volokh, Oct. 14. (DURABLE LINK)
October 14 – Macaulay on copyright law. In two speeches given in Parliament in 1841, the historian and statesman anticipated most of the issues worth thinking about on the issue of whether lawmakers should extend copyright long past the natural life of authors and other creators (courtesy Eric Flint, “Prime Palaver”)(more on TBM). (DURABLE LINK)
October 14 – “‘Pay-before-pumping rule called racist’”. Ohio: “North Randall Mayor Shelton Richardson fumes when he sees gas stations in his community that demand that customers pay before they pump, a practice he calls racist. The requirement is insulting and implies a presumption that customers will steal, he says. He wants to outlaw it. … No gas station in North Randall could require payment first if City Council adopts Richardson’s proposal to ban pay-first policies Monday night. … Prepayment is required around the clock at the 24-hour Shell station at the corner of Warrensville and Emery roads in North Randall. Manager Mike Jadallah said he would comply if the new law is approved. But he thinks he should be able to decide how he runs his business. ‘Is the city going to cover our losses?’ he asked.” (Kaye Spector, “Pay-before-pumping rule called racist”, Cleveland Plain Dealer, Oct. 12). (DURABLE LINK)
October 11-13 – “High court judge had use of condo owned by group that includes trial lawyer”. More eyebrow-raising allegations in the Mississippi favors-for-judges flap reported earlier this week: “A Gulf Coast condo owned by a partnership that includes prominent trial lawyer Richard ‘Dickie’ Scruggs has been used by Supreme Court Justice Oliver Diaz Jr., reports say.” “Mark Lumpkin, an associate in the firm of prominent Mississippi lawyer Paul Minor, said Wednesday that he lives in the condominium and has allowed Diaz to use it.” It seems the judge had recently divorced and needed a base for visitation with his kids, so it’s just good Southern hospitality, don’t you know. AP/Alabama Live, Oct. 10) See also Jerry Mitchell, “Probe could sway voters”, Jackson Clarion-Ledger, Oct. 9. More: Scruggs “denies that he repaid loans for Diaz or any other judge.” (“Investigation Targets Lawyers, Judges & Loans”, WLOX, Oct. 7; see Oct. 9-10). See also Nikki Davis Maute, “McRae won’t accept donation from lawyer”, Hattiesburg American, Oct. 10. (DURABLE LINK)
October 11-13 – Malpractice: Pennsylvania House votes to curb venue-shopping. The measure, which has yet to be approved by the state Senate or governor, requires plaintiffs in medical liability cases to file their suits in the county where the alleged negligent conduct occurred, rather than just heading to Philadelphia with its generous juries and indulgent judges. Doctors say it’s a start, while the state trial lawyers association is already promising a constitutional challenge — doesn’t this kind of measure violate the constitutional right to high verdicts, or something? (M. Bradford Grabowski, “Physicians react to ‘venue shopping’ bill”, Bucks County (Pa.) Courier Times, Oct. 9). (DURABLE LINK)
October 11-13 – “Wealthy candidates give Democrats hope”. Trial lawyer Harry Jacobs, who is reported to have a net worth of $42 million mostly from filing malpractice suits, is running for a Congressional seat in northern Florida. Jacksonville’s Wayne Hogan, who bagged $54 million in the state of Florida’s highly aromatic suit against the tobacco industry, “is trying to unseat Rep. John Mica, R-Winter Park. In West Virginia, attorney Jim Humphreys is running against incumbent Republican Shelley Moore Capito” in a rematch after her year-2000 upset win. (Bill Adair, St. Petersburg Times, Oct. 7). Update Nov. 7: all lose by wide margins. (DURABLE LINK)
October 11-13 – Quote of the day. “I have a few (trial lawyer) friends, but most of them abuse the system” — Ohio Supreme Court Justice Evelyn Stratton, quoted in David Benson, Mansfield (Ohio) News Journal, Oct. 9. (DURABLE LINK)
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May 31-June 2 – Welcome Fox News viewers/readers. Our editor is interviewed on air and quoted in print in this piece on the quest to make casinos and lottery operators the next Big Tobacco (Alisyn Camerota, “Trial Lawyers Target Gambling”, Fox News, May 31) (see May 20-21). (DURABLE LINK)
May 31-June 2 – “After stabbing son, mom sues doctors”. Pennsylvania: “Janice Taylor, who stabbed her 4-year-old son two dozen times outside their Lake Ariel home in 2000, is suing her doctors for not adequately responding to her psychosis as she neared the end of a pregnancy.” (Scranton Times Tribune, May 29). (via WSJ OpinionJournal “Best of the Web“, May 30). (DURABLE LINK)
May 31-June 2 – Activist judges north of the border. In the United States judicial activism has been falling into gradual disrepute for a quarter century, but in Canada many highly placed jurists seem eager to boogie like it’s 1975: the Ontario Court of Appeal has just struck down as unconstitutional one of the central planks in welfare reform, the principle that recipients with live-in boyfriends should not draw benefits accorded to single mothers. It’s only the latest in a long string of decisions in which judges seem to be writing their own preferences into law, according to columnist Christina Blizzard. Earlier this year the Supreme Court of Canada struck down as unconstitutional a Conservative government’s repeal of a law authorizing unionization of workers on family farms, although the effect of the repeal would only have been to revert to the state of the law as of a couple of years previously. Next up: a challenge to another plank of welfare reform, a lifetime ban on payment of benefits to persons caught cheating the system. Paging Mickey Kaus — they need you up there! (Christina Blizzard, “Disorder in the court”, Toronto Sun/Canoe, May 18). On U.S. judicial activism, see John Leo, “Running away with the law”, U.S. News/Jewish World Report, May 13. (& see letter to the editor, Jun. 14). (DURABLE LINK)
May 31-June 2 – Folk medicine meets child abuse reporting. The Vietnamese and Hmong folk remedy cao gio, or coining, “involves the rubbing of warm oils or gels across a person’s skin with a coin, spoon or other flat object. It leaves bright red marks or bruises, but many Asian families believe the marks represent bad blood rising out of the body and allow improved circulation and healing.” The lesions are typically not of medical significance, according to many Western medical observers, but they sometimes lead school and social service workers to report suspected child abuse, in part owing to the influence of laws mandating that possible instances of abuse be reported even if borderline. In Omaha, following such reports, police swooped down and removed ten children from their parents; following an outcry, charges against the parents were dropped and the children were returned to their homes. (Omaha World-Herald coverage including Joe Dejka, “Asian couples work to get children back”, May 3; Jeremy Olson, “Asian remedy raises few alarms elsewhere”, May 3; Joseph Morton, “2nd coining case dropped; Asian family expresses relief”, May 14; Karyn Spencer and Angie Brunkow, “Officials not sanctioning all ‘coining’”, May 17). (DURABLE LINK)
May 30 – “Oxy Morons”. “Last fall,” reports Forbes, North Carolina law firm Lutzel & Associates “sent a letter soliciting users of [time-release pain medication] Oxycontin and several other drugs. Claiming that the Food & Drug Administration had ‘banned’ the medications, the letter advised them to ‘stop using’ the drugs immediately.” But in fact Oxycontin was neither banned nor threatened with removal, and for a patient suffering pain suddenly to discontinue its use without a doctor’s recommendation can result in medically serious consequences as well as needless agony. (Ian Zack, “Oxy Morons”, Forbes.com, Apr. 29). Despite vigorous efforts by some plaintiff’s lawyers to stoke mass tort litigation over the drug (see Apr. 10 and links from there), the National Law Journal reports that drugmaker Purdue Pharma has “had a string of confidence-building victories in early litigation.” (Bob Van Voris, “OxyContin Maker Not Yet Feeling Much Pain”, National Law Journal, April 30). (DURABLE LINK)
May 30 – “Privileged chambers”. Earlier this year the Albany Times Union ran a five-day editorial series (“Unequal Justice” — scroll down to find it) on judicial misconduct in New York state. It concluded that discipline is generally lax when Empire State judges behave badly and that it can take years to remove a jurist from the bench even after charges of serious misconduct (“Privileged chambers”, Feb. 3; “Justice denied”, Feb. 4; “Conduct unbecoming”, Feb. 5; “Starving the watchdog”, Feb. 6; “The need for reform”, Feb. 7). (DURABLE LINK)
May 29 – Our editor interviewed. John Hawkins at Right Wing News interviewed our editor by email about this site and our ideas on legal reform, and publishes the results this morning (“An Interview with Walter Olson“). Earlier interviewees in the series include Glenn Reynolds of InstaPundit, Wendy McElroy of iFeminists and FoxNews.com, and Australian journalist Tim Blair. Update: nice things said about this by Protein Wisdom, VodkaPundit, and Eve Tushnet.
May 28-29 – The scandal of the Phoenix memo. It warned FBI higher-ups that Islamic radicals including followers of Osama bin Laden were training at American flight schools. So why wasn’t it followed up? FBI director Robert Mueller told Senators May 8 that it would have been a “monumental undertaking” to investigate the 20,000 or so students at domestic flight schools. “What a load of nonsense,” writes Christopher Caldwell. “Any small-town newspaper reporter could have narrowed down that 20,000 to under a hundred in an afternoon, just by focusing on names like … oh, I don’t know … try Mohamed, Walid, Marwan, and Hamza. Couldn’t the entire FBI have done the same?
“As it turns out, no. And the reason is, whoever got Williams’s memo would understand that there is one commonsensical way to implement it: Look for Arabs. And given congressional pressure on racial profiling and the president’s own outrageous pandering on the subject during the 2000 election campaign, Williams’s lead was something no agent with an instinct for self-preservation would want to touch with a barge pole.” (Christopher Caldwell, “Low Profile”, Weekly Standard, May 24) (via WSJ Best of the Web, May 24). See also John Fund, “Willful Ignorance”, WSJ OpinionJournal.com, May 22; “Key Lawmaker: Probe of FBI Warrant Will Look at ‘Racial Profiling’ Concerns”, AP/Fox News, May 26). Update: perfect Mark Steyn column (“Stop frisking crippled nuns”, The Spectator, May 25). (DURABLE LINK)
May 28-29 – “Rocketing liability rates squeeze medical schools”. “The University of Nevada School of Medicine in Reno could be forced to close if it can’t find affordable liability insurance by June 30. In West Virginia, Marshall University’s Joan C. Edwards School of Medicine in Huntington has cut its pathology program and is trimming resident class size. Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine in Hershey is cutting faculty salaries, which will make it hard to land top researchers. ‘The sudden, very large increase in expenses that were not anticipated or budgeted is creating a great deal of anxiety,’ says Jordan J. Cohen, MD, president of the Assn. of American Medical Colleges.” (Myrle Croasdale, American Medical News, May 20). (DURABLE LINK)
May 28-29 – “Barbed wire might hurt burglars, pensioner warned”. In Northampton, England, 94-year-old Ruby Barber has finally gotten permission from the borough council to put barbed wire on her garden walls after suffering four break-ins to her bungalow over the past year and a half. The council granted permission “as long as she uses warning signs and agrees to take full responsibility if a would-be intruder is injured“. Her son Burt, who lives nearby, said: “It is bordering on the ridiculous to say that if they hurt themselves getting in here I am responsible. The Queen has got it all around Buckingham Palace and if it is good enough for her it is good enough for my mother. She is the Queen to me.” (Ananova, May 24). (DURABLE LINK)
May 28-29 – Must-know-Spanish rules defended. Recently it was reported that a Miami social services agency was requiring an Anglo worker to learn Spanish on pain of losing her job. Some commentators were upset, but Eugene Volokh, of the Volokhii, argues that “speaking a foreign language is a valuable skill, and … employers may legally discriminate against employees who lack this skill”. (Volokh blog, May 8, May 11; Jim Boulet Jr., “Mandatory Spanish”, National Review Online, May 10, and running commentary by Boulet at English First site). And the factual background of the case turns out to be considerably less simple than first reports indicated; not only does the county deny that failure to learn Spanish was the reason for the worker’s firing, but it seems she held herself out as having “proficiency” in that language when she accepted the job (Jay Weaver, “Poor work, not language barrier, got employee fired, court says”, Miami Herald, May 11). (DURABLE LINK)
May 28-29 – Goodbye, Wendell Barry. Eve Tushnet administers a well-deserved thrashing to the overrated localist (“Hayseeds and Straw Men”, Eve Tushnet blog, May 27) (DURABLE LINK)
May 27 – McArdle on food as next-tobacco. “If you can’t be held responsible for what you put in your mouth, what are you responsible for?” (Megan McArdle, “Can We Sue Our Own Fat Asses Off?”, Salon, May 24). See also Duncan Campbell, “Junk food firms fear being eaten alive by fat litigants”, The Guardian, May 24; Jacob Sullum, “Food Fight”, Reason Online, May 10 (& see Jun. 3-4). (DURABLE LINK)
May 27 – “Lawsuit stifles Internet critics”. The Richmond Times-Dispatch and Long Island Business News have new stories out on the PetsWarehouse case (in which a pet store owner has sued aquatic plants hobbyists on charges of online defamation based on their postings on mailing lists and websites — see Aug. 6, 2001 & May 22, 2002). Both interview several parties, including defendant Dan Resler (a professor at Virginia Commonwealth University), plaintiff Robert Novak, and (in the Richmond paper) free-speech law commentator Rodney Smolla. A key factor working to defendants’ disadvantage: liberal jurisdictional rules which allow a plaintiff to file an Internet libel case in his local court (in this case the Eastern District of New York) and force defendants who live in distant states to shoulder the cost of litigating there from a distance. (Gordon Hickey, “Online speech not free”, Richmond Times-Dispatch, May 26). In Long Island Business News, owner Novak is quoted as being aware of this cost asymmetry: “‘It’s only five miles for me,’ he said. ‘All these people have to come here at their own expense.’” (Ken Schachter, Long Island Business News, “PetsWarehouse.com founder dries out aquarists in courts”, May 24-30). More on Internet jurisdiction: Carl S. Kaplan, “A Libel Suit May Establish E-Jurisdiction”, New York Times, May 27 (reg). Update Oct. 4-6: Novak sues Google and other defendants. Further update: Oct. 5, 2003. (DURABLE LINK)
May 24-26 – Nader credibility watch. In France, the litigation advocate called fast-food restaurants “weapons of mass destruction”. (“Ralph Nader met en garde les Français contre les ‘fast food’”, Yahoo/AFP, May 17; via Matt Welch, May 18; see comments at Tim Blair blog, May 26). More on Nader’s credibility or lack thereof: Matt Welch, “Speaking Lies To Power”, Reason, May; Thomas Oliphant, Boston Globe, Apr. 21. (DURABLE LINK)
May 24-26 – “Counseling center may face closure”. Chickasha, Okla.: “The largest civil verdict in Grady County history may mean the county’s largest mental health center will have to close for financial reasons, officials said Wednesday. A $1.5 million jury verdict awarded last week against Chisholm Trail Counseling Service was a bittersweet victory for the family of James Phillips, who committed suicide a few hours after being interviewed and released by one of the agency’s counselors.” (Penny Owen, The Oklahoman, May 23). (DURABLE LINK)
May 24-26 – Australia’s litigation debate. “Some of Australia’s most famous beaches face closure after a huge damages award to a man paralysed while swimming at Bondi Beach, local authorities have warned.” (BBC, “Closure ‘threat’ to Australia’s beaches”, May 14). Former chief justice of the High Court of Australia Harry Gibbs “said the culture of litigation had been fostered by some lawyers, while some judges seemed to strive to find a reason for finding in favour of an injured plaintiff and award damages in cases where a reasonable and informed person would not have thought the defendant was at fault. He said the deficiencies of the law of negligence had now become apparent. ‘It favours generosity to the plaintiff at the expense (in many cases) of justice to the defendant’.” Gibbs suggested that Australia might want to consider emulating the New Zealand model under which most negligence actions are replaced with a system of no-fault compensation. (“Lawyers blamed for crisis” (editorial), Queensland Courier-Mail, May 16). See Susanna Lobez, “Snails, Consumer Power and the Law”, ABC national radio transcripts, The Law Report, June 1, 1999)
“The latest figures available from the Australian Bureau of Statistics show that as of June 30, 1999, there were 10,819 barrister and solicitor practices in Australia, an increase of 11 per cent over three years, and these practices generated an income of $7.04 billion, a robust 27 per cent increase over three years. Income from personal injury cases grew still faster, by 31 per cent.” What strikes us as remarkable about these figures is not just the rapid growth in sums redistributed, but that the figures are obtainable at all. Virtually no data is available, reliable or otherwise, on how much money American lawyers receive in the aggregate from personal injury cases. Why not? If the answer that occurs to you is “because our legal profession doesn’t want it to be collected”, you may be on to something. (Paul Sheehan, “Laws made by lawyers — well they would like that, wouldn’t they?”, Sydney Morning Herald, May 6). (DURABLE LINK)
May 22-23 – Convicted hospital rapist sues hospital. “A Sandusky man serving a 10-year sentence for raping a patient at the former Providence Hospital is suing both the hospital and his former attorney for negligence, according to Erie County Common Pleas Court records. Edward Brewer filed suit Monday against Providence Hospital, now part of Firelands Regional Medical Center, for ‘inadequate security in protecting visitors as well as their patients’ which caused him pain and suffering, according to court documents. Brewer, 47, was found guilty in October of raping a 44-year-old acquaintance in her hospital bed in June 1998. … Brewer claims negligence by the hospital, including a poorly trained nursing staff, negatively affected his criminal case, according to the suit.” The suit, which Brewer filed on his own behalf, asks for $2 million in damages; separately, Brewer is suing his former criminal attorney. (Emily S. Achenbaum, “Convicted rapist sues hospital”, Sandusky [Ohio] Register, May 21). Update: court dismisses case, see Mar. 5-7, 2003. (DURABLE LINK)
May 22-23 – Reparations suits “pure hooey”. The “slave-reparation plaintiffs have articulated neither standing nor a cognizable claim. In the final analysis, these cases are not really about pushing the envelope and making new law. Rather, they are part of a strategy to inflict public relations damage in order to coerce political and economic concessions. The federal courts should stand firm against this gathering storm, dismiss the lawsuits and leave the complex issues of social policy they raise to the political process.” (Steven P. Benenson, “Reparations Suits Are Too Little, Too Late”, National Law Journal, May 20). “Any judge not assessing sanctions for the filing of frivolous litigation should be ashamed. … So much for laches, the statute of limitations and all the other legal devices that assure that disputes are resolved in a timely manner. No wonder the world laughs at our love of litigation.” (Norm Pattis, “The Color of Money: It’s Red for Reparations”, Connecticut Law Tribune, Apr. 15).
