- Online game purveyor Evony threatens to sue UK critic in Australian court [GameSetWatch, Ken at Popehat, Patrick at Popehat]
- 106: number of (counted) cases filed since 2005 that blame errant grapes for slip-fall injuries [ABA Journal]
- Bayonne, N.J.: “Connolly suing county for $1M over job switch” [Jersey Journal; background (city councilman took six months off from job as coordinator of 9/11 emergency call center; "doctors won't let him go back because it's too stressful.")]
- “Lessons from Andrew Sullivan’s pot bust” [Sullum, Reason] More: Patrick at Popehat.
- “The Appraisal Debacle: How Not to Regulate” [Jack Guttentag, Yahoo Finance, via Fountain]
- Bizarre: “Paralegal Guilty in Fake-Libel-Suit Scam That Briefly Won $3M” [ABA Journal]
- Idea for immigration reform: “Let the smart people in”. [Farhad Manjoo, Slate, via Alkon] More: “Free the H-1Bs, free the economy” [Vivek Wadhwa, TechCrunch]
- Academic finds that depending on whom you ask, “It’s not about the money” or maybe it is [Relis, SSRN/Pittsburgh 2007, via Burch, Mass Tort Lit]
Tagged as:
Australia,
food safety,
forum shopping,
immigration law,
libel slander and defamation,
mortgages,
New Jersey,
not about the money,
public employment,
slip and fall,
videogames
Updating our Apr. 29 item: “A law professor who sued two former students for defamation has dropped his suit after the school’s interim dean said there is no evidence he is a racist. Law professor Richard Peltz of the University of Arkansas at Little Rock told Inside Higher Ed that he sued to get his reputation back. ‘This suit was never about money,’ he said. ‘I feel that now with the university’s support, I am on the road to repairing my reputation.’” (Debra Cassens Weiss, ABA Journal, Nov. 17).
Tagged as:
Arkansas,
free speech,
law schools,
not about the money
- Litigants’ “not about the money” assertions: Mark Obbie has further thoughts on reporters’ uncritical deployment of this cliche, and kind words for our archive of posts on the subject [LawBeat]
- Lawyer on the other side of that much-circulated “I’m sorry” deposition-dispute letter has his say [Markland and Hanley via Turkewitz and Above the Law]
- Local authority in England tells gardener to remove barbed wire from wall surrounding his allotment, thieves might get hurt on it and sue [Never Yet Melted, Steyn/NRO Corner]
- Same-sex marriage in Connecticut through judicial fiat? Jonathan Rauch says no thanks [IGF]
- Lawyers are back suing despite reform of FACTA, the credit-card-receipt “gotcha” law, but insurance might just dry up [Randy Maniloff at Point of Law]
- “Racing to the trough” — auto lenders latest to ask bailout though original TARP rationale of liquidity fix seems remote [Naked Capitalism]
- “To be a green-certified property (pretty important in crunchy Portland) there must be an absolute prohibition on smoking, including outdoor spaces.” [Katherine Mangu-Ward, Reason "Hit and Run"]
- (Failed) claim in trademark case: “the term ‘electric’ is not commonly used by the general public to describe a source of power for watches” [TTAB via Ron Coleman]
Tagged as:
accolades,
assumption of risk,
Connecticut,
criminals who sue,
FACTA,
not about the money,
premises liability,
same-sex marriage,
smoking bans,
trademarks,
United Kingdom
A veterinary malpractice suit aims to overturn Georgia’s adherence to the traditional rule barring damage recovery for intangible pet companionship value. Not that it’s about you-know-what: “Money is not the object here,” says Kathryn Sutton about 13-year-old miniature Schnauzer Marshall. (D.L. Bennett, “Animal rights drive dog lawsuit”, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Sept. 15). Earlier here, here, here, here, here, etc.
Tagged as:
damages for animal companionship,
Georgia,
not about the money
Championship bodybuilder Doug Burns, who sued the government of Redwood City, Calif. over an incident in which police scuffled with him not realizing that his erratic behavior was the result of insulin shock, defended his decision to file a suit but agreed that the dollar amount assigned was over the top. “The lawyers jacked up the amount, because they always expect to settle for less. ‘Something like this shouldn’t have a $5 million dollar price tag on it. I should have had a better look at the amount. It’s my fault,’ Doug told [blogger Amy Tenderich]“. (Diabetes Mine, Jun. 22).
Tagged as:
California,
not about the money,
police
From the “Not About the Money” files; reader D.W. writes:
Seguin is about 35 miles east of downtown San Antonio. The deceased student/athlete was an adult, chose to run on a busy street despite ample on-campus facilities, and chose to run with traffic instead of facing it. The story doesn’t say, but the street in question is actually US90, possibly the heaviest traveled street in town aside from I-10. So naturally it’s the university’s fault she was struck and killed. Oh well, it could have been worse, at least they were only held 5% responsible.
