The Brennan Center at NYU Law School would typically be found on the opposite side of many or most of the views aired on this page. Which makes it all the more broad-minded of them to have invited me in as the speaker tomorrow (Tuesday) at their periodic lunch series at their Manhattan offices (161 Ave. of the Americas, 12th floor, (212) 998 6730.) I’ll be speaking to the question: “Should Progressives Favor Curbing Litigation?” and arguing the affirmative, naturally. Reservations: 212-992-8647 or email ab145 – at – nyu – dot – edu with a subject line of RSVP: Conversations.
Archive for February, 2004
Pancake race avoids cancellation
A British primary school cancelled its traditional Shrove Tuesday “pancake race”–where children run while flipping a pancake in a frying pan–when its liability insurer quadrupled its premium and demanded 25 marshals to line a 50-yard race route. Publicity about the plight caused another insurer to step in with a more reasonable premium, so long as the school limits the number of entrants and spectators. “A spokesman for the British Insurance Broker’s Association said the UK was an increasingly litigious society, and people wanted to cover their backs should an accident occur.” (“Pancake race beats policy problem”, BBC, Feb. 21) (via Jacobs). A Press Association reporter notes that the “growing compensation culture” in the UK has forced the cancellation of St. Patrick’s Day and Remembrance Day parades, as well as a Guy Fawkes bonfire. (Karen Attwood, “Cancellation Leaves Pancake Racers ‘Flipping’ Bemused”, PA News, Feb. 20).
County to volunteer: stop plowing that trail
In suburban Chicago, Geneva resident Dave Peterson has for some time been dragging a homemade snowplow behind a mountain bike to clear the Fox River Trail, both for his own use and as a matter of public-spiritedness. No longer: “The county has asked him to stop because if there’s an expectation that the trail will be plowed, there’s a greater chance for litigation, said Kane County Forest Preserve District operations supervisor Pat McQuilkin. ‘If a person falls, you are more liable than if you had never plowed at all. Crazy world,’ wrote AnnMarie Fauske, the district’s community affairs director, in response to a letter to Peterson. ‘Unfortunately, the times we are in allow for a much more litigious environment than common sense would dictate.'” When Peterson pointed out that plowing the trail was important to commuters who use bicycles to get to work, the “forest preserve quickly replied that, while a ‘wonderful gesture … your act of kindness may also be open to legal issues should someone fall after your care.'” (Garrett Ordower, “County tells bicyclist thanks, but stop plowing trail”, Daily Herald, Feb. 21).
Nader flashback
Our least favorite litigation advocate is running for President again. Here’s what we said about him four years ago, and on occasions since then. More: Michael DeBow (Southern Appeal) takes note of a curiously worded reaction from a Green Party official. And: Mark Kleiman has more (“One of the bitterest lessons I learned as a young and naive liberal staffer on Capitol Hill was that the ‘public interest research’ produced by the Nader groups was systematically fraudulent.”), as do Megan McArdle and Jacob Levy.
San Antonio ambulance chasing
Columnist Roddy Stinson reports that, notwithstanding a recent Texas law criminalizing the practice, “services” are collecting personal information from San Antonio accident reports to solicit clients. (“Ambulance-chasing vultures continue to plague San Antonio”, San Antonio Express-News, Feb. 3) (via CALA Houston).
Update: “Diaz, Minor face additional counts”
Mississippi Supreme Court scandal, cont’d: “A federal grand jury added extortion and attempted bribery charges Friday against Justice Oliver Diaz Jr. and trial lawyer Paul Minor, postponing their March 1 trial. … The new charges allege Minor in 2001 tried to extort $20,000 for Diaz from trial lawyers representing Dawn Bradshaw, who was awarded $9 million after poor hospital care led to pneumonia and brain damage.
