That whole “sober, sensible Switzerland” concept may need to be rethought. (Gautam Naik, “Switzerland’s Green Power Revolution: Ethicists Ponder Plants’ Rights”, Wall Street Journal, Oct. 10).

• “Dog owners in Switzerland will have to pass a test to prove they can control and care for their animal, or risk losing it, the Swiss government said yesterday.” [Daily Telegraph]
• 72-year-old mom visits daughter’s Southport, Ct. home, falls down stairs searching for bathroom at night, sues daughter for lack of night light, law firm boasts of her $2.475 million win on its website [Casper & deToledo, scroll to "Jeremy C. Virgil"]
• Can’t possibly be right: “Every American enjoys a constitutional right to sue any other American in a West Virginia court” [W.V. Record]
• Video contest for best spoof personal injury attorney ads [Sick of Lawsuits; YouTube]
• Good profile of Kathleen Seidel, courageous blogger nemesis of autism/vaccine litigation [Concord Monitor*, Orac]. Plus: all three White House hopefuls now pander to anti-vaxers, Dems having matched McCain [Orac]
• One dollar for every defamed Chinese person amounts to a mighty big lawsuit demand against CNN anchor Jack Cafferty [NYDN link now dead; Independent (U.K.)]
• Hapless Ben Stein whipped up one side of the street [Salmon on financial regulation] and down the other [Derbyshire on creationism]
• If only Weimar Germany had Canada-style hate-speech laws to prevent the rise of — wait, you mean they did? [Steyn/Maclean's] Plus: unlawful in Alberta to expose a person to contempt based on his “source of income” [Levant quoting sec. 3 (1)(b) of Human Rights Law]
• Hey, these coupon settlements are giving all of us class action lawyers a bad name [Leviant/The Complex Litigator]
• Because patent law is bad enough all by itself? D.C. Circuit tosses out FTC’s antitrust ruling against Rambus [GrokLaw; earlier]
• “The fell attorney prowls for prey” — who wrote that line, and about which city? [four years ago on Overlawyered]

*Okay, one flaw in the profile: If Prof. Irving Gottesman compares Seidel to Erin Brockovich he probably doesn’t know much about Brockovich.

“The builders of the world’s biggest particle collider are being sued in federal court over fears that the experiment might create globe-gobbling black holes or never-before-seen strains of matter that would destroy the planet. … The Large Hadron Collider, or LHC, is due for startup later this year at CERN’s headquarters on the French-Swiss border.” Among the concerns of critics who are suing in federal court in Hawaii: “Could quarks recombine into ’strangelets’ that would turn the whole Earth into one big lump of exotic matter?” (Alan Boyle, CosmicLog, MSNBC, Mar. 27; Dennis Overbye, “Asking a Judge to Save the World, and Maybe a Whole Lot More”, New York Times, Mar. 29).

More: Sundries Shack (”For goodness sake, one of the plaintiffs calls himself an ‘author and researcher on time travel’”); Adler @ Volokh. The liberal site Lawyers, Guns & Money, perhaps serving in this instance as a Strange Attractor, attracts a commenter who seems to agree with the lawsuit-filers that it’s better to be safe than sorry — the Precautionary Principle lives! And from our comments, links to the complaint, Ted on jurisdiction, and thoughts on the effectiveness of litigation in obtaining free publicity.

I’m quoted on the Melvyn Weiss guilty plea, and on the way certain crooks have successfully been passing themselves off as white knights in press coverage of shareholder and consumer litigation. (Jonathan D. Glater, “High-Profile Trial Lawyer Agrees to Guilty Plea”, New York Times, Mar. 21). For more on Weiss’s plea, see yesterday’s post.

More Weiss reactions include a NY Sun editorial:

Mr. Weiss and his partners made their careers, and their fortunes, casting those they were suing — insurance and tobacco executives, Swiss bankers — as crooks. Some of them may have been, though many were not. Now these lawyers are admitting to the court that they are crooks, too. … Congress has already acted to reform the class-action system from the “first-to-file” system that engendered the Milberg Weiss abuses. But until Congress and the state legislatures act further to reform the civil litigation system, the costs of Weiss’s career will be borne by all of us.

Interviewed by the L.A. Times, Columbia lawprof Jack Coffee (who’s done a lot of work for Milberg, right?) thinks Mel Weiss got a “uniquely good deal” in the plea. Similarly: Greenfield.

• Following public outrage, Spanish businessman drops plans to sue parents of boy he killed in road crash [UK Independent; earlier]
• Scruggs to take Fifth in State Farm case against Hood [Clarion-Ledger] And how much “home cooking” was the Mississippi titan dished out in the Medicaid-tobacco case that made his fortune? [Folo]
• More critics assail ABC “Eli Stone” vaccine-autism fiction, with American Academy of Pediatrics calling for episode’s cancellation [AAP press release; Stier, NY Post; earlier]
• Special ethics counsel recommends disbarment of Edward Fagan, lawyer of Swiss-bank-suit fame whose ethical missteps have been chronicled on this site over the years [Star-Ledger]. As recently as fourteen months ago the L.A. Times was still according Fagan good publicity;
• In past bail-bond scandals, private bond agencies have been caught colluding “with lawyers, the police, jail officials and even judges to make sure that bail is high and that attractive clients are funneled to them.” [Liptak, NYT]
• Archbishop of Canterbury calls for new laws to punish “thoughtless or cruel” comments on religion [Times Online, Volokh]
• Another disturbing case from Massachusetts of a citizen getting charged with privacy violation for recording police activity [also Volokh]
• Abuse of open-records law? Convicted arsonist files numerous requests for pictures and personal information of public employees who sent him to prison; they charge intimidation [AP/Seattle Post-Intelligencer]
• It resembles a news program on Connecticut public-access cable, but look more closely: it’s law firm marketing [Ambrogi]
• Judge says Alfred Rava’s suit can proceed charging sex bias over Oakland A’s stadium distribution of Mother’s Day hats [Metropolitan News-Enterprise; earlier on Angels in Anaheim]
• Crack down on docs with multiple med-mal payouts? Well, there go lots of your neurosurgeons [three years ago on Overlawyered]

