If he wanted to avoid emotional trauma, maybe he chose the wrong line of work? From Glasgow, Scotland: “A former policeman who sued a widower because he experienced the trauma of seeing the man’s wife die in a crash with his speeding patrol car has won ?87,275 damages. George Gilfillan was awarded the money even though a judge ruled that he was driving ‘much too fast’ and said that he was 50 per cent to blame.” The court also awarded the widower ?16,000 in a counterclaim. (Tom Peterkin, Daily Telegraph, Aug. 13).
Archive for August, 2003
UK: “Ex-Pc wins ?87,000 for trauma”
If he wanted to avoid emotional trauma, maybe he chose the wrong line of work? From Glasgow, Scotland: “A former policeman who sued a widower because he experienced the trauma of seeing the man’s wife die in a crash with his speeding patrol car has won ?87,275 damages. George Gilfillan was awarded the money even though a judge ruled that he was driving ‘much too fast’ and said that he was 50 per cent to blame.” The court also awarded the widower ?16,000 in a counterclaim. (Tom Peterkin, Daily Telegraph, Aug. 13).
UK: “Ex-Pc wins ?87,000 for trauma”
If he wanted to avoid emotional trauma, maybe he chose the wrong line of work? From Glasgow, Scotland: “A former policeman who sued a widower because he experienced the trauma of seeing the man’s wife die in a crash with his speeding patrol car has won ?87,275 damages. George Gilfillan was awarded the money even though a judge ruled that he was driving ‘much too fast’ and said that he was 50 per cent to blame.” The court also awarded the widower ?16,000 in a counterclaim. (Tom Peterkin, Daily Telegraph, Aug. 13).
“Clients upset over donations made for them”
“A group of workers’ compensation attorneys is increasingly relying on its clients to finance a political warchest created to influence elections, and some injured workers are angry about it,” reports Oklahoma’s largest newspaper. The president of Lawyers for Working Oklahomans says client donations to its PAC are “strictly voluntary”, which is not how several clients remember it. “Some said they didn’t even know they had made donations. ‘I didn’t see why I had to but they already had it taken out of my check,’ said Tom Rice, 42, of Washington, Okla., a laid-off crane operator listed as donating $68. … Also unaware was former hairdresser Christina Dueck, 31, of Norman. She is listed as a $340 donor. ‘I cannot believe that. You’re kidding me. That’s ridiculous,’ said Dueck, who settled her comp case in November for $35,000.” A Chickasha welder said he learned after the fact about the deduction: “What can you do about it? They didn’t give you no choice,” he said. “It’s politics.” “I didn’t know I donated to it. I guess I didn’t pay that much attention,” said a flour mill worker. The PAC, formed in 1999, “has already had an impact on state politics. It spent $67,210 in October on independent political ads that helped Gov. Brad Henry (D) to his upset victory.” (Nolan Clay, Sunday Oklahoman, Aug. 10 (search for pay archives with registration); “Concerns raised over donations to a lawyers’ political action committee”, AP/KOTV, Aug. 12; AP/KJRH, Googlecached)).
Ethical Efficacy
With some inspiration from an article at a previous Overlawyered post, David Giacalone is inquiring into whether ethics classes make one more ethical.
Legal fears stifle hospital review of bad outcomes
New in the Annals of Internal Medicine: “Fear of litigation either stifles hospital efforts to improve patient safety or drives them underground, according to the latest article in a journal series …” In the case under study, a critically ill patient suffered permanent brain damage while under hospital care; the authors, both with the Harvard School of Public Health, consider it “unreasonable” to blame the attending doctor but a suit was filed nonetheless. In the incident’s aftermath, the hospital did not take vigorous measures to involve its staff in any debate about whether procedures needed to be changed — a logical enough course of action given that “generally, hospitals must confine discussions about adverse events to small committees of insiders” if they are to avoid losing their privilege against turning over the results of peer review investigations to hostile lawyers. In the case at hand, “it seems that it would have been beneficial for the hospital and staff to have openly evaluated issues of seamless cross-coverage, protocols for emergent intubation on the floor, and timely transfer to the ICU. Unfortunately, it appears that nothing of this sort occurred.” (“Fear of Litigation Stifles Hospitals’ Efforts To Improve Patient Safety”, press release, California HealthCare Foundation, Aug. 19; Troyen A. Brennan and Michelle M. Mello, “Patient Safety and Medical Malpractice: A Case Study”, Annals of Internal Medicine, Aug. 13; CHCF case study series)
Appeals court nixes $10m for drunken pier roll-off
Those mean old appeals judges: now they’ve gone and reversed a Texas jury’s $10.5 million award against the city of Galveston and the lessee of its Flagship Pier on behalf of the survivors of a couple whose car, rolling backwards, broke through railings and plunged into the water one night in 1996. The court ruled that the defendants, by failing to erect a stronger guardrail, had not injured the couple willingly, wantonly or through gross negligence as specified under state law dealing with recreation facilities. “Medical evidence presented at the trial showed that [Kenneth Wayne] Garza, who had been convicted on numerous occasions for drunken driving, and [passenger Dorey] Fabian were legally drunk, but the jury found Garza only 10 percent accountable for the accident.” (Carter Thompson, “Flagship accident verdict reversed”, Galveston County Daily News, Aug. 26).
Vancouver radio tonight
Our editor is scheduled to appear this evening at 8 p.m. Pacific time on Vancouver’s CKNW, am 980, with host David Berner. The main topic on the agenda — is Canada going the litigious way of the U.S.? — plays off a feature article that ran yesterday in the Vancouver Sun, Ottawa Citizen and other CanWest newspapers but doesn’t seem to be online yet.
Our editor interviewed
Last week this site’s editor visited the Sooner State to speak to the Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs, in conjunction with which visit commentator/radio host Brandon Dutcher recorded this informal Q & A which touches on the tobacco and fast food litigation, the prophetic role of former Okla. Sen. Fred Harris, and more (“No Joke: Lawsuit Abuse Hurts Us All”, interview with Walter Olson, OCPA Perspective, August)
One vote- One Man?
Numerous proposals abound to extend the right to vote to children of any age. Micah Schwartzman thinks it’s a questionable idea, but stops short of condemning it entirely. He asks:
Place yourself in the original position and ask: if I didn?t know how old I would be when the veil is lifted, what principles of political representation would I favor? One-(adult) person, one vote?