“The villain Calvera said, ‘Generosity, that was my first mistake,’ as he peered ominously from beneath his mega-sombrero at the gringo gunman in the classic scene from the 1960 film The Magnificent Seven. … Honchos at Aetna Inc., the insurance company named in a recent lawsuit seeking reparations for slavery, must be remembering that quote right about now.” (Gregory Kane, “Generosity goes unnoticed in slavery reparations lawsuit”, Baltimore Sun, Apr. 20). Kane says Aetna has responded to the suit with “infuriating wussiness” and says “what Aetna bigwigs should tell [plaintiff-activist Deadria] Farmer-Paellmann and her lawyers [is]: ‘Get a life!’” (DURABLE LINK)
May 22-23 – PetsWarehouse.com defamation suit, cont’d. Last year we reported on the ongoing litigation filed by Robert Novak, founder and owner of PetsWarehouse.com, against members of an internet discussion list that he said had defamed him and his company (see Aug. 6, 2001; letter to editor from Novak, Aug. 10). Many aquarium enthusiasts, alarmed by the legal action, have at various times posted information on their sites about the suit, sometimes posting banners that solicit donations on the defendants’ behalf. (“$15,000,000 lawsuits suck the life out of online discussions. Please support the APD Defense Fund,” reads one.) According to Katharine Mieszkowski, writing last month in Salon, a number of these site operators have been given reason to regret that they ever took such rash steps. In particular, according to Mieszkowski, Novak has proceeded to add more defendants to the suit, including supporters of the APD Defense Fund who put up its banner solicitations, and the webmaster of a site that had posted information on the case, charging them with violating his PetsWarehouse copyright and engaging in a conspiracy against him. Among evidence of copyright infringement offered in his suit was webmasters’ use of Pets Warehouse as a “metatag”, that is to say, a keyword directed at search engines but not normally seen by ordinary users (more on metatag litigation: Sept. 25, 1999).
A number of defendants have settled out of the case, including a Colorado webmaster who says she spent thousands on her defense and who turned over the rights to her domain to Novak as part of the settlement, having shut it down after being sued. “Other defendants had to run banners on their sites promoting Pets Warehouse.” “According to [defendant Dan] Resler, at one point, the money in the defense fund ran out, and when the defendants had to start paying out of their own funds, they got scared. (Novak is representing himself ‘pro se’ in the case.)” Resler himself agreed to pay $4,150. “Beyond the lawsuit itself, other supporters of the case say they have received cease-and-desist letters for using the words ‘Pets Warehouse’ on their sites.” Among them: the webmaster of a site that “features a banner advertisement that mentions the case with this headline: ‘Pets Warehouse Sues Hobbyists’ and links to the aquarists’ site about the case. ‘I’m just literally reporting that the case exists and linking to another site,’ he says.” (Katharine Mieszkowski, “Free speech and the Internet; a fish story”, Salon, Apr. 4). (DURABLE LINK)
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June 8-10 – Parted from his money. Philadelphia-area businessman David Piscitelli has settled his lawsuit against Sole Mio Balaam Nicola, 90, a resident of Egg Harbor City, N.J. who worked for many years as an astrologer at the Woolworth’s on the Atlantic City Boardwalk. Piscitelli said “he was the victim of a ‘gypsy scam’ from 1978 to 1991 that prompted him to turn over about $200,000, leave his wife, sell his real-estate business, and move to Brigantine to avoid snake attacks and other evil curses.” It all began, he told the court, when he found Nicola’s ad in the Yellow Pages and arrived at her establishment where she “instructed him to hand her $400 under her desk for the purchase of candles that, when burned, would remove his curse.” However, Nicola averred that he had been a willing financial supporter of her “pyramid-shaped Temple of Hope and Knowledge, a house of worship she founded on the White Horse Pike in Galloway Township.” Moreover, she “denied ever demanding cash to remove curses from Piscitelli’s family members, forcing him to turn over his wedding ring, depositing a beheaded bat at his home, or throwing his Christmas presents into the bay, as he claims.” (Amy S. Rosenberg, “Fortune teller or taker: Boardwalk astrologer got $200,000 and lawsuit”, Philadelphia Inquirer, May 17).
June 8-10 – Tobacco plunder in Los Angeles. Its anger whipped up by a sharp trial lawyer, an L.A. jury has voted $3 billion in punitive damages against Philip Morris in a case brought by an individual smoker. (CNNfn, June 6; Robert Jablon, “Los Angeles Jury Orders Philip Morris to Pay $3 Billion to Lifelong Smoker”, AP/Law.com, June 7). Our take on the earlier Engle case appeared in the Wall Street Journal: July 18, 2000 and July 12, 1999. Update Oct. 2, 2004: appeals court orders punitive award cut to a sum not to exceed $50 million.
June 8-10 – Lockyer should go. We weren’t the only ones who concluded (June 1-3) that California attorney general Bill Lockyer was unfit for public office after hearing him express a hope that an energy-company adversary would be jailed and suffer prison rape: Tom G. Palmer (Cato Institute), “‘Hi, My Name Isn’t Justice, Honey’, and Shame on Bill Lockyer”, Los Angeles Times, June 6; see also Steve Chapman, “Since when does rape equal justice?”, Chicago Tribune, June 7; Larry Elder, “Blame-shifting in California”, FrontPage, June 1. (See update, June 22-24).
June 8-10 – Forbes on lead paint suits, cont’d. There seems to be no dispute that some, if not many, cases of classic lead poisoning continue to occur among children who literally eat chips of old paint in dilapidated housing in inner-city areas like South Providence (see yesterday’s post). A key factual premise of the mass suits, however, is that the paint is causing learning deficits and behavioral problems among a wider class of children whose blood-lead levels might not have been considered particularly high by medical science through most of the twentieth century (when ambient lead levels in the human environment were far higher) but which are now viewed as triggers for concern or even as “poisoning” following a drastic downward revision of definitional thresholds some years back.
As Forbes‘s cover story points out, this leaves a question of how to account for why the symptoms now causing concern were not observed more widely during the long period when lead-based interior paints were commonly found in American homes. “If traces of lead near such levels have something to do with learning disabilities, the sweeping decline in blood-lead levels in the U.S. in the past half-century should have given us a generation of geniuses in our elementary schools. But test scores have scarcely been going up …. Even as blood-levels in children dropped drastically, IQ scores have increased a consistent 3% a decade for 100 years — possibly because of media exposure and better nutrition.” Nor, one might add, does one observe a big “absence of lead effect” if one compares the learning and behavioral problems of kids growing up in modern housing projects, most of which were built after the discontinuance of lead pigments in paint, with those of similarly disadvantaged kids growing up in older housing stock. (Michael Freedman, “Turning Lead Into Gold”, Forbes, May 14 (reg)).
MORE: For a contrary view, accepting the premise that lead paint in older housing is causing widespread as opposed to exceptional harm to children, see the recent series in the Providence Journal: Peter Lord, “Poisoned”, May 13-18. For more on the course of the litigation, see Bob Van Voris, “Paint suit’s a lead balloon (so far)”, National Law Journal, May 8; “San Jose: Judge gives counties OK to sue paint firms”, San Francisco Chronicle, June 4; Tom Kertscher, “Suing Just 2 Paint Firms Helps Case, Lawyers Say”, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, April 9. (DURABLE LINK)
June 7 – “‘Pseudologia Fantastica’ Won’t Fly”. Contrary to what he claimed during the screening process that led up to his appointment to the bench, “Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Patrick Couwenberg never earned a Purple Heart. He didn’t fight in Vietnam or work for the CIA. Nor did he attend Loyola Law School or earn a master’s degree in psychology or any other subject.” Now a disciplinary panel has rejected the judge’s plea in mitigation of his fibs that he suffers from “a recently diagnosed condition called ‘pseudologia fantastica,’ which doctors say causes people to tell tall tales and mix fantasy with facts.” (Sonia Giordani, The Recorder, May 18). Update: state panel orders him removed from bench (see Aug. 20-21).
June 7 – Ness monster sighted in Narragansett Bay. Bad enough that Rhode Island, with its insider-dominated political system, has failed to shake its reputation as the “Louisiana of the North”. (See, e.g., Mark Sappenfield, “Legacy of scandal mars Rhode Island”, Christian Science Monitor, April 11). But will Little Rhody become the first state to auction itself off to out-of-state trial lawyers? You start wondering after reading Forbes‘s recent cover story on the nation’s richest tort law firm, Charleston, S.C.-based powerhouse Ness Motley (tobacco, asbestos, etc.), and its branch office in Providence, opened some years ago by partner John J. McConnell Jr. Ness Motley has quickly made itself “Rhode Island’s largest political contributor, at $540,950 for the 2000 national elections”, and its local partner McConnell has become treasurer of the Democratic party in the tiny state. By one of these coincidences that are so rare in novels but so common in real life, Rhode Island Democratic attorney general Sheldon Whitehouse, considered ambitious for a gubernatorial run, in 1999 awarded the Ness firm a contingency fee contract to sue on behalf of the state seeking money from former makers of lead paint — the only one of the fifty state AGs thus far to take such a step. If the firm and its superlawyer Ron Motley succeed in convincing cities, school districts and other governmental units to follow suit, they might extract billions from such companies as Arco, ICI Glidden, and American Cyanamid. “In April, in a major victory for Motley, a Rhode Island Superior Court judge rejected the defendants’ motion to dismiss, and Sherwin-Williams’ stock dropped 21%.” (Michael Freedman, “Turning Lead Into Gold”, Forbes, May 14 (reg)). Dueling websites: leadlawsuits.com (defendants) and aboutlead.com (Ness Motley)[more on lead paint litigation tomorrow] (DURABLE LINK)
June 7 – “Sorry, Slimbo, you’re in my seats”. Columnist Peter Simpson isn’t impressed with the opinion of the Canadian government that, as a matter of handicapped rights, severely overweight airline passengers should be given an extra seat free of charge (Ottawa Citizen/National Post, May 11; Glen McGregor, Treat the obese as disabled, airlines told”, Ottawa Citizen, Dec. 10; see Dec. 20, 2000). (Update Dec. 15-16: Canadian transportation agency backs off policy)
June 7 – Welcome WSJ OpinionJournal.com readers. We’ve figured in their “Best of the Web” feature quite a few times recently, including yesterday. Also: KRLD Dallas, “Eye on the Internet” with Katie Pruett (interviewed our editor last night); Good Clean Fun June 2; LynnLynn’s Links June 4; links lists Ennazus, Brian Tebeau’s, Breaching the Web, Stop Lawsuit Abuse — Mississippi, Amy Welborn’s, ChinaLawInfo.com, YouDontSay.org (“too many lawyers?”), Washington State University at Spokane, Eruditum.org, Joseph DeMartino’s (see “something we have no shortage of”), Weaverlane LogB2K, Univ. of Georgia Sagan Society, Baltimore Citizens Against Lawsuit Abuse, Snakebite’s, and Mr. Linck’s social studies class in Morrisville, N.Y. (gun debate).
June 6 – Intellectual-property dispute Hall of Fame. San Francisco Bay area artists Emily Duffy and Ron Nicolino have each retained lawyers and have exchanged threatening letters in a dispute over who owns the concept underlying their art, which consists of giant bundles of brassieres: hers weighs 650 pounds, his twice as much. Both bra assemblages “keep growing — huge spheres of lace, silk, padding and underwire bras of all colors, shapes and sizes.” Nicolino “has used 14,000 bras from an abandoned project to hook them across the Grand Canyon. Now he’s pulling his ball to Los Angeles behind his 1963 flamingo pink Cadillac, looking for someone to sponsor a worldwide tour and eventually, a showcase where people can continue hooking on their own bras.” “I think it’s a major important part of American art,” he said. Duffy says he swiped the idea from her. (Margie Mason, “Bay Area artists battle over giant bra balls”, Modesto Bee, May 29). They both have websites: braball.com and nicolinosbraball.com.
June 6 – “Risks of the crime”. A Florida appeals court has dealt a setback to two men who sued a hotel for damages after they were shot in its parking lot during a suspected drug deal. The appeals court said the hotel chain should not be held responsible for injuries incurred by visitors engaged in criminal acts. A jury had ruled for the men to the tune of $1.7 million (see Dec. 15, 1999) after Judge Celeste Muir “excluded all evidence of the suspected drug deal — including the previous drug conviction of one of the men suing, an electronic scale and $38,000 in cash found at the scene. All the jury heard was that two hotel guests who were shot in a dimly lit Ramada Inn parking lot in Hialeah wanted damages from the hotel.” The case is still pending. (“Risks of the crime” (editorial), Miami Herald, June 5).
June 6 – To destroy a doctor. Laparoscopic (small-incision) surgery counts as one of the major medical advances of recent years, and among its internationally famed practitioners have been the three Iranian-born Nezhat brothers, all of whom are on the faculty at Stanford Medical School. For more than seven years Cleveland lawyer James Neal has been pursuing medical malpractice complaints against the Nezhats, accusing them “of, among other things: lying about their credentials; systematically overbilling their patients; threatening witnesses; conducting unauthorized experimental surgeries; sexually assaulting patients; kidnapping at gunpoint; and faking their research in order to promote devices [used in surgery] in exchange for consulting fees and royalties from manufacturers. ” Although he hasn’t made much progress in getting courts to accept his charges, Neal’s pursuit of the numerous lawsuits has taken over his life and, say the Nezhats, has ruined theirs. (Alison Frankel, “Obsession” (cover story), The American Lawyer, June 4).
June 5 – Prisoners stay acoustic. The First Amendment does not confer on federal prisoners a right to practice on electric guitars, ruled U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan May 22. “[C]onvicted bomber and frequent litigant Brett Kimberlin … who’s in federal prison in Petersburg, Va., on parole violations”, had sued the federal Bureau of Prisons over a rule restricting inmates to acoustic instruments, saying it inhibited his rights of expression. (Jonathan Groner, “Inadmissible: Unplugged”, Legal Times, May 28) (second item).
June 5 – NFL satellite ticket class action. The National Football League has agreed to settle a class action lawsuit filed four years ago over its practice of selling only season packages to its satellite-TV televised games. Under the settlement, subscribers will get cash payments of between $8.33 and $20.83, and will be able to buy individual weeks at $29.99 each instead of the whole season at $169.99 for the last two years of existing contracts; two named plaintiffs will get $1,000 each, and the lawyers will enjoy an appetizing $3.7 million in fees. Counting administrative costs as well as the legal payouts, the settlement is expected to cost the league more than $13 million, and if you think fans may wind up footing much of the bill for such legally inflicted outlays over the long run as ticket prices go up to cover them, why, shame on you for being such a cynic (“Lawsuit settlement with DSS allows fans to buy single weekend games”, AP/Detroit News, June 1; ValkyrieRiders.net discussion, May 31) Update Aug. 20-21: judge disallows settlement.
June 5 – Missouri’s tagalong tobacco fees. When it came to the role it played in the multistate tobacco litigation, Missouri “didn’t need red-hot lawyers. Our lawsuit was what’s called a tagalong suit. We were the 27th state to sue the tobacco companies. A national settlement was already in the works. … Five months after Team Missouri was assembled, [it] was reached.” But that didn’t stop the lawyers who represented the state — some of whom “were distinguished more for their political connections than their legal track records”– from asking for a cool $480 million in fees, though they later declared themselves willing to settle for $100 million (see Sept. 21, 2000). Readers will recall that not long ago popular St. Louis Post-Dispatch columnist Bill McClellan had the temerity to criticize the high fees trial lawyers were getting in another case, and they promptly slapped him with an intimidating $1 million lawsuit (Nov. 4, 1999; Nov. 30, 1999; Feb. 29, 2000). But he still goes right on writing these sorts of columns, even though he must know it’s bound to get more lawyers mad at him. Hasn’t he learned his lesson yet? (Bill McClellan, “Just what did our tobacco legal team do for $100 million?”, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, May 16). Update Oct. 5, 2003: Missouri Supreme Court refuses to entertain challenge to tobacco fees.