Professor Burt Neuborne finally received the $3.1 million he requested for achieving a $1.25 billion tax-free settlement of claims brought by Holocaust survivors against Swiss banks. The controversy isn’t over, however; Neuborne has made a standard request for interest (another $300,000), and there is much wailing and gnashing of teeth. [Law Blog; NY Sun; earlier on Overlawyered]

Professor Neuborne’s fee request is based on the hours actually spent on seven years of complex international litigation (29 formal proceedings and 16 successful Second Circuit appeals), and amounts to less than 1% of the amount recovered. There is no evidence that Professor Neuborne inflated his hours. If all contingent-fee requests were as reasonable as Professor Neuborne’s, reformers would have a lot less to complain about.

Ted is on vacation in Europe, and sends the following:

So Slim and I went paragliding in Interlaken, Switzerland, today. As the van takes a group of five customers up to the top of the hill, the leader explains that we’ll each get to pick our tandem pilot.

I consulted my inner economist. “I want the one with the gray hair,” I said.

The pilot, Robi, gave me a form. “Regulations. Just like any air flight, we need to have the name and destination recorded. The liability is just like Continental Airlines,” handing me a ticket to sign. I read the back, expressly disclaiming that Air Transport laws applied, and stating maximum liability would be 72,500 francs. And since it’s Switzerland, the law of contract is probably respected, so that’s a real waiver. Fair enough — if I do not fly, so much as plummet, my ability to recover in civil court is perhaps the last thing on my mind. My pilot has plenty of economic incentive to land safely such that civil liability does not add much at the margin. And Coase teaches us that the limited liability permits the price to be as low as it is. I accept the benefit of the bargain, and assume good faith that the professional paraglider is just unfamiliar with the nature of the forms rather than trying to snow me.

The fact that I’m writing suggested that I survived. But I’m pretty confident that one is not supposed to bounce on the side of the hill during takeoff. (Slim, whose launch was after mine, reports that one of the other pilots crossed himself at the time.) And, hey, fun.

In Europe; sports; Switzerland

Because you were clamoring for one:

• Police warn householders of three convicted burglars but say they cannot describe them for fear of violating their human rights [Telegraph]


• Eight year old Connor McCreaddie is very fat indeed, so North Tyneside officials are considering taking him from his mum into protective custody [Gillespie, Reason "Hit and Run"]


• Sounds promising but haven’t seen: author Simon Carr has published compendium of legal horror stories entitled “Sour Gripes” [Telegraph]


• As in the U.S., prospect of discrimination suits has deterred efforts to keep unhealthily thin fashion models off the catwalk [Guardian]


• Ban on fox hunting not only is widely evaded but in fact has led to renaissance of the sport [Telegraph]


• “An incompetent expert [witness] can cause more misery than a psychotic gang member.” [Slapper/Times]


• Vacationing cop busted for Swiss Army knife [Daily Mail]


• In hospitals, perhaps a surfeit of privacy [Huddersfield Daily Examiner via KevinMD] and sensitivity [Daily Mail via ditto]


• Man obsessed by sex after motorcycling injury expected to get multi-million-pound award [Telegraph]


• Children’s sack race scrapped for lack of liability insurance [Telegraph]; industrialist says inordinate playground risk-aversion is bad omen for economy [ditto]


• Convicted armed robber “given legal aid to sue over a telephone message that reveals that his phone calls come from prison” [Telegraph]


• Familiar ring? Controversy mounting over “ambulance chasing”, allegations of sharp practices as no-fee-no-win injury work makes fortunes for some well placed solicitors [Times here, here, here, here]

The New York Times editorializes on Burt Neuborne’s requested fees in the Swiss bank Holocaust litigation (”Billing Holocaust Victims”, Jun. 29). More: Neuborne responds (Jul. 6).

Was high-profile civil rights lawyer and NYU lawprof Burt Neuborne working pro bono in the Swiss banks reparations case? Well, yes and no, it now seems. (William K. Rashbaum, “Lawyer’s $4.1 Million Fee Angers Holocaust Survivors”, New York Times, Feb. 25; Lattman, Feb. 27). Later updates: Jun. 30, Jul. 6, Oct. 6, 2006; Mar. 18, 2007.

A couple of ambitious lawyers have managed to sue the Vatican itself in pursuit of the Catholic Church’s priest-abuse scandals, but it isn’t easy:

…even if a process server could get past the Swiss guards, handing the pope a copy of a lawsuit doesn’t count as service.

Because the Vatican is a foreign country, all documents must be translated into its official language.

In this case, that means Latin. And there’s still the major obstacle to get around of the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act, which bars most suits against foreign governments. (Ashbel S. Green, “Suit reaches new heights: the Vatican”, The Oregonian, Dec. 11). See PoL Mar. 10. More on church scandals: this site Sept. 16, 2003, Jul. 11, 2004; Point of Law Aug. 10, Sept. 29, 2004; Aug. 28, Aug. 31, Sept. 1, 2005.

