• Two topics of recent interest on the site — cremation and service monkeys — together in one post [The Urn Garden]
• Please don’t tell us an aggressive stance by music copyright holders is going to kill Pandora radio, one of the bright stars of the Internet [WaPo, more]
• “Citizens in Chains: The High Cost of Prisoner Lawsuits to California Taxpayers” [CALA, PDF]
• Navajo plaintiffs: spraying artificial snow on our sacred mountain is spiritually injurious [Volokh]
• Remember those anti-poverty non-profit groups that were going to represent the culmination of John Edwards’ life work, aside from running for you-know-what? Him neither [Silverstein, Harper's via Folo]
• Toxic tort class action in Saudi Arabia proves unsuccessful [Arab News]
• Fending off patent trolls has been expensive for high-tech Massachusetts firm Cognex [NLJ]
• Arizona law professor’s creative denials in paternity suit have furnished faculty-lounge chuckles for years [Caron/TaxProf, Jack J. Rappeport]
• New at Point of Law: big ruckus over proposal to compel accounting projections of lawsuit exposure; guestblogger Peggy Little on Connecticut vs. Countrywide, the ABA in judicial selection and more; cy pres litigation slush funds assailed as constitutionally dubious; Trial Lawyers Inc. series tackles the state of Ohio; MBIA mulls suing hedge fund that’s sniped at its stock; more on med-mal “loss of a chance”; and much more.

• Educator acquitted on charges of roughness toward special ed student sues Teacher Smackdown website over anonymous comments criticizing her [NW Arkansas Morning News, Citizen Media Law Project, House of Eratosthenes]
• Lorain County, Ohio judge who struck down state’s death penalty has Che Guevara poster in his office, though Guevara wasn’t exactly an opponent of killing [USA Today]
• Privatization of U.S. Senate food service is a parable for wider issues [Tabarrok]
• Low-end strategies for acquiring criminal-law clients include trolling the attorney visiting area at the federal lockup, paying the hot dog guy in front of the courthouse [Greenfield]
• A Canadian Senator on why his country’s medical malpractice law works better than you-know-whose [Val Jones MD leads to audio]
• U.K.: convicted rapist sexually assaults and murders teenage girl after housing authority is told evicting him would breach his human rights [Telegraph]
• No word of legal action (yet, at least) in Salina, Kansas car crash that driver blames on “brain freeze” from Sonic restaurant frozen drink [AP/K.C. Star]
• In Michigan, some mysterious entity is trying to drop an electoral anvil on two of our favorite jurists [PoL]

Problem #1: children abused by clergy decades ago are demanding recognition from the civil justice system; it’s not about the money they say, but justice.

Problem #2: simply reviving 35-year-old tort claims that are otherwise barred by the statute of limitations, aside from the basic unfairness and loss of legal certainty to others, encourages fraud on and error by the judicial system.

Solution, in Ohio S.B. 17, passed in May 2006:

Continue Reading »

Well, at least some doctors are hoping to discern such a trend on the strength of two data points: the case Ted has covered in which the Ohio Supreme Court struck down a $30 million verdict because of the shenanigans of attorney Geoffrey Fieger, and a Michigan case from March in which an appeals court overturned a $500,000 verdict against a Flint doctor and ordered a new trial. In the latter case the appeals court “noted the trial judge ‘valiantly and repeatedly attempted’ to restrain Konheim [Southfield, Mich., plaintiff attorney Joseph Konheim]. ‘There is a point, however, when an attorney’s deliberate misbehavior becomes so repetitive and egregious that it necessarily impacts the jury, notwithstanding the judge’s efforts. That point was reached here,’ the unanimous opinion states. It also says that Konheim belittled witnesses on the stand and made ‘irrelevant’ and ‘disparaging’ statements that diverted the jury’s attention from the case’s merits. Konheim is asking the court to reconsider.” (Amy Lynn Sorrel, “Lawyers’ misconduct triggers new liability trials”, AMedNews (AMA), May 5).