June 4 – “Dad Sues After Girl Fails to Make Cheerleading Squad”. In Vestavia Hills, Ala., the father of Laura Brooke Smith “has sued [the] school district, saying his daughter’s rejection from the high school cheerleading squad despite professional coaching has caused her humiliation and mental anguish.” (Fox News, May 31). And in North Haven, Ct., the “families of two high school sophomores have filed a federal lawsuit over the school’s decision to drop them from the drum majorette squad.” Stephanie Tata and Rebecca Mickolyczk and their mothers filed the suit in U.S. District Court April 30. Town attorney Robert K. Ciulla says the schools get “many” disputes over after-school activities, but this is the first involving baton twirling. (Ann DiMatteo, “Families Sue Over Unfair Twirl Tryouts”, New Haven Register, May 18).
June 4 – Maori tribes v. Lego. “Three New Zealand Maori tribes are considering a legal challenge to Danish toy company Lego over the use of Maori words and Polynesian culture in a new computer game. New Zealand-based barrister Solomon Maui has written to Lego asking for sales of the game to be suspended, saying it infringed the Polynesian people’s intellectual property rights to their language and culture.” (“Maori challenge Lego over use of culture”, CNN, June 1; Slashdot thread).
June 4 – EEOC: unfiltered computers “harass” librarians. In a “blockbuster” ruling, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission declared on May 23 that the Minneapolis Public Library may have subjected its librarians to unlawful “hostile work environment” sexual harassment by exposing them to sexually explicit images called up by patrons on unfiltered computers. The pro-censorship religious-right Family Research Council hailed the ruling, which is likely to intensify legal pressure on institutions of all sorts (including libraries at private universities and research institutions, and indeed all enterprises with employees) to install “filtering” software which excludes a wide variety of websites deemed obscene, hateful or otherwise improper.
Public libraries like the one in Minneapolis are likely to be sued if they do, sued if they don’t, given the precedent of a 1998 federal district court decision finding that the filtering policy of a public library in Loudoun County, Va., was unconstitutional. However, UCLA’s Eugene Volokh predicts that the balance of legal pressure will tilt toward website blocking, because losing a First Amendment lawsuit filed by patrons will subject a library to only “nominal damages”, while losing a Title VII discrimination suit can result in a damage figure “with lots of zeros in it”. In the Minneapolis case, “[Librarian Wendy] Adamson said the E.E.O.C. had privately suggested to the library that it pay each of the 12 employees $75,000 in damages,” which would add up to $900,000. (Carl S. Kaplan, “Cyber Law Journal: Controversial Ruling on Library Filters”, New York Times, June 1)(reg).
June 1-3 – Sweetness and light from Bill Lockyer. As the state’s power crisis continues, California attorney general Bill Lockyer provokes a few gasps with his recent comments about Enron Corp. chairman Kenneth Lay: “I would love to personally escort Lay to an 8-by-10 cell that he could share with a tattooed dude who says, ‘Hi my name is Spike, honey,’” Lockyer told the Wall Street Journal. While the state’s top law enforcement officer thus quips about subjecting a prominent adversary to prison rape, the Los Angeles Times notes that “neither Lockyer’s office nor any investigative panel has filed charges against Enron or other companies”. (Jenifer Warren, “Lockyer Fires Earthy Attack at Energy Exec”, L.A. Times, May 23, fee-based archive; “Lockyer lockdown”, L.A. Daily News, May 29). Lockyer, who’s promised a bounty of millions of dollars to any informant who can nail the generating firms, was elected AG in a well-funded campaign after serving for many years as head of the Judiciary Committee and chief guardian of litigation-lobby interests in the state Senate; The Recorder (S.F.), Dec. 11, 1992, described him as “the darling of trial lawyers…a part time plaintiff’s attorney”.
Other California politicos have also stepped up the business-bashing to an intensity not heard since the 1970s, to judge from an account by Chris Weinkopf in the Los Angeles Daily News. At a press conference, state senate president pro tem John Burton “announced the solution is for Sacramento to ‘terrorize the bastards’ [electricity generators] by seizing their power plants. If he were governor, he said, he ‘would have taken them yesterday.’ The actual governor, Gray Davis, is more subtle in his attacks. He’s only called the generators ‘marauders,’ ‘pirates’ and ‘the biggest snakes on the planet Earth.’ … Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante has called for empowering the state to put energy executives in jail. …Treasurer Phil Angelides has suggested that if generators ‘don’t take their foot off our throat,’ the state should ‘seize a plant or two to sober them up.’” (Chris Weinkopf, “California’s Assault on Energy Producers”, Los Angeles Daily News, April 24, reprinted at FrontPage magazine).
MORE: In San Francisco Weekly, Jeremy Mullman makes the case that the key error in California’s electricity restructuring was to proceed with government-supervised “Reliability Must-Run” (RMR) contracts (he explains what these are) which perversely rewarded generators for unreliability and supply shortfalls (“Contract Killings”, May 30). See also William Tucker, “California Unplugged”, The American Spectator, April; Rob Wherry, “Crossed Wires,” Forbes, March 5 (reg); “Power Scramble”, Forbes, April 23. (DURABLE LINK)(& welcome visitors from AndrewSullivan.com; Sullivan nominates Lockyer for his “Paul Begala Award” for intemperate rhetoric, linking to our item)
June 1-3 – Old-hairstyle photo prompts lawsuit. Speaking of the unlamented 1970s: Skip Johnson, a production manager who once toured with Jefferson Airplane and the Eagles and was married to singer Grace Slick, has sued a dotcom, its advertising firm, and photo firm Corbis over an ad prominently displaying an old photo of him and implicitly poking fun at the unruly 1970s-vintage hairstyle he then wore. He now sports a more conservative ‘do; suits over commercial use of people’s pictures without their permission go back at least as far as 1902, according to his lawyers. (Peter Hartlaub, “S.F. dot-com is sued over big hair ad”, San Francisco Chronicle, May 29). And the latest tattoo-misspelling lawsuit comes from Tucson where a parlor left out one of the “n”s in the motto 22-year-old West Hill had asked to have inscribed on his arm, thus rendering it as “New Beginings”. (Maureen O’Connell, “A major tattoo miscue”, Arizona Daily Star, May 29).
June 1-3 – “A disabling verdict for organized sports”. Steve Chapman’s take on the high court’s ruling in the Casey Martin case; quotes our editor (Chicago Tribune, May 31). Also: Lance Morrow, “PGA, not SCOTUS, Should Have Decided the Casey Martin Case”, Time.com, May 31; Paul Campos, “Martin ruling only further handicaps us”, Rocky Mountain News, June 2; “The court’s errant shot” (editorial), Chicago Tribune, May 31.
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May 18-20 – “Couple sues for doggie damages”. Claiming that their 4-year-old golden retriever Boomer was hurt by an “invisible fence” electronic collar device, Andrew and Alyce Pacher, of Vandalia, Ohio, want to name the dog itself as a plaintiff in the suit. “It’s my opinion that it’s clear dogs cannot sue under Ohio law,” says the fence company’s lawyer. But the Pachers’ attorney, Paul Leonard, a former lieutenant governor and ex-mayor of Dayton, says that’s exactly what he hopes to change: he’s “hoping to upgrade the legal status of dogs in Ohio.” (“Damages for Injuries Caused by Invisible Fence Sought for Dog”, AP/FoxNews.com, May 11).
May 18-20 – “Fortune Magazine Ranks ATLA 5th Most Powerful Lobby”. The business magazine finds that plaintiff’s lawyers have more clout in Washington than the U.S. Chamber of Commerce or the AFL-CIO; more than Hollywood or the doctors or the realtors or the teachers or the bankers. (Fortune, May 28; ATLA jubilates over its rise from 6th to 5th, May 15).
May 18-20 – Batch of reader letters. Our biggest sack of correspondence yet includes a note from a reader wondering if some open-minded attorney would like to help draft a loser-pays initiative for the ballot in Washington state; more about carbonless paper allergies, the effects of swallowing 9mm bullets, the Granicy trial in California, and “consumer columns” that promote lawyers’ services; a link between ergonomics and gun control controversies; and a reader’s dissent on the case of the boy ticketed for jaywalking after being hit by a truck.
May 17 – “Crash lawyers like Boeing move”. Attorneys who sue after midair mishaps are pleased that Boeing is planning to relocate its headquarters to Chicago. They say the courts of Cook County, Ill., hand out much higher verdicts than those of Seattle, the aircraft maker’s former hometown. Some lawyers in fact predict that domestic crashes, at least when the plane is Boeing-made, are apt to be sued in Cook County from now on regardless of where the flight originated or went down; under the liberal rules of forum-shopping that prevail in American courts, most big airlines may be susceptible to venue in the Windy City since they do at least some business there. (Blake Morrison, “Crash lawyers like Boeing move”, USA Today, May 16).
May 17 – Like a hole in the head. As if the nine private law schools in the state of Massachusetts weren’t enough, proponents now want to establish a public one by having the state take over the struggling Southern New England School of Law at North Dartmouth, near New Bedford. (Denise Magnell, “Crash Course”, Boston Law Tribune, May 1).
May 17 – Lessons of shrub-case jailing. The months-long contempt-of-court jailing of John Thoburn of Fairfax County, Va. for refusing to erect enough trees and shrubs around his golf driving range is a good example of the excesses of bureaucratic legalism, says Washington Post columnist Marc Fisher (“In Fairfax shrub fight, Both Sides Dig In Stubbornly”, April 26). Some of the county’s elected supervisors voice few misgivings about the widely publicized showdown, saying their constituents want them to be tougher in cracking down on zoning violations. (Peter Whoriskey and Michael D. Shear, “Fairfax Zoning Case Draws World Attention”, Washington Post, April 21) (freejohnthoburn.com).
May 16 – No baloney. “A suspected drug dealer who was served a bullet-and-bologna sandwich wants a side of lettuce — about $5 million worth. ” Louis Olivo says he was given an officially prepared lunch during a break in a Brooklyn Supreme Court hearing last week, and felt something “crunchy” which turned out to be a bullet. Surgery (not syrup of ipecac?) is expected to remove the 9mm bullet from Olivo’s stomach; his lawyer wants $5 million (Christopher Francescani, “$5M Lawsuit Over Bulletin in Bologna”, New York Post, May 15) (& letter to the editor, May 18)
May 16 – “Who’s afraid of principled judges?” More questions should be raised about a retreat held at Farmington, Pa. earlier this month in which 42 Democratic Senators were lectured on the need to apply ideological litmus tests to judicial nominees, writes Denver Post columnist Al Knight. (May 13). “Liberals rightly decried efforts a decade ago to turn membership in the American Civil Liberties Union into a disqualification for high office; current efforts to do the same thing to the Federalist Society are equally wrong. … In fact, they are the only group, liberal or conservative, that regularly sponsors debates throughout the nation’s law schools on important public-policy issues.” (Howard Shelansky, “Who’s Afraid of the Federalist Society?”, Wall Street Journal, May 15).
May 16 – Drawing pictures of weapons. In Oldsmar, Fla., an eleven-year-old “was taken from his elementary school in handcuffs after his classmates turned him in for drawing pictures of weapons.” (Ed Quioco and Julie Church, “Student removed from class because of drawings”, St. Petersburg Times, May 11; “Pinellas fifth grader cuffed, sent home after classmates turn him in for drawing weapons”, AP/Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel, May 11). In Sunderland, England, police raided Roland Hopper’s 11th birthday party and arrested him as he cut the cake after he was seen playing with the new pellet gun his mother had bought him (“Armed Police Raid 11th Birthday”, Newcastle Journal, April 10). And the website ztnightmares.com, which developed out of a controversy at Lewis-Palmer High School in Monument, Colo., “publicizes the downside or evils of zero tolerance school discipline policies” and has a noteworthy list of outside links as well as horror stories.
May 15 – “Judges or priests?”. Why have judicial nomination fights taken on the intensity and bitterness once associated with religious disputes? “The only places left in this country that could be described as temples — for that is how we treat them — are the courts. … They are temples because the judges who sit in them now constitute a priesthood, an oracular class … we have abdicated to them our personal responsibility and, in many cases, even what used to be the smallest judgment call a citizen had to make for himself.” (Tunku Varadarajan, WSJ OpinionJournal.com, May 11).
May 15 – Techies fear Calif. anti-confidentiality bill. Trial lawyers have been pushing hard for the enactment of legislation granting them wide leeway to disseminate to anyone they please much of the confidential business information they dig up by compulsory process in lawsuits. (At present, judges are free to issue “protective orders” which restrain such dissemination.) Proponents say lawyers will use this new power to publicize serious safety hazards that now remain unaired; critics predict they will use it to stir up more lawsuits and for general leverage against defendants who have been found guilty of no wrong but who don’t want the inner details of their business to fall into the hands of competitors or others. A lawyer-backed bill had been hurtling toward enactment in California following the Firestone debacle, but now a counterforce has emerged in the person of high-tech execs who say the proposal “could expose confidential company information, stifle innovation and encourage frivolous litigation. … TechNet CEO Rick White called the bills ‘the most significant threat to California’s technology companies since Prop. 211.’ White was referring to the 1996 initiative that would have made company directors and high-ranking executives personally vulnerable to shareholder lawsuits.” (Scott Harris, “Old Foes Squabble Over Secrecy Bills”, Industry Standard/Law.com, May 10).
May 15 – Canadian court: divorce settlements never final. The Ontario Court of Appeal has ruled that courts may revisit and overturn former divorce settlements if a “material change of circumstances” has taken place since the original deal. “Tens of thousands of people who believed they had agreed to a ‘final’ divorce settlement could face more financial demands … Family law lawyers predict a surge of legal attacks on separation agreements and marriage contracts as a result of the ruling.” (Cristin Schmitz, “Divorce deals never final: court”, Southam News/National Post, April 28).
May 14 – Write a very clear will. Or else your estate could wind up being fought over endlessly in court like that of musician Jerry Garcia (Kevin Livingston, “Garcia Estate Fight Keeps On Truckin’”, The Recorder, April 25; Steve Silverman, “Online Fans Sing Blues About Garcia Estate Wrangling”, Wired News, Dec. 16, 1996; Don Knapp, “Garcia vs. Garcia in battle for Grateful wealth”, CNN, Dec. 14, 1996). Or actor James Mason (A Star is Born, North by Northwest) (“He would have been horrified by all this. … he hated litigation”) (Caroline Davies, “James Mason’s ashes finally laid to rest”, Daily Telegraph (London), Nov. 25, 2000). Or timber heir H.J. Lutcher Stark of Orange, Texas, who died in 1965 and whose estate, with that of his wives, has spawned several rounds of litigation which look as far back for their subject matter as 1939 and are still in progress (William P. Barrett, “How Lawyers Get Rich”, Forbes, April 2 (reg)).
May 14 – City gun suits: “extortion parading as law”. To curb the use of officially sponsored litigation as a regulatory bludgeon, as in the gun suits, the Cato Institute’s Robert Levy recommends “a ‘government pays’ rule for legal fees when a governmental unit is the losing plaintiff in a civil case”. (Robert A. Levy, “Pistol Whipped: Baseless Lawsuits, Foolish Laws”, Cato Policy Analysis #400 (executive summary links to full paper — PDF))
May 14 – Update: “Messiah” prisoner’s lawsuit dismissed. In a 22-page opinion, federal district judge David M. Lawson has dismissed the lawsuit filed by a Michigan prisoner claiming recognition as the Messiah (see April 30). The opinion contains much to reward the curious reader, such as the list on page 5 of the inmate’s demands (including “5 million breeding pairs of bison” and “25,000 mature breeding pairs of every creature that exists in the State of Michigan,” and the passage on page 18 citing as precedent for dismissal similar previous cases such as Grier v. Reagan (E.D. Pa. Apr. 1, 1986), “finding that plaintiff’s claim she was God of the Universe fantastic and delusional and dismissing as frivolous complaint which sought items ranging from a size sixteen mink coat and diamond jewelry to a three bedroom home in the suburbs and a catered party at the Spectrum in Philadelphia”). (opinion dated April 26 (PDF), Michigan Bar Association site) (DURABLE LINK)
May 11-13 – Welcome Aardvark Daily readers (NZ). “New Zealand’s leading source of Net-Industry news and commentary since 1995″ just referred us a whole bunch of antipodal visitors by featuring this website in its “Lighten Up” section. It says we offer “an aggregation of quirky and oddball legal actions which go to prove that the USA has far too many lawyers for its own good”. (Aardvark.co.nz). For NZ-related items on this site, check out July 26, Sept. 8 and Oct. 31, 2000, as well as “Look for the Kiwi Label”, Reason, July 2000, by our editor.
May 11-13 – New York tobacco fees. “An arbitration panel has awarded $625 million in attorneys’ fees to the six firms that were hired by New York state to sue the tobacco industry, say sources close to the arbitration report.” The well-connected city law firm of Schneider, Kleinick, Weitz, Damashek & Shoot (which last year was reported to be renting office space to New York Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver; see May 1, 2000) will receive $98.4 million. Three firms that took a major national role in the tobacco heist will share $343.8 million from the New York booty, to add to their rich haul from other states; they are Ness Motley, Richard Scruggs’ Mississippi firm, and Seattle’s Hagens & Berman. (Daniel Wise, “Six Firms Split $625 Million in Fees for New York’s Share of Big Tobacco Case,” New York Law Journal, April 24). Update Jun. 21-23, 2002: judge to review ethical questions raised by fee award.