(Ron Maloney, “Jury finds TLU partially responsible”, Seguin (Texas) Gazette-Enterprise, Aug. 29; more background here and here).
Tagged as:
colleges and universities,
not about the money,
roads and streets,
Texas
Or, so says a family’s suit against a funeral home and crematorium. It never ceases to crack me up how some people can take a modest, legitimate claim and blow it up into a claim for financial independence.
53-year-old Pamela Grant died unattended, was autopsied and later cremated despite a fax by the funeral home to the crematorium instructing it to hold off. You see, the family says they wanted to view the body before cremation and place mementos with it. They were deprived of that chance and filed suit against the funeral home for $3M and the crematorium for $450K.
Now, there’s certainly a legitimate complaint here but I see little to justify the sky-high demand. Naturally, the plaintiffs’ attorney is high-minded saying “his clients sued because they wanted to send a message to the businesses that their behavior was unacceptable.” Translation: it’s not about the money.
The jury got it right, awarding $48K from the crematorium to the Grant children and nothing from the funeral home. That’s a far cry from the $3.5M demand and right in line with what the crematorium’s defense counsel suggested to the jury. (“Missed goodbye to cost crematory, not Oregon City funeral home”, OregonLive.com, Aug. 15).
I’ve finished my week as guest blogger and will pass the torch back to Walter Olson. Walter, thank you again for the opportunity here on Overlawyered.
Tagged as:
not about the money
- Curlin gets 400 new owners, as the Kentucky fen-phen plaintiffs ripped off by their attorneys get the right to seize Shirley Cunningham Jr. and William Gallion’s 20% share of the Preakness Stakes winner. [AP/NYT; earlier]
- As Lerach pleads guilty, LA Times editorial defends class action abuses, incorrectly says that the PSLRA fixed everything and that Lerach didn’t act illegally after it was passed. [LA Times]
- That $10.9 million verdict against the Westboro Baptist Church was “not about the money.” [Reuters] Really, now, this case imposing bankrupting damages for a protest on a public sidewalk is appalling. Granted: Phelps is bigoted scum, and rude bigoted scum at that. But Albert Snyder’s claimed physical injury is that the protest exacerbated his diabetes: what sort of junk science is that? NB that Snyder was not even aware of the protest at the funeral until he watched it on television. Why not liability for the news program? Even those happy to see the anti-gay bigotry of the WBC punished should take pause: Snyder testified at length that the protest upset him particularly because his son was not gay.
- Overlawyered favorite Willie Gary (Apr. 29, Oct. 2004), on the hook for $28,000/month in child support for love child. [Atlanta Journal-Constitution]
- Deep-pocket search in Great White fire case. [Childs]
- Lawsuit over which school 9-year-old can play football for. [Tulsa World (via TMQ G. Easterbrook)] Worse, the judge rewarded the plaintiff by second-guessing the league decision. [Tulsa World]
- It only takes ten months of legal proceedings for Cal-Berkeley to evict trespassers squatting on university property. [SF Gate]
- Don’t hold your breath: who’s watching the trial lawyers? [Examiner]
Tagged as:
Atlanta,
Bill Lerach,
Curlin,
deep pocket,
fen-phen,
junk science,
Kentucky,
Kentucky fen-phen settlement fraud,
not about the money,
Rhode Island Station nightclub fire,
roundups,
Shirley Allen Cunningham Jr.,
William Gallion,
Willie Gary
No, this case isn’t going to get messy: in 2004, a Long Island couple went to a fertility clinic to help them get pregnant with a biological child. Apparently, the clinic botched the procedure by using the wrong sperm (Oops!); the couple figured it out when they noticed that the child was black and they weren’t.
So they sued the clinic for malpractice and infliction of emotional distress. (Just for good measure, they sued their obstetrician, who had nothing whatsoever to do with the actual fertilization; the court dismissed that claim. Gee, I wonder why medical malpractice insurance rates are so high.) The court rejected the emotional distress claim, ruling that (as most courts do) a baby being born is not an injury to the parents, but it allowed the malpractice claim to proceed.
Speaking of emotional distress, the judge handling the case quoted the parents as saying things every child wants to hear from her parents:
“[W]e are reminded of this terrible mistake each and every time we look at her.”
and
“We are conscious of and distressed by this mistake each and every time we appear in public.”
[click to continue…]
Tagged as:
emotional distress,
Long Island,
medical,
not about the money,
obstetric
No, really. This time, it might not be.
In January 2006, retired New York Times reporter David Rosenbaum was mugged in Washington, D.C.; the muggers hit him over the head with a pipe. When his body was discovered and emergency workers responded, they somehow missed the fact that he had been bashed over the head (Oops!), and decided he was merely drunk. Because of that mistake, every aspect of the response was botched; police failed to investigate the crime right away, and emergency workers and the hospital where they eventually took him failed to immediately treat him for his serious head injury. Two days later, he died.
