In the latest high-profile lead paint suit to go down to defeat, Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Timothy G. Dugan dismissed the city of Milwaukee’s lawsuit demanding $85 million from NL Industries, maker of Dutch Boy paint, and Mautz Paint Co. Although Milwaukee’s contingency fee agreement with private lawyers was widely billed as one in which city taxpayers faced no risk, it turns out that the city will owe the private lawyers a substantial sum for expenses if it chooses to abandon the case rather than pursue appeal. (Tom Held, “Judge dismisses lawsuit against lead paint companies”, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Jul. 30; AP/Madison Capital Times, Jul. 30). The lawsuit had already contributed to the demise of the family-owned Mautz Paint Co., which sold itself to Sherwin-Williams in part because it could not afford to shoulder a legal defense (see Nov. 13, 2001). “The African American Chamber of Commerce and the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce praised the court’s action in prepared statements. ‘This lawsuit has hurt efforts to clean up lead paint problems,’ a statement from the African American Chamber said.” (“City’s lead paint suit dismissed”, Milwaukee Business Journal, Jul. 28).
Archive for 2003
Update: GM settles Malibu case
General Motors has settled on undisclosed terms the suit in which a Los Angeles jury awarded $4.9 billion, later knocked down to a mere $1.2 billion, to six people injured when their Chevy Malibu was rear-ended by a drunk driver; the plaintiff’s lawyers had charged the Malibu with defective design, although federal statistics show it to have a safety record well above average (see Dec. 16, 1999 and links from there). And contrary to reports (including ours) that trial lawyers were managing to kill off car-lease reform in Rhode Island, major automakers said they would remain in the Ocean State leasing market after Gov. Don Carcieri on Jul. 7 signed legislation which for one year caps at $300,000 the liability of car lessors for accidents that their lessees get into (see Jul. 14). The change leaves New York as the only state with unlimited vicarious liability for lessors. (“Business: National Briefs”, Detroit News, Jul. 25).
“Area employers urged to forbid foul language”
Employers who allow swearing and sexual references in the workplace could find themselves in, well, ‘blankety-blank’ trouble with the federal government. Policies prohibiting foul language and swearing were recommended by leaders of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission?s district office in Cleveland who spoke to 150 human resources managers, union representatives, and legal aid workers at a seminar in downtown Toledo yesterday.” (Toledo Blade, Jul. 31)(via Freedom News)(& welcome Volokh/David Bernstein and Dean Esmay readers)
Perhaps we can help choose
“The federal courts are running out of money to pay jurors…. With a growing caseload and longer trials draining the judiciary’s budget, the agency that runs the courts urged judges early this week to defer ‘noncritical civil trials’ until October, when its new fiscal year begins.” The suggestion was not welcomed in some quarters. “I don’t think there is such a thing as a noncritical jury trial,” said Judge John L. Kane of the Federal District Court in Denver. “If someone has a right to a civil trial, the Seventh Amendment guarantees them a right to a jury.” The Judicial Conference of the United States “later backtracked,” cancelling its request to defer trials in hopes that Congress would allocate additional money or OK the payment of jury fees from a $10 million emergency fund. (Adam Liptak, “Federal Judges Find Courts Short of Money to Pay Jurors,” N.Y. Times, Aug. 1).
Query on site redesign: how to replace relative with absolute links?
In converting the site to Movable Type format, we’ve run into a problem we’d like to share with readers with HTML design experience, since we’re sure there’s a solution out there.
Gambler sues casinos for failing to exclude her
Canada: 37-year-old Lisa Dickert “and her husband Steven have filed a $1-million lawsuit against the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corp.” for failing to exclude Ms. Dickert, a compulsive gambler, from the casinos where she gambled away her savings. She had entered a voluntary casino self-exclusion program, but her suit argues that the casinos did little or nothing to enforce the exclusion. (Victor Malarek, “A gambler’s rehab gone wrong”, The Globe and Mail, Jul. 30)(more on gambling suits: May 20-21, 2002).
Time is money
Already squeezed by litigation-driven hikes in medical liability insurance premiums, Nevada doctors may be facing a new type of lawsuit. Fed up with having to wait three hours to see his doctor, patient Aristotelis Belavilas filed suit for $5,000, explaining “My time is worth something just like his is.” A Las Vegas small claims court awarded Belavilas $365 in damages and court fees. Dr. Ty Weller, understandably “appalled” by the case, said he plans to appeal. “Even more important than the money is that now I have to worry about other patients doing this to me,” he said. (“Impatient patient sues doctor for waiting time,” Assoc. Press, July 30).
Addendum: RangelMD has more (Jul. 30, Jul. 31) as does MedRants and Cut to Cure. Update: case settled in Sept. 2003 for doctor’s apology and payment to charity, see Sept. 16, 2005.
Debunker debunked on contingency fees
David Giacalone at ethicalEsq? has posted a critique of a law review article entitled “Seven Dogged Myths About Contingency Fees“, published 2002 in the Washington University Law Quarterly and written by Prof. Herbert Kritzer of the University of Wisconsin, known as one of the more ardent academic defenders of the contingency fee. “Far from debunking the most important ‘myths’ about contingency fees,” Giacalone writes, “the Kritzer Article sets up an army of strawmen, shoots statistical and rhetorical blanks at them, and assures a hollow victory in the battle by using volunteer soldiers from the ranks of p/i lawyers.” (Jul. 30).
Abuse of process claim revived
“A federal appeals court has revived an abuse of process suit against a law firm and lawyer that allegedly used unfair tactics in litigation — including hiding documents, obstructing discovery and fabricating privilege claims — after finding that a lower court improperly determined that such conduct was immune from suit under the doctrine of judicial privilege.” A Philadelphia judge had found that insurer Fireman’s Fund and its Washington, D.C.-based law firm, Gilberg & Kiernan, had committed extensive misconduct in defending asbestos coverage claims brought by policyholder General Refractories Corp. GRC proceeded to file an abuse of process action against the insurer and its law firm, but a federal judge ruled that lawyers enjoy near-absolute immunity from abuse of process claims when engaged in litigation, under a privilege for “judicial communications”. Not so, said an appeals court, which construed the privilege more narrowly and reinstated the suit: it would frustrate the purpose of rules against abuse of process to let lawyers exempt themselves so sweepingly from liability for such abuse. (Shannon P. Duffy, “Suit Over Litigation Tactics Revived”, The Legal Intelligencer, Jul. 30)(via Legal Reader).
Compared with Gotham, getting off easy
Administrators of upstate New York cities are complaining that the cost of litigation saps their budgets: Rochester paid out $443,000 in 2002, while Buffalo writes between $700,000 and $900,000 worth of settlement checks a year. But maybe they should count their blessings: “Last year, despite its massive deficit, New York City paid out $525 million.” (Rick Armon, “More citizens taking governments to court”, Rochester Democrat & Chronicle, Jul. 28). The figures represent a municipal budgetary burden of about $2 for each of Rochester’s 219,000 residents, perhaps closer to $3 if some share of the $253,000 in outlays for surrounding Monroe County is ascribed to the city. The comparable figure for New York City (in which city and county government are merged) is $65 per resident or $260 for a family of four.