May 11-13 – “Judges behaving badly”. The National Law Journal‘s fourth annual roundup of judicial injudiciousness includes vignettes of jurists pursuing personal vendettas, earning outside income in highly irregular ways, jailing people without findings of guilt, and getting in all sorts of trouble on matters of sex. Then there’s twice-elected Judge Ellis Willard of Sharkey County, Mississippi, who allegedly “fabricated evidence such as docket pages, arrest warrants, faxes [and] officers’ releases.” That was why he got in trouble, not just because he was fond of holding court in his Beaudron Pawn Shop and Tire Center, “a tire warehouse flanked by service bays on one side and a store that holds the judge’s collection of Coca-Cola memorabilia.” (Gail Diane Cox, National Law Journal, April 30).
May 11-13 – Update: Compaq beats glitch suit. In 1999, after Toshiba ponied up more than a billion dollars to settle a class action charging that its laptops had a glitch in their floppy drives, lawyers filed follow-on claims against other laptop makers whose machines they said displayed the same problem. But Compaq refused to settle, and now Beaumont, Tex. federal judge Thad Heartfield has felt constrained to dismiss the suit against it on the grounds that plaintiff’s lawyer Wayne Reaud had failed to show that any user suffered the requisite $5,000 in damages. (Daniel Fisher, “Billion-Dollar Bluff”, Forbes, April 16 (now requires registration)).
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September 8-10 – Netscape “Cool Sitings” of the day. Overlawyered.com was one of the picks on Thursday’s edition of Netscape’s much-surfed “Cool Sitings” feature. Their write-up: “Legal Shenanigans. If the joke: ‘What do you call 1000 lawyers at the bottom of the sea? A good start’ rings true for you, check out this site” (Sept. 7). And we’re also today’s (Friday’s) web pick of the day at the Memphis Commercial Appeal‘s “C.A. Eye“.
September 8-10 – …Than never to have been born at all. By a 4-3 margin, the Ohio Supreme Court has declined to let a 7-year-old with spina bifida sue her parents’ doctors on a claim of “wrongful life”. The little girl’s argument — at least, the argument put forth on her behalf in court — is that had the doctors told her parents about the availability of a prenatal test that would have disclosed her abnormality, they would have had an abortion, and that she suffered injury because they failed to do so. “Chief Justice Thomas J. Moyer, writing for the majority, said courts do not have the authority to decide if a person should or should not have been born.” Justices Paul Pfeifer, Andrew Douglas and Alice Robie Resnick dissented. (Spencer Hunt, “Girl has no right to sue”, Cincinnati Enquirer, Sept. 7; “Ohio Court Rules Against Parents”, AP/FindLaw, Sept. 7; decision, Hester v. Dwivedi) (see also May 9).
September 8-10 — “NZ kids get ‘license’ to play with toy guns”. “Children as young as four in New Zealand are being required to apply for ‘licenses’ for toy guns.” They must explain why they want one, and playing cops and robbers is not a good enough reason. (Sydney Morning Herald, Sept. 6). Also: an Australian radio talk show host, convicted of improperly soliciting information about the deliberations of a jury, was “given a 15-month suspended sentence … because the judge believed he was too wealthy to fine and too famous to jail.” (Stephen Gibbs, “Laws too famous to jail, says judge”, Sydney Morning Herald, Sept. 6).
September 8-10 – “A perverse use of antitrust law”. “The Justice Department could hardly have come up with a more harmful set of demands than those it now makes [on Microsoft],” writes Charles Munger, vice chairman of famed investor Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway. “If it wins, our country will end up hobbling its best-performing high-tech businesses. And this will be done in an attempt to get public benefits that no one can rationally predict.” (Charles Munger, Washington Post, Sept. 1). More: “Did Microsoft Harm Consumers? Two Opposing Views”, by David S. Evans, Franklin M. Fisher, Daniel L. Rubinfield, and Richard L. Schmalensee, AEI-Brookings Joint Center for Regulatory Studies (abstract, full text (PDF format), order form); David Boaz, “The theft of Microsoft”, Cato Daily, July 27; Jonathan Rauch, “The Microsoft Case: Fair, Necessary, and Totally Random”, National Journal, June 10.
September 8-10 – “State errors unfairly cast some dads as deadbeats”. A federal law has mandated toughening of state child support collection systems. Unfortunately, reports Marilyn Gardner of the Christian Science Monitor, the resulting overhauls have increased the rate of billing errors in some of the systems and led to parents mistakenly being labeled deadbeats (August 9).
September 8-10 – $1.5 million estate bill included 900 hours spent on fees. An Indiana appeals court has rebuked a law firm which billed heirs $1.5 million for handling an inheritance case, including 900 hours it says it spent calculating its fees. The Indianapolis law firm of Henderson, Daily, Withrow & DeVoe had worked on the estate of former Conseco Inc. executive Lawrence W. Inlow, who died without a will at age 46 in a helicopter accident leaving an estate of $185 million. “Requiring a client to pay an additional amount for being told what he owes in the first instance is neither good business nor good law,” wrote Judge Sanford M. Brook for the appeals court. (“Court Rejects Attorneys’ Charge”, AP/FindLaw, Sept. 7) (court opinion, Inlow children v. Estate of Inlow).
September 6-7 – Prosecution fears slow crash probes. Aviation accidents almost never used to result in the filing of criminal charges, but in recent years they’ve been the subject of several highly publicized prosecutions. A House Transportation Committee hearing in late July looked into evidence that fear of incarceration or fines is now discouraging witnesses from cooperating with crash investigators. “For decades, we had relied on individuals to tell us what happened in an accident — and they usually, sometimes reluctantly, do so,” said Daniel Campbell, managing director of the official National Transportation Safety Board. But “what has been reluctance to cooperate may become refusal to cooperate.” Campbell said prosecution fears had also made it hard to investigate a recent nonaviation accident, a fatal pipeline explosion in Bellingham, Wash., last year. As a result, “more than a year later, we still have not been able to talk to most of the key individuals who were operating the pipeline when it ruptured and may not be able to in the foreseeable future.” A federal grand jury subpoena also “resulted in a significant delay in the investigation,” Campbell said. “In our view, too much lawyering went on before we were able to test the physical evidence of that tragedy.”
“The recent trend towards the criminalization of aircraft accidents is extremely alarming in that it has the potential to cripple industry’s ability to learn from incidents and accidents, essentially guaranteeing that we will repeat them,” said Capt. Paul McCarthy of the Air Line Pilots Association. He cited the 1996 ValuJet crash in Florida, the USAir 1989 crash at LaGuardia, and the recent Alaska Air crash off the California coast as examples of cases where safety investigations had been slowed. (House Transportation Committee, Aviation Subcommittee, hearing summary, Campbell, McCarthy statements; thread on Professional Pilots bulletin board)
September 6-7 – Update: second chance for Wal-Mart. The giant retailer has won a rematch in the case of former employee Ricky Bourdouvales, who sued alleging discrimination based on transsexualism (male-to-female). Judge Douglas Hague issued a default judgment of $2.1 million when Wal-Mart failed to show up in his New Jersey court (see July 21), but has now agreed to grant a retrial. (“Judge Tosses Trans Bias Award”, PlanetOut, Aug. 28).
September 6-7 – Australian roundup. A now-retired New South Wales judge has come under criticism from the losing plaintiffs in a large case, who complain in their appeal that more than 200 pages of his 247-page opinion consist of material cut and pasted from the submissions made by the two sides. The judge had called the case, over the Copper-7 contraceptive IUD, the longest and most complex product liability case in Australian history. (“Judge ‘cut and paste’ in making his decision on IUDs”, AAP/The Age (Melbourne), Aug. 29). Five partners of a Sydney law firm that handles a large volume of immigration work are suing Immigration Minister Philip Ruddock for defamation, “claiming he implied they were unethical and overcharged clients.” (“Ruddock sued for defamation by lawyers”, AAP/The Age (Melbourne), Aug. 29). And a 1998 finding by a federal justice that a prominent Brisbane law firm engaged in abuse of legal process ignited a debate about the condition of the law in Australia; a national TV show explored widespread discontent over the gamelike aspects of adversary process, interviewing both leading insiders of bench and bar and two outspoken critics, former defense lawyer and prosecutor Brett Dawson and journalist Evan Whitton (“The justice system goes on trial”, Ross Coulthart, reporter, Sunday/NineMSN, Transcript #252, undated). One passage among many that caught our eye:
REPORTER: Do you think there’s a case to argue that some of the ethical rules that lawyers have actually almost encourage dishonesty among lawyers?
JUSTICE [GEOFFREY] DAVIES: Yes I do. One of the examples is that a lawyer can ethically deny an allegation in the opponent’s pleading knowing it to be true.
REPORTER: You’re kidding – so you can basically lie?
JUSTICE DAVIES: Well, what lawyers would say is that you are putting the other side to proof.
REPORTER: It’s a lie though isn’t it?
JUSTICE DAVIES: It is.
September 6-7 – Bill for pizza delivery: $1.25 million? A Cocoa Beach, Fla. jury voted, but a federal judge almost immediately threw out, an award of one and a quarter million dollars to a black family that ordered home delivery from Pizza Hut and found a racial slur included as part of the computer-generated receipt. Judge Patricia Fawsett ruled that responsibility lay with the unauthorized actions of a rogue employee and could not fairly be charged to the company. (“Judge throws out $1.25M verdict against Pizza Hut”, Orlando Sentinel, Sept. 1).
September 5 – EEOC: offbeat beliefs may be protected against workplace bias. “Belief in radically unconventional scientific notions, such as ‘cold fusion’ or cryptic messages from extraterrestrials, may merit the same workplace protections as freedom of religion, according to a ruling by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in a job-discrimination case.” The case arose from the April 1999 firing by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office of patent examiner and astronomer Paul A. LaViolette, who claims the action was taken because he holds unconventional beliefs, including a belief in the highly controversial theory of energy generation through “cold fusion”. In the words of the Washington Post, LaViolette’s website, www.etheric.com, “details his ‘proof’ of the existence of alien radio communication, his theory that the zodiac is a ‘time capsule message’ warning of emanations from the galactic center and his views on the Sphinx, the Tarot and Atlantis, along with his considerable accomplishments in mainstream science.” (Curt Suplee, “EEOC Backs ‘Cold Fusion’ Devotee”, Washington Post, Aug. 23).
September 5 – Tax software verdict: pick a number. A Hinds County, Mississippi jury “awarded the state of Mississippi $474.5 million in its suit against a company that failed to deliver on a new tax processing system that was supposed to modernize the state’s collection efforts.” The verdict against Fairfax, Va.-based American Management Systems Inc. included $299.5 million in actual damages and $175 million in punitive damages. A few days later, the company settled the suit by agreeing to pay the state $185 million. The company has contracts with seven other states to operate similar computerized tax systems; no other lawsuits are pending. (“Company loses tax software suit”, AP/USA Today, Aug. 24; “Settlement cuts tax software verdict”, Aug. 29).
September 5 – Juries and cost-benefit analysis. W. Kip Viscusi, professor at Harvard Law, says businesses today get conflicting signals on the use of cost-benefit analysis in safety matters: a large academic literature encourages them to engage in such analysis as part of their responsibility to the public, but juries get furious when they think that sort of “cold-blooded calculation” has gone on. Moreover, there’s evidence to support the paradoxical finding that the higher a valuation of life and limb a company employs in such an analysis, the more stringently it will be punished by subsequent juries. (“The Trouble With Lawsuits”, TechCentralStation, May 29; Manhattan Institute, luncheon transcript).
September 4 – Emulex fraud: gotta find a defendant. “With the manhunt for the perpetrator of the Emulex fraud [false news report torpedoed company's stock] apparently over, investors burned by the company’s $2 billion post-fraud swing are now hunting for someone, anyone, to sue for legal damages. Two lawsuits have already been filed, one against Internet Wire, which originally distributed the bogus press release, and one against both Internet Wire and Bloomberg, the financial news service that sent out a story based on the press release.” (Craig Bicknell, “Emulex Victims: Who Can We Sue?”, Wired News, Sept. 1).
September 4 – Record-breaking securities class action fee: $262 million. A federal judge in New Jersey last month approved a fee of $262 million for plaintiffs’ lawyers in the securities fraud case stemming from the collapse in the stock price of Cendant Corporation (see June 20). Judge William Walls upheld the record-breaking fee against objections from New York City, a member of the investor class, reasoning that the two lead law firms, New York’s Bernstein Litowitz Berger & Grossman and Philadelphia’s Barrack, Rodos & Bacine, had taken part in a fairly run auction to determine who would get to represent the investors. (Daniel Wise, “Cendant Lawyers Get Record $262 Million in Securities Fraud Case”, New York Law Journal, Aug. 22).
September 4– “Just put the candy in the bag, lady.” “I’ve been watching the lawsuits over Columbine with interest bordering on disgust. It seems the argument is that someone (preferably a government agent not affiliated with the Postal Service, or failing that, any random person with deep pockets) should have foreseen the future and intervened,” writes Paul Kelly, a former vice chair of the Boulder, Colo. Democratic Party. “…If this new ‘everybody’s negligent all the time’ social philosophy seems silly to you, it’s probably because you’re not a lawyer. To a lawyer this is like Halloween to a 10-year-old. ‘Just put the candy in the bag, lady. And hurry. There are still five families on this block I haven’t sued yet.’” (“Doing nothing may be best option”, Denver Post, Aug. 13).
September 1-3 – Texas tobacco fees: Cornyn’s battle. In December 1998 an arbitration panel awarded a stupendous $3.3 billion in legal fees to five law firms selected by former Texas Attorney General Dan Morales to represent the state in the tobacco-Medicaid litigation, which had ended in a $17 billion settlement. The Big Five firms, all high rollers in Lone Star State personal-injury litigation and all major Democratic Party donors, include Beaumont, Texas’s Provost & Umphrey (Walter Umphrey), Houston’s Williams & Bailey (John Eddie Williams), Harold Nix’s law firm in Daingerfield; Beaumont’s Reaud, Morgan & Quinn (Wayne Reaud); and John O’Quinn’s firm in Houston.
Mr. Morales’s Republican successor as Texas Attorney General, former Texas Supreme Court Justice John Cornyn, ran for office in part on a pledge to investigate the circumstances surrounding the fees, and his probe soon led to some eye-opening revelations (see May 22). A Houston lawyer named Marc Murr, who’d earlier worked at the same law firm with Morales, had stepped forward after the settlement to claim a $520 million (later $260 million) share of the proceeds, a mystifying claim since participants could not remember Murr doing work on the case or being considered part of the state’s team. Murr pointed to a hitherto unsuspected contract with Morales entitling him to a piece of the action, but Cornyn hired forensic experts who concluded that the contract had been doctored and backdated. Rather than be put under oath about the matter, Murr withdrew his claim to the fees; a U.S. attorney’s office has the matter under investigation.
As for the circumstances by which the Big Five came by their fees, Cornyn’s investigation has met with a stone wall of resistance and non-cooperation from Umphrey, Williams, Nix, Reaud and O’Quinn. In particular, he would like to investigate what the Houston Chronicle describes as “longtime allegations that [Morales] solicited large sums of money from lawyers he considered hiring” for the suit. Two years ago famed Houston attorney Joe Jamail, who wasn’t among those picked to represent the state, “said Morales solicited $1 million from each of several lawyers he considered hiring”, in addition to the $2 million that each of the five agreed to front to finance the case. “The money, according to memos prepared by Jamail, purportedly was for a fund to help Morales defend himself against political or public relations attacks from cigarette companies during the litigation.” Last year in sworn testimony Dawn Nelson, ex-wife of Big Five lawyer John Eddie Williams, said “Williams had told her that Morales wanted $1 million from one or more of the lawyers that were hired for the tobacco case,” the Chronicle reported.
In an interview last November cited in the same Chronicle reportage, Morales said that the purpose of the money might have been misunderstood and that he didn’t intend it to be used for his personal or political benefit. In May, the Five filed statements in court saying they had not paid any consideration for the chance to participate in the litigation. But they’ve consistently refused to go under oath to answer Cornyn’s questions, and skillful legal maneuvering on their behalf has kept at bay that alarming prospect — first by their successful removal of his legal action away from state court and into the hands of the same federal judge in Texarkana whom they initially selected to hear the Medicaid-recoupment case (see “Best little forum-shopping in Texas”, Aug. 27, 1999), and now with their obtaining of a ruling by that judge last month that Cornyn has no independent right to question the lawyers except under such terms as he, the judge, may see fit to approve in future (Cornyn plans an appeal of that ruling to the Fifth Circuit). The Five have also sought a gag order to prevent the press or anyone else from getting a look at documents generated by the investigation, notwithstanding the usual publicly proclaimed stand of organized trial lawyers that “protective orders” of that sort are an affront to the public’s right to know and serve only to shroud wrongdoing in secrecy. And, like other lawyers who have represented the states in the tobacco recoupment litigation, they have argued that the fees are not an appropriate subject for review by representatives of the taxpayers because they are formally structured so as to be paid directly by the cigarette companies, rather than be routed through the state as part of its payment as is customary.
