Things might start getting lively if judges used this sanction more often: “A federal judge in Fresno, Calif., has ordered the entire 80-lawyer firm of Lozano Smith back to school for a refresher course in ethics as a sanction for repeated misrepresentation of facts and the law in a dispute over aid for a learning-disabled student.” U.S. District Judge Oliver Wanger said the law firm, which represents many California school districts in special-ed matters, “its lead attorney in the case, Elaine Yama, and the district [the Bret Harte Union School District in central California] engaged in repeated misstatements of the record, frivolous objections to plaintiff’s statement of facts, and repeated mischaracterizations of the law.'” (Pamela A. MacLean, “Judge Orders Law Firm Back to School”, National Law Journal, Feb. 14).
Archive for February, 2005
Daily evangelical TV show
Just another part of Mr. Scrushy’s criminal defense strategy? (Simon Romero, “Will the Real Richard Scrushy Please Step Forward?”, New York Times, Feb. 17).
Eyewitness identifications
Fixing some of the problems (Steve Chapman, “You can’t always believe what you think you see”, syndicated/Chicago Tribune, Feb. 17).
$17M against Archdiocese of Milwaukee for auto accident
The Archdiocese of Milwaukee finds itself on the hook for $17 million because a volunteer member of a volunteer group that occasionally meets on church property ran a red light. The Legion of Mary visits ailing parishioners and offers transportation to mass; on March 25, 2002, member Margaret Morse, delivering a statue to a parishioner, ran a red light and struck the car of 82-year-old semiretired barber Hjalmer Heikkinen, paralyzing him and ending his career. Morse’s insurance company tried to shift the burden to the church, which ended up being held responsible on the principle of respondeat superior, the doctrine that holds a business liable for the negligence of its employees. This makes sense for a business, which chooses its employees, and can hire and fire. Is a church supposed to do the same for religious volunteer groups that occasionally meet on its property? That’s one way to ensure there will be less volunteer activity: the church will need to hire someone to supervise and screen volunteer groups in a way that isn’t done now. “‘They really do accommodate a huge amount of groups all the time,’ from religious cooperators such as the Knights of Columbus to secular groups including Alcoholics Anonymous and the Boy Scouts, archdiocese attorney Frank L. Steeves said. ‘These groups are out doing the kinds of things we don’t direct or control in any way.'” $15.5 million of the award was for non-economic damages, though post-trial motions may change the result. (Derrick Nunnally, “Church told to pay $17 million”, Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, Feb. 18). Update: Feb. 27; the verdict was upheld on appeal.
Happens to judges too
From Phil Kabler’s “Statehouse Beat” column in the Charleston, W.V. Gazette, Feb. 14 (reg):
It sounds like one of those urban legends, but this one is true.
No sooner had [State] Supreme Court Justice Elliott “Spike” Maynard gotten out of his SUV after a fender-bender downtown last week when a woman approached him, asked if he was hurt, and gave him the name and phone number of the Charleston law firm where she works.
Sugar industry vs. Splenda
Alarmed by the sweetener Splenda’s steady rise in consumer popularity and market share, organized sugar producers in December filed a California false-advertising suit against distributor McNeil Nutritionals, a unit of Johnson & Johnson. The lawsuit challenges the artificial sweetener’s slogan “made from sugar, so it tastes like sugar”, on the grounds that sucralose, the active ingredient in Splenda, is produced using chemical processes, even if sugar does happen to go into it. A number of private lawyers are pursuing similar theories in consumer lawsuits pursuing class-action status. In turn, J&J has struck back with a lawsuit against the Sugar Association and other defendants alleging a “malicious smear campaign” aimed at undercutting consumer confidence in the sweetener’s safety. (Patrick Walters, “Splenda’s maker sues sugar producers”, AP/Detroit Free Press, Feb. 9; Laura Petrecca and Holly M. Sanders, “Sweet and Low”, New York Post, Feb. 13; Claire Cummings, “Splenda sugar substitute receives praise, lawsuits from consumers”, State News (Michigan State U.), Feb. 16). Update: National Law Journal coverage of controversy (Apr. 8).
James Guckert threatens suit
Media Matters may have to rethink its apparent bias against litigation reform. They’ll have to spend some unnecessary money on lawyers if Jeff Gannon/James Guckert follows up on his claim that he’ll be suing the group (along with liberal bloggers) for the non-existent cause of action of “political assassination” for revealing his strange double-life. (Newsweek, Feb. 28).
Pittsburgh RR crossing case
Welcome Baltimore Sun readers
On Thursday the Baltimore Sun quoted me saying unflattering things about Stephen L. Snyder, the successful local attorney who’s taken out very costly ads ostensibly aimed at attracting a $1 billion case (see Feb. 16). I said Snyder has probably has made it onto the Top Ten list of tasteless lawyer-advertisers, having particularly in mind the cheesy way his website flips off would-be clients whose cases, however meritorious, lack a big enough payoff (Jennifer McMenamin, “In search of a $1 billion case, fielding 100 calls”, Baltimore Sun, Feb. 16)(reg). A week earlier the same paper quoted me commenting on the likely impact on civil litigation of a federal grand jury’s indictment of the W.R. Grace Co. and seven of its current or former executives; the charges arise from the widely publicized exposure of townspeople and others to asbestos hazards from the company’s vermiculite mine at Libby, Montana. (William Patalon III, “Grace’s plight made worse”, Feb. 9).
And: Rob Asghar of the Ashland (Ore.) Daily Tidings devoted two recent columns to the problem of overlawyering and was kind enough to quote my opinions (“Law and disorder”, part 1 (Feb. 7) and part 2 (Feb. 14)). NYC councilman David Yassky, sponsor of the let’s-sue-over-guns ordinance that I criticized in the New York Times two weeks ago (see Feb. 6), responds today with a letter to the editor defending the legislation (Feb. 20). My Manhattan Institute colleague Jim Copland, writing in the Washington Times on the passage of the Class Action Fairness Act, quotes my Feb. 11 post on the subject (“Tort tax cut”, Feb. 15). Finally, the New York Sun covers a recent Institute luncheon at which I introduced ABC’s John Stossel (Robert E. Sullivan, “John Stossel Chides the ‘Liberal’ Press for Spinelessness”, Feb. 9)(sub-$).
“I Am Not A Jackass”
A.J. Jacobs considers–and rejects–the idea of suing Joe Queenan over a bad book review.
But then I remembered what I had learned in the encyclopedia: James McNeill Whistler tried this tactic, and it ended pretty badly. He filed a libel suit in 1878 after the critic John Ruskin called him a ”coxcomb” and denounced his painting ”Nocturne in Black and Gold: The Falling Rocket.” Whistler won a token judgment of a farthing — but the cost of the case bankrupted him. So no lawsuits from me. And at least I wasn’t called a coxcomb.