Attorney General Rob McKenna of Washington discusses the need to roll back a combination of legislation and judicially created doctrine that leaves the state uniquely exposed to liability lawsuits. “Calls to attorneys general offices in other states reveal we pay much more than states with similar-sized populations: eight times more than Tennessee, five times more than Arizona and at least three times more than Massachusetts. These disparities date back at least 15 years.” [Seattle Times; my 2005 take]
Posts tagged as:
taxpayers
Arlington, Virginia taxpayers have managed to pay a law firm $744,000 to pursue it [Sun-Gazette via Ted at PoL]
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“What Jaycee Dugard endured is beyond comprehension, but it should be patently obvious that California taxpayers weren’t responsible for what happened to her. …This is all about money and saving face; nothing about responsibility.” [Bruce Maiman, Sacramento Bee]
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“Public interest” lawyers suing the embattled California town of Colfax over alleged Clean Water Act violations want an award of interim fees lest it go bankrupt and become unable to pay. [California Civil Justice Blog]
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Taxpayers are paying former police officer Dave Orlowski $53,063 a year of tax-free disability payments, though he’s fit enough to compete in several triathlons a year. An old court decision permits Orlowski to refuse desk work after since he injured his shoulder in 1999. [Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel (h/t W.J.)]
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“A Connecticut teenager and her mother have agreed to pay $1.1 million to the family of a toddler who drowned while the girl was baby-sitting.” No criminal charges were filed in the Cheshire, Ct. case. The family named the teenager’s mother as an additional defendant “because she allegedly recommended her daughter to baby-sit.” [WINS.com] Earlier, a 2009 New Haven Register story reported that the family also intended to sue the town of Cheshire because the teenager had taken a babysitting class under its auspices, and because the mother had gotten to know the family in her capacity as the children’s teacher. However, according to the Waterbury Republican-American, court records “do not indicate a lawsuit against the town has been filed.”
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Huntington Beach, Calif.: “The parents of a 5-year-old girl have filed a claim against the city after the girl fell off the monkey bars, breaking her arm and chipping her tooth.” [Deepa Bharath, Orange County Register] More: J-Walk.
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As lawsuits advance, recreation retreats: the Hartford-area Metropolitan District Commission “is now looking at shutting access to its popular reservoir trails to cyclists” following a $2.9 million jury award to a bicyclist who crashed into a gate. “The controversial verdict came after rulings that the MDC — a nonprofit municipal corporation — was not immune to lawsuits, in this case from a cyclist who wasn’t paying enough attention as she rode the well-marked trails.” [Rick Green, Hartford Courant; background from 1999]
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“A criminal who escapes officers by climbing on the roof of his house has been banned from every rooftop in his borough — in case he falls and sues police.” [Telegraph]
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“Tucked away on page 466″ is a provision that quietly replaces states’ obligation to make sure doctors are paid to deliver services to the poor with a new obligation to make sure the services are in fact delivered. “‘With the expanded definition, it leaves every state vulnerable to a new wave of lawsuits any time someone cannot access a service, even if that service is limited by virtue of the rates we pay,’ said Alan Levine, Louisiana’s secretary of health and hospitals, in a recent memo prepared for fellow state government officials.” [Jon Ward, Daily Caller]
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And then demands attorneys fees over unjustified litigation; the dispute was over a parking ticket issued to one of its own departments which it wrongly presumed to be legally independent. Another local council won a fine against itself which it then had to pay, according to British author Barrie Segal [Lowering the Bar, Times Online "Money Central"]
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From western Michigan: “Saugatuck Township asks voters to approve new tax to fight lawsuits seeking lower property taxes” [Grand Rapids Press]
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The miscreant skipper has already pleaded guilty to manslaughter and intoxicated boating, but the family of a slain passenger is now suing the feds for not lighting the pier more brightly. [Jessica Spies, Greece (N.Y.) Post]
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“Two Alaska Airlines flight attendants who were injured when a 2007 flight from Seattle to California encountered turbulent air have filed a legal claim against a national weather forecasting service and against the U.S. government.” [Seattle Times/Belleville News-Democrat]
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Coyote reports from Maricopa County, Arizona. And speaking of which, the furor over the erratic doings of Sheriff Joe Arpaio and his allies keeps getting hotter: Coyote, Greenfield, Bennett, etc.
More on Maricopa-cabana: “New Turmoil in Embattled Ariz. County as Appeals Court Bans Sheriff from Searching Judge’s Computers” [ABA Journal]; “Rule of law erodes further in Maricopa County” [Clint Bolick, Goldwater Institute]
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A case over Rhode Island sludge disposal is finally over after 27 years [Providence Journal]
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Civil rights suits are causing a stir in California local government: “The downsides weigh heavily in landmark lawsuits against Modesto and Stanislaus County, which have cost taxpayers $8.3 million and counting, and have not produced more minority office holders or new sidewalks or better storm drains.” [Modesto Bee]
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- “California’s Largest Cities and Counties Spent More Than $500 Million in Litigation Costs in Two Years” [CACALA]
- Violence Policy Center blames handgun carry permits for offenses that include … strangulation? [Sullum]
- New allegations in New York school district lawyers pension scandal [Newsday]
- Plush doll twade dwess dispute made Tonstant Weader fwow up [Schwimmer]
- “School Hit With a Lawsuit over Dodgeball Game Injury” [FindLaw "Injured", Bronx]
- Too bad judges are so reluctant to sanction lawyers for filing papers that contain false assertions [Coleman]
- Hundreds of asylum clients could be deported after law firm founders are convicted of fraud [ABA Journal]
- Congratulations to superlative juryblogger Anne Reed, picked to run Wisconsin Humane Society [Deliberations; also Turkewitz]
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