“The high court upheld the $9 million verdict Oct. 11, 2001. According to the indictment, 14 days later, Minor told two unnamed lawyers that Diaz ‘helped swing the vote … in favor of their client, Dawn Bradshaw, and that the vote could have gone either way but for … Diaz’s influence,’ pointing out the justice would soon be voting on the motion for rehearing their case. Minor asked the pair for at least $20,000, which would pay for a function at the bed and breakfast operated by Jennifer Diaz [ex-wife of the justice], the indictment says. The lawyers refused, the indictment says.” Minor called the new charges “false” while his attorney, Abbe Lowell of Washington, D.C., called them “outrageous” and said his client would plead not guilty to them. An attorney for Diaz said his client neither spoke to the lawyers from whom the indictment says he attempted to extort money nor “authorized anyone to speak to them on his behalf.” (Jerry Mitchell, Jackson Clarion-Ledger, Feb. 21). See Dec. 19, Aug. 19, Jul. 27 and links from there. Update Apr. 30, 2005: Diaz’s ex-wife reaches plea agreement with prosecutors.
Picking at the salmon bones, pt. III
Updating our reports of last Dec. 14 and Jul. 30: a judge in Alaska has approved a plan to divide $40 million in settlement proceeds from a lawsuit charging price-fixing in purchases of Alaskan sockeye salmon. Plaintiff’s lawyers will get $16.4 million in fees and expenses, defendants who prevailed in court will get $13.8 million to pay their lawyers and legal costs, and plaintiff fisherman will share less than $10 million. (“Court approves salmon lawsuit settlement”, AP/Anchorage Daily News, Feb. 6)
GOP Florida Senate primary heats up
Updating our Dec. 15 report: former U.S. Rep. Bill McCollum has been hammering former HUD secretary Mel Martinez for his past work with the Florida Academy of Trial Lawyers and for his donations to Democratic candidates including an opponent of former Republican Sen. Connie Mack. In response, “Martinez campaign officials said McCollum had broken Ronald Reagan’s ’11th commandment’ to not speak ill of other Republicans.” (Ken Thomas, “Unity suffering in GOP Senate race”, AP/Sarasota Herald Tribune, Feb. 21; Joel Eskovitz, “McCollum goes on attack against Martinez”, Naples Daily News, Feb. 14; Ken Thomas, “McCollum criticizes Martinez’s work with trial lawyers”, AP/San Jose Mercury News, Feb. 10; Adam C. Smith, “GOP is selective in lashing lawyers”, St. Petersburg Times, Jan. 29). Update Sept. 3: Martinez wins primary.
Update: Eisenberg/Miller study
The Class Action Coalition releases a refutation of the much-hyped Eisenberg/Miller study (Jan. 16) to be published in the forthcoming Journal of Empirical Legal Studies purporting to analyze trends in attorneys’ fees in federal and state class actions. In an analysis of published opinions, Eisenberg and Miller claim that attorneys’ fees in class actions have been stable over time, and that state courts have not been more generous than federal courts in such cases.
But, say the Class Action Coalition, the methodology of the study biases the result; by relying solely on published opinions, the study omits the numerous unpublished settlements. Moreover, as the authors acknowledge, the mix of federal settlements (where securities cases tend to be litigated) is different than state settlements under current law. By averaging all state courts, the paper ignores the fundamental problem of magnet jurisdictions. Finally, the study makes no effort to distinguish between announced and actual relief to the class: a $20 coupon is treated as equivalent to a $20 check. “In short, in state court cases, the relief actually recovered by class members is often far less than what was ‘advertised’ in the settlement proposal. The authors essentially assume away this problem — the key problem with state court class action settlements.”
The paper was debated at an AEI event today.
In Madison County, a totally spontaneous outpouring
The editorialists of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch have described the court system of nearby Madison County, Ill., as aromatic (see Sept. 26, Jan. 5, etc., etc.), but now a group called Victims and Families United has formed to defend the county’s far-famed litigation culture. According to the group’s spokeswoman, “behind every lawsuit is a real victim or family who is seeking justice and democracy”. (Sanford J. Schmidt, “Victims say suits justified, to offer malpractice fixes”, Alton Telegraph, Feb. 17). Was the formation of this group a totally spontaneous outpouring of gratitude by the citizenry of Madison County toward its benefactors in the plaintiff’s bar? Some have their doubts: David Giacalone (Feb. 19) is one who suspects that these particular grass roots “got fed some fertilizer”.