Kate Coscarelli of the Newark Star-Ledger is covering them:

The brash-talking attorney was the focus of two days of disciplinary hearings that will ultimately decide whether he should be disbarred for mishandling client funds. The sometimes-contentious hearings were held …in a third-floor room at state Superior Court in Hackensack before retired Judge Arthur Minuskin, who is the special ethics master in the case.

The state Office of Attorney Ethics has charged Fagan with mishandling almost $400,000 in client funds, including money from two Holocaust survivors: Estelle Sapir, who got a large settlement from the Swiss banks, and Gizella Weisshaus, a Brooklyn woman who was the first survivor to sue the banks.

(”Holocaust lawyer fights his own court battle”, Nov. 17). More on attorney Edward Fagan: Aug. 27, Jun. 4 and many more.

Ducking a heated controversy, the European Parliament has declined to rule on “whether workers such as bare-chested builders should be required by their employers to cover up to avoid excessive sun.” The issue will now be left up to national legislatures. “MEPs found themselves under siege from angry business groups and German building workers, who staged a shirtless protest.” (David Rennie, “MEPs run for cover in ‘tan ban’ dilemma”, Daily Telegraph, Sept. 8). “Socialists and Greens argued EU legislation was vital to cut skin cancer rates among outdoor workers, but the right denounced it as an example of the nanny state running amok and over-burdening business.” (Aine Gallagher, “Builders and barmaids avoid EU tan ban”, Reuters/Swissinfo.com, Sept. 7). More: Jim Leitzel at Vice Squad has the dirndl angle (Sept. 11).

From London, an unsettling tale of zealous policing (Nicky Samengo-Turner, “The policeman found my penknife. ‘You’re going down, mate,’ he said”, Daily Telegraph, Nov. 28; “New Labour’s police state”, The Spectator, Nov. 27).

“A former Canadian sailor will not be allowed to sue Swissair for the trauma he suffered following the crash of Flight 111 in 1998, a Nova Scotia Supreme Court judge ruled today. Lorne Joudrey, 40, had argued that the airline should compensate him for the psychological damage that resulted from his role in the recovery operation in the days after the jet plunged into the ocean near Peggy’s Cove, N.S., killing all 229 people aboard.” (”Ex-sailor can’t sue Swissair over trauma”, Canadian Press/Toronto Star, Jul. 7). For a similar ruling from a federal judge in New Mexico, see Apr. 1.

Swiss confectioner Lindt has filed for an injunction against the Austrian company Hauswirth, claiming that chocolate bunnies in gold foil are a Lindt trademark. Hauswirth says it has been producing such bunnies in Austria since 1962, and that Lindt previously lost a similar lawsuit against German rival Riegelein. (AFP, Apr. 8).

Madison County, Ill., 2003: “To tame Madison County, pass the Class Action Fairness Act“, Jun. 12-15; “The intimidation tactics of Madison County“, Jun. 9; “‘Lawyers who won $10 bil. verdict had donated to judge’“, Apr. 30; “A bond too far“, Apr. 4-6; “Appeals bonds, again“, Apr. 2-3; “Mad County pays out again” (”light” cigarette class action), Mar. 24. 2002: “Malpractice-crisis latest: let ‘em become CPAs“, Oct. 7-8; “Intel sued in notorious county“, Aug. 30-Sept. 2. 2000: “Update: Publishers’ Clearing House case“, Feb. 29. 1999:  “Criticizing lawyers proves hazardous” (columnist Bill McClellan makes fun of class-action attorneys, they sue him for libel), Nov. 4 (& Nov. 30; Feb. 29, 2000)

Securities class actions, 2003: “Prospering despite reform“, May 5; “‘Lawyers find gold mine in Phila. pension cases’“, Mar. 21-23; “NYC challenges class action fees; taxpayers save $200 million“, Feb. 28-Mar. 2 (& Jun. 20, 2000). 2002: “Updates” (Ninth Circuit ruling), Oct. 1-2; “Second Circuit: we mean business about stopping frivolous securities suits“, Aug. 29-Sept. 2; “Financial scandals: legislate in haste“, Jul. 12-14; “‘How to stuff a wild Enron’“, Apr. 22; “Judge compares class action lawyers to ’squeegee boys’“, Apr. 18.  2001: “Short-sellers had right to a drop in stock price“, Nov. 12; “Third Circuit cuts class action fees” (Cendant, CBS/ Westinghouse), Sept. 25-26 (& on Cendant, June 20, Sept. 4, 2000); “Dotcom wreckage: sue ‘em all“, Aug. 7-8; “‘2d Circuit Upholds Sanctions Against Firms for Frivolous Securities Claims’” (Schoengold & Sporn), July 23; “Razorfish, Cisco, IPO suits“, May 22; “Securities law: time for loser-pays“, Mar. 2-4; “3Com prevails in shareholder suit“, Feb. 21-22; “$1,000/hour for shareholder class lawyers” (Aetna case), Feb. 14-15; “What they did for lead-plaintiff status?“, Jan. 18 (& see Feb. 21-22). 2000: “Did securities-law reform fail?“, Nov. 10-12; “Emulex fraud: gotta find a defendant“, Sept. 4; “Fortune on Lerach“, Aug. 16-17; “Lion’s share” (commodity brokerage case), May 5-7; “Fee shrinkage“, May 3; “Celera stockholders vent at Milberg Weiss“, Apr. 25-26.  1999: “Piggyback suit not entitled to piggybank contents” (Second Circuit rejects fees in Texaco action), Oct. 9-10; “Effects of shareholder-suit reform“, Sept. 22.

