Evan Schaeffer, who’s poked fun before at the way plaintiff’s lawyers from elsewhere in the country endeavor to solicit business in his own Madison County, has some thoughts (Aug. 23) prompted by a Minnesota lawyer’s advertisement which includes a LOT OF CAPITAL LETTERING and which lays out a “Chinese menu” of potential complaints which might entitle the prospective client to money damages. Touchingly, the ad in the Alton, Ill. Telegraph addresses the danger that some local residents might be so unfortunate as not to be exposed to its message: “CLIP AND SAVE. Please take this notice and post it in your nursing home, church, community center or anywhere that it may reach people who are suffering and need help.”
Archive for August, 2004
Before he reached the Senate, cont’d
FindLaw has a convenient listing of the most prominent cases handled by John Edwards when he was in private practice, along with a selection of links to opinion pieces taking both positive and negative views of the senator. For more on Sen. Edwards, check our politics page. Yet more: Legal Times, Aug. 4.
Iraq: suing swords into plowshares?
Tying down the military Gulliver with writs: “The mother of a Scottish soldier killed in Iraq plans to sue the Ministry of Defence over her son’s death. Rose Gentle believes the MoD was negligent and breached its duty of care” by not equipping the patrol on which her 19-year-old son Gordon was serving with an electronic signal jamming device that might have prevented a roadside bombing in Basra in June in which the younger Gordon lost his life. (“Soldier’s mother plans to sue MoD”, BBC, Aug. 27). (& letter to the editor, Oct. 31). In the U.S., meanwhile, attorneys with the far-left National Lawyers Guild (see Apr. 27, 2000) “plan to open another front against the war in Iraq …with a federal lawsuit targeting Pentagon orders forcing military reservists to remain on active duty. The so-called ‘stop-loss’ orders have kept people in the military beyond the end-dates of their enlistments since the 9/11 terrorist attacks.” (Jeff Chorney, “Challenge to Be Filed to Military’s ‘Stop-Loss’ Orders”, The Recorder, Aug. 17).
“‘Hurt feelings’ win killer $1200”
“A man jailed for brutally murdering a teenage girl has been awarded [NZ]$1200 compensation for hurt feelings and humiliation while in prison.” (Bridget Carter, New Zealand Herald, Aug. 23). “In a decision that prompted political anger, the Human Rights Review Tribunal said inmate Andrew MacMillan had suffered “injury to his feelings, loss of dignity and humiliation” when he was denied access to [a letter written about him]. MacMillan was jailed in 1988 for raping and killing Jayne McLellan, 17.” (“Convicted NZ murderer compensated for hurt feelings”, ABC News Online, Aug. 23; “Rapist-killer wins cash award for hurt feelings”, Sydney Morning Herald, Aug. 23).
Sues over restaurant review
Restaurateur Phil Romano earlier this month “slapped Dallas Morning News restaurant critic Dotty Griffith and the Belo Corp., the newspaper’s parent, with a suit alleging fraud, malice, defamation and an ‘attempt to cripple the business of one of Dallas’ finest new restaurants’ via an April 16 restaurant review. That finest new restaurant is Il Mulino New York, the Romano-shepherded Dallas extension of the much heralded Greenwich Village venue founded in 1981 by Fernando and Gino Masci.” (Mark Stuertz, “Eat My Briefs”, Dallas Observer, Aug. 12; Sean Mehegan, “The Porcini Was Praiseworthy, but a Lawsuit Was Served Next”, New York Times, Aug. 23). Update Jan. 3, 2006: parties settle with paper agreeing to run second review.
CD Price Fixing settlement
Attorneys’ fees for the Compact Disc Antitrust Litigation Settlement were based in part on the idea that there would be $75.7 million in “non-cash consideration”–charitable donations of 5.5 million CDs, valued at 20% below “suggested retail price.” The CDs have started to arrive at local libraries, and SiliconValley.com, compiling local news reports, is finding that the $75.7 million figure is generous, given the nature of the CDs being distributed, which include such titles as “Martha Stewart Living: Spooky Scary Sounds for Halloween”, “Music from the HBO Original Movie BoyCott”, and “John Lithgow Singin’ In The Bathtub.” North Carolina libraries got 1,300 copies of country-rocker Clay Davidson’s “Unconditional”; a Washington state school district reportedly got a similar number of Whitney Houston singles of “The Star Spangled Banner.” Michigan finds that the only Elvis available is not Presley or Costello, but Crespo. “There’s nothing here you would want to buy even for $1.99,” a Virginia librarian complained. (John Paczkowski, Aug. 4 (sixth item) (via Postrel); Tonya Shipley, “Library looks to positive side of free CDs”, Zanesville Times Recorder, Aug. 3; Sam Hodges, “Libraries: CD deal more headache than hit”, Charlotte Observer, Jul. 30; Robert Snell, “Martha? Yanni?”, Flint Journal, Aug. 22; AP, Aug. 2; Fred Carroll, “Lots of CDs, but who’ll listen?”, Hampton Roads Daily Press, Aug. 19; dozens of other local articles). The only reason for this fiction was to rationalize a multi-million-dollar payment to the plaintiffs’ lawyers, a payment that may well exceed the actual (as opposed to settlement-named) value of the free CDs.
