Ferrell Hunter, a sheriff’s deputy in Tunica County, Mississippi, was a Stakhanovite arrester of motorists on DUI charges, hailed by the state chapter of Mothers Against Drunk Driving as the state’s top such enforcement officer. But something MADD did not realize was that Tunica County has had a peculiarly low rate of actual conviction for DUI defendants. It turned out that Hunter had an arrangement with former Oxford attorney Joe Gregory Stewart: Hunter would provide Stewart with the names of motorists he arrested, Stewart would approach them and sign them up as clients, Hunter would then fail to make court dates so that the charges would be dropped, and Stewart would kick him back $200 or $300 per case. Now Hunter will serve three years probation after pleading guilty to conspiracy to commit extortion, while Stewart was sentenced to three years probation, hit with a $20,000 fine and disbarred. (Andy Wise, “Former Tunica County Deputy Sentenced For Fixing DUI’s”, WREG, Mar. 10)(via Lori Patel).
Archive for June, 2004
Pediatric orthopedic surgeon driven out of spinal surgery
In the complicated surgery to correct scoliosis, screws and rods are inserted and bone added into the spine. The risk of nerve damage or paralysis is such that there is something called the Stagnara wake up test, whereby the patient is woken during surgery to ensure she can move her feet. In 1999, however, Joshua Terry was one of the unfortunate 0.1% who was paralyzed during surgery. And, according to the newspaper account, his lawyer, Jay Kelley, found four surgeons to testify against defendant Dr. Ernest Lindell that “paralysis was not a potential complication” from surgery on the spine to correct scoliosis. A Lucas County, Ohio jury awarded $8.4 million to Mr. Terry and another million to his parents. And Dr. Lindell will no longer perform spinal surgery. (“Paralyzed area man wins $10M judgment”, Toledo Blade, Jun. 16; P. Stagnara, et al., “Functional monitoring of spinal cord activity during spinal surgery”, Clin. Orthop., 1973; 93: 173?8).
EFF Ten-Most Wanted Patents List
The Electronic Frontier Foundation announces a contest to find and publicize–and challenge–illegitimate patents:
In order to qualify for our ten most-wanted list, a patent must be software or Internet-related and there must be a good reason to suspect that the patent claims are invalid. We’re especially interested in patents that target tools of free expression, such as streaming media, blogging tools, and voice over IP (VoIP) technology. Most importantly, the patent-holder must be aggressively enforcing its patent and suing (or threatening to sue) alleged infringers. We’re particularly interested in cases where the patent-holder is trying to force small businesses, individuals, nonprofits, and consumers to pay licensing fees. Deadline to enter is June 23.
“EFF staff attorney Jason Schultz, who heads the project, said he can’t wait to see what the contest turns up. ‘We have seen illegitimate patents asserted on such simple technologies as one-click online shopping, video streaming, and paying with credit cards online. When individuals and small businesses are faced with million-dollar legal demands, they have no choice but to capitulate and pay license fees. We aim to change that.'” (EFF press release, Jun. 10) (via Crouch).
Mistook dance floor for conference workshop
New Hampshire: “Attorney General Peter Heed resigned abruptly Tuesday because of an allegation of inappropriate conduct with a woman. Gov. Craig Benson said the alleged incident occurred at a conference last month in Bretton Woods on preventing sexual and domestic abuse. …WMUR-TV reported that the alleged incident occurred after hours on a dance floor.” (Kate McGann, “New Hampshire A.G. Heed resigns over misconduct allegation”, Boston Globe, Jun. 15).
Santa Monica sues MTBE lawyers
The city of Santa Monica, Calif. made headlines last year when it won a large settlement from oil companies over MTBE (methyl tertiary-butyl ether)contamination of its water supply, but now it’s locked in a bitter legal dispute with the private law firms it hired over their fee bill, which could reach $66 million. The firms include Miller & Sawyer, Baron & Budd, and Sher & Leff. The case is being watched elsewhere in part because Baron & Budd and other law firms have signed up numerous other state and local governments as clients to press MTBE claims on a contingency basis. (Eric Peters, “Nation watches suit of Santa Monica v. lawyers”, Contra Costa Times, Jun. 6; Blair Clarkson, “City Overcomes Final Hurdle in Oil Suit Battle”, The Lookout, Mar. 4)(see Jun. 11-12, 2002, Nov. 25, 2003). See also Doug Bandow, “Energy Bill Debate Confirms a Lawyer-Democrat Alliance”, Cato Daily, Feb. 14. More (via SoCalLawBlog): Gregory Crofton, “Santa Monica fighting legal bills for MTBE lawsuit”, Tahoe Daily Tribune, Jun. 4.