*Blogroll, cont’d*

Other sites by our authors: Point of Law (Ted Frank, Walter Olson and others) / Ted Frank’s AEI Legal Center / David Nieporent’s Jumping to Conclusions and Likelihood of Success / Walter Olson home page / Our Facebook group

Law:

BlawgRev / Brennan Center / Briefcase (Ohio) / CalBizLit / Complex Lit / ConsLw&Pol / C&F / Day / Decs & Exs / EvilHRLady / Genova / Giacalone / Goldman / ILR / LawBeat (Obbie) / Legal Ethics Forum / LexMonitor / Lexis Nexis Torts / Likel’d of Succ’s / MassTortLit / Nordberg / O’Keefe / OnPointNews / Pattis / Perlmutter Schuelke / Scruggs scandal in Mississippi: Folo, YallPolitics as well as Rossmiller / Sui Generis (NY) / TortDeform / WorkplaceProf

And more law:

AdamSmithEsq / ACSBlog / AJP / AGWatch / ArmsLaw / Bay / BLT / Bluestone / Cal Wage & Hr / CitMediaLaw (Berkman) / Comm for Just / Concur Op / Conglom / Counterfeit Chic / EmpirLS / Ernie the Atty / Friable Thts / Greedy TL / Justia / KipEsq / Kranenburg / LawSites / LegalJuice / Legal Rdr / Legal Scholarship / Low’g the Bar / NAM / Ninomania / Ohio Employment / Opinio Juris / Petit / Pop Tort / Prawfs / Proof & Hrsy / QuizLaw / Sports Law / StonePosts / TrollTracker (now underground) / WAC?

Med:

Cut to Cure / Dr. Wes / GruntDoc / HIPAA blog / MedProgToday / MedPundit (RIP) / MedRants / Orac / Pipeline / RangelMD / Seidel / SymTym

General interest:

Beam / Discr’ns / Empire Center / Gawker / Gordon / Jay P. Greene / Haspel / Housing Bubble / IRB / Dan Kennedy / Manh Inst / MindingCampus / NYObserver / NYT Board, Freak’cs, Lede, Opin’tor, Tierney / Pratie Place / Rauch / SalonBlogRep / Siegel on tobacco / Truth on the Mkt / Tushnet

Right:

Betsy’s / Bookwm Room / City Jrnal / Contentions / Flash Report (Calif.) / Kopel / Lileks / Marria Deb / Massie / Moldbug / Patterico / PowerLine / RightCoast / RightRbw / Steyn / Zincavage

Left:

Bogdanski / Drum / Edroso / Effect Measure / Lambert / LG&M / Mencimer / Mother Jones / Pump Handle / ReformNY / SadlyNo / Tobias / Wolcott

Libertarian:

Antipl’r / Brayton / Cafe Hayek / Cato-at-Lib’y / Chapman / Henley / Palmer / Pos’ve Lib / Sager / Sanchez / Stossel / Vice Sq / Wilk’n /Young

Odd:

Fark / News of the Weird / Our 404 / Lawyer jokes (About.com) / Spurious “Stella Awards”

Science/skepticism:

Hoax / Snopes / LarkFarm / Myers / Unoff Dawkins / Free Inq / Rowe / Lehmann / Fumento / Honeyguide / Quackwatch / Skept Inqr / Skeptic.com

This site’s reprinted articles library, with articles by authors Michael Fumento, Peter Huber, Walter Olson, and Jonathan Rauch.

City governments, sometimes in league with private counsel working on contingency fee, “have started suing banks and mortgage companies to recoup their costs” on such services as “fire departments, police, code enforcement or even demolition” in blighted neighborhoods. “The lawsuits were filed in recent months under different theories, in state and federal court. Cleveland and Buffalo filed suits under public nuisance laws. Minneapolis’ suit was brought on consumer fraud grounds, while Baltimore took the unusual approach of filing suit in federal court under alleged Fair Housing Act violations.” Bank of New York says it was included in Buffalo’s suit against 39 lenders even though it neither originated nor purchased loans, but merely acted as trustee. (Julie Kay, “Empty Homes Spur Cities’ Suits”, National Law Journal, May 9).

