Overlawyered » sudden acceleration http://overlawyered.com Chronicling the high cost of our legal system Tue, 14 Feb 2012 16:11:47 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 en hourly 1 A baffling award for ABC’s Toyota scaremongering http://overlawyered.com/2011/06/a-baffling-award-for-abcs-toyota-scaremongering/ http://overlawyered.com/2011/06/a-baffling-award-for-abcs-toyota-scaremongering/#comments Sun, 19 Jun 2011 13:01:41 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=23448 John Cook at Gawker wants to know how a coveted Edward R. Murrow prize could just have been bestowed on the Toyota-panic reporting of ABC’s Brian Ross (”America’s Wrongest Reporter”), given that it showcased staged, fakey footage, relied heavily on the assertions of a safety consultant whose plaintiff’s-side involvement in the controversy went unmentioned, and omitted details that would have raised readers’ doubts on key themes, among many other sins. Later investigations, of course, decisively refuted the lawyer-stoked fears that Toyotas have some mysterious tendency to accelerate out of control. More: Ted Frank and Hans Bader, and my take on the sad history of media irresponsibility on car-safety scares.

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]]> http://overlawyered.com/2011/06/a-baffling-award-for-abcs-toyota-scaremongering/feed/ 9 May 31 roundup http://overlawyered.com/2011/05/may-31-roundup/ http://overlawyered.com/2011/05/may-31-roundup/#comments Tue, 31 May 2011 05:16:45 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=23178
  • Reforms billed as loser-pays advance in Texas, but they’re very scaled-down [WSJ, WLF and more, Legal Blog Watch, Wood/PoL, Cary Gray/Houston Chronicle, WSJ Law Blog, earlier]
  • “Refutation of Toyota sudden acceleration hysteria doesn’t stop Toyota sudden acceleration litigation” [Ted at PoL]
  • “Five Questions With Legal Scholar Richard Epstein” [Jamie Weinstein, Daily Caller; his views on Title IX]
  • Employers glad for small favors: “Refusing to Hire Applicant Who Fails Drug Test Not an ADA Violation” [Robin Weideman, California Labor and Employment Law Blog; Ninth Circuit]
  • “Study Shows Litigation Doesn’t Improve Nursing Home Safety” [Studdert et al, NEJM via Daniel Fisher]
  • Risperdal? No thanks: “Mother battles Michigan over daughter’s medication” [AP]
  • Personal-injury litigation plummets in Australia following enactment of state-level reforms [seven years ago on Overlawyered]
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    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2011/05/may-31-roundup/feed/ 3     April 6 roundup http://overlawyered.com/2011/04/april-6-roundup-2/ http://overlawyered.com/2011/04/april-6-roundup-2/#comments Wed, 06 Apr 2011 13:08:23 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=22358
  • Lack of defect poses problem for plaintiff: Toyota prevails in first acceleration case [NLJ]
  • Australia: writer Andrew Bolt on trial for alleged racially disparaging columns [Herald Sun, Crikey, The Age]
  • “Attorneys Put Themselves Before Consumers in Class Action over Faulty Computer Chip” [CJAC, Frank/CCAF on NVidia case]
  • Ruling by Federal Circuit is thinning out rush of patent marking cases [Qualters, NLJ, earlier]
  • Podcast: Lester Brickman and “Lawyer Barons” [PoL, earlier here and here]
  • “Are class actions unconstitutional?” [Lahav, Mass Tort Lit, on Martin Redish book]
  • “Free speech belongs on campuses too” [Ilya Shapiro, Cato, on Widener case, with kind mention of Schools for Misrule]
  • King Canute turns attention to dry land: states mull bills to forbid use of distressed properties as appraisal comps [Funnell]
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    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2011/04/april-6-roundup-2/feed/ 5     Why Toyota stock rose after yesterday’s recall http://overlawyered.com/2011/02/why-toyota-stock-rose-after-yesterdays-recall/ http://overlawyered.com/2011/02/why-toyota-stock-rose-after-yesterdays-recall/#comments Fri, 25 Feb 2011 17:28:13 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=21700 I explain at Cato at Liberty.

    P.S. Also, welcome listeners from Richmond, Va.’s WRVA, which had me on to discuss these issues this morning. And a retrospective on the Toyota scare from The Truth About Cars’ Edward Niedermeyer.

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    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2011/02/why-toyota-stock-rose-after-yesterdays-recall/feed/ 0     NHTSA: no electronic flaws in Toyotas http://overlawyered.com/2011/02/nhtsa-no-electronic-flaws-in-toyotas/ http://overlawyered.com/2011/02/nhtsa-no-electronic-flaws-in-toyotas/#comments Tue, 08 Feb 2011 20:54:20 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=21380 It’s basically the same message that leaked out seven months ago. In a new post at Cato at Liberty, I raise some questions about why it took so long to release the study results.