Australia roundup
Striking a blow for personal responsibility, the High Court of Australia has ruled that a woman who drank too much at a bar and later injured herself cannot recover from the drinking establishment on the grounds it should have cut her off sooner. Chief Justice Murray Gleeson “said the onus should not be on clubs to prevent injury to those who drank to excess” and wrote: “There are many forms of excessive eating and drinking that involve health risks, but, as a rule, we leave it to individuals to decide for themselves how much they eat and drink. There are sound reasons for that, associated with values of autonomy and privacy.” (Michael Pelly, “Blaming the barman is out: court”, Sydney Morning Herald (soon to adopt registration), Jun. 16)(see May 12, 2003). Judges from the highest courts of New South Wales and Queensland are among the latest to be taken in by a widely circulated list of amusing but entirely fictitious court cases which supposedly won “Stella Awards”; our debunking appeared August 2001. (“Our Stella judges”, MediaWatch, Jun. 14). And the High Court in April heard a case which seeks to overturn the longstanding prohibition on negligence suits against barristers by clients harmed by the errors and omissions they make in advancing legal arguments. “Immunity for advocates has been abandoned in many other countries, including Canada and the United States. However, many Australian barristers argue that the risk of being sued would lead to spiralling insurance premiums and costly litigation.” (Sonia Harford, “Lawyers wait on High Court case”, Melbourne Age, Apr. 25).
Karma ran over his dogma: Sheldon Silver sued
The New York assembly speaker, who’s done more than anyone in Albany to keep the right to sue on a continually expanding course, now faces a lawsuit charging him with tolerating an atmosphere of sexual harassment, following extremely ugly allegations of sexual assault against his chief counsel, Michael Boxley. (New York Post coverage: “Silver’s slippery slope” (editorial), Jun. 13; Frederic U. Dicker, “Victim to sue Silver”, Jun. 9; Frederic U. Dicker and Kenneth Lovett, “Silver ‘rape’ blame”, Jun. 10; Frederic U. Dicker, “Pretzel popper Silver dissed my rape claim”, Jun. 14. More on Silver: May 1, 2000; May 11-13, 2001; Dec. 13-15, 2002; Jun. 9, 2003. In other news, powerful Republican State Senator Guy Velella of the Bronx, whose law firm’s successful injury suits against New York City were mentioned in this space May 1, 2000, has fallen in a corruption scandal (“Guy Velella Pleads Guilty”, AP/WCBS, May 17).
Update Feb. 5, 2006: suit against Silver’s office settles for $500K, most of it taxpayer funds.
Ups and downs of a $2.5 million verdict
Roller coaster, indeed: Maryland’s highest court has thrown out a jury’s $2.5 million verdict against the operator of the Six Flags amusement park at Largo over a 1999 incident in which park employees told a family that their 4-year-old daughter did not meet the height requirement for the Typhoon Sea Coaster ride. The family refused to get off the ride and there ensued an altercation with park employees which resulted in several family members being handcuffed and led away to security — none were apparently seriously hurt — before being let go an hour later. How did a dispute of this magnitude snowball into a $2.5 million jury verdict? Well, it seems that although the original charges against the park operators did not make an issue of race, lawyers for the plaintiffs (who are African-American) had repeatedly played up racial angles before the Prince Georges County jury. Finding “a significant probability that the verdict was influenced by improper and irrelevant insinuations by their attorneys and certain of their witnesses of racial discrimination by alleged employees of the corporate defendant,” the court ordered retrial (“Court of Appeals overturns $2.5 million award in Six Flags suit”, AP/InsideBaltimore, May 17; CoasterBuzz, May 18; Tierco v. Williams, opinion in PDF format)(via Insurance Defense Blog, Jun. 1). Just to guarantee the burning up of even more resources, the case spawned insurance coverage litigation (PDF) in Delaware.
Total information awareness — for litigators
Worried about the hypothetical privacy dangers resulting from “data mining” by federal security agencies chasing terrorists? Then you might want to spare a thought for the privacy implications of a commercial service called SmartJury, affiliated with the same database company that has been selling information on private citizens to the government for antiterrorist use. As Alex Tabarrok notes, SmartJury promises to provide trial lawyers with
real-time access to public record information on potential jurors. Within seconds of entering potential jurors, you will receive reports including information such as: Criminal Records; Political Party Affiliations; Bankruptcies; Corporate Affiliations; Real Property Ownership (including value); Motor Vehicle Registrations; Web Site Domain Names; and 2000 Census Information (including median household income, average age, average years of education, and median home value).
Adds Tabarrok: “Helpfully, SmartJury also provides demographic information from survey results to predict how each juror will vote! …the board of SmartJury is littered with well-placed government types like Jack Kemp, William Bennett and Robert Kennedy Jr.”
The Rule of Lawyers on radio
I’m scheduled to be a guest tomorrow morning (Tues.) at 8 a.m. EDT on Jim Blasingame’s “Small Business Advocate” nationwide radio show (more), and then at 10 a.m. EDT on Cincinnati’s WLW. And then on Wednesday from 11 to 12 a.m. EDT I’ll be the guest of Laurie Morrow on Vermont’s “True North Radio“. In each case I’ll be discussing my book “The Rule of Lawyers”, just out in paperback from St. Martin’s/Griffin (more).
If you’re a booker for a broadcast show or other news outlet, you’re aware that it’s at times like this, with books just reaching the stores, that authors and publishers are most eager to cooperate. To ask about appearances, contact Jamie Stockton at the St. Martin’s publicity department: 212-674-5151, ext. 502, or email me directly.
While we’re at it, you just know that The Rule of Lawyers would make an ideal Father’s Day gift, and Amazon (although its stocks are low) offers special shipping guaranteed to arrive by the weekend. It’s also available from Barnes & Noble, Powell’s, and (hardcover) Laissez Faire Books.