• Canada free speech: Islamic group files complaint against Halifax newspaper over cartoon of burka-wearing terror fan; two more libel suits aimed at online conservative voices; growing furor over complaint against Steyn/Macleans [National Post]
• More than 5,000 students committed crimes last year in Philadelphia schools, but none were expelled — consent decrees tying system’s hands are one reason [Inquirer]
• U.K.: Man threatened with legal action for flying pirate flag as part of daughter’s birthday party [Guardian]
• Bankruptcy judge doesn’t plan to accept at face value Countrywide’s claim that it generated false escrow documents by mistake in foreclosure [WSJ, WSJ law blog]
• Amid bipartisan calls to step down, Ohio AG Marc Dann [Apr. 19, May 6] hires an opposition researcher [Adler @ Volokh] on top of Washington lobbyist [Legal NewsLine], after being rebuked by judge for political suit [Dispatch]. And where’s that ethics form on the Chesley flight? [Dayton Daily News]
• Missouri med-mal claims fall sharply after legislated damages curb [Springfield News-Leader]
• More on Dartmouth prof Priya Venkatesan, the one who wants to sue her students — as suspected, she’s a devotee of deconstructionist Science Studies [Allen/MtC; earlier]
• Covert plan to sabotage Chinese economy? [Wilson Center event]
• What, never? Well, hardly ever: Docs continue to assail notion that various complications such as patient delirium, clostridium difficile infection, iatrogenic pneumothorax, etc. — not to mention falls — are “never events” [KevinMD various posts; earlier]
• Mich. high court agrees anti-gay-marriage amendment bars municipal health benefits for domestic partners, just what key proponents had claimed it wouldn’t do [Rauch @ IGF, Carpenter @ Volokh, earlier]
• Private service rates the safety of charter air providers — but can it afford the cost of being sued after giving a bad rating? [Three years ago on Overlawyered]

• Raelyn Campbell briefly captured national spotlight (”Today” show, MSNBC) with $54 million suit against Best Buy for losing laptop, but it’s now been dismissed [Shop Floor; earlier]
• Charmed life of Florida litigators Stanley and Susan Rosenblatt continues as Miami judge awards them $218 million for class action lawsuit they lost [Daily Business Report, Krauss @ PoL; earlier here, here, and here]
• Lerach said kickbacks were “industry practice” and “everybody was paying plaintiffs”. True? Top House GOPer Boehner wants hearings to find out [NAM "Shop Floor", WSJ law blog]
• It’s Dannimal House! An “office rife with booze, profanity, inappropriate sexual activity, misuse of state vehicles and on-the-job threats involving the Mafia” — must be Ohio AG Marc Dann, of NYT “next Eliot Spitzer” fame [AP/NOLA, Adler @ Volokh, Above the Law, Wood @ PoL; earlier]
• Sorry, Caplin & Drysdale, but you can’t charge full hourly rates for time spent traveling but not working on that asbestos bankruptcy [NLJ] More: Elefant.
• Fire employee after rudely asking if she’s had a face-lift? Not unless you’ve got $1.7 million to spare [Chicago Tribune]
• Daniel Schwartz has more analysis of that Stamford, Ct. disabled-firefighter case (May 1); if you want a fire captain to be able to read quickly at emergency scene, better spell that out explicitly in the job description [Ct Emp Law Blog]
• As expected, star Milberg expert John Torkelsen pleads guilty to perjury arising from lies he told to conceal his contingent compensation arrangements [NLJ; earlier]
• Case of deconstructionist prof who plans to sue her Dartmouth students makes the WSJ [Joseph Rago, op-ed page, Mindles H. Dreck @ TigerHawk; earlier]
• How’d I do, mom? No violation of fair trial for judge’s mother to be one of the jurors [ABA Journal]
• First sell the company’s stock short, then sue it and watch its share price drop. You mean there’s some ethical problem with that? [three years ago on Overlawyered]

In June 2004, we wrote:

In the complicated surgery to correct scoliosis, screws and rods are inserted and bone added into the spine. The risk of nerve damage or paralysis is such that there is something called the Stagnara wake up test, whereby the patient is woken during surgery to ensure she can move her feet. In 1999, however, Joshua Terry was one of the unfortunate 0.1% who was paralyzed during surgery. And, according to the newspaper account, his lawyer, Jay Kelley, found four surgeons to testify against defendant Dr. Ernest Lindell that “paralysis was not a potential complication” from surgery on the spine to correct scoliosis. A Lucas County, Ohio jury awarded $8.4 million to Mr. Terry and another million to his parents. And Dr. Lindell will no longer perform spinal surgery. (”Paralyzed area man wins $10M judgment”, Toledo Blade, Jun. 16; P. Stagnara, et al., “Functional monitoring of spinal cord activity during spinal surgery”, Clin. Orthop., 1973; 93: 173-78).

Perhaps there was malpractice in this case; paralysis is relatively rare, and one can’t tell the merits one way or the other from cursory press coverage. (Terry claims that Lindell “lost control” of an instrument during surgery, and it’s unclear whether that claim is the result of concrete evidence or a wishful inference.)

If the press account is correct, the plaintiffs’ attorney put a finger on the scale through expert testimony claiming that paralysis doesn’t happen except through negligence. Even a relatively well-educated lay jury isn’t well situated to resolve which expert is telling the truth. It’s another example of why the current litigation system is poorly situated to resolve disputes of this sort.

Jay Kelley writes us:

Continue Reading »

Do as we say, not as we do?

Ohio Attorney General Marc Dann is leading a group of 18 state Attorneys General seeking a ruling in the U.S. Supreme Court that employees can not be retaliated against by their bosses for filing a sexual harassment complaint.

The case comes at an ironic moment for Dann, as his office is investigating claims by two 26-year-old women who work at the Attorney General’s office that they were sexually harassed on and off the job by their boss, Anthony Gutierrez, a close friend of Dann’s who shared a Columbus condominium with him.

(”Dann Defends Woman Amid Own Office’s Sexual Harassment Flap”, Fox8 Cleveland, Apr. 16; Mark Rollenhagen and Reginald Fields, “Employee in Ohio attorney general’s office files police report”, Cleveland Plain Dealer, Apr. 19). Amid talk of a cover-up, Dann has also denied a request from the Columbus Dispatch under the state’s public records law “to review three months’ worth of e-mail messages between him and his then-scheduler, Jessica Utovich,” both of whose names turn up as possible witnesses in colorful text messages offered as evidence in the claims. “Dann in the past has said e-mails are public records and also has sought troves of messages from public offices when he was a state senator and the Democratic candidate for Ohio’s top legal office.” (James Nash, “Dann won’t release e-mails”, DispatchPolitics (Columbus Dispatch), Apr. 13; Julie Carr Smyth, “Sexual complaint probe at top cop’s office intensifies”, AP/Akron Beacon Journal, Apr. 18; Mark Naymik, “Dann has habit of hiring his friends; some have proved to be embarrassments”, Openers (Cleveland Plain Dealer blog), Apr. 12; Reginald Fields, “Dann employee files complaint with police”, Openers, Apr. 18).

After initial resistance, Dann did release some information that raised reportorial eyebrows:

In a surprising reversal, Attorney General Marc Dann’s office released 12 pages of notes that detail allegations of repeated sexual harassment and possibly an attempt to destroy text messages that may document the incidents. …

Dann’s Equal Employment Opportunity officer, Angela Smedlund, interviewed Cindy Stankoski and Vanessa Stout on March 31 about problems they had had with their boss, Anthony Gutierrez, who is Dann’s friend and former roommate.

Smedlund’s notes reveal the following:

Stankoski agreed to go out for drinks with Gutierrez last Sept. 10, but said she soon “felt tipsy and trapped.” She agreed to go to an apartment Gutierrez shared with Dann and Communications Director Leo Jennings III. She called and text-messaged friends that night.