    More: Jalopnik, Coyote, Marc Hodak, Rick Woldenberg/AmendTheCPSIA, Dan Fisher/Forbes, Dan Bigman/Forbes (LaHood: “no defect, but we’ll regulate the industry anyway”); Carter Wood/ShopFloor and more, Ted Frank/PoL (class action over loss of resale value continues), New York Times, Leonard Evans/AOL. My March 2010 National Review piece “Exorcising Toyota’s Demons” is here. And welcome readers from Instapundit, Charlie Martin/PJ Tatler, Pejman Yousefzadeh, Roger Donway/Atlas Society, Ira Stoll/Future of Capitalism.

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    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2011/02/nhtsa-no-electronic-flaws-in-toyotas/feed/ 4     Toyota theories shift http://overlawyered.com/2011/01/toyota-theories-shift/ http://overlawyered.com/2011/01/toyota-theories-shift/#comments Sun, 09 Jan 2011 15:29:58 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=20881 Unable to show any electronic flaw in the vehicles, plaintiff’s lawyers switch to the theory that the automaker should have embraced “brake override” technology that disengages the throttle when the brake is applied. That technology doesn’t work, of course, if the driver is in fact mistakenly hitting the accelerator when intending to hit the brake — which was what happened in earlier sudden-acceleration scares, and looks likely to be the cause of most of the Toyota incidents as well. [L.A. Times]

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    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2011/01/toyota-theories-shift/feed/ 22     November 22 roundup http://overlawyered.com/2010/11/november-22-roundup-2/ http://overlawyered.com/2010/11/november-22-roundup-2/#comments Mon, 22 Nov 2010 13:22:17 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=20250 Product liability edition:

    • You mean cigarettes were dangerous? “Florida jury awards $80M to daughter in anti-smoking case” [AP]
    • “Acne drug not found to increase suicide risk” [BBC, earlier on Accutane here, here, etc.]
    • “Man hit by jar of exploding fruit says $150,000 award isn’t enough” [Detroit News via Obscure Store]
    • Chicago accident coverage exemplifies Toyota acceleration hysteria [Fumento/CEI] NHTSA-NRC panel findings on subject [PoL]
    • Strict product liability is in decline, according to Prof. David Owen [Abnormal Use]
    • More questions raised on $500 million Nevada hepatitis verdict [PoL]
    • Notwithstanding chatter in press about toxic cosmetics, study finds cosmetologists have below-average cancer rates [David Oliver]
    • Florida juries repeatedly hold Ford liable for millions when drivers fall asleep [five years ago on Overlawyered]
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    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2010/11/november-22-roundup-2/feed/ 0     Allstate advances “Toyota sudden acceleration” narrative http://overlawyered.com/2010/11/allstate-advances-toyota-sudden-acceleration-narrative/ http://overlawyered.com/2010/11/allstate-advances-toyota-sudden-acceleration-narrative/#comments Wed, 10 Nov 2010 05:05:27 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=20068 We know some consumer reporters can be easy marks for overhyped scare stories. But what excuse does a giant insurance company has for trying to knock spare change out of an automaker by endorsing the scare theories in a subrogation suit? [Mary Anne Medina, Claims Magazine] See also: Laura Zois, Maryland Accident Lawyer.

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    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2010/11/allstate-advances-toyota-sudden-acceleration-narrative/feed/ 1     Web seminar: “Legal PR, Trial Lawyers’ Style” http://overlawyered.com/2010/09/web-seminar-legal-pr-trial-lawyers%e2%80%99-style/ http://overlawyered.com/2010/09/web-seminar-legal-pr-trial-lawyers%e2%80%99-style/#comments Sat, 18 Sep 2010 19:55:43 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=19291 I appeared in this Washington Legal Foundation web video yesterday. I discussed ways in which the rise of online media has helped correct some of the deficiencies of the older media in covering controversies like that over “unintended acceleration”. The other presentation on the video is by Andrew Trask of McGuire Woods and the Class Action Countermeasures blog. Viewing is free but you’ll need to register.

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    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2010/09/web-seminar-legal-pr-trial-lawyers%e2%80%99-style/feed/ 0     Los Angeles Times on Toyota acceleration http://overlawyered.com/2010/09/los-angeles-times-on-toyota-acceleration/ http://overlawyered.com/2010/09/los-angeles-times-on-toyota-acceleration/#comments Thu, 16 Sep 2010 05:10:53 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=19266 Not for the first (or fifty-first) time, the California paper acts as an uncritical stenographer of Litigation Lobby claims — then waits until paragraph 13 to advise readers that NHTSA, not exactly the friendliest witness these days, backs the automaker’s position on the question of the “black box” data. More: AP.

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