Fee review, 2003: “Vitamin class action: some questions for the lawyers“, May 28; “Sauce for the gander dept.“, May 19; “NYC challenges class action fees; taxpayers save $200 million“, Feb. 28-Mar. 2 (& Jun. 20, 2000). 2002: “FTC cracks down on excessive legal fees“, Oct. 1-2; “Smog fee case: ‘unreal world of greed’“, Jul. 24.  2001: “Court’s chutzpah-award nominee” (Wells Fargo), Oct. 17-18; “Third Circuit cuts class action fees” (Cendant, CBS/ Westinghouse), Sept. 25-26 (& on Cendant, June 20, Sept. 4, 2000); “Coupon settlement?  Pay the lawyers in coupons“, Mar. 16-18.  2000: “Fee shrinkage“, May 3; “‘Accord tossed: Class members ‘got nothing’” (Equifax, 7th Circuit), Jan. 6. 1999: “Class action fee control: it’s not just a good idea, it’s the law” (Ninth Circuit on “separately negotiated” fees), Nov. 30; “Piggyback suit not entitled to piggybank contents” (2nd Circuit, Texaco), Oct. 9-10. 

Milberg Weiss Bershad Hynes & Lerach, 2003: “Prospering despite reform“, May 5; “Milberg copyrights its complaints“, Jan. 3-6.  2002: “Updates” (Ninth Circuit ruling), Oct. 1-2; “Smog fee case: ‘unreal world of greed’“, Jul. 24 (& Dec. 5, 2000, Jun. 22-24, 2001); “Judge compares class action lawyers to ’squeegee boys’“, Apr. 18; “Milberg faces second probe” (Phila. politics), Feb. 27-28; “‘Probe of Milberg Weiss has bar buzzing’“, Jan. 28-29; “‘In a class of his own’” (Melvyn Weiss profiled in The Economist), Jan. 21-22.  2001: “NFL satellite ticket class action“, June 5 (& update Aug. 20-21: court disallows settlement); “Update: cookie lawsuit crumbles“, May 9; “‘Lawyers to Get $4.7 Million in Suit Against Iomega’” (zip drive defect allegations), May 8; “California electricity linkfest” (representing San Francisco), March 26; “(Another) ‘Monster Fee Award for Tobacco Fighters’” (Calif. cities and counties), March 21-22; “3Com prevails in shareholder suit“, Feb. 21-22; “$1,000/hour for shareholder class lawyers” (Aetna case), Feb. 14-15; “What they did for lead-plaintiff status?“, Jan. 18 (& see Feb. 21-22).  2000: “Fortune on Lerach“, Aug. 16-17; “Fee shrinkage“, May 3; “Celera stockholders vent at Milberg Weiss“, Apr. 25-26; “Class-actioneers’ woes“, Mar. 1; “Pokemon litigation roundup“, Jan. 10 (& Oct. 1-3, Oct. 13, 1999). 

Toshiba laptop settlement: see separate page on high-tech law. 

Microsoft class actions: “Microsoft case and AG contributions“, Apr. 3-4, 2002; “Columnist-fest” (proposed settlement), Nov. 27, 2001; “Hiring talent from the opposing camp“, Feb. 28, 2000; “In race to sue Microsoft, some trip“, Dec. 23-26; “Microsoft roundup“, Dec. 3-5; “‘Actions without class’“, Dec. 2; “Class actions vs. high-tech“, Nov. 23; “Vice President gets an earful“, Nov. 22; “Microsoft roundup“, Nov. 17; “Fins circle in water“, Nov. 13-14; “Microsoft roundup“, Nov. 11; “Microsoft ruling: guest editorials“, Nov. 8; “Why doesn’t Windows cost more?“, Oct. 27; “Are you sure you want to delete ‘Microsoft’?“, Oct. 11. 

Employment class actions: see separate page on employment law.

