Close on the heels of the verdict in the Rhode Island paint retrial (Feb. 23; PoL Feb. 17) comes more bad news for companies that once manufactured lead paint: an appeals court has reinstated the lawsuit against them filed by various California counties and local governments. The suit seeks money for, among other things, the removal of lead paint in government buildings and low-income housing. (“Suit Against Makers of Lead Paint Is Reinstated”, Reuters/Los Angeles Times, Mar 4)(opinion in PDF format)(hat tip: Jane Genova).
Archive for 2006
Update: Grand Theft Auto suits
Now the shareholder lawyers are piling on: class-actioneers Milberg Weiss and Stull, Stull & Brody would like to represent “people who owned Take-Two shares between Oct. 25, 2004, the launch of ‘Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas,’ and Jan. 27, 2006, the day that Los Angeles’ city attorney sued Take-Two for selling pornographic video games to children.” (“More legal woes for ‘Grand Theft Auto’ maker”, Reuters, Feb. 15). Earlier coverage: Jan. 28, Jul. 27, etc.
Update: Mississippi judicial corruption retrial
The retrial of the judicial bribery case against prominent attorney Paul Minor and two former state judges has now been set for Aug. 14, following delays requested by Minor’s attorneys (Anita Lee, “Judicial trial set Aug. 14”, Biloxi Sun-Herald, Feb. 11). And the federal tax evasion trial of Mississippi Supreme Court Justice Oliver Diaz Jr. is now scheduled for Apr. 3 (“Diaz tax trial delayed”, Feb. 21). For more, see Dec. 10 and our many previous links.
Sammenhold
It means “solidarity” in Danish, and specifically solidarity with the endangered liberties of Denmark, where some of the “Mohammed” cartoonists live in hiding after threats to their lives. (Michelle Malkin, Mar. 3, complete with “Lego My Free Speech” rally sign; Flemming Rose, “Why I Published Those Cartoons”, Washington Post, Feb. 19). More here and here. 
BlackBerry dispute settles for $612M
“Although the U.S. Patent Office recently invalidated most of the patents at issue in the dispute, NTP still had the right to appeal. However, RIM was put in a tough position because [Judge] Spencer didn’t have to wait for a final decision on the validity of the patents before making his decision on the injunction. As a result, RIM was forced to pay up, said Ken Dulaney, a vice president and analyst with Gartner, while NTP was inclined to take what it could get.” (Ryan Kim, “BlackBerry users emerge from the legal briar patch”, San Francisco Chronicle, Mar. 4). Earlier coverage on this site: May 2, Oct. 11, Nov. 30, 2005, and Feb. 8, Feb. 25, 2006.
Ohio high court OKs wrongful-birth cases
By a 4-3 margin, the Ohio Supreme Court has approved (PDF) a “wrongful birth” suit against doctors by parents who say they would have aborted their child had they not been given inaccurate genetic counseling. The court did reject the views of Justices Paul Pfeifer and Alice Resnick (as well as that of a lower court judge) who thought the damages payable should include the cost of raising the child through adulthood, plus pain and suffering. (Andrew Welsh-Huggins, “Supreme Court allows lawsuits over missed genetic disorders”, AP/Akron Beacon Journal, Mar. 3). However, some Ohio legislators are proposing to enact a law precluding wrongful-birth lawsuits; a bill to that effect passed the state senate this past week, but has not yet been considered by the house (Jim Provence, “Bill would protect doctors from ‘wrongful birth’ suits”, Toledo Blade, Mar. 1). More on wrongful-birth suits: Sept. 16, 2004 and links from there; May 1 (Australia) and Jun. 14, 2005. More: WizBang takes an extremely dim view of the parents in the case (Mar. 3).
AEI Liability Outlook: “Making the FAIR Act Fair”
The first edition of the AEI Liability Outlook is out today, and features my analysis of pending asbestos legislation:
The AEI Liability Project hereby inaugurates its Liability Outlook series, designed to guarantee a paper trail to exclude any of its authors from Article III appointments. This Outlook examines the congressional attempts at asbestos liability reform. The eventual cost of asbestos litigation is estimated in the hundreds of billions of dollars, the majority of which will end up in the hands of attorneys, thus affecting thousands of corporate defendants with little or no culpability and costing tens of thousands of jobs. The trust-fund approach is a congressional attempt to reach a compromise on the liability problem, so long as nationwide reform is not politically feasible. While a trust fund has the potential to save tens of billions of dollars, the current legislation suffers from dangerous flaws that could make the cost of the asbestos litigation crisis far worse.
Other Point of Law coverage of S. 852. (Cross-posted at Point of Law.)
“$ue $omebody”
It’s been circulating for a while, but can still raise a laugh: this satirical video from DamageControlOnline.com simulates an infomercial for a self-help kit on suing people (Google Video, posted Oct. 18 — some off-color language).
Madison County asbestos: one for the books (O’Connell v. Georgia-Pacific)
Even Madison County juries have their limits it seems.
Anita O’Connell claimed that her mesothelioma came from asbestos from washing her husband’s and children’s laundry. Perhaps. But none of her three sons who worked for her father whose clothing she washed would testify in support of that. Instead, a fourth son, Michael O’Connell, who didn’t work for her husband’s plastering business, sought to blame Bondex International and Georgia-Pacific.
The plaintiff claimed the joint compound caused Anita O’Connell’s asbestos exposure because she shook her son’s clothes before laundering them.
The supplier for the O’Connell plastering business testified that only plaster was sold to the O’Connell business, not joint compound. The supplier also testified that he never carried the Bondex brand.
Michael O’Connell testified he remembered seeing silver Georgia-Pacific cans of joint compound, but that company’s cans were not silver during the period O’Connell claimed to have worked with drywall.
Adding chutzpah upon chutzpah, plaintiffs’ attorney Charla Aldous of Baron & Budd asked for $10 million in damages for the 84-year-old plaintiff. The jury awarded nothing. (Brian Brueggemann, “Madison County jury rejects woman’s plea”, Belleville News-Democrat, Mar. 2; Steve Gonzalez, “Jury reaches defense verdict in Madison County trial”, Madison County Record, Mar. 2; Friable Thoughts blog, Mar. 2).
Long-time readers may nod knowingly and think of the infamous Baron & Budd witness-coaching memo, which I have posted in full on the Liability Project’s “Documents in the News” page.
Many many more links after the jump.
Restaurant can’t oust neo-Nazi patrons
Not according to the ACLU of Southern California, at least. That’s the apparent lesson of a 1986 incident which drew little publicity at the time, but which David Bernstein recently investigated. The proprietors of the Alpine Village Inn in Torrance, Calif. were understandably outraged when a group of four customers came in wearing swastika pins and other Nazi regalia. It asked them to leave, but they refused and so it called the cops; its reward was to be sued by the ACLU under California’s Unruh Act for its failure to provide public accommodation to the Hitler fans. According to Bernstein’s informant, the restaurant’s insurer paid a settlement. (Feb. 24)