Virginia: “Three high school girls’ basketball coaches filed a defamation lawsuit against the parent of a player who tried to get them removed by questioning their coaching tactics and alleging physical abuse. The suit was filed by Rockbridge County High School girls’ basketball coach Mike Hamilton and two assistants against Roger Koehler of Lexington, the father of a junior who has played on the varsity team for two seasons.” (AP/Fredericksburg Free Lance-Star, Aug. 8; Robert Anderson, “Coaches turn tables on parent by suing him for $4 million”, Roanoke Times, Aug. 8).
Archive for October, 2003
Class actions and the cost of cars
Steve Blow of the Dallas Morning News, like Alex Tabarrok before him (see Sept. 19), is far from pleased with the results of the class action on behalf of otherwise uninjured owners of recalled Firestone tires; he follows up with a second column which gives details of another class action, this time against Nissan over a printed error on car leases (“Firestone, lawsuits and cost of inflation”, Oct. 4; “Isn’t it time to raise the bar for lawyers?”, Oct. 7). And across town at the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, J.R. Labbe discusses the recent case (see Oct. 4) in which Philip Morris agreed to pay $2 million to a mother who by her own account left a child and a lit cigarette unattended in a car contrary to Texas law. “The public may never know why the company chose to settle this case, but you can be sure it will open the door for additional claimants looking to blame someone for their own irresponsible actions.” (“Somebody has to pay”, Oct. 5). (Corrected May 1, 2004 to remove erroneous implication that tire owners were receiving financial compensation in the class action).
New EMF suit challenges Wi-Fi in schools
Though previous scares over electromagnetic fields in overhead power lines and cellular phones have pretty much petered out, fear springs eternal and now is taking as its subject “Wi-Fi” computer-access technology: “Parents in Oak Park, Illinois, have launched a class action lawsuit against their local school board for allegedly threatening the health of children by installing wireless local area network technology in classrooms.” (Tim Richardson, “US parents sue over WLAN school fears”, The Register (UK), Oct. 8; Wi-Fi Networking News, Oct. 6 (check out the comments); complaint courtesy Wi-Fi Networking News (PDF)) (& welcome Virginia Postrel, MemeFirst, RangelMD readers). More: an update from Virginia Postrel (Oct. 10)
“Investors gain little from shareholder suits”
Highly critical analysis of the shareholder-suit biz in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch: “Usually, what shareholders get back is some minuscule fraction of their loss, some symbolic payment,” said Stuart Greenbaum, dean of Washington University’s Olin School of Business. “They’re of great benefit to the legal profession, but I don’t know that they do a great deal to right corporate wrongs.” (Allyce Bess, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Oct. 4) (via 10b-5 Daily).
Update: Madison County
Notorious Madison County (e.g., Mar. 24, Sep. 26, and too many other entries on this blog to list), across the river from St. Louis, continues to make news. The Illinois Supreme Court is reconsidering the state’s venue rules in the Madison County case of Gridley v. State Farm Insurance in the wake of the county’s reputation as a home for plaintiffs’ venue-shopping. In Gridley, the plaintiff is from Louisiana, all of the percipient witnesses in the case are in Louisiana, the defendant’s headquarters are in Bloomington in central Illinois, but the “plaintiffs say in documents that Madison County is the proper venue because two Madison County residents who have worked for State Farm will be called to testify about how the company handles salvage titles.” (Kevin McDermott, “Big companies aim to dent county’s popularity as venue for lawsuits”, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Sep. 13). The Belleville News-Democrat explores the role of plaintiffs’ lawyers’ money in Madison County. (Mike Fitzgerald, “Where money talks”, Oct. 5; see also David Bailey, “Illinois county court a corporate ‘hellhole'”, Reuters, Oct. 5). The consequences are real for the laypeople of Madison County: doctors are closing shop as medical malpractice insurance rates triple. (Shawn Clubb, “Another doctor leaving Alton”, The Telegraph, Oct. 4). But the class actions continue: Mattel finds itself a defendant to plaintiffs complaining that the “limited edition” Barbie dolls weren’t sufficiently limited, though they acknowledge that Mattel disclosed that it would make up to 35,000 of them. Plaintiffs are trying to keep the case before Judge Kardis, who issued the original decision permitting venue in Gridley. (Beth Hundsdorffer, “Litigation Barbie”, Belleville News-Democrat, Oct. 5).
Supreme Court to review ADA misconduct case
The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to decide whether Hughes Missile Systems violated the Americans with Disabilities Act when it enforced an otherwise neutral policy against rehiring workers terminated for violations of its misconduct rules, even though one consequence was to deny a second chance for an employee terminated for past drug abuse, a protected disability. (Warren Richey, “Limits of disability act tested”, Christian Science Monitor, Oct. 8). See Sept. 16-17, 2002 for our earlier take on the case. More: Dahlia Lithwick, “Junkie Justice”, Slate, Oct. 8; Tony Mauro, “Supreme Court Weighs Workplace Rights for Ex-Substance Abusers”, Legal Times, Oct. 9. Update Dec. 13: Supreme Court rules.
“Can’t get upgraded? Sue”
A California resident has brought an intended class-action lawsuit “against Korean Air, arguing the airline company charged him an extra $200 for his ticket when he asked the company to upgrade his economy-class ticket to a business-class one using his accumulated flying mileage.” (Byun Duk-kun, “Korean Air Faces Class Action for `Unfair Mileage Program'”, Korea Times, Oct. 3). Gary Leff at Webflyer comments (Oct. 4). More commentary on frequent-flier-program class actions: Chris McGinnis, “The frequent traveler: Angry fliers challenge Delta over miles-selling”, TravelSkills.com, Feb. 7; Greg Scandlen, “Lawyers Fly High By Suing Airline On Behalf Of Non-Complaining Passengers”, National Center for Policy Analysis “Idea House”, Aug. 10, 2000.
The doctor who went bare
Last month Dr. Mark Macumber, a family practitioner in suburban Chicago, made headlines when he announced that he planned to “go bare” and practice without professional liability insurance. (Sarah A. Klein, “Rising rates force docs out on limb”, Crain’s Chicago Business, Sept. 15). Dr. Macumber has set up his own website (“SaveMyDoc.com“) and his case has stimulated an interesting discussion among medical webloggers: MedPundit (Sept. 27), GruntDoc (Sept. 29), Bhavesh Patel (Sept. 30), Cut to Cure (Aug. 3, scroll down, not on Dr. Macumber but same general subject matter), and MedPundit again (Oct. 2, archives busted, scroll down). After the last-mentioned of these, keep scrolling down to “Beware of Experts” for an exchange between MedPundit and The Bloviator (Oct. 2) on the question of whether unreliable expert testimony was used against a Phoenix gynecologist on trial for taking improper liberties with female patients, and the possible harms done by such testimony even if the doctor turns out to be guilty as charged.
UPDATE: Fen-Phen compensation scandal
Workplace killer’s mom wants comp benefits
The mother of Jonathon Russell, who killed three people and wounded five before shooting himself in a July shooting spree at the Modine Manufacturing Co. in Jefferson City, Missouri, has filed a workers? compensation claim that seeks a death benefit from the company. The late Russell died on company time, according to her filing. The company and its workers’ comp insurer have rejected the claim on the grounds that Russell’s homicidal and suicidal activities were deliberate and were not undertaken in the course of his employment, which means the claim is most likely headed to an administrative judge. (Nate Carlisle, “Shooter’s mom seeks job-injury benefit”, Columbia Tribune, Oct. 5).