Sunburst Works Refinery $41M verdict
In 1955, there was a gasoline pipeline leak at the Sunburst Works Refinery that caused minor contamination of a 19-acre underground site. Texaco cleaned the spill at the time, and did further millions of dollars of cleanup starting in 1993. State regulators determined that there was no health effects, and that benzene levels in Sunburst, Montana were no different than in areas unaffected by the spill. The state Department of Environmental Quality ruled that nothing more needed to be done beyond additional monitoring, not least because the groundwater at issue isn’t used for anything–even livestock find it “naturally too briny” to drink.
Not good enough, say some residents and their lawyers, who blame the half-century-old spill for a variety of illnesses from arthritis to mononucleosis. They sued to require additional multi-million dollar cleanup. The plaintiffs originally sought damages for decreased property values, though townpeople who refused to join the lawsuit say that the main cause of the decreased property values is bad publicity from the 2001 lawsuit. (There are only 82 plaintiffs in a town of about 400.) Texaco acknowledges responsibility for the spill, but disputed the need to spend millions more on a clean-up methodology of little efficacy. The judge refused to allow Texaco to introduce evidence that they did exactly what the Montana regulators asked them to do, and a jury awarded a $41 million verdict, including $25 million in punitive damages. Texaco will appeal. The case is important because the verdict could encourage other “double-whammy” lawsuits on companies who have already been spending millions to comply with the extensive state and federal environmental regulations. (Kathleen A. Schultz, “Texaco to appeal Sunburst ruling”, Great Falls Tribune, Aug. 20; “Jury Rules Against ChevronTexaco In Cleanup Suit”, Wall Street Journal, Aug. 20 (sub – $); Reuters, Aug. 20; Kathleen A. Schultz, “Texaco must pay Sunburst $41M”, Aug. 19; Kathleen A. Schultz, “Texaco-Sunburst trial gets under way”, Jul. 26).
“Symbolism 1, Substance 0”
I’ve got an op-ed in this morning’s Wall Street Journal (Aug. 23)(reprinted at Manhattan Institute site) examining what I term the “surprisingly conciliatory” line the Kerry/Edwards campaign has taken in recent weeks on litigation reform, and analyzing (insofar as that’s possible, given the thus-far-sketchy details) the five-point plan the two offer for addressing the malpractice-suit crisis. For more, see my Aug. 9 post and links from there. Also check out this site’s omnibus pages on politics, which includes many recent posts on Kerry and Edwards, and on medical liability. (Yet more: Point of Law).
Common Cause: car-dealer ads may run afoul of McCain-Feingold
The first election without the First Amendment, as Paul Jacob has called it, is getting pretty surreal: the role of money in politics hasn’t diminished, but many more of us are at risk of being exposed to harsh legal penalties for expressing our opinions. (George Will, “Campaign Cops and Car Ads”, Washington Post, Aug. 22; Paul Jacob, “With the Boss, but without the First Amendment”, syndicated/TownHall, Aug. 8; “Campaign finance” (editorial), Houston Chronicle, Aug. 16; George Will, “Speech crime in Wisconsin”, Newsweek, Aug. 16). More: Robert Samuelson, Juan Non-Volokh.
1-800-PIT-BULL: no urban legend
At a June 30 debate on lawyers’ advertising sponsored by the Orlando Lawyers Chapter of the Federalist Society, plaintiff’s lawyer John Morgan challenged Republican Rep. David Simmons for repeatedly referring to a law firm’s having used the phone number 1-800-PIT- BULL. “He offered to bet Simmons $1,000, with the loser contributing to the winner?s favorite charity, if Simmons could find a lawyer ad using the PIT BULL number,” according to an account in Florida Bar Online.
“Hope Morgan?s checkbook was handy,” the account continues, because, as is easily verified, 1-800-PIT-BULL is indeed the proudly advertised call line of the Fort Lauderdale law firm of Pape and Chandler, which specializes in representing injured motorcyclists. (“1-800-PITBULL is for real”, Florida Bar News Online, Aug. 1; Gary Blankenship, “Orlando Federalists debate lawyer advertising”, Florida Bar News Online, Aug. 1). The firm has been profiled in the Florida press: a 2002 account in the Miami Herald says its “pit bull” commercial, which has run during Jerry Springer’s talk show among other programs, “brings in as many as 60 phone calls a day”. (Cindy Krischer Goodman, “Pit bull ad pays off for Miami lawyers”, Sept. 16, 2002 (reg)). The Florida Bar has also sought to discipline the firm for its ads: Julie Kay, “Crackdown on Lawyer Ads”, Miami Daily Business Review, Jul. 12. See also Matthew Haggman, “Fla. Lawmakers May Vote Today to Curb Lawyer Advertising”, Miami Daily Business Review, Mar. 23. For more, see David Giacalone, May 10. (Update Sept. 19, 2004: Florida Bar disciplinary attempt ruled unconstitutional; Jan. 15, 2006: Florida Supreme Court rules against firm.)
According to Kevin O’Keefe of Real Lawyers Have Blogs (Dec. 5, 2003), “Morgan of the Orlando law firm Morgan, Colling & Gilbert (MGC), his wife and Johnnie Cochran, along with Pensacola trial lawyers J. Michael Papantonio and Fred Levin, own a consulting firm called Practice Made Perfect, which handles marketing and advertising for law firms around the country.” For yet more on Morgan, see the last sentence in our Jul. 27 entry.