Overlawyered.com commentaries: “Texas’s giant legal reform“, Jun. 18-19, 2003. “To tame Madison County, pass the Class Action Fairness Act“, Jun. 12-15, 2003; “‘Reforming class action suits’” (Class Action Fairness Act), Apr. 25-27, 2003. “Judge kicks class-action lawyers off case” (H&R Block), May 15, 2003. “Class action lawyer takes $20 million from defendant’s side“, Mar. 15-16, 2003. “FBI probes Philadelphia’s hiring of class action firm“, Jan. 31-Feb. 2, 2003. “Ninth Circuit panel sniffs collusion in bias settlement fees“, Dec. 16-17, 2002. Auctions: “Third Circuit cuts class action fees“, Sept. 25-26, 2001; “Letter to the editor” (competitive bidding for class representation), Jun. 13, 2001 (& Oct. 1-2, 2002).  “7,000 missing colors, many of them crisply green“, Aug. 29, 2002.  “‘Junk-fax’ suit demands $2 trillion“, Aug. 26, 2002; “Junk-fax litigation: blood in the water“, July 24, 2001; “Junk-fax bonanza“, March 27, 2001; “Junk fax litigation, continued“, March 3-5, 2000; “In Houston, expensive menus” (unsolicited faxes), Oct. 22, 1999.  “Penthouse sued on behalf of disappointed Kournikova-oglers“, Jun. 3-4, 2002.  “The mystery of the transgenic corn“, May 14-15, 2002.  “Editorial-fest“, Mar. 11, 2002; “Washington Post on class action reform” (good editorial), Aug. 29-30, 2001; “Actions without class” (Washington Post editorial), Dec. 2, 1999.  “The thrill of it all: plaintiffs win 28 cent coupon“, Feb. 27-28, 2002.  “‘Toyota buyers’ suit yields cash — for lawyers’“, Feb. 18-19, 2002; “Golf ball class action” (Acushnet Co.), Nov. 18-19, 1999; “Class action coupon clippers” (Washington Post on settlement abuses), Nov. 15, 1999.  “‘Congress looks to change class action system’“, Feb. 11-12, 2002; “‘They’re making a federal case out of it … in state court’“, Nov. 7-8, 2001.  “Selling out the class?” (allegations of collusive settlement in H&R Block case), April 5, 2001 (& see Dec. 3).  “Swiss banks vindicated“, Nov. 1, 2001.  Letter to the editor (lawyers’ own incremental billing disclosed?), Oct. 22, 2001 (& see Dec. 3).  “Counterterrorism bill footnote” (forum shopping), Oct. 16, 2001; “Best little forum-shopping in Texas” (class actions make their way to Texarkana), August 27, 1999.  “Employment class actions: EEOC to the rescue“, Sept. 10, 2001.  “220 percent rate of farmer participation” (USDA black farmer settlement), July 25, 2001. “The rest of Justice O’Connor’s speech“, July 6-8, 2001.  “Blockbuster Video class action“, June 11, 2001 (& see July 3-4 (Vince Carroll column)).  “Letter to the editor” (First USA credit cards), June 13, 2001; “Bank error in your favor” (credit card holders), Sept. 27-28, 2000; & letter to the editor, Sept. 3, 2001.  “Ghost blurber case“, June 12, 2001.  “NFL satellite ticket class action“, June 5, 2001 (& update Aug. 20-21: court disallows settlement).  “Insurance class settlement scuttled“, Feb. 26, 2001.  “Florida lawyers’ day jobs, cont’d” (hotbed of class action filing), Dec. 11-12, 2000; “Florida’s legal talent, before the Chad War” (Florida Marlins ticketholders), Dec. 8-10, 2000.  “Obese soldiers class action“, Nov. 10-12, 2000.  “Sweepstakes, for sure” (American Family Publishers), Oct. 20-22, 2000; “Update: Publishers’ Clearing House case“, Feb. 29, 2000.  “Courtroom crusade on drug prices?“, Oct. 19, 2000.  “Class actions: are we all litigants yet?“, Aug. 23-24, 2000.  Coke: “Class-action lawyers to Coke clients: you’re fired“, July 21-23, 2000; “‘Coke plaintiff eavesdrops on lawyers; case unravels’” (what do lawyers tell each other after they think their clients have hung up on the conference call?), July 19-20; “‘Ad deal links Coke, lawyer in suit’” (Willie Gary, suing Coke, cuts lucrative ad deal with it), May 11, 2000. “Target Detroit” (lawyers countersue DaimlerChrysler and exec personally), July 19-20, 2000; “Turning the tables” (DaimlerChrysler sues class action lawyers), Nov. 12, 1999.  “Class-action assault on eBay“, July 13, 2000.  “AOL ‘pop-up’ class action” (ads said to be unfair), June 27, 2000.  “Rise, fall, and rise of class actions” (enormous increase in filing rates in past decade), Mar. 10-12, 2000.  “Criticizing lawyers proves hazardous” (columnist Bill McClellan makes fun of class-action attorneys, they sue him for libel), Nov. 4, 1999 (update Nov. 30: he criticizes them again, though suit is still pending); “Update: Publishers’ Clearing House case” (judge approves settlement including legal fee request; agreement reached to end libel suit), Feb. 29, 2000.  “Secrets of class action defense“, Feb. 25, 2000; “Mobile Register probes class action biz” (BancBoston and other mortgage escrow cases), Feb. 7, 2000.  “AOL upgrade’s sharp elbows“, Feb. 12-13, 2000.  “Weekend reading: columnist-fest” (Laura Pulfer on suit against Ralph Lauren outlet stores; Alex Cockburn on Swiss banks), Feb. 5-6, 2000.  “From our mail sack: unclear on the concept“, Jan. 28, 2000.  “Santa came late” (suit against Toys-R-Us for missing Christmas delivery), Jan. 19, 2000.  “Pokemon litigation roundup“, Jan. 10, 2000;  “Pokemon cards update“, Oct. 13, 1999; “Pokemon-card class actions“, Oct. 1-3, 1999 “Expert witnesses and their ghostwriters” (life insurance class actions), Jan. 4, 2000.  “Lawyers for famine and wilderness-busting?” (anti-biotech), Jan. 3, 1999.  “Class action toy story” (antitrust), Dec. 29-30, 1999.  “‘In race to sue Microsoft, some trip’” (lawyers inadvertently copy details of pleadings in earlier cases), Dec. 23-26, 1999.  “Rolling the dice, cont’d” (suits over online gambling), Dec. 7, 1999 (earlier report, Aug. 26).  “Beware of market crashes” (class action sought against E*Trade for alleged computer-related trading losses), Nov. 26-28, 1999.  “Are they kidding, or not-kidding?” (proposals for suits against makers of fattening foods, losing sports teams), Nov. 15, 1999.  “Public by 2-1 margin disapproves of tobacco suits” (if class actions are filed on behalf of the public, why don’t they reflect public opinion?), Nov. 5-7, 1999.  “Demolition derby for consumer budgets” (class action against State Farm over generic crash parts), Oct. 8, 1999.  “Power attracts power” (Boies joins anti-HMO effort), Sept. 30, 1999; “Impending assault on HMOs“, Sept. 30.  “$49 million lawyers’ fee okayed in case where clients got nothing” (secondhand smoke action), Sept. 28, 1999; “Personal responsibility takes a vacation in Miami” (tobacco class-action verdict), Jul. 8, 1999. “Judge throws out four WWII reparations lawsuits“, Sept. 20, 1999.  “Tainted cycle” (Milwaukee taxpayers sue themselves), Sept. 2, 1999.  “Three insurers sued for $100 million” (how the press covers class action announcements), Aug. 20, 1999. Resources on class actions are found at many different places on Overlawyered.com.  For example, most of the massive lawsuits filed against individual industries over personal injury to classes of consumers are covered on pages specific to the subject matter of the cases, such as the pages on firearms litigation, tobacco litigation, managed-care litigation, breast implant litigation, product liability, and so forth.  This page assembles resources on class actions as a procedural device and as an institution.  Among topics covered are the unique role in this area of an “entrepreneurial” plaintiff’s bar that decides on its own behalf who and how to sue and lines up clients as needed; the history of the device and the reasons why it is either sharply limited or virtually unknown in the courts of other industrial democracies; the distinctive ethical problems that arise because of the extreme difficulty of policing lawyers’ faithfulness to the interests of the absent class; and the operations of the class action “industry” in the areas in which it has been a familiar part of the American legal landscape for decades, namely shareholder litigation and class actions over consumer and antitrust grievances aggregating large numbers of (usually smallish) claims.  Background — procedural history, ethical issues: Overlawyered.com’s editor wrote about class actions (as well as “champerty and maintenance”, the “invisible-fist theory”, and other topics) in Chapter 3 of his book The Litigation Explosion; an excerpt is online.  Chapter 5 (”The New Town Meeting”) of Peter Huber’s book Liability: The Legal Revolution and Its Consequences contains a valuable discussion of the class action format, particularly as it applies to the so-called toxic tort; it is unfortunately not online.  Lawrence Schonbrun, a Northern California attorney who has developed a specialty in filing challenges to excessive class action attorneys’ fee requests, wrote a prescient article in 1996 on “coupon deals”, “separately negotiated” fees from defendants, and other innovative ways the class action bar was finding to escape scrutiny of its remuneration.  (”Class Actions: The New Ethical Frontier“)  Shareholder litigation: A starting point for research on this topic is Stanford Law School’s comprehensive Securities Class Action Clearinghouse.  See also the commentaries on this site.  In Felzen v. Andreas (1998), Judge Frank Easterbrook of the Seventh Circuit wrote that “Many thoughtful students of the subject conclude, with empirical support, that derivative actions do little to promote sound management and often hurt the firm by diverting the managers’ time from running the business while diverting the firm’s resources to the plaintiffs’ lawyers without providing a corresponding benefit.”  He cited a long list of scholarly articles including Janet Cooper Alexander, Do the Merits Matter? A Study of Settlements in Securities Class Actions, 43 Stanford L. Rev. 497 (1991), which found that the “structural characteristics common to securities class actions . . . combine to produce outcomes that are not a function of the substantive merits of the case.” and Roberta Romano, The Shareholder Suit: Litigation without Foundation?, 7 J. L. Econ. & Organization 55 (1991), which examined 39 shareholder suits filed between the late 1960s and 1987 and concluded that “shareholder litigation is a weak, if not ineffective, instrument of corporate governance.”  In 1995 Congress passed the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act, which aimed to rectify some of the worst abuses in the field.  This client memo from Fried, Frank describes the wider powers institutional investors obtained under the act to influence litigation going on purportedly in the name of investors such as themselves.  In Polar International Brokerage v. Reeve, a New York federal judge rejected a proposed class action settlement and request for $200,000 in attorneys’ fees, saying it offered shareholders “nothing of real value”.  (Deborah Pines, National Law Journal, May 24, 1999).  Although the securities bar frequently alleges that well-known companies in Silicon Valley and elsewhere are run by crooked managements that fleece their shareholders, they ironically turn out to keep a lot of their (very substantial) stock holdings invested in the very same companies. (Paul Elias, San Francisco Recorder, June 8, 1999).  Among the reasons is that in many cases they have accepted stock as payment for dropping earlier legal actions.  Other class action resources: The Federalist Society publishes a Class Action Watch newsletter.  The first issue is in conventional web-page format. The second issue is a PDF document (Adobe Acrobat needed to view; get it here).  Among the better-known law firms representing class action plaintiffs are Milberg Weiss Bershad Hynes & Lerach LLP, Lieff, Cabraser, Heimann & Bernstein LLP, Cohen Milstein, Hausfeld & Toll, Krause & Kalfayan, and Barrack, Rodos & Bacine.  