Overlawyered » toxic torts

The twitching teens of LeRoy, N.Y.

Walter Olson — Sun, 11 Mar 2012 12:57:12 +0000

Susan Dominus explores an outbreak of tics and other neurological symptoms among teenage girls in a town near Rochester, as hyped on outlets like “Today” and CNN. Roving Tort-Finder Erin Brockovich, who parachuted into the town to blame possible chemical spills, does not come off well either: “Things only go wrong,’ [King's College London epidemiologist Simon] Wessely wrote in 1995, ‘when the nature of an outbreak is not recognized, and a fruitless and expensive search for toxins, fumes and gases begins.’” [NY Times Magazine]

Tags: Erin Brockovich, New York, toxic torts

The twitching teens of LeRoy, N.Y. is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Brockovich meets Tourette’s in Leroy, N.Y.

Walter Olson — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 12:07:54 +0000

“In non-Western countries, demons and witchcraft are still sometimes blamed for outbreaks of fainting and fits [PDF]. Pollution, poisoning, chemical weapons, and other environmental concerns are dominant in the West (a fact that makes Brockovich something of a mass hysteria machine). Some bloggers are now claiming that the upstate New York girls fell ill because of the HPV vaccine or fracking.” [Ruth Graham, Slate]

Tags: Erin Brockovich, New York state, toxic torts

Brockovich meets Tourette’s in Leroy, N.Y. is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

January 31 roundup

Walter Olson — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 05:06:21 +0000

Latest of periodic Towers Watson (formerly Towers Perrin/Tillinghast) surveys: tort costs fell in 2010 excluding oil spill liability [Towers Watson]
“Will Newt Neuter the Courts?” [James Huffman, Defining Ideas] Obama’s high court appointees are fortunately friendlier toward civil liberties than he is [Steve Chapman]
Unanimous Cal Supremes: companies not legally responsible for other companies’ asbestos products used as replacement for theirs [Cal Biz Lit, Jackson, Beck, Mass Tort Prof]
Claim: jurors considered policy implications of verdict and you can’t have that [On Point; defense verdict in Baltimore, Maryland school-bullying case]
Airfare display mandate: “‘Protecting’ Consumers from the Truth About the Cost of Government” [Thom Lambert, TotM]
Critical assessment of AP-backed new copyright aggregator “NewsRight” [Mike Masnick] Promises not to be “Righthaven 2.0″ [Cit Media Law]
Restatement (Third) of Torts drafters vs. Enlightenment scientific views of causation [David Oliver in June]

Tags: airlines, asbestos, Baltimore, Barack Obama, bullying, California, deep pocket, juries, Newt Gingrich, RightHaven, taxes, Tillinghast, toxic torts

January 31 roundup is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

June 23 roundup

Walter Olson — Thu, 23 Jun 2011 13:38:20 +0000

Michigan sex abuse prosecution of dad falls apart; it was premised on ultra-controversial technique of “facilitated communication” with autistic daughter [Detroit Free Press; Ted Frank/Point of Law]
Do demagogy and hardball work as trial techniques? [Steve McConnell vs. Ronald Miller and Max Kennerly]
When lawyer-pundits consent to chase cameras [Scott Greenfield]
Lawyer dad sues middle school girls over Facebook video [Houston Chronicle]
So-called Precautionary Principle slipping into Restatement (Third) of Torts? [David Oliver]
U.S Attorney in Maryland didn’t think Lauren Stevens case was strong enough to indict [Sue Reisinger/Corporate Counsel, White Collar Law Prof, Legal Ethics Forum, my Cato take]
“The SLAPP-Happy Story of Rakofsky v. Internet” [Citizen Media Law, Atlantic Wire ("Meet the Lawyer Who Sued the Internet"), Popehat, earlier here and here]

Tags: child abuse, Facebook, juries, toxic torts

June 23 roundup is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

No sign of Fort Detrick cancer cluster

Walter Olson — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 12:08:47 +0000

But that hasn’t stood in the way of a push to sign up clients for law firms in the vicinity of the Frederick, Md. armed forces base. [WJZ, Army Times]

Tags: Maryland, military, toxic torts

No sign of Fort Detrick cancer cluster is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

9/11 first responders compensation bill

Walter Olson — Wed, 22 Dec 2010 16:32:36 +0000

Only stony-hearted Scrooges could oppose it, right? Earlier here, here, etc. More: PoL; Senate passes modified bill.

Tags: terrorism, toxic torts

9/11 first responders compensation bill is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Below-average cancer rates found in town of Brockovich fame

Walter Olson — Tue, 14 Dec 2010 05:03:19 +0000

After alarmist coverage about how the water supply of rural Hinkley, Calif. is laced with carcinogenic chromium 6, it may have surprised some L.A. Times readers to learn that the town’s cancer rate is actually a bit below average. One interviewed local family blames the pollution for a variety of ills ranging from stroke to cognitive deficits to miscarriage to tumors in a pet dog. When the movie “Erin Brockovich” came out, it was pointed out that workers at the utility plant where the contamination originated had a life expectancy exceeding the California average.

P.S. I see that Tim Cavanaugh of Reason is on the case too.

Tags: Erin Brockovich, toxic torts

Below-average cancer rates found in town of Brockovich fame is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

“A 9/11 Bonanza for Trial Lawyers”

Walter Olson — Wed, 08 Dec 2010 14:14:01 +0000

The National Review on a dubious federal compensation bill for Ground Zero emergency responders. More: PoL.

Tags: terrorism, toxic torts

“A 9/11 Bonanza for Trial Lawyers” is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Hinkley, Calif. cancer rates

Walter Olson — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 05:05:49 +0000

Michael Fumento has a noteworthy statistical update on the case that made Erin Brockovich famous.

Tags: Erin Brockovich, toxic torts

Hinkley, Calif. cancer rates is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

A new mass tort, at the cash register?

Walter Olson — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 17:42:22 +0000

Concern is raised over bisphenol-A (BPA) in printed cash register receipts [Gordon Gibb, Lawsuits and Settlements] Adds reader Rogers Turner: “Brilliant…what does almost every single person in the U.S. touch multiple times a day?”

Tags: toxic torts

A new mass tort, at the cash register? is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system