Archive for August, 2003

Interview with our editor, and more publicity

Steven Martinovich at Enter Stage Right talks with our editor about what’s wrong with the legal system and how this site came to be (“The case against lawyers: An interview with Walter Olson”, Aug. 18). Doug Bandow’s review of our editor’s new book The Rule of Lawyers, which appeared in National Review this spring, is finally online now (“Shyster Heaven”, National Review Online, Apr. 21). More recent publicity: “Lawsuit lockdown” (editorial on malpractice crisis), Las Vegas Review-Journal, Aug. 7; Anne Marie Borrego, “Fairer Class Action” (on the Class Action Fairness Act), Inc. magazine, Aug.; “Shame on you Rush”, Cut on the Bias (Susanna Cornett’s blog), Aug. 9.

Oz: trucker can sue over skin cancer

Australia: a “truck driver has won the right to sue his former employer for not warning him that over-exposure to sunlight causes skin cancer.” A lawyer who represented 71-year-old Eric Reeder “said it put employers on notice that sun protection was not just a worker’s responsibility.” (Adam Morton, “Truckie to sue boss over cancer”, AAP/News.com, Aug. 16).

Biggest NY staged-accident bust ever

The operation staged thousands of car accidents around the New York City area, investigators say, following the classic modus operandi of having a ring member pull in front of an unsuspecting driver and slam on the brakes to force a collision so as to generate insurance claims. (New York has a no-fault insurance law; similar scams are found in states with both fault and no-fault systems). A second car would then drive up, often discharging more claimed passengers while whisking away the original driver of the scam vehicle (so that his name would not turn up in too many claims). “Those indicted included doctors, psychiatrists, chiropractors, dentists and nearly 20 bogus health-care clinics … Lawyers whom prosecutors said were aware that the claims were false often called the insurance companies and threatened to file suits if the claims were not paid.” (Patrick Healy, “Investigators Say Fraud Ring Staged Thousands of Crashes”, New York Times, Aug. 13)(see Apr. 2, 2001, Aug. 25-27, 2000, Sept. 13, 1999).

Comics? Must be for kids

“Earlier this [month], the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear an appeal of Jesus Castillo’s 2000 obscenity conviction for selling a comic book. … In September 1999, Castillo, manager of Keith’s Comics in Dallas, sold a copy of ‘Demon Beast Invasion: The Fallen’ No. 2 to an undercover police officer. The adults-only comic (an English translation of a Japanese manga) was labeled as such and was stocked in an adults-only section of the shop. The police officer was an adult. … ‘I don’t care what kind of testimony is out there,’ the prosecuting attorney said. ‘Comic books, traditionally what we think of, are for kids.'” (Franklin Harris, Pulp Culture Online, Aug. 7) (via Unqualified Offerings)(Comic Book Legal Defense Fund). More: reader William Dyer (BeldarBlog) writes taking issue with the linked stories.

Update: read the label, then ignore it if you like

Last year (see Jul. 12-14, 2002) we swiped MedPundit’s description and link for an Ohio product liability case: “Two carpet installers who admit they read the label of an adhesive they used, admit they understood the adhesive was flammable and should not be used inside, used it inside anyway, caused an explosion, were burned badly, sued, and won $8 million dollars.” Now a state appeals court has upheld the award. (“In the Region: $8 million award upheld for 2 men”, Akron Beacon Journal, Jun. 20). More on original verdict: National Law Journal, Jul. 26, 2002.

Update: airline blood-clot suits advance

“The drive to make airlines responsible for passengers who develop deep vein thrombosis — the potentially deadly blood clots often linked to long flights — is picking up momentum with a federal court judge’s refusal to dismiss two lawsuits.” Federal judge Vaughn Walker in San Francisco ruled last month that lawsuits could proceed on behalf of two passengers on trans-Atlantic flights who developed blood clots after sitting for hours with minimal leg movement — “economy class syndrome”, as the nickname would have it (see Dec. 13-14, 2000). (Arianne Aryanpur, “‘Economy Class Syndrome’ Lawsuits Against Airlines Can Move Forward”. USA Today/Good Housekeeping, Jul. 29).

Update: new trial in Ont. you-let-me-drive-drunk case

The Ontario Court of Appeal last fall ordered a new trial in the case in which Linda Hunt had sued her employer for letting her drink too much at an open-bar office holiday party, contributing to her later car crash (see Feb. 7-8, 2001). The employer defendant, a realty company, “appealed on a number of grounds but succeeded on only one, which was that the trial judge had [incorrectly] discharged the jury on the grounds that the case was too complex.” (case summary by James Thomson and Gerard Chouest, Paterson McDougall LLP, Oct. 1, 2002; Filion Wakely Thorup Angeletti, case summary, undated (PDF)). Further update: executive editor Michael Fitz-James of Canadian Lawyer magazine writes to inform us that the parties settled the case last winter after the appellate ruling.

The cerebral palsy law machine

It grinds on inexorably, for all that the medical establishment may cast aspersions on it (see also Feb. 27). In June a San Jose jury voted $38 million to a family in a case in which an earlier Caesarean section would allegedly have prevented a child’s cerebral palsy; the medical defendants strenuously denied any such causal link (Barbara Feder Ostrov, “Baby, family win $38 million verdict”, San Jose Mercury News, Jun. 18). The Palm Beach Post traces the history of a $10 million verdict which “sank one of Florida’s largest physician-run malpractice insurers … While the award pays for Kenan’s care, it also pays for legal fees that leave [mother Priscilla] Davis wondering at times whether she should have taken her chances with the state Medicaid plan.” Causation, you ask? “It remains unclear whether any doctor could have prevented Kenan’s cerebral palsy.” It was a Willie Gary case (Sanjay Bhatt, “Boy’s case illustrates malpractice crisis”, Palm Beach Post, Jun. 15). And a federal judge in East St. Louis, Ill. has awarded $19 million in a lawsuit which ascribed a child’s cerebral palsy to a doctor’s improper use of a vacuum extractor during labor. No word from the newspaper report on whether the defendants disputed this causal theory, but the choice of defendants was an interesting one: the federal Treasury. “The doctor, Charles L. Davis, was considered a federal employee because his employer, the Southern Illinois Healthcare Foundation, receives funding from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The government was named as a defendant, but he was not.” (William Lamb, “Botched birth nets verdict of $19 million”, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Jul. 31).

Bakker settlement: lawyers get $2.5 M, clients $1.2 M

A federal judge has ordered a settlement fund to pay $6.54 each to nearly 165,000 people who lost money in a real estate venture promoted by disgraced PTL ministry founder Jim Bakker. Claimants “said they gave a $1000 each for four-day vacations at a resort that was never built. Their attorneys won $2.5 million.” (“165,000 in PTL-Bakker class action each win $6.54 settlement”, AP/WIS-TV, Jul. 31; “Briefly … Tort Reform?” (editorial), Winchester Star, Aug. 4).