Professor Volokh, of the Volokh Conspiracy, on the Nike v. Kasky case. Under a 4-3 California Supreme Court decision, Nike is potentially liable to any California citizen if its response to political speech criticizing Nike is deemed “misleading.”
(Full disclosure: Walter Dellinger of my law firm filed a U.S. Supreme Court brief on behalf of Nike.)
Archive for 2003
Gun store suit
DC sniper Lee Malvo shoplifted the rifle he used from a Tacoma store, which is now subject to a lawsuit, as is Bushmaster Firearms, the gun manufacturer that sold the rifle to the store. (And why not the coal miners that supplied the steel manufacturers that supplied Bushmaster Firearms?). Update Sept. 25, 2004: case settles.
Big Food Next?
The first lawsuits against fatty-food sellers were justifiably the subject of parody, but a few months later, without plaintiffs having won a single case, a USA Today front-page article treats the idea of big damages awards as a near-inevitable outcome, quoting two plaintiffs’ lawyers, and without a single quote from anyone suggesting that such lawsuits may not be good public policy. Such coverage has a tendency, of course, to be a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Milberg Weiss Update
Famed plaintiffs’ firm Milberg Weiss, rather than risk a motion for sanctions, settled a case and agreed never to sue Titan International again. The firm, the subject of a fawning New Yorker article a few months back, recently announced that it would split. Federal authorities in Los Angeles are investigating whether the firm paid shareholders to participate in lawsuits.
Ted Frank, guest blogger
Greetings. My name is Ted Frank, and I’m honored to be your guest blogger for the week. I’m a former clerk for Judge Easterbrook and am currently practicing law as counsel in a Washington, D.C., firm, often on behalf of clients who are dealing with the types of lawsuits that Walter Olson has catalogued here for years.
Speaking of Judge Easterbrook, here is his opinion in McMahon v. Bunn-O-Matic, a classic variant of the plaintiff-who-spills-hot-coffee case.
Guest blogger through July 8
I’ll be on vacation for the next week. If all goes as planned, a guest blogger should be stepping in momentarily to fill the gap. An outstanding group of volunteers offered their services, and you should be seeing some of their names as guest bloggers over the coming months. See you next Wednesday.
“60 Minutes” on wrongful birth
The CBS show takes a look at the Jade Fields case from New Jersey, which we covered last July (Jul. 1-2, 2002; Aug. 22-23, 2001 and links from there). The show interviews an ultrasound specialist who “has testified as an expert witness in many wrongful birth cases for both doctors and patients” and who appears to doubt that the doctors’ supposed inattention to danger signs was in fact malpractice. Also on camera is the girl’s mother who insists that “Jade is the best thing that could have ever happened to us” but also says in the lawsuit that she would have aborted the girl in a moment had the extent of her disabilities been clear. The show gives the plaintiff’s lawyer the last word (CBS News, “Is ‘Wrongful Birth’ Malpractice?”, Jun. 23).
Souvenir-ball wrangle
A baseball story: “Alex Popov and Patrick Hayashi scrambled in the stands for Barry Bonds’ No. 73 home run ball, fought in court over it, and walked away after its auction for $450,000 Wednesday with nothing but bittersweet memories. … A couple hundred grand for each side’s lawyers, a cut for Uncle Sam and sundry expenses. What’s left for Popov and Hayashi? ‘In the end it’s probably going to be a wash,’ Hayashi said.” (Steve Wilstein, “Bonds No. 73 ball: a story of greed”, AP/San Francisco Chronicle, Jun. 26). (& see Jul. 12: lawyer sues Popov for fees). Update Jan. 3: Hayashi’s lawyers waive part of fees.
Guest blogger opening(s)
Among the advantages of our new Movable Type system is to make it relatively easy to bring in co-conspirators and guest bloggers to add signed content of their own on a temporary or continuing basis. For examples of how this can work as an ongoing matter, see The Volokh Conspiracy (currently 13 members), Asymmetrical Information (a Movable Type two-member blog) and Max Power (four contributors).
Of more immediate interest, this feature allows for short-term guest blogging perfect for times when, for example, our regular editor heads off on vacation (as is about to happen momentarily). Would you make a good guest host(s) during his absence? Realistically, we’re most likely to experiment along these lines with volunteers who 1) are already personally known to our editor; 2) have already written about or worked on the kinds of issues we cover; and 3) have some rudimentary familiarity with blogging. (Maybe two of the three…) If this sounds fun to you, email editor – [at] – [our domain name].
More on Weiss Ratings study
Sydney Smith, writing for TechCentralStation.com, throws more doubt on that odd Weiss Ratings study of a couple of weeks ago which so impressed Time (see “Juggling the Stats”, Jun. 4-5) and U.S. News, and which purported to find no connection between curbs on medical liability payouts and trends in malpractice insurance costs (“Bad Medicine”, Jun. 26). See Christopher H. Schmitt, “A medical mistake”, U.S. News, Jun. 30; Charles E. Boyle, “Weiss Ratings Drops a Bomb on the Med-Mal Debate”, Insurance Journal, Jun. 20.