Last November, his family sued the city and the hospital for $20 million. On Thursday, they settled their lawsuit with the city, for no money (Washington Post):
The family of a slain New York Times journalist yesterday agreed to forgo the potential of millions of dollars in damages in exchange for something that might be harder for the D.C. government to deliver: an overhaul of the emergency medical response system that bungled his care at nearly every step.
David E. Rosenbaum’s family said it will give up a $20 million lawsuit against the city — but only if changes are made within one year.
Under a novel legal settlement, the city agreed to set up a task force to improve the troubled emergency response system and look at issues such as training, communication and supervision. A member of the family will be on the panel.
Although legal experts said the family could have won millions had it pursued the case, Rosenbaum’s brother Marcus said he and other relatives were more interested in making sure that the city enacted measurable changes.
The family hasn’t abandoned the path of litigation entirely; their suit against Howard University Hospital continues. And the family can reinstate the lawsuit against the city if it fails to implement the reforms it has promised within a year.
Interestingly, a search of news coverage about this lawsuit did not reveal even one instance of any of the plaintiffs or their lawyers uttering the immortal mantra, “It’s not about the money.”
Tagged as:
hospitals,
not about the money
Pop quiz: the police try to pull over a car, and the driver, instead of slowing down, flees at high speed. The police should (A) Let him go; (B) Keep chasing him, and pray that he doesn’t kill anybody; or (C) Try to physically stop him by bumping his car with theirs.
Okay, here’s the real pop quiz: which of those will not result in taxpayers getting the shaft and trial lawyers making out like bandits? We know from experience that the answer is not (B). The Supreme Court heard oral arguments (PDF) on Monday in a case entitled Scott v. Harris to decide whether (C) is a viable option.
Harris was a 19-year old driver in Georgia who was doing 73 in a 55 MPH zone; when police tried to pull him over, he sped up and tried to escape, reaching at least 90 miles per hour on a two-lane road. Police officer Scott joined the chase, and after Harris drove recklessly for about 10 minutes, running red lights and weaving through traffic on the wrong side of the road, Scott bumped his car to stop him. Unfortunately, Harris lost control, crashed, and was rendered a quadriplegic. A sad ending for Harris, to be sure — but in a sane world, his fault. In our world, of course, he immediately sued Scott for violating his fourth amendment right not to be “unreasonably” seized.
Over at the Volokh Conspiracy, Orin Kerr, who co-represented Scott on appeal, has been blogging about the case. (Technically, the Supreme Court is addressing the narrower question of whether Scott is entitled to qualified immunity — but as any Overlawyered reader knows, lawsuits are crapshoots; if immunity is denied and Scott is forced to go to trial, the case will probably settle so that Harris can’t win the lottery from a befuddled jury.)
If the Supreme Court rules for the driver — though oral arguments didn’t seem to be in his favor — then trial lawyers will have successfully created a no-win scenario for police; criminals will be free to flee without fear of police pursuit. Maybe it’s just me, but that would seem to be a strange incentive: criminals who surrender peacefully go to jail, and those who refuse to submit are rewarded with cash or freedom.
- Related to this story, a reader (okay, Ted Frank) passes along another police chase lawsuit story which is (predictably) “Not about the money”: parents collect quarter-million-plus for kids’ deaths fleeing high-speed police chase [Robesonian Online]
Tagged as:
crime and punishment,
not about the money
If you ever want to see a trial lawyer manipulate the press, and the press unskeptically eat it up, you could do worse than to watch the recent performance of Steve Yerrid (Oct. 5-6) in a recent Tampa trial.
The facts convey an undeniably terrible accident. Fifty-year-old high-school-dropout Denzil Blake was cleaning an Isuzu Rodeo at Town ‘N Country Car Wash when he accidentally hit the gearshift, sending the car (which should not have been running) out of neutral. Blake didn’t know how to drive (Florida law allows a person without a driver’s license to operate a vehicle on private property, so there was nothing illegal about allowing unlicensed drivers to move cars in a carwash), panicked, and accidentally hit the accelerator instead of the brake, sending the car speeding into 43-year-old Brenda Lee Brown, striking her just after she pushed her young son’s stroller to safety; she died of her injuries two days later. Blake was not criminally charged.
[click to continue…]
Tagged as:
autos,
not about the money,
sudden acceleration
“It was never about the money for me, this litigation,” said Dickie Scruggs, who stands to collect between $26 million and $46 million from a settlement accomplished by the use of the state attorney general, Jim Hood, to extort State Farm with the threat of criminal proceedings for daring to enforce their flood exclusion clauses in their contracts. [Lattman] Many many posts on the subject at Point of Law.
Tagged as:
attorneys general,
class actions,
Dickie Scruggs,
Jim Hood,
Katrina,
not about the money,
State Farm