The Big Five also claimed $40 million in reimbursement for out-of-pocket expenses (as distinct from legal fees) but at the end of May they returned $6.9 million of this money, saying the earlier sum had been overstated. “Their misrepresentation of expenses just raises more questions and strongly reinforces the need to determine what happened in the tobacco case,” Cornyn said. “After 18 months of assuring the people of Texas that their expenses were justified in every way … [they] are now returning millions of dollars with no satisfactory explanation as to why.” Michael Tigar, attorney for the Five, said the earlier sum had been a good-faith estimate and that deviations from such estimates are common. (DURABLE LINK)
SOURCES: Kelley Shannon, “Cornyn, rebuffed in federal court, vows to appeal”, AP state and local wire, Aug. 16, not online, available on NEXIS; “Five attorneys say Morales not paid for contract in anti-tobacco lawsuit”, AP state and local wire, May 12, not online, available on NEXIS; Brenda Sapino Jeffreys, “As Tobacco Lawyers Return Money, Questions Return”, Texas Lawyer, June 9; “Tobacco trial lawyers admit misrepresentation”, Cornyn press release, June 1; Susan Borreson, “Tobacco Plaintiffs’ Lawyers Won’t Enforce Contract With State”, Texas Lawyer, December 2, 1999; Robert Bryce, “Nicotine Fit”, Texas Observer, November 26, 1999; Janet Elliott, “‘Tobacco Five’ Want Confidentiality Order”, Texas Lawyer, Sept. 9, 1999.; Clay Robison, “Cornyn moves in on anti-tobacco lawyers”, Houston Chronicle, April 27. Murr case: Miriam Rozen, “Smoke-filled room”, Dallas Observer, Sept. 17, 1998; “Pay up?”, April 22, 1999; Patrick Williams, “Buzz”, Dec. 17, 1998, May 20, 1999; Jim Brickman, “What Would I Ask Former Attorney General Dan Morales In the Grand Jury Investigation?“, Citizens for Lawsuit Abuse Houston; John R. Butler, Jr., “Dan Morales and Marc Murr Have Some Explaining To Do To All Texans“, CALA Houston.
September 1-3 – “Olympic trials”. At least ten athletes, after falling short in efforts to make the U.S. Olympic team in their sports, have insisted on going to arbitration or in one case to federal court, according to columnist Kimberly Strassel of the Wall Street Journal‘s online Opinion Journal (Aug. 31; see also Mark R. Madler, “Judges Wrestle With Epic Case of Olympic Athlete” (wrestlers), American Lawyer Media, Aug. 31.
September 1-3 – “Don’t talk to the humans”. Some years back the federal government issued regulations on universities’ use of human experimental subjects. How strictly are these rules being enforced? So strictly that a scholar can get in big trouble by not asking an official committee’s permission before visiting a retirement home and chatting with one of the elderly residents about his life. (Christopher Shea, Lingua Franca, Sept.) (via Arts & Letters Daily).
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July 31 – Clinton’s date with ATLA. Bill Clinton’s speaking engagement yesterday before trial lawyers at their convention draws this hard-hitting column by New York Post‘s Rod Dreher, who writes: “Though he has signed a few small tort-reform measures, the President has vetoed every major effort to rein in the berserk lawsuit culture, which is turning civil courts into casinos for trial lawyers and greedy plaintiffs.” Dreher’s column also quotes this site’s editor at length about how tobacco lawyers since their lucrative settlement have become “an institutional ATM for the Democratic Party”; on how Gov. George Bush pushed through legal reform in Texas, a state where they said it couldn’t be done; and on what’s likely to happen if voters don’t break the lawyers’ momentum at the polls this fall (Rod Dreher, “Greedy Dems Refuse to Curb Lawsuit Madness”, New York Post, Jul. 30). Best of all, Dreher refers to this site as “the must-bookmark www.overlawyered.com”.
July 31 – No diaries for Cheney. “A small anecdote about a large facet of his [Dick Cheney's] personality. [At a White House dinner] in the summer of 1992 … President Bush’s sister turned to him and said she hoped he would someday write a book, and hoped he was keeping a diary. He sort of winced, and looked down. No, he said, ‘unfortunately you can’t keep diaries in a position like mine anymore.’ He explained that anything he wrote could be subpoenaed or become evidence in some potential legal action. ‘So you can’t keep and recount your thoughts anymore.’ We talked about what a loss this is for history. It concerned him. It was serious; so is he. Then everyone started talking politics again.” (Peggy Noonan, “The Un-Clinton”, Wall Street Journal, July 26, subscriber site).
July 31 – Nader cartoon of the year. By Henry Payne for the Detroit News, it depicts Ralph as the parrot on a pirate’s shoulder, and you can guess who’s the pirate (at News site — July 25) (via National Journal Convention Daily).
July 31 – Our most ominous export. Trial lawyers in the United States have been steadily internationalizing their activities, bringing the putative benefits of American-style product liability suits to faraway nations. Now it’s happening with litigation against gunmakers: attorney Elisa Barnes, who managed the Hamilton v. Accu-Tek case in Brooklyn, is assisting a Brazilian gun-control group in a suit against local firearms maker Taurus International over sales of its lawful product. (“Brazil’s biggest gun maker under fire from rights group”, AP/Dallas Morning News, July 27).
July 31 – Running City Hall? Stock up on lawyers. “Time was that most small cities in California were represented by one in-house attorney, who likely had a sole practice on the side. Today, laws such as the Americans With Disabilities Act, requirements such as environmental impact reports and intricate ballot initiatives make running a city too complicated for that kind of legal staffing.” (Matthew Leising, “Meyers Nave spins cities’ legal hassles into gold”, National Law Journal, August 9, 1999, not online).
July 28-30 – Clinton to speak Sunday to ATLA convention. Confirmed on ATLA’s website: President Bill Clinton is scheduled to address the annual convention of the Association of Trial Lawyers of America at Chicago’s Hyatt Regency on Sunday at 2:30 p.m., the first such appearance by a sitting president ever, and another confirmation that this administration is friendlier to the litigation lobby than any before it in American history. More than 3,000 trial lawyers are expected to attend.
July 28-30 – New subpage on Overlawyered.com: Trial lawyers and politics. Former California Assembly Speaker Willie Brown has called plaintiff’s lawyers “anchor tenants” of the Democratic Party, and they’re rather well connected in many Republican circles as well (as for their longtime role in backing Ralph Nader, currently running as a Green, don’t get us started). Is anyone keeping proper tabs of their activities in the political sphere? We’re not sure, but figure it can’t hurt to start a new subpage on that topic.
July 28-30 – Wall Street Journal “OpinionJournal.com” launches. Today the Wall Street Journal is scheduled to go live with its eagerly awaited OpinionJournal.com, which is expected to embody the crusading spirit of the paper’s editorial page. They tell us Overlawyered.com will be listed among OpinionJournal.com’s “favorite” sites, with a standing link.
July 28-30 – “How the ADA Handicaps Me”. “I graduated from a good law school but finding a job has been difficult, much more difficult, than I expected,” writes Julie Hofius, an Ohio attorney who uses a wheelchair. “Getting interviews has not been a problem. Getting second interviews or job offers has been. … The physical obstacles have been removed, but they have been replaced with a more daunting obstacle: the employer’s fear of lawsuits. … job-hunters with disabilities are viewed by employers as ‘lawsuits on wheels.’” (“Let’s get beyond victimhood of disabilities act”, Houston Chronicle, July 25, and Cato Daily Commentary, July 26). The tenth anniversary of the enactment of the Americans with Disabilities Act has occasioned a flood of commentary and reportage, an ample selection of which is found at Yahoo Full Coverage. Check out in particular Carolyn Lochhead, “Collecting on a Promise”, San Francisco Chronicle, July 26, and Aaron Brown, “What’s Changed? Assessing the Disabilities Act, 10 Years Later”, ABCNews.com, July 26 (sidebar, “Too Many Lawsuits?” by Betsy Stark, quotes this site’s editor).
July 28-30 – Smoking and responsibility: columnists weigh in. “I watched my father die from smoking … [he] would not have taken kindly to being portrayed as an innocent victim of the tobacco industry,” writes the New York Press‘s John Strausbaugh. “The popularity of the fairy tale in which Demon Philip Morris pins innocent victims to the ground and forces them to smoke cigarette after cigarette until they die is another example of the way Americans enjoy infantilizing themselves and shirking responsibility for their own lives.” (“Demoned Weed”, Jul. 22). Legendary Pittsburgh shortstop Honus Wagner, of baseball-card fame, “demanded that his card be taken off cigarette packs because smoking was bad, and habit-forming. That, my friends, was in 1910. Even back then we all knew cigarette smoking was bad. … When do we stop blaming other people?” (Steve Dunleavy, “Cig-Makers Paying Price for Smokers’ Free Choice”, New York Post, Jul. 16). $145 billion, the punitive damages figure assessed by a Florida jury earlier this month, amounts to “more than twice the gross domestic product of New Zealand. It is, in short, a ridiculous number, pulled out of thin air …Why not $145 trillion?” (Jacob Sullum, “The $145 Billion Message”, Creators’ Syndicate column, July 19). And even before the state settlement jacked up the price of cigarettes for the financial benefit of state governments and their lawyers, government was reaping a bigger profit through taxes from tobacco than were manufacturers: roughly 74 cents per pack, compared with 28 cents’ profit for Philip Morris, according to Sullum. “Some will protest that there is a moral distinction here. To be sure: While politicians and tobacco companies both take money from smokers, only the tobacco companies give them something in return.” (Jacob Sullum, New York Times, July 20, reprinted at Reason site).
July 28-30 – Lenzner: “I think what we do is practice law”. Profile of Terry Lenzner, much-feared Washington private investigator in the news recently for his firm’s attempts to buy trash from pro-Microsoft advocacy groups on behalf of client Oracle, and whose services are in brisk demand from law firms and Clinton Administration figures wishing to dig dirt on their opponents. Known for his operatives’ irregular methods of evidence-gathering — he recommends posing as journalists to worm information out of unwary prospects — Lenzner recently addressed a seminar at Harvard about his calling. “I think what we do is practice law, although I use a lot of nonlawyers, he told the attendees.” (Brian Blomquist, “Gumshoe’s reputation is all heel and no soul”, New York Post, Jul. 18).
July 26-27 – Losing your legislative battles? Just sue instead. Lawyers for Planned Parenthood in Seattle have filed a lawsuit against the Bartell drugstore chain, claiming it amounts to sex discrimination for the company’s employee health plan not to cover contraception. Many employers’ health plans curb costs by not covering procedures not deemed medically necessary, such as cosmetic surgery, contraception, in vitro fertilization, and elective weight reduction. Planned Parenthood had earlier sought legislation in Olympia, the state capital, to compel employer plans to cover contraception, as has been done in about a dozen states, but strong opposition defeated their efforts; running to court, however, dispenses with the tiresome need to muster legislative majorities. A Planned Parenthood official said Bartell was selected as the target for the test case “because the drugstore chain is generally considered to be a good employer and progressive company” — that’ll teach ‘em. (Catherine Tarpley, “Bartell sued over contraceptives coverage”, Seattle Times, July 20; David A. Fahrenthold, “Woman Sues for Contraception Coverage”, Washington Post, July 22; Planned Parenthood of Western Washington advocacy site, covermypills.org).
July 26-27 – Update: Tourette’s bagger case. The Michigan Court of Appeals has upheld the right of the Farmer Jack supermarket chain to refuse to employ Karl Petzold, 22, as a bagger in its checkout lines. Petzold suffers from coprolalia, a symptom of Tourette’s Syndrome that causes him involuntarily to utter obscenities and racial slurs (see June 9). “We find it ridiculous to expect a business … to tolerate this type of language in the presence of its customers, even though we understand that because of plaintiff’s condition, his utterance of obscenities and racial epithets is involuntary,” the court wrote in a 3-0 decision reversing a trial court’s denial of summary judgment. Petzold’s attorney vowed an appeal to the Michigan Supreme Court. (“Court Rules on Tourette Suit”, AP/FindLaw, Jul. 21) (text of decision, Petzold v. Borman’s Inc.) (via Jim Twu’s FindLaw Legal Grounds).
July 26-27 – “It isn’t about the money”. An Atlanta jury has awarded former stripper Vanessa Steele Inman $2.4 million in her suit against the organizers of the 1997 Miss Nude World International pageant as well as the Pink Pony, the strip club at which the week-long event was held. Ms. Inman said organizers rigged the balloting to favor a rival contestant and “blackballed her from nightclubs around the country owned by the Pink Pony’s owner, Jack Galardi”, to retaliate for her refusal to do lap dances on a tour bus, let herself be “auctioned off” to drunken golfers, or allow her breasts to be employed in conjunction with whipped cream in a manner not really suitable for description on a family website. The jury awarded her $835,000 in compensatory damages, in part to make up for the impairment of her earnings in the exotic dance field, plus $1.6 million in punitive damages. “It isn’t even about the money,” she said. “Now people believe what I had to say.” (Jim Dyer, “Former stripper awarded $2.4 M against pageant organizers”, Atlanta Journal- Constitution, Jul. 25) (more on litigation by strippers: May 23, Jan. 28). Update Apr. 17, 2004: Georgia Court of Appeals overturns verdict.
July 26-27 – “Power company discriminates against unemployed”. In New Zealand, the Human Rights Commission is telling an electricity supplier to amend its “discriminatory” policies regarding prospective customers who might have trouble paying their bills. “A woman complained that her application to become a customer was rejected because she was unemployed, did not have a credit card and did not own her own home.” The company has already agreed to cease asking applicants whether they are employed, but the commissioners say it has been “indirectly discriminating against unemployed people by requiring its customers to have a credit card, own their own home and have an income greater than $10,000 a year.” (“Stuff” (Independent Newspapers Ltd.), Jul. 26).
July 26-27 – Couple ordered to give son Ritalin. A family court judge in Albany County, N.Y. has ordered Michael and Jill Carroll to resume giving their 7-year-old son Ritalin, the controversial psychiatric drug. The couple, who reside in the town of Berne, had taken their son Kyle off the medication, which is used to treat attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder; they feared the drug was harming his appetite and sleep. An official at the Berne-Knox-Westerlo School District proceeded to inform on them to the county Department of Social Services, which filed child abuse charges against the couple on charges of medical neglect. The charges, which might have led to the son’s removal from the home, were dropped when they agreed before the judge to put Kyle back on the drug; they will, however, be allowed to seek a second opinion on whether the boy should get Ritalin and return to court to argue for the right to discontinue the drug at some future date. (Rick Carlin, “Court Orders Couple To Give Son Drug”, Albany Times-Union, July 19 (fee-based archive — search on “Ritalin” or other key words to find story)) (update — see Aug. 29-30).
July 24-25 – Update: drunken bicyclist out of luck. A Louisiana appeals court has thrown out a trial court’s $95,485 award against city hall to a drunken bicyclist who was injured when he ran a stop sign and collided with a police car responding to a call (see Dec. 1). Plaintiff Jerry Lawrence’s lawyer explained the verdict at the time by saying, “Drunks have some rights, too”. (Angela Rozas, “No cash for drunken bicyclist”, New Orleans Times-Picayune, May 20). Police chief Nick Congemi said one reason Lawrence got as far as he did in his suit was that the department hadn’t issued him a ticket at the time for bicycling while intoxicated. “We learned a lesson, too. Because he was injured so badly, we decided not to give him any citations. … we’re going to change our policies on that. Here on out, we’re going to issue citations, even if they’re injured.” More proof of the inspirational things litigation can accomplish! (via “Backstage at News of the Weird”, May 29)
July 24-25 – “Going after corporations through jury box”. Christian Science Monitor takes a look at what comes next in mass torts after the Florida tobacco verdict, which Lawrence Fineran of the National Association of Manufacturers calls “really scary”. Quotes this site’s editor, too (Kris Axtman, July 24).
July 24-25 – Welcome Wall Street Journal readers. In its Friday editorial on the sensational developments in the Coke discrimination case, the Journal suggested people learn more by visiting this site (if you’re here to do that, see July 21-23 and July 19-20; click through from the latter to the big article on the case in the Fulton County Daily Report). Thanks in no small part to the Journal, last week (and Friday in particular) saw this site set new traffic records. (“The Practice”, July 21) (requires online subscription).
July 24-25 – “Poll: majority disapprove of tobacco fine.” Gallup asked 1,063 adults their opinion of a Florida jury’s $145 billion punitive verdict against tobacco companies. 59 percent “disapprove”, 37 percent “approve” and 4 percent had “no opinion.” Asked who was predominantly to blame for smokers’ illnesses, 59 percent said smokers themselves “mostly” or “completely” were and 26 percent said tobacco companies were (20 percent “mostly”, 6 percent “completely”). Another 14 percent blamed the two equally. Disapproval of the award increased among older age groups and with political conservatism; the results are consistent with a 1994 poll on tobacco liability. In December the public was asked whether it agreed with the U.S. government’s view that gun manufacturers could rightly be held financially responsible for the costs of shootings; it said no by a 67 to 28 percent margin. (Carol Rosenberg, Miami Herald, July 19)
July 24-25 – Florida verdict: more editorial reaction. “Given the industry’s history of evasion and equivocation about the health risks of smoking, it is tempting to welcome as a comeuppance a Florida jury’s $144.8 billion judgment against six tobacco companies. The temptation should be resisted. The judgment is a disgrace to the American legal system and an affront to democracy…. These issues should be confronted by the people’s elected representatives. They should not be hijacked by the judicial process under the guise of a tort case.” (“Smoke signal: An anti-tobacco verdict mocks law and democracy”, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, July 21). “Ridiculous … outrageous … A ruling that completely ignores personal responsibility is a joke.” (Cincinnati Enquirer). “The biggest damages here may be to the reputation of the legal system.” (Washington Post). “Monstrous … Now that they have taken an unwise gamble on their health, the Florida plaintiffs portray themselves as victims of Big Tobacco. … outlandish” (San Diego Union-Tribune). “Falls somewhere between confiscation and robbery” (Indianapolis Star). A “fantasy verdict” (Cincinnati Post/Scripps Howard). “The bottom line is that courtrooms are not the proper forums for setting public policy, and personal responsibility should not be dismissed out of hand. ” (Tampa Tribune). “Yuck…. [the] tendency to run from personal accountability is one of the least attractive of modern human characteristics. A lot has also been said about the wrongness — yes, the fundamental wrongness — of a system that makes billionaires of attorneys based on their ability to minimize the responsibility of their clients when a deep-pockets defendant is in the dock.” (Omaha World-Herald). “You don’t have to love tobacco companies to recognize the wrong that’s been going on in Florida for the past six years…. [a lawsuit] ran amok.” (Louisville Courier-Journal). “Ambitious and politically motivated lawyers are usurping decision- and policymaking that in a democracy is appropriately left to the voters and their representatives. Tyranny of the tort may be putting it too strongly — at least for now. But who knows who will be next on the trial lawyers’ hit list?” (Chicago Sun-Times). “Justice is not served … ridiculous.” (Wisconsin State Journal (Madison)). “Absurdly excessive … provides a further reminder that the national “settlement” between Big Tobacco and the states aimed at curbing lawsuits over smoking hasn’t resolved much of anything.” (Memphis Commercial Appeal). “‘This was never about money,’ the plaintiffs’ attorney said immediately after the verdict. Whooooo, boy.” (Des Moines Register). Newspapers that approved of the verdict included the New York Times, USA Today, Dallas Morning News, San Francisco Chronicle, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Bergen County (N.J.) Record, Palm Beach Post, Spokane Spokesman-Review, Buffalo News, and Charleston (W.V.) Gazette.