In the margin, Smedlund wrote: “Leo & Tony destroyed texts Tony admitted to Charlie.” The notes do not identify Charlie’s last name.

Jennings and Gutierrez are now both on paid administrative leave.

(Laura A. Bischoff, “Dann’s office unveils documents detailing harassment report”, Lebanon, Oh. Western-Star, Apr. 16; Rollenhagen/Fields, “Reports show Dann was aware of Gutierrez’s history of troubles”, Cleveland Plain Dealer/Youngstown Vindicator, Apr. 18; Bertram de Souza, “Will Dann survive the crisis?”, StirFry (Youngstown Vindicator), Apr. 17). Perhaps unfortunately in retrospect, the noisily anti-business Dann had been lionized in the New York Times after his election as a possible “next Eliot Spitzer“.

More: Above the Law, John Phillips (”Other key words are pajamas, condo, inappropriate text messages, Hawaiian pizza, booze, passing out in a bedroom, unbuttoned pants upon waking up, and nothing on but his underwear.”), Law and More. Update: Dann’s emails with scheduler released (Dispatch via Genova)

First-time marijuana-possession offenders are typically not punished very severely, and it appears that retiree Luther Ricks of Lima, Ohio, and his wife Meredith aren’t going to face charges at all. So aside from the confiscation of their $400,000 in life savings, they should come out of it just fine (Greg Sowinski, “Man wants his $400K back from the FBI”, Lima News, Dec. 18; Radley Balko, Dec. 21 and Mar. 21; “Forfeiture Folly”, Reason, April).

• Speaking of patients who act against medical advice and sue anyway: doctor who advised against home birth is cleared by Ohio jury in $13 million suit [Plain Dealer and earlier via KevinMD]
• UK: “A feud over a 4ft-wide strip of land has seen neighbours rack up £300,000 in lawyers’ bills, and left one family effectively homeless.” [Telegraph]
• Last of the Scruggs judicial bribery defendants without a plea deal, Dickie’s son Zack, takes one [Folo]
• By reader acclaim: securities trader sues over injury from lap dancer’s attentions [AP/NY Sun]
• Amid the talk of FISA and retroactive telecom immunity, it would be nice to hear more about the actual lawsuits [Obbie]
• Australian worker loses suit over firing despite a doctor’s note vouching that stress of worrying about upcoming football game made it medically necessary for him to take day off to go see it [Stumblng Tumblr]
• Megan McArdle and Tyler Cowen toss around the question of federal FDA pre-emption of drug liability suits, as raised by Medtronic;
• Should Coughlin Stoia have bought those stolen Coke documents? For one lawprof, question’s a real head-scratcher [David McGowan (San Diego), Legal Ethics Forum] And WSJ news side is oddly unskeptical of trial lawyers’ line that the affair just proves their power to go on fishing expeditions should never have been curtailed [Jones/Slater]
• Dashboard-cam caught Tennessee cops red-handed planting marijuana on suspect, or so Jonathan Turley suggests — but could it be a little more complicated than that? [WSMV, AP/WATE] (& Greenfield)
• “Heck Baptists don’t even sue you for disagreeing with them,” though no doubt there are exceptions [Instapundit; NYT on Danish cartoons; Ezra Levant with more on those Canadian speech tribunals]
• Bestselling authors who sue their critics [four years ago on Overlawyered]

If you’re not keeping up with our sister site, you’re missing out on stories about how expert evidence standards help plaintiffs too (and more); animal rights more voguish at many law schools than those dull old humans; Ohio Supreme Court commended; implications of recent plunge in carpal tunnel cases; 93% enrollment in Vioxx settlement; attorney faces criminal charges after his clients quit their nursing jobs; extensive coverage of Gov. Spitzer’s downfall; more trouble for Florida lawyer accused of bribing defendant’s adjuster to obtain settlement target numbers; ballot measure would abolish employment at will in Colorado; judicial seminars by the securities class action bar; and much more.