Actuary Jack Patterson has written an account for a plaintiff’s lawyer readership of class actions against life insurance companies, one of the big practice areas of the 1990s.  The class action bar also files many antitrust suits on behalf of large groups of consumers or business purchasers.  The Antitrust Policy web site collects many worthwhile resources on antitrust law. In antitrust; Bill Lerach; Bill McClellan; champerty; Chrysler; class actions; copyright; Detroit; forum shopping; Houston; libel slander and defamation; Madison County; Melvyn Weiss; Milberg Weiss; Philadelphia; reparations; State Farm; Switzerland; The Litigation Explosion; tobacco; Toyota; Willie Gary Comments Off June 14th, 2003 at 12:15 pm Archived Canadian items, pre-July 2003 » by Walter Olson “‘Father files suit after son fails to make MVP award’” (hockey, New Brunswick), Nov. 8-10, 2002. “‘Sorry, Slimbo, you’re in my seats’“, June 7, 2001 (& updates Dec. 15-16, 2001, Oct. 25-27, 2002); “Obese fliers“, Dec. 20, 2000; “Welcome Toronto Star readers” (Jason Brooks column, disabled rights), Sept. 27-28, 2000.  Personal responsibility, 2002: “Skating first, instructions later” (Edmonton), Sept. 25-26; “‘Woman freezes; sues city, cabbie’” (Winnipeg), Sept. 18-19; Personal responsibility roundup” (social host alcohol liability), Sept. 12; “Paroled prisoner: pay for not supervising me“, Jan. 4-6.  2001: “Don’t rock the Coke machine“, July 20-22; “‘Gambling addiction’ class action” (Loto-Quebec), June 20 (& update May 20-21, 2002; “‘Woman who drove drunk gets $300,000′” (Barrie, Ont.), Feb. 7-8; “By reader acclaim” (sues alleged crack dealers over own addiction), Jan. 11.  2000: “Not my fault, I” (woman who murdered daughter sues psychiatrists), May 17; “Blue-ribbon excuse syndromes” (Metis Indian defendant allowed to cite cultural oppression as defense to stabbing charge), Feb. 12-13.  “Cash demanded for drug users and panhandlers inconvenienced by film crews” (Vancouver), Aug. 23-25, 2002.  “Activist judges north of the border“, May 31-Jun. 2, 2002 (& letter to the editor, Jun. 14).  “Flowers, perfume in airline cabins not OK?“, May 17-19, 2002; “Scented hair gel, deodorant could mean jail time for Canadian youth“, Apr. 24, 2000.  “‘Unharmed woman awarded $104,000′” (Manitoba chemical exposure), May 6, 2002.  “‘Targeting “big food”‘” (Lemieux, National Post), Apr. 29-30, 2002.  “Pharmaceutical roundup” (silicone implants popular), Apr. 16-17, 2002.  “Web speech roundup” (flag logo on website), Mar. 25-26, 2002.  “Tribulations of the light prison sleeper“, Mar. 25-26, 2002; “Prison litigation: ‘Kittens and Rainbows Suites’” (cellmate’s smoking violates rights), Jan. 11-13; “Paroled prisoner: pay for not supervising me“, Jan. 4-6, 2002.  “Couldn’t order 7-Up in French” (suing Air Canada for $525,000), Mar. 18, 2002; “Gotta regulate ‘em all” (Quebec official upset that Pok?n cards not in French), Dec. 16, 1999.  “Stop, they said” (Manitoba: stop sign too vague?), Feb. 4-5, 2002.  “Planners tie up land for twenty years” (plus B.C. land use story), Jan. 18-20, 2002.  Family law, 2002: “‘Avoiding court is best defence’” (Dave Brown), Jan. 14-15.  2001: “‘Crying wolf’” (Christie Blatchford on sexual abuse charges), Oct. 30; “Why she’s quitting law practice” (Karen Selick), Aug. 13-14; “Canadian court: divorce settlements never final“, May 15; “‘Victim is sued for support’“, Feb. 9-11; “Solomon’s child” (Donna LaFramboise), Jan. 26-28.  2000: “Pilloried, broke, alone” (LaFramboise on “deadbeat dads”), April 10.  1999: “Down repressed-memory lane: distracted when she signed” (Ont. judge voids separation agreement), Dec. 29-30.  “Front-row spectator sues ‘reckless’ exotic dancer” (B.C.), Jan. 7-8, 2002; “Embarrassing Lawsuit Hall of Fame” (injured by exotic dancer in Ottawa), Aug. 14, 2000; “‘Toronto Torch’ age-bias suit” (stripper in Brantford), May 23, 2000.  “Overlawyered schools roundup” (challenge to Ontario standards), Dec. 7-9, 2001.  “Columnist-fest” (asylum policies), Nov. 27, 2001; “Opponents of profiling, still in the driver’s seat” (Air Canada), Nov. 2-4; “Security holes: to the North…” (anti-terrorism security), Sept. 14-16, 2001.  “‘Hate speech’ law invoked against anti-American diatribe“, Oct. 17-18, 2001; “Most unsettling thing we’ve heard about Canada in a while” (hate speech laws), Dec. 17-19, 1999.  “‘Hama to sue bridge owners over her daughter’s fall’” (Capilano Suspension Bridge, Vancouver), Oct. 8, 2001.  “Fear of losing welfare benefits deemed coercive” (N.S.), Oct. 3-4, 2001.  Zero tolerance, etc.: “John Leo on Overlawyered.com” (Halifax: snowball-like gestures banned), Aug. 15, 2001; “Fateful fiction” (Cornwall, Ont.), Jan. 30, 2001; “Hug protest in Halifax” (school’s no-physical-contact policy), March 2, 2000; “Zero tolerance roundup” (Windsor: 11-year-old’s fictional school essay), Dec. 27-28, 1999.  “Why she’s quitting law practice” (Karen Selick), Aug. 13-14, 2001.  “Welcome Bourque.org readers“, June 26, 2001.  “‘Dead teen’s family sues Take Our Kids To Work’“, May 31, 2001.  “Holiday special” (misconduct by N.B. lawyer), May 28, 2001.  “‘Insect lawyer ad creates buzz’” (Torys, Toronto), May 23, 2001; “‘Not-a-Lawyer’” (Vancouverite’s business card), Feb. 10-11, 2000.  “Columnist-fest” (Mark Steyn on Indian residential schools), May 1, 2001; “Bankrupting Canadian churches?“, Aug. 23-24, 2000.  “Canada’s secret legal aid“, April 10, 2001.  “Putting the ’special’ in special sauce” (alleged rat in Big Mac”, March 29, 2001.  “Saves her friend’s life, then sues her“, Jan. 3, 2001.  “Canada reins in expert witnesses“, Nov. 22-23, 2000.  “Malpractice outlays on rise in Canada“, Oct. 2, 2000.  “‘Mother sues over lack of ice time for goalie son’” (Quebec), Sept. 11, 2000.  “‘Mugging victim “stupid”, judge says’” (Winnipeg case), Aug. 2, 2000.  “‘Skydivers don’t sue’“, May 26, 2000 (update July 6: Canadian diver prevails in suit against teammate).  “Cash for trash, and worse” (”Vancouver solution” for Microsoft?), June 26, 2000.  “Welcome Montreal Gazette readers” (columnist Doug Camilli cites this website), June 7, 2000; “Trop d’avocats.com” (we are recommended by the Gazette), Oct. 18, 1999.  “‘More lawyers than we really need?’” (aftermath of Walkerton, Ont. E. Coli outbreak: columnist cites this website), June 2-4, 2000.  “Less suing = less suffering” (Sasketchewan no-fault auto study), April 24, 2000 (& update June 26).  “Swissair crash aftermath” (Peggy’s Cove disaster in U.S. courts), March 14, 2000; “Montreal Gazette ‘Lawsuit of the Year’” (bagpipers sue Swissair for lost income), Jan. 17, 2000.  “‘Girl puts head under guillotine; sues when hurt’“, March 8, 2000.  “Ontario judge okays hockey-fan lawsuit“, Jan. 12, 2000; “Spreading to Canada?” (hockey fan sues Alexei Yashin), Oct. 20, 1999.  “Update: toilet of terror” (Canadian tourist visits Starbucks in NYC, sues), Dec. 8, 1999; “Starbucks toilet lawsuit“, Dec. 1, 1999.  “Mounties vs. your dish” (satellite regulations), Nov. 1, 1999.  “Sensitivity in cow-naming“, Oct. 21, 1999; “Weekend reading” (Bugs Bunny television complaint), Aug. 21-22, 1999. “You may already not be a winner” (prisoner suit over sweepstakes entry), Aug. 23, 1999. For a discussion of the loser-pays principle, which Canada has retained to a considerable extent in its courts, see our loser-pays page In asylum law; Canada; divorce; Mark Steyn; silicone breast implants; strippers and exotic dancers; Switzerland; zero tolerance Comments Off Previous Entries Recent Comments John Rohan on “Obese have right to 2 airline seats –Canada court” Jones Day vs. BlockShopper: court denies motion to dismiss on September 17 roundup “Man sues for libel after being called a D-bag” on November 3 roundup z0l0ft on EEOC settlement: pork-handling exemption, prayer breaks for Muslim workers The Law Is A Fatass: In Canada, The Obsese Are Entitled To Two Seats For the Price of One on Airlines | Popehat on “Obese have right to 2 airline seats –Canada court” K on “Obese have right to 2 airline seats –Canada court” ginsocal on Piracy and international human rights, cont’d Dave Lincoln on Complaint “forces eHarmony to offer gay dating service” Dave Lincoln on “Obese have right to 2 airline seats –Canada court” gitarcarver on EEOC settlement: pork-handling exemption, prayer breaks for Muslim workers Recent Posts Microblog 2008-11-21 A “Borat”-suit scorecard On WMBI (Chicago) discussing eHarmony settlement “Obese have right to 2 airline seats –Canada court” Judge Joyce convicted in Pennsylvania insurance fraud Jones Day vs. BlockShopper: court denies motion to dismiss EEOC settlement: pork-handling exemption, prayer breaks for Muslim workers Latest issue of Class Action Watch Complaint “forces eHarmony to offer gay dating service” Piracy and international human rights, cont’d Point of Law The Current State of Consumer Arbitration Ted Frank (with co-author Ohio State lawprof Sarah Rudolph Cole) has a new paper out at AEI on the hot subject, likely to be the target of a push by litigation advocates in Congress next year. Summary: In 2007, the... Walter Olson Plaintiffs Counsel Wins Suit, Gets Chastised for Excessive Fees and Expenses The Fulton County Daily Reporter (via law.com) has an interesting story on the just-ended successful corporate class action against Coca-Cola (which was found to have committed fraud on the market by inflating its income. Plaintiffs may have succeeded, but their... Michael Krauss Master Settlement: Ten years of advocacy and more litigation Having written this week (here, here, here, here and here) on the various public policy aspects of the tobacco master settlement agreement 10 years after its enactment, we now get to perhaps the most important and lasting consequences of the... Carter Wood Tillinghast-Towers Perrin 2008 tort cost update The insurance consulting organization, per its press release, has issued its 2008 report, which measures tort costs for 2007 and shows trends dating back as far as 1950. It indicates that the cost of the liability insurance sector of the... Walter Olson Around the web, November 21 Big news in asbestos: Wayne County, Mich. judge throws out medical opinions by prolific Lansing internist Michael Kelly [Free Press, earlier] Law is what they say it is dept.: Oklahoma high court tosses out another chunk of liability reform,... Walter Olson Volokh Should there be judicial performance evaluation for federal judges? Campaign finance limits for state judges? Most states have commissions which evaluate the performance of state judges. Would it be a good idea to institute similar performance review of federal judges? For judicial elections, are campaign contribution/spending... David Kopel AG Mukasey on How to Handle Detainees: Today's WSJ has an op-ed by U.S. Attorney General Michael Mukasey that addresses similar issues to the speech he was delivering last night at the Federalist Society's Annual Lawyers' Convention... Jonathan Adler Do You Now Own, or Have You Ever Owned, a Gun? The Politico reports on a curious addition to the Obama transition personnel questionnaire for potential appointees to the new Administration.... Jonathan Adler You Too Can Reject a Minnesota Senate Ballot: Why let the Norm Coleman and Al Franken campaigns have all the fun. Thanks to Minnesota Public Radio, you can look at pictures of actual ballots cast in the Minnesota... Jonathan Adler Illegal To Use the Rain Water That Falls on Your Roof? From High Country News:... 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