July 21-23 – Principal, school officials sued over Columbine massacre. Three families were already suing the Jefferson County sheriff’s office, the killers’ parents and others, and now they’ve added Principal Frank DeAngelis and other school officials as defendants. After all, the more different people you sue, the more justice will get done, right? (“Columbine principal sued by victims of massacre”, CNN/Reuters, Jul. 19). Update Nov. 30-Dec. 2, 2001: judge dismisses most counts against school and its officials, parents having settled earlier.
July 21-23 – Washington Times on lawyers. Reporter Frank J. Murray’s series examining the legal profession has been running all week with installments on lawyer image, the boom in pay, lack of teeth in the lawyer-discipline process and more (July 17-21).
July 21-23 – Complaint: recreated slave ship not handicap accessible. A group of disabled New Haven, Ct. residents is charging that the publicly funded schooner Amistad, a traveling historical exhibit, is not accessible to wheelchairs as required by the Americans with Disabilities Act. The Amistad was the scene of an important slave revolt in 1839-1842 and its recreated version helps evoke the overcrowding and other inhumane conditions of the slave trade. (“Amistad Raises Concerns About Handicap Access”, AP/Hartford Courant (CtNow.com), July 18).
July 21-23 – Class-action lawyers to Coke clients: you’re fired. As we mentioned yesterday, there have been sensational new developments in the Coca-Cola Co. bias-suit saga, following an episode in which a plaintiff lingered on the line after a conference call and heard what his lawyers told each other when they thought they were among themselves (see July 19-20). One reader writes to say he found it “an interesting commentary on class action litigation. The plaintiff becomes dissatisfied with the way his attorneys are handling his law case. So the client fires the attorney, right? Wrong. The attorney fires the client and continues the case with other plaintiffs. What’s wrong with this picture?”
July 21-23 – When sued, be sure to respond. A “default judgment” is what a plaintiff can obtain when a defendant fails to show up in court and contest a suit, and it’s often very bad news indeed for the defendant, as in a case out of New Brunswick, N.J., where a judge has ordered Wal-Mart “to pay more than $2 million to a former cashier who said he was harassed and fired after a boss learned he was undergoing a male-to-female sex change.” Ricky Bourdouvales, 27, says his troubles began when he confided to a manager that he was in the middle of crossing genders, though when he was fired in January he was told it was because of discrepancies with his cash register count. The giant retailer says it will ask the judge to overturn the award, saying it was aware that a document had been filed in May but did not realize its nature. “We were totally unaware of the lawsuit, and we want to have the opportunity to defend ourselves,” said its spokesman. (“Judge Orders Wal-Mart to Pay Fired Transsexual $2 Million in Bias Case”. AP/FindLaw, July 18) (more on suits against Wal-Mart: July 7-9). Update Sept. 6-7: judge grants retrial.
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March 31-April 2 – Punished for resistance. Gun-suit organizers were hoping Smith & Wesson’s capitulation would bring about a race among other firearms makers to settle; instead, manufacturers, dealers and buyers are racing to dissociate themselves from the hapless company, formerly the market leader. Now — in a move that counts as heavy-handed even by the standards of activist attorneys general — Connecticut AG Richard Blumenthal and New York’s Eliot Spitzer are readying antitrust action against companies in the gun industry for the offense of shunning S&W. Connecticut reportedly issued subpoenas yesterday; among possible grievances bruited in the New York Times‘ account are that some organizers of shooting matches have told S&W that it is no longer welcome, that dealers are dropping its wares, and that other gun companies are unwilling to go on coordinating their legal defense efforts with S&W, which means it will have to find a new law firm. Blumenthal’s and Spitzer’s message to those in the gun business could hardly be clearer: better go quietly, because we’ll crush you if you resist in any organized way. (Fox Butterfield and Raymond Hernandez, “Gun Maker’s Accord on Curbs Brings Industry Pressure”, New York Times, March 30; Peter Slevin and Sharon Walsh, “Conn. Subpoenas Firms in Gun Antitrust Probe”, Washington Post, March 31).
March 31-April 2 – Terminix vs. consumer critic’s website. Pest control company Terminix retreats from courtroom efforts to swat dissatisfied consumer Carla Virga, who put up a website to publicize her unhappiness with its services. After its defamation suit was dismissed, the company tried again on the theory that Ms. Virga was infringing its rights by using the word Terminix itself in “metatags” directed at search engine listings. This succeeded in infuriating many in the Web community, and now the company has backed off that second action as well. Other companies that have gone to court against angry-consumer websites include Bally Total Fitness, Circuit City, and U-Haul. (Craig Bicknell, “Site No Longer Bugs Terminix”, Wired News, Mar. 11; Robyn Blumner, “Welcome to the world of free-speech exterminators”, St. Petersburg Times, Mar. 19).
March 31-April 2 – Employer-based health coverage in retreat? Report in the news-side Wall Street Journal last month suggests more big employers are beginning to “look for an exit strategy from the health-benefits business”, especially since “it’s possible that Congress or a court ruling will expose employers to legal liability in malpractice cases“. Under “defined contribution” models pioneered at Xerox Corp. and elsewhere, employees are given lump-sum health vouchers and told to find the plan that’s best for them. Sanford C. Bernstein analyst Kenneth Abramowitz sees the benefits of giving workers choice, but points out the danger that employees will be cut loose with a “Yellow Pages” outcome: “Here’s $5,000 and the Yellow Pages. You figure it out.” “Adding new liability for companies could prompt some to scuttle their health-benefits programs and send employees into the market to fend for themselves. Says Margaret O’Kane, head of a managed-care accrediting organization called the National Committee for Quality Assurance: ‘If employers find themselves in the path of the trial lawyers, I think you can expect a massive bailout’”. (Ron Winslow and Carol Gentry, “Health-Benefits Trend: Give Workers Money, Let Them Buy a Plan”, Wall Street Journal, Feb. 8, fee-based library).
March 31-April 2 – Welcome Milwaukee Journal Sentinel readers. Overlawyered.com was a featured website earlier this month in Bob Schwabach’s “On Computers” column, which runs in Wisconsin’s leading paper and many others nationwide (March 9).
March 30 – Hollywood special: “Erin Brockovich”. The words “babelicious” and “toxic tort” had probably never been used in the same sentence before, but Julia Roberts’ new flick is finally showing that with the right costume design a litigation movie can ace the box office. Now the Hudson Institute’s Mike Fumento, in an op-ed in Tuesday’s Wall Street Journal expanded considerably into a piece in yesterday’s National Post (Canada), challenges the premise, taken for granted among most reviewers of the film, that Pacific Gas & Electric was guilty as charged of poisoning the populace of a small California desert town with chromium-6 in the water. Fumento says the levels of contamination found were orders of magnitude lower than those needed to induce health effects in experimental animals; that the lawyers sought to blame on the water a wide assortment of ailments among local residents that science has not linked to chromium exposure; and that health studies found that the plant’s own workers, who were likely exposed to at least as much pollution as neighbors, had a life expectancy comfortably exceeding the California average. (Michael Fumento, “The dark side of Erin Brockovich”, National Post, March 29; Michael Fumento, “‘Erin Brockovich’, exposed”, Wall Street Journal, March 28; official film site; Mr. Showbiz review; Christine Hanley, “Brockovich’s Work Is Just Beginning”, AP/ABC News, March 27).
March 30 – Hollywood special: “The Insider”. Though nominated for numerous Oscars, last season’s portentous litigation epic The Insider got shut out in the actual naming of awards. Were Academy voters bothered by the film’s unacknowledged fictionalizations, or did they just share the views of Adam Heimlich of the New York Press, who last week called the film “preposterously overheated … The title character’s big revelation in this interminable movie — which treats the looting of tobacco companies by trial lawyers with enough gravitas to make Judgment at Nuremberg feel like Oklahoma! by comparison — is that ‘cigarettes are nothing but a delivery system for nicotine.’ … God forbid someone in Hollywood or on the Upper West Side speaks out against the selective demonization, for purposes of state and oligarchic power, of the drugs they don’t happen to use. Philip Morris should fight back with a drama exposing that Starbucks lattes are nothing but a delivery system for caffeine and martinis are nothing but a delivery system for alcohol. If Insider wins Best Picture … it’ll prove that Hollywood is nothing but a delivery system for the propagandistic justification of top-down class warfare.” But it didn’t win. (Adam Heimlich, “Heimytown”, New York Press, Mar. 22).
March 30 – Al Gore among friendly crowd. Last Thursday Vice President Gore attended a $500,000 luncheon fund-raiser at the Cincinnati home of Stanley Chesley, sometimes nicknamed the “Master of Disaster”, one of the country’s most prominent plaintiff’s trial lawyers. The Cincinnati Post says that Chesley, known for air-crash, tobacco and Microsoft suits, “has been a dependable fund-raiser for the vice president and President Clinton.” (Bill Straub, “Gore next to visit Cincinnati to raise funds”, Cincinnati Post, March 22; Sharon Moloney, “Gore bashes Bush tax plan”, Cincinnati Post, March 24); Christopher Palmeri and James Samuelson, “The Golden Leaf”, Forbes, July 7, 1997). For recent fund-raising by Bill Clinton among trial lawyers, see our Feb. 14 commentary.
Forbes Online columnist James Freeman recently took a hard look at Gore’s in-depth support from trial lawyers (“Who’s funding Gore?”, Feb. 28). Gore’s financial backers over the years have included most of the biggest names in the litigation business, including Wayne Reaud (asbestos, Toshiba laptops), John O’Quinn (breast implants, many others), Joe Rice (asbestos, tobacco), Bill Lerach (shareholder lawsuits), etc. Gore hosted Lerach at the White House for coffee in February 1995, Freeman writes, and Chesley was there for coffee that same day.
March 29 — Litigator’s bliss: finding opponent’s disgruntled former employee. “Assume the legal lotus position and imagine a happy place. What greater nirvana could there be than [finding] the disgruntled former employee of an opposing party? Gruntled or not, a high priority of any good discovery plan should be to identify and interview former employees as quickly as possible, before the other side can neutralize or co-opt them.” (Jerold S. Solovy and Robert L. Byman, “Discovery: Ex parte, Brutus?” (practitioners’ advice column), National Law Journal, March 27, not online).
March 29 – Why rush that software project, anyway? California adds to its reputation as a high-hassle state for tech employers with a law taking effect this year, backed by unions and plaintiff’s employment lawyers, requiring that many computer consultants be paid overtime rates if they put in more than eight hours in a day. Many such consultants bill at rates that exceed $50, $100 or even $200 an hour, before the overtime premium is added in. One Bay Area staffing exec says most of his employer clients are unwilling to trigger the overtime entitlement and are instead sending home specialists after eight hours who would previously have worked longer (Margaret Steen, “New overtime law spurs change in tech firms”, San Jose Mercury News, March 22, link now dead; “Hi, OT Law; Bye, Tech Boom?”, Reuters/Wired News, March 2; Margaret Steen, “New law means overtime pay for computer consultants”, San Jose Mercury News, Feb. 29; Kirby C. Wilcox, Leslie L. Abbott and Caroline A. Zuk, “The 8-Hour Day Returns”, CalLaw, Jan. 24).
March 29 – The bold cosmetologists of law enforcement. The New York Times took note this Sunday of efforts in Nevada and Connecticut to enlist beauty-parlor personnel in the task of identifying possible victims of domestic violence for referral to battered women’s shelters and other social service agencies (see our March 16 commentary). Its report adds a remarkable new detail regarding the sorts of indicators that Nevada cosmetologists are being officially encouraged to watch for as signs of household violence (being licensed by the state, they have reason to listen with care to what’s expected of them). “Torn-out hair or a bruised eye may signal abuse, but more subtle warning signs may come out in conversation. One Nevada hairdresser, [state official Veronica] Boyd-Frenkel said, told of a client who said: ‘My husband doesn’t want me to see my friend anymore. He says she is putting bad ideas in my head.’
“‘Emotional abuse, intimidation, control, jealousy, overpossessiveness and constant monitoring,’ she said, can be as sure signs of domestic violence as physical injuries.” Does Ms. Boyd-Frenkel, who holds the title of “domestic violence ombudsman” for the attorney general of Nevada, really deem it “emotional abuse” and potential domestic violence when a husband seeks to warn a wife (or vice versa) away from a friend who’s considered a bad influence? Is such spousal behavior really to trigger the notice of the official social-service apparatus, and its new deputies in the hair and nail salons of Nevada? (Jeff Stryker, “Those Who Stand and Coif Might Also Protect”, New York Times, March 26).
March 29 – Update: advice to drop medication unavailing. As reported earlier, subway-push defendant Andrew Goldstein went off his antipsychotic medication before his recent murder trial on advice of his lawyers, in order to demonstrate to the jury how deranged he was (see Feb. 26-27 and March 2 commentaries). Whatever the ethical status of this tactic, it was apparently unavailing in practice: a New York City jury convicted Goldstein of murder last week. He will probably serve his sentence in a state prison outfitted to give him psychiatric care. (Samuel Maull, “Man Convicted in Subway Shove Case”, AP/Excite, Mar. 22).
March 28 – $65 million Texas verdict: driver at twice the legal blood limit. “A Galveston, Texas, jury has awarded $65 million to the parents and estate of a woman who drowned after her car plunged off a boat ramp and she couldn’t disengage her seat belt.
“The jury found defendants Honda of America Manufacturing Co. Inc. and Honda R & D Co. Ltd. 75 percent responsible for the death of Karen Norman — even though after her death, Norman’s blood-alcohol level measured at nearly twice the Texas legal limit. …
“After the accident, [Honda attorney Brad] Safon noted, Norman’s blood-alcohol level was measured at 0.17. The Texas drunk driving limit at the time of the accident was 0.10; it is now 0.08.” Plaintiff’s lawyers said the salt water in which Norman drowned might have thrown off the blood level reading. (Margaret Cronin Fisk, “Fatal Grip of Seat Belt Results in $65M Verdict”, National Law Journal, Mar. 27)(& update Oct. 13, 2003: appeals court throws out award, which trial judge has previously reduced to $43 million).
March 28 – Call me a fraud, will you? Why, I’ll…I’ll hire you! Last year Big Five accountants Ernst & Young paid $185 million to settle a bankruptcy trustee’s charges that it had mishandled the affairs of the now-defunct Merry-Go-Round apparel chain. Now Ernst has sued its former law firm, D.C.-based Swidler Berlin Shereff Friedman, which it says should share the blame. And to prosecute the new suit Ernst has hired none other than the law firm that sued it in the first round, Snyder, Weiner, Weltchek & Vogelstein of Pikesville, Md. “Swidler noted that Snyder Weiner in the earlier suit had accused Ernst of fraud, and now Snyder Weiner in ‘this complaint asserts “E&Y’s innocence of the fraud”‘”. An Ernst executive shrugs off criticism: “Who knows about the case more than the firm that argued the other side?” (Elizabeth MacDonald, “Ernst & Young Sues Law Firm Over Settlement”, Wall Street Journal, March 14 (online subscribers only); James V. Grimaldi, “Accounting Firm Sues Lawyers”, Washington Post, March 14).
March 28 – Annals of zero tolerance: don’t play James Bond. A fifth-grade “model student” at Sutton Elementary School in Tecumseh, Michigan faces expulsion for up to a half year for bringing a plastic toy gun to school because he wanted to “play James Bond”. “You could see it was plastic,” said school superintendent Rich Fauble. “If you looked at it, you could tell it wasn’t a gun.” “I just wanted to play with it at recess,” said the boy, in Fauble’s account. “I didn’t want to hurt anybody. I play with it at home.” Sutton principal Debra Langmeyer said the board’s recommendation of expulsion “might seem extreme” but is intended to “send a message” about guns. (“Toy gun may cause student’s expulsion”, Toledo Blade, Mar. 16).