New Haven, Ct. honors student Michael Sheridan, suspended and removed from his elected class post after being caught buying a bag of Skittles candy from a fellow student in violation of his school’s policy against empty-calorie food, will be reinstated, the school says. (AP/Google). Ohio law blog The Briefcase (Mar. 13) has more, along with a link to this PTO Today article detailing how a federal law mandating school “wellness policies” has increased the pressure on states and local schools to adopt anti-snack measures.

Which means, says Kevin Pho, that you’re not always going to succeed in catching the extremely rare aortic dissection: “No test is 100% accurate, and there will always be missed cases no matter how good the care was.” (Feb. 18; John Maxfield, “Besieged by scourge of medical ‘malpractice’”, Naples (Fla.) Daily News, Feb. 16 (Mahoning County, Ohio case)).

• Remember those class actions against tech manufacturers for allegedly misstating the capacity of hard drives? Another one just settled, with buyers in for coupons and discounts, lawyers for $1.78 million [The Register, Cho v. Seagate Technologies settlement website]
• Watch what you say about lawyers, cont’d: Erie, Pa. paper thus far has fended off libel suit by Pittsburgh attorney over coverage of his run-ins with authorities over client treatment [Post-Gazette via Ambrogi]
• New at Point of Law: suicide risk of anticonvulsants?; Ohio AG Dann rebuked on foreclosure activism; simultaneous asbestosis and silicosis happens all the time at some law firms; Bush nominates an ATLA/AAJ member to a federal judgeship; and much more.
• Has a prominent investor with close ties to President Bush set up shop as an East Texas patent troll? [Troll Tracker, The Recorder]
• Embattled Tom Lakin and Lakin Law Firm, once high on the Madison County heap, fight to overturn $3.7 million legal-malpractice judgment [MC Record]
• Brent Coon suing former colleagues at Beaumont’s Provost Umphrey over division of billions in tobacco-fee booty [Texas Lawyer]
• UK judge criticizes “barking mad” human rights rules after prisoner refuses to leave his “comfy” jail cell to attend hearing [Times Online, Telegraph]
• “Six years after Enron, executives face greater risks—but investors are no safer.” [Gelinas/City Journal]
• United Farm Workers union threatens to sue over unflattering coverage [two years ago on Overlawyered]

Perhaps emboldened by the success of New York City’s Operation Lucky Bag (Dec. 7), Columbus, Ohio police are now generating new sex-offense cases by deploying a topless female sunbather to tempt passing men. (Marcus Baram, “Topless Woman Lured Perverts in Police Sting”, ABCNews.com, Dec. 28).

The old joke goes something like this: If you go to law school, graduate, sue the school for providing a poor education, represent yourself and then win the case … did you really deserve to win?

The cases detailed here may not be quite as clear cut.

A group of students filed a $120 million class action against the American Justice School of Law in Paducah, Ky., on Nov. 17, citing allegations that include tax fraud, false representation to the American Bar Association, racketeering, scheming to defraud students and obstruction of justice. Rust v. American Justice School of Law, No. 5:07CV-191-R (W.D. Ky.).

Late last month, Adam Key, a second-year law student, sued Regent University School of Law, a private Christian school in Virginia Beach, Va., claiming violations of his right to free speech and religion after getting expelled for posting a critique in an online university forum. Key v. Regent University, No. 4:07-CV-04060 (S.D. Texas).

On Nov. 14, John Valente, a second-year student at University of Dayton School of Law in Ohio, filed a complaint against his school, citing negligence in dealing with exam software. Valente v. University of Dayton Law School of Law, No. 07-9593 (Montgomery Co., Ohio, Ct. C.P.).

It’s far from being a trend (yet!), but shouldn’t we expect a more costly legal education to generate demands from those students who slog it out to be chosen from an ever-increasing pool of applicants?

Law school tuition has been increasing at a considerable clip. And if you don’t graduate, it doesn’t matter to you if the value of the degree has risen twice as fast. You’re not a lawyer. (”Don’t Like Your Grade? Sue Your Law School,” The National Law Journal, Dec. 18, 2007.)

Update: I’m not a lawyer, either.

(crossposted at catallaxy.net)