March 28 – From the labor arbitration front. The Connecticut Supreme Court, over dissents from two of its members, has upheld an arbitrator’s order that David Warren be reinstated to his municipal job in the town of Groton, from which he was dismissed in 1997 after pleading no contest to charges of larceny. Warren was accused of stealing money from the town by selling dumping permits and pocketing the proceeds himself, but the court saw no reason to disturb an arbitrator’s reasoning that his no contest plea might have reflected a wish to avoid the cost and inconvenience of trial, rather than actual guilt. (“‘No-contest’ not guilty, Supreme Court says”, New Haven Register, March 21). And the U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to review an arbitrator’s order that a West Virginia mining company rehire a heavy machinery operator fired after he twice tested positive for marijuana use. The Fourth Circuit upheld the reinstatement, noting that courts “overwhelmingly” defer to the results of arbitration in the unionized workplace. (AP/FindLaw, “Supreme Court to clarify when lower courts can overrule arbitrators”, Mar. 20; Eastern Associated Coal Corp. vs. United Mine Workers, 99-1038).
March 28 – Another visitor record set. Last week was the busiest yet for visitors since Overlawyered.com was launched nine months ago … thanks for your support!
March 27 – Welcome Arts & Letters Daily readers. The best weblog in the world for coverage of essays and history, biography and belles-lettres, is put out for a worldwide audience by philosophy professor Denis Dutton of the University of Christchurch in New Zealand. We get a featured link today (see right-hand column after link to Sullivan piece, for which itself see below).
March 27 – Another S&W thing. “We want to do a Smith & Wesson-like thing with DoubleClick,” Michigan attorney general Jennifer Granholm said Thursday, referring to restrictions on Web data collection that she and attorneys general from New York, Connecticut, and Vermont have been negotiating with the biggest online ad-placement company. We suppose this means that she and her colleagues want to invent far-fetched legal theories to attack business practices that have long been regarded as lawful; file a great flurry of suits in multiple courts so as to overwhelm the designated opponent; use the threat of bankrupting legal expense to muscle it into submission with no need to reach a decision on the merits; and instill fear into other businesses that the same thing could happen to them unless they cooperate with the dictates of ambitious AGs. After all, that’s what was done to S&W. (“AGs Eye Privacy”, Reuters/Wired News, March 23; “DoubleClick in settlement discussions”, Bloomberg News/CNet, March 23).
March 27 – Philadelphia: feminist groups to be consulted on whether to classify incidents as rape. As several high-profile cases in recent years demonstrate, authorities sometimes charge men with rape or sexual abuse in cases where there’s conflicting or ambiguous evidence as to whether there was nonconsensual sexual contact (see, for example, the case of Columbia University grad student Oliver Jovanovic, whose conviction was overturned by a New York appeals court in December). Now Philadelphia police commissioner John Timoney has announced that “he will let women’s organizations help police decide when to believe sexual-assault complaints and how to classify them.” Barbara DiTullio, who heads the Pennsylvania chapter of the National Organization for Women, called the plan “wonderful” and said it could become a model for police departments across the country. “We’re putting together a committee of women . . . and [will] actually, quite literally, let this women’s group be the final say on our classification [of cases]” said Timoney in an interview, though the women’s groups themselves expressed doubt as to whether their say would be final. (Mark Fazlollah, Craig McCoy, and Robert Moran, “Timoney to allow sex-case oversight”, Philadelphia Inquirer, Mar. 21) (via Freedom News).
March 27 – Microsoft Windows downgrade. Be prepared for the Justice Department’s anticipated “remedies” in Reno v. Gates by visiting this parody site (Bob Rivers, KISW, Seattle).
March 27 – Social engineering by lawsuit. Yale law professor Peter Schuck “doubts [that Smith & Wesson] would have lost a court case,” according to this New York Times “Week in Review” piece, which also quotes the editor of this website concerning the evils of litigation as an end run around democratic process (Barry Meier, “Bringing Lawsuits to Do What Congress Won’t”, New York Times, March 26). Cato Institute fellow Doug Bandow wonders why undemocratic lawmaking-by-lawsuit hasn’t become a bigger election issue: “Politics is a bad way to make policy. Litigation is worse.” (“Litigative vs. Legislative Democracy”, Cato Daily Commentary, March 20). And Andrew Sullivan warns Britons that unless they watch out, their country’s trend toward “empowerment of lawyers” will lead them to the state of “hyper-litigation” typified by the U.S. (“A brief warning: soon lawyers will have Britain by the throat”, Sunday Times (London), March 26).
Also: we’ve now put online our editor’s op-ed from last Tuesday on the Smith & Wesson settlement, which expanded on the arguments made earlier in this space (Walter Olson, “Plaintiff’s lawyers take aim at democracy”, Wall Street Journal, March 21).
March 27 – Kessler rebuked. Last week the Supreme Court ruled that former Food and Drug Administration chief David Kessler had made an improper power grab when he claimed for his agency “broad powers that had somehow gone unnoticed for more than half a century” to regulate tobacco, writes Chicago Tribune columnist Steve Chapman: “This was a startling revelation indeed. In 1964, the FDA said it had no authority to regulate tobacco. In 1965, it said it had no authority to regulate tobacco. In 1972, it said it had no authority to regulate tobacco. Ditto in 1977, 1980, 1988, and so on — until four years ago, when Kessler checked the attic and was pleasantly surprised to find this prerogative stashed in a box crammed with eight-track tapes and copies of Look.” (“On Target: A Setback for the Anti-Tobacco Jihad”, March 23; Tony Mauro, “For ‘Better or Worse’ FDA Can’t Regulate Tobacco”, American Lawyer Media, March 22).
March 24-26 – “Trial Lawyers Pour Money Into Democrats’ Chests”. The article everyone’s talking about: yesterday’s New York Times shines some overdue light on the trial lawyers’ frantic shoveling of vast sums into this year’s federal election races. “‘It would be very, very horrifying to trial lawyers if Bush were elected,’ said John P. Coale, a Washington lawyer involved in the tobacco litigation, who has given over $70,000 to the Democrats. ‘To combat that, we want to make sure we have a Democratic president, House and Senate. There is some serious tobacco money being spread around.’” “What’s different this time around,” said Michael Hotra, vice president of the American Tort Reform Foundation, “is that everyone recognizes that the stakes are higher. We have a candidate who is making legal reform a core issue and we certainly applaud Bush for that.” Also discusses the website ATRF has set up to monitor trial lawyer campaign spending (Leslie Wayne, “Trial Lawyers Pour Money Into Democrats’ Chests”, New York Times, March 23).
March 24-26 – Who wants to sue for a million? A group of disabled Miami residents has filed a federal lawsuit against Disney and ABC under the Americans with Disabilities Act, claiming that the screening process for the hit TV show “Who Wants To Be a Millionaire” requires the use of a touch-tone telephone and does not make alternative provision for deaf applicants. “The group is seeking class-action status for themselves and others who are deaf, blind or paralyzed and have problems using the phone or hearing the instructions.” (Jay Weaver, “Disabled 4 sue to try for TV million”, Miami Herald, March 17). Update Nov. 7: federal judge dismisses case.
March 24-26 – Next: gender-blind stage casting? A federal jury in Nashville has returned a sex discrimination verdict against a pair of historical theme restaurants that hired only male food servers as a part of attempting to convey the atmosphere of 1800s-era riverboats. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission sued Cock of the Walk restaurants in 1996 after a woman named Susan Mathis carried a secret tape recorder in her purse while applying for a server’s job (more on the curious lack of outrage over this practice). “The servers had to represent the legendary fighters who brawled for the privilege of steering the riverboats, which netted them the best-of-the-best title: ‘Cock of the Walk’,” a group that historically did not include women.
In 1997 the EEOC came under criticism for its crusade against the “Hooters” sexy-waitress chain, which paid $3.75 million in a settlement in hopes of not having to hire “Hooters Boys”. However, the agency’s contention that entertainment value is an improper basis for sex-casting in the hiring of food servers “has never been applied [by a court] to a more mainstream restaurant such as this, which does not have sexual titillation as part of its theme,” said a lawyer for the restaurants. (Stacey Hartmann, “Restaurants’ male-server policy loses in court”, The Tennessean (Nashville), March 16).
March 24-26 – Slip, fall, head for court. Roundup of recent Chicago gravity mishaps, as reported in the Sun-Times and relayed in Jim Romenesko’s irresistible Obscure Store: “Debbie Jacques was forced to wear paper booties when she tumbled. Monica Beeks walked in deep, loose grass, and fell. John Incisi tripped on a Kleenex box left on the stairs. They’re all hanging out in civil court, hoping to get some cash.” (Tim Novak, “Health worker blames paper booties for slip”, Chicago Sun-Times, Mar. 21).
March 24-26 – Welcome visitors. A sampling of the websites that have linked to Overlawyered.com recently: the distinguished literary and arts monthly, the New Criterion; ABC News correspondent John Stossel‘s site; the Capital Research Center, which keeps an eye on politicized philanthopy; Pat Fish’s Luckyfish.com; the Nebraska Taxpayers for Freedom; Pickaway County (Ohio) Sportsmen, known for their shooting competitions; and Turkey’s Association for Liberal Thinking (Liberal Düsünce Toplulugu).
March 23 – Baron’s judge grudge. Dallas asbestos-suit czar Fred Baron may or may not have added another notch to his belt with the GOP primary defeat this month of Texas 14th District Court judge John Marshall. In 1998 Judge Marshall was presiding over asbestos litigation filed by Baron & Budd when evidence surfaced that the firm had engaged in extensive witness-coaching (see “Thanks for the Memories“); Judge Marshall referred the matter to a grand jury for possible prosecution, but the charges were eventually quietly buried without indictments. Baron, who now claims vindication, “made no secret of the fact he wants Marshall’s head,” according to alt-weekly Dallas Observer in a report just before the primary. “As early as last spring, Baron was casting about, looking for a candidate to back. ‘I talked to half a dozen people. We were looking for any candidate we could get who would be qualified to run against John Marshall’”. It had to be in the Republican primary, though, which is nowadays tantamount to election in Dallas County. First-time candidate Mary Murphy of Jenkins & Gilchrest, the one who eventually stepped forward to challenge Marshall, “insists she’ll be a fine Republican judge even though she wrote a $1,000 check to the Democratic party four years ago” among other past Democratic ties. “I had nothing to do with getting Mary Murphy to run. That’s a lie, a complete and absolute lie,” Baron told the Observer. Murphy says Baron did try to talk her into running but that it was others who convinced her. Promptly assembling an ample campaign chest, she went on to defeat the incumbent Marshall, obtaining 52 percent of the vote. (Thomas Korosec, “Bench Press”, Dallas Observer, March 9; Todd J. Gillman, “Republican judge questions challenger’s party loyalty”, Dallas Morning News, Feb. 19; Holly Becka, “Voters sent message by ousting three judges, experts say”, Dallas Morning News, March 16 (links now dead)).
Baron, whom we believe holds the title of president-elect of the Association of Trial Lawyers of America (we apparently jumped the gun recently in awarding him the title of president), has in the past been touchy about criticism. In 1998, when the Dallas Observer ran a cover-story exposé on his firm, columnist Julie Lyons said Baron had “bullie[d] the Observer’s every effort to investigate his firm’s practices, even taking the newspaper to court to discover sources, in a pattern of intimidation and paranoia such as the Observer has never experienced before.” (Patrick Williams, Christine Biederman, Thomas Korosec, Julie Lyons, “Toxic Justice”, August 18, 1998; Julie Lyons, “The Control Freak”, August 12, 1998. See also earlier Baron coverage on this website: Feb. 14, Jan. 8).
March 23 – Update: mistrial in bank robber’s suit, more litigation expected. By a vote of 9 to 3, jurors in their deliberations were of the view “that the civil rights of Emil Matasareanu, armed criminal, shooter of cops, were not violated on Feb. 27, 1998, by officers who didn’t get an ambulance to poor Emil quickly enough” after his bloody shootout with police following a North Hollywood bank robbery (see Feb. 23 commentary). A federal judge declared a mistrial, and an L.A. Times columnist writes that “the attorney for Matasareanu’s survivors is expected to bring the case against the city and two retired LAPD officers to court again. By survivors, I mean the dead man’s family, not the people he didn’t kill.” (Mike Downey, “A World With No Bad Guys, Just Topsy-Turvy Juries”, Los Angeles Times, March 17, link now dead).
March 23 – Let them sue us! In the recent media boomlet over “medical mistakes”, it’s been easy to forget that hospitals currently must anticipate years of expensive litigation if they move aggressively to withdraw practice privileges from perceived “problem doctors”. Consider the now-celebrated “Dr. Zorro” case, in which Dr. Allan Zarkin is alleged to have carved his initials into a patient’s body at New York’s Beth Israel Hospital. The hospital’s chairman, Morton P. Hyman, “vowed he would make it harder for doctors to maintain their privileges at Beth Israel and would see that hospital procedures were tightened further. … Doctors disciplined by the state will be automatically dismissed from the hospital, he announced, even if their firings leave the hospital liable. ‘Let them sue us,’ he said, pounding the table.” (Jennifer Steinhauer, “At Beth Israel, Lapses in Care Mar Gains in Technology”, New York Times, Feb. 15, not online).
March 22 – Next on the class-action agenda: liquor? Public Citizen, whose campaigns against American business often closely parallel those of the organized plaintiff’s bar, has for a while been grouping alcohol and gambling companies with tobacco and gun makers as “killer industries” in its distinctively shrill propaganda. (“Killer Industries Fund Congressional Champions of “Family Values’”, press release, Dec. 28, 1998, “Family Values, Killer Industries”, undated; both on Public Citizen website). And the pro-hospitality-business Guest Choice Network thinks it has evidence that the previously long-shot idea of mass litigation against alcoholic beverage makers may be getting to be less of a long shot:
“* The Minnesota DWI Task Force called upon their state’s criminal justice system to initiate class action litigation against makers of adult beverages.
“* MADD’s [Mothers Against Drunk Driving's] year-end press conference closed with a comment from president Karolyn Nunnallee that initiating litigation against alcohol and hospitality companies ‘will be an issue of discussion’ at an upcoming meeting. Although MADD did not have plans to sue ‘at this time,’ she added, ‘but never say never!’” (“They’re Bellying Up to the Bar!”, Guest Choice Network, undated). Martin Morse Wooster examines the evolution of MADD’s views in a new paper for Capital Research Center (“Mothers Against Drunk Driving: Has Its Vision Become Blurred?”, Feb. 2000).
March 22 – Rise of the high school sleepover disclaimer. Before having some of his daughter’s tenth-grade classmates out for the weekend to the family home in East Hampton, a parent at Manhattan’s tony Brearley School had his attorney draft a 765-word “liability waiver and indemnification agreement” for the other parents to sign and return. It describes the students’ impending visit to the “house and surrounding property at the above address (the ‘premises’) without charge on or about Saturday, November 20, 1999 and Sunday, November 21, 1999 during their weekend trip to East Hampton, NY (such use of the premises, the ‘visit’).” Several dense sentences later, it gets to the point: “Student and parent hereby waive any and all present and future claims related to or arising out of or in connection with the visit or any losses they, any other family member or any third party may suffer in connection therewith…” Apparently enough parents signed and the trip came off with no problem. (“Gotham: In Loco Parentis”, New York, Dec. 6; portions of disclaimer appear in printed magazine but not online).
March 22 – Newest disabled right: audio TV captioning. Decision expected this summer on Federal Communications Commission proposal that TV networks be compelled to provide at least four hours of programming a week with “secondary audio” descriptions of filmed action (“…Rhett takes Melanie in his arms and carries her to safety as Atlanta burns around them”) in hopes of giving blind viewers an “equivalent experience” to what sighted viewers are getting. Hollywood types “say descriptions will stifle creativity and jack up programming costs by about $4,000 for an hour of airtime”; audio captioning is considerably more expensive than closed-captioning for the deaf, mandated since 1998, because descriptions of filmed action call for a modicum of editorial judgment as opposed to mere transcription. And the National Federation of the Blind reports that many of its constituents have mixed feelings about the technique, finding it “irritating, overdone, and full of irrelevant information” and switching it off after a trial. (FCC captioning page; Nat’l Fed. Blind comments; Jonathan Aiken, “FCC proposes descriptive audio to help blind enjoy TV”, CNN, Feb. 24). See also our Feb. 19-21 commentary, on the ADA suit filed by deaf moviegoers in Oregon seeking to compel theaters to install closed captioning for films.
March 21 – Smith & Wesson’s “voluntary” capitulation. Today’s Wall Street Journal carries our editor’s op-ed on the Smith & Wesson settlement, adapted and expanded from yesterday’s commentary on this site. The piece asks: why aren’t Republican members of Congress and business people expressing more outrage? “It would surely make a symbolic difference if a few CEOs of companies outside the gun industry chipped in personal checks to start a legal defense fund for small gun makers being bulldozed by the cost of litigation, to give them at least a hope of surviving to fight the suits on the merits. Or if they let it be known that mayors who’ve signed on to the gun-suit jihad should stop passing themselves off as ‘pro-business.’ Not long ago the mayor of Bridgeport, Conn., Joseph Ganim, a gun-suit mastermind who’s considered ambitious for statewide office, was feted by a Chamber of Commerce in his local Fairfield County. Hey — it’s someone else’s industry he’s working to destroy, right?” (Walter Olson, “Plaintiffs Lawyers Take Aim at Democracy”, Wall Street Journal, March 21 (requires online subscription)).
March 21 – Ability to remain conscious not obligatory for train dispatcher, EEOC argues. “In the case of a former Consolidated Rail Corp. employee with a heart condition that can cause him to lose consciousness, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission told a federal appeals court in Philadelphia that ‘while consciousness is obviously necessary to perform’ train-dispatcher tasks, ‘it is not itself a job function.’” The worker had sued Conrail under the Americans with Disabilities Act and lost in federal court; on appeal, the EEOC argued that the railroad could have accommodated his condition and that he was not a ‘direct threat’ to others, which is the standard employers must meet under the ADA if they wish to exclude disabled employees from jobs on safety grounds. “The employee was denied a dispatcher’s job that involves directing trains and taking emergency action to prevent crashes.” (“Employment Briefs: Worker denied promotion sues”, Detroit News, March 18).
March 21 – Furor just one click away. Outcry over Amazon.com’s patent of “one-click” shopping method rumbles on. Founder/CEO Jeff Bezos says the company did it in self-defense; he’s now proposed an across-the-board reduction in the length of patent protection for software and business-method patents. Some veteran intellectual-property lawyers take issue with that scheme and are also upset at a New York Times Magazine article by science writer James Gleick questioning some of the patent system’s fundamental assumptions. Until recently it was widely assumed that business methods — the discovery of a superior method for laying out the aisles of a supermarket, for example — couldn’t be patented at all. What would stores be like today if the idea of a “checkout counter” had been locked up for twenty years by the first company to file for it?
SOURCES: Victoria Slind-Flor, “The Biz-Method Patent Rush”, National Law Journal, Feb. 28; Chris Oakes, “Another Amazon Patent Furor”, Wired News, March 2; Boycott Amazon site (Free Software Foundation); Chris Oakes, “Bezos: Patents Were Self-Defense”, Wired News, Mar. 3; Chris Oakes, “Patently Absurd”, Wired News, Mar. 3; Bezos open letter, Amazon site; Dugie Standeford, “Book Publisher Launches Cybercampaign Against Amazon.com”, E-Commerce Law Weekly, March 8; James Gleick, “Patently Absurd,” New York Times Magazine, March 12; “The Harm of Patents”, O’Reilly Network, March 13; Omar Perez, “Amazon.com Patents Cast Giant Shadow Over Affiliates”, March 20; Miami Daily Business Review, March Victoria Slind-Flor, “Bar Reacts To Bezos Patent Reform Plan”, National Law Journal, March 20.
March 21 – Whether they meant to hurt anyone or not. How harsh can the legal environment become for drunk drivers? North Carolina seems to have pushed things to the ultimate extreme: its prosecutors seek to execute them when they cause fatal accidents. (Paula Christian, “Supreme Court to decide if drunk drivers get death penalty”, Greensboro News & Record, Mar. 12).
March 21 – New subpage on Overlawyered.com: Canadian corner. Finally! A page for our many readers north of the border who’ve noticed the nuggets of Canadian content we periodically slip in and would like them gathered in one spot for convenience. As befits the differences between the two legal systems, there isn’t so much “overlawyering” apparent in most of the stories we relay from Canada; but with regard to most other types and varieties of human folly, the two nations seem to be are in a neck-and-neck race.
March 20 – Liberty no longer insured by Smith & Wesson. In an ominous triumph for brute litigation force — and a setback for both democratic governance and Second Amendment liberties — the Clinton Administration and lawyers representing city governments on Friday bullied the nation’s largest gun maker into agreeing to a variety of controls on the distribution of its products, controls that the Administration had not been able to obtain through the normal legislative process. The company said its capitulation would preserve the “viability of Smith & Wesson as an ongoing business entity in the face of the crippling cost of litigation.” As the New York Times reports, the deal has “opened a new avenue for regulating the firearms industry without action from Congress, where partisan gridlock has stalled even modest gun-control legislation in recent months” — “partisan gridlock” being here employed by the Times as a pejorative synonym for the normal democratic process, which when working properly does not result in the speedy enactment of measures passionately opposed by a large constituency within the majority legislative party.
At this point it would make sense for the Republican Congressional leadership to rise up in unmistakable disapproval of the Clintonites’ invasion of their legislative prerogatives, and announce that –whatever one’s personal position on the details of gun control proposals — the use of litigation as an undemocratic end run around the legislative process is categorically wrong and must be fought with appropriate means at Congress’s disposal, such as funding cutoffs. And yet the first round of wire service stories quotes only one GOP Congressional leader, J.C. Watts of Oklahoma, as reacting to the news, and his quoted words, incredibly, are favorable: “we hail Smith & Wesson for taking a pro-active approach to the problem of violence”.
Advocates of gun-control-through-litigation — not to mention trial lawyers looking for an eventual payday from gun suits — view Smith & Wesson’s surrender as a harbinger of more victories ahead. “The legal fees alone are enough to bankrupt the industry,” boasts John Coale, one of the lawyers masterminding the city suits. “The pressure is going to be on”. Why are so few elected officials standing up to say that what’s going on is wrong?
SOURCES: Agreement text at HUD website; Smith & Wesson statement; Clinton Administration press release; “U.S. Drops Legal Threat Against Smith & Wesson”, Reuters/Excite, Mar. 17; Knut Engelmann, “U.S. Drops Legal Action Against Gun Maker”, Reuters/Excite, Mar. 17; David Ho, “Officials Praise Smith & Wesson”, AP/Excite, Mar. 17; Amy Paulson, “Smith & Wesson agrees to landmark gun safety settlement”, CNN, Mar. 17; Brigitte Greenberg, “Smith & Wesson Gets Preference”, AP/Excite, Mar. 18; Edward Walsh and David A. Vise, “U.S., Gunmaker Strike a Deal”, Washington Post, March 18; James Dao, “Gun Maker Agrees to Curbs in Exchange for Ending Suits”, New York Times, March 18 (requires free registration).
March 20 – “Study Shows Breast Implants Pose Little Risk”. “An analysis appearing in Thursday’s New England Journal of Medicine suggests silicone breast implants are safe, despite widespread perception that the controversial devices cause health problems” — not to mention a trial-lawyer-led campaign that drove the devices off the market and reaped a settlement totaling billions of dollars from manufacturers. Researchers at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, performed a combined analysis of 20 earlier studies and concluded that “‘the elimination of implants would not be likely to reduce the incidence of connective-tissue diseases’ such as rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, or other illnesses caused by the misfiring of the immune system”. (Reuters/ FindLaw, Mar. 15).
March 20 – Do as we say, cont’d. Disabled-rights laws are feared by many private business owners who face the prospect of heavy fines and lawsuit settlements for noncompliance. As for the judicial branch, charged with enforcing these selfsame laws? Well, they’re often a wee bit less mindful of ‘em. Howard County, Maryland Circuit Judge James B. Dudley, who isn’t disabled, concedes that his desire to stick close to the courthouse so he could answer jurors’ questions during a trial was “probably not a justification” for his having chosen to park in a clearly marked handicapped space, a practice also engaged in by local sheriff’s deputies. (Del Quentin Wilber, “Judge parks in hot water”, Baltimore Sun, Mar. 11). And in Massachusetts, following on the revelation that Boston’s opulent new courthouse lacks wheelchair access to its jury boxes and witness stands (see July 17-18, 1999 commentary), the Cape Organization for Rights of the Disabled sued over the disabled-unfriendly state of the Plymouth County courthouse; Barry Sumner couldn’t get over the threshold to divorce his wife and had to ask her to help lift his chair. (Paul Sullivan, “Suit seeks access for disabled at Plymouth court”, Boston Herald, Sept. 10, 1999). Aren’t these courts lucky they’re not private businesses?
March 20 – Costs of veggie-libel laws. Talk show hostess Oprah Winfrey keeps winning in round after round of litigation filed by cattlemen after a February 1998 show she did on mad-cow disease. “Ironically, the more she wins, the more she loses,” observes First Amendment specialist Paul McMasters. Aside from our lack of a loser-pays rule, the culprit is “agricultural-disparagement” laws enacted in 13 states, which menace media producers if they knowingly broadcast false and disparaging statements that harm the salability of perishable farm products. (“Shut up and eat everything on your plate”, Freedom Forum Online, Feb. 21; Ronald K.L. Collins and Paul McMasters, “Veggie Libel Laws Still Out to Muzzle Free Speech”, Texas Lawyer, March 30, 1998). Last year the Texas legislature turned back an attempt to repeal that state’s ag-disparagement law, though the Abilene Reporter-News pointed out that the law is hard to square with the state’s successful efforts under Governor Bush to curb excessive litigation. (“‘Veggie libel’ law Texas can live without” (editorial), April 13, 1999; “House lets ‘veggie libel’ law stand; Bill seeking repeal voted down 80-57″, AP/Dallas Morning News, May 8, 1999).
March 20 – 250,000 pages served on Overlawyered.com. Thanks for your support!
March 17-19 – Holiday literary selection: Irish squire’s litigious ways.“Then there was a bleach yard near us, and the tenant dare refuse my lady nothing, for fear of a law-suit Sir Murtagh kept hanging over him about the water course. With these ways of managing, ’tis surprising how cheap my lady got things done, and how proud she was of it. … [The tenants] 
knew her way, and what with fear of driving for rent and Sir Murtagh’s law-suits, they were kept in such good order, they never thought of coming near Castle Stopgap without a present of something or other nothing too much or too little for my lady eggs honey butter meal fish game, grouse, and herrings, fresh or salt all went for something. … [H]e made a good living of trespassing cattle there was always some tenant’s pig, or horse, or cow, or calf, or goose, trespassing, which was so great a gain to Sir Murtagh, that he did not like to hear me talk of repairing fences….
“As for law, I believe no man, dead or alive, ever loved it so well as Sir Murtagh. He had once sixteen suits pending at a time, and I never saw him so much himself roads lanes bogs wells ponds eel-wires orchards trees tythes vagrants gravel-pits sandpits dung-hills and nuisances every thing upon the face of the earth furnished him good matter for a suit. He used to boast that he had a law-suit for every letter in the alphabet. How I used to wonder to see Sir Murtagh in the midst of the papers in his office why he could hardly turn about for them. I made bold to shrug my shoulders once in his presence, and thanked my stars I was not born a gentleman to so much toil and trouble but Sir Murtagh took me up short with his old proverb, ‘learning is better than house or land.’ Out of forty-nine suits which he had, he never lost one but seventeen; the rest he gained with costs, double costs, treble costs sometimes but even that did not pay. He was a very learned man in the law, and had the character of it; but how it was I can’t tell, these suits that he carried cost him a power of money in the end he sold some hundreds a year of the family estate but he was a very learned man in the law, and I know nothing of the matter except having a great regard for the family. I could not help grieving when he sent me to post up notices of the sale of the fee simple of the lands and appurtenances of Timoleague. ‘I know, honest Thady,’ says he to comfort me, ‘what I’m about better than you do; I’m only selling to get the ready money wanting, to carry on my suit with spirit with the Nugents of Carrickashaughlin.’” — from Chapter 1, Castle Rackrent, subtitled An Hibernian Tale Taken from Facts, and from the Manners of the Irish Squires, Before the Year 1782, by Maria Edgeworth (1800) (biographies: Edgeworth family site, E-Search Ireland, WritePage, Morley’s) (e-text at Carnegie-Mellon; alternate e-text location, Creighton U.) (passage is from fourth long paragraph of text).
March 17-19 – Letterman sign suit. Anna Soares, 79, who lives near the Manhattan studio where David Letterman tapes his show, filed a lawsuit last month demanding $12 million from CBS because the network has declined to remove a giant illuminated sign of Letterman’s likeness which shines into her apartment’s window. Network officials say they believe they have the proper permits for the sign. Reader Gregory Kohs of American Cynic comments: “what I find preposterous is the $12 million sum the lady decided would be fair.” If the sign does not violate code, how about asking for the costs of relocating to a less-commercial neighborhood? “I think a wee bit less than $12 million would be sufficient to get her belongings into a moving truck.” (“People in the news: Woman files lawsuit over Letterman sign”, Boulder Daily Camera, Feb. 19) (second item).
March 17-19 – Go ahead and comment — if it’ll do much good. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s proposals on ergonomics “may be the single most costly employment policy regulation in U.S. history,” according to the Employment Policy Foundation. Now OSHA has thrown open a period for public comment on the rules, but the Clinton Administration has already signaled that the option favored by most organized employers — not proceeding with the rules at all — is unlikely to be considered, no matter what volume of critical comments may come in. (Alice Ann Love, “Public dialog opens on new workplace safety rules”, AP/Fox News, March 14; Michael D. Towle, “OSHA pushing for new regulations aimed at preventing repetitive motion injuries”, CNN, March 9).
SOURCES: OSHA proposed standard; Yahoo Full Coverage; Ron Bird and Jill Jenkins, “Ergonomics Regulation: Vague, Broad and Costly”, EPF Backgrounder, Jan. 12; National Coalition on Ergonomics (employer alliance); Matt Labash, “Hooked on Ergonomics”, Weekly Standard, Feb. 28; “OSHA Unveils Ergonomics Standard To Ire of Congress, Employer Groups”, Employment Law Weekly, Nov. 29; comments of Mercatus Center, George Mason U., National Association of Manufacturers; (via Junk Science 
Robert Hahn, “Bad Economics, Not Good Ergonomics,” Wall Street Journal, Nov. 24; David Saito-Chung, “What Price Workplace Safety? New Rules Spark Debate Over Science, Business Costs”, Investor’s Business Daily, Nov. 30; “New OSHA regs need rethinking” (editorial), Boston Herald, Nov. 26; “OSHAme on them!” (editorial), New York Post Nov. 24; “Repetitive Bureaucracy Syndrome” (editorial), Chicago Tribune, Nov. 24.
March 16 – Dave Barry on tobacco suits, round II. The humorist, who wrote a priceless column on the federal tobacco suit last fall (see Oct. 26) now offers an update reflecting on the news that “so far the states are spending more than 90 percent of the tobacco-settlement money on programs unrelated to smoking, such as building highways. … This is good, because we need quality highways to handle the sharp increase in the number of Mercedes automobiles purchased by lawyers enriched by the tobacco settlement.” Then there’s the new round of class-action suits contending that smokers themselves deserve money from the states, which if successful will establish the following cycle:
“1. SMOKERS would give money to THE TOBACCO COMPANIES in exchange for cigarettes.
“2. THE TOBACCO COMPANIES would then give the money to THE STATES (and their lawyers).
“3. THE STATES would then give the money to SMOKERS (and their lawyers).
“4. THE SMOKERS would then presumably give the money to THE TOBACCO COMPANIES in exchange for more cigarettes.”
But isn’t this inefficient, you may ask? Wouldn’t it be easier to order the tobacco companies to give smokers free cigarettes directly? “The trouble with that idea is that it would defeat the two main purposes of the War on Smoking, which are (1) to provide the states with money; and (2) to provide lawyers with, well, money.” Don’t miss this one (“War on Smoking always has room for another lawyer”, Miami Herald, Feb. 18).
March 16 – Judges can’t charge cost of corruption defense to insurer. “Three former San Diego Superior Court judges convicted of corruption charges can’t parlay judicial liability insurance into coverage for their criminal defense, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled.” In one of the biggest judicial scandals in California history (see our editor’s 1996 piece on the case), Michael Greer, James Malkus and G. Dennis Adams were found to have accepted gifts from prominent trial lawyer Patrick Frega in exchange for favorable rulings in cases. (Jason Hoppin, “No Coverage for Judges Convicted of Corruption”, The Recorder/ CalLaw, March 2).
March 16 – Your hairdresser — and informant? Hairdressers “are often confidantes for many people,” says Veronica Boyd-Frenkel, who holds the post of “domestic violence ombudsman” in the state of Nevada. All this is by way of explaining why her office, working with the state attorney general’s office, has launched a program to train cosmetologists to recognize signs of domestic abuse, the better to steer suspected victims to approved anti-domestic-violence groups. “They may hear things even someone’s best friend may not hear,” says Ms. Boyd-Frenkel, of the hair stylists. The Las Vegas Review-Journal, in an editorial, thinks it all rather smacks of the enlistment of ever wider circles of the citizenry as official informants (Angie Wagner, “State asks hairdressers to help domestic abuse victims”, AP/Las Vegas Review-Journal, Feb. 28; “Down the wrong path” (editorial), Feb. 29; Vin Suprynowicz, “The Libertarian: Watch what you tell your hairdresser” (expanded version of editorial), March 1; “Training would not make informants of cosmetologists” (letter to the editor from Ms. Boyd-Frenkel), March 5).
March 16 – Prof sues for right to flunk students. The University of Michigan describes as “utterly without merit” a lawsuit filed by Dental School associate professor Keith Yohn challenging the university’s refusal to fail two sophomore dental students. Yohn charges that the school bent its academic rules to allow the two to remain, and that an assistant dean sent him a belligerent email informing him that poor grades he and three other professors had given the students would be disregarded. Acting as his own attorney, Yohn went to federal court to charge the university with “deprivation of ‘freedom of speech’” and disregard of the ‘health care interest’ of the public and their children”; he also asks $125,000 for emotional distress. (David Shepardson, “U-M sued over dental grades”, Detroit News, Dec. 30; Hanna Lopatin, “Dental Prof. Sues U. Michigan for Refusing to Fail Students”, Michigan Daily/ StudentAdvantage.com, Jan. 5).
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