Kevin M.D. takes ATLA president Ken Suggs to task for the aggressive claim that defensive medicine doesn’t exist. Speaking of hoaxes, Suggs also repeats the long-refuted myth that insurance companies are to blame for higher malpractice premiums. At this rate, ATLA needs more than a name change.
Archive for 2006
$183 million for a meritless claim
That’s what plaintiffs’ lawyers will receive for a federal class action that was dismissed on summary judgment for lack of evidence. The Eleventh Circuit had previously pooh-poohed defendants’ claims that the potentially bankrupting scope of the class action would force them into extortionate settlements. For refusing to pay protection money, United Healthcare and Coventry avoided paying millions of dollars in settlement money, but still had to pay their own attorneys and experts millions—and faced substantial risk that a court and a jury would get the decision wrong. Details at today’s Point of Law.
Sued for expressing “glee” over lawyer’s indictment
“A prominent civil rights attorney who was indicted this month on tax charges has sued a retired police detective for writing a letter that expressed ‘glee’ at the news. Stephen Yagman claims in the suit filed Wednesday that the three-paragraph letter he received from Jerry Le Frois caused him ‘extreme emotional distress.’ Le Frois’ June 23 letter says he felt ‘glee and profound satisfaction’ when he learned that Yagman had been charged earlier this month in a 19-count federal indictment. Le Frois identified himself as a former member of the Los Angeles Police Department’s Special Investigations Section, which was a frequent target of Yagman’s civil rights suits.” (“Attorney sues former L.A. cop who expressed ‘glee’ he was indicted”, AP/Sacramento Bee, Jun. 29). More watch-what-you-say-about-lawyers posts: Apr. 18 and links from there.
“Intermittent explosive disorder”
When workers exhibit this malady — roughly definable as losing their temper or blowing their stack to a pathological degree — are employers obliged to accommodate them under the Americans with Disabilities Act? (Jon Coppelman, Workers Comp Insider, Jun. 14).
Never trust content from “U.S. Surgeon General”
The Surgeon General of the United States last week claimed that “breathing secondhand smoke for even a short time” can “potentially increas[e] the risk of heart attack”. How much evidence is there for that proposition? Michael Siegel inquires (Jun. 28; Jacob Sullum, Reason “Hit and Run”, Jun. 28 and Jun. 29). According to Brooke Oberwetter of the Competitive Enterprise Institute, the same new report from the Surgeon General uncritically passes along the much-ballyhooed “miracle of Helena” study purporting to find a correlation between a ban on smoking in bars and an immediate 40 percent drop in heart attacks in that Montana community — really more like a miracle of small sample sizes (Jun. 27; see Oct. 6, 2003). Finally, a spokeswoman for the bossyboots American Heart Association is quoted praising a new Colorado law that forbids smoking in most restaurants and bars statewide no matter what the owners and patrons happen to prefer:
“We know from research that we’ve done that over 80 percent of Colorado residents don’t smoke,” said Erin Bertoli with the American Heart Association.
“The majority of them really look forward to going out to new restaurants and new bars and taking their families and experiencing new venues that have technically been closed to 80 percent of Colorado residents up until this point.”
thus demonstrating a Pickwickian understanding of such words as “technically” and “closed”. (Jeffrey Wolf, “Effort to stop statewide smoking ban underway “, KUSA-TV, Jun. 15). Plus: Radley Balko weighs in.
Gifted and talented
Some parents on the Upper West Side of Manhattan are considering suing the New York education department because their kids didn’t get into that coveted program. The kids are in pre-K and 4 years old or thereabouts. (Melena Ryzik, “Intelligencer: Can You Sue a Kid Smart?”, New York, May 22).
Update: Tex. jury rejects flasher’s-remorse suit
In the latest development regarding suits by young women who come to regret being filmed in compromising states of undress during Spring Break, Mardi Gras, etc., a Denton County, Tex. jury has decided to award no damages to Brittany Lowry and Lezlie Fuller, who “accused Mantra Films of misappropriation and fraud after the two were videotaped in March 2002 flashing their breasts during a vacation at Panama City Beach, Fla.” (Domingo Ramirez Jr., “Women lose Girls Gone Wild lawsuit”, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Jun. 29)(via Lattman). Earlier: Sept. 28-30, 2001; Mar. 6-7, 2002; May 1, 2006; May 2, 2006.
“Do you know who I am?”
According to an editorial report in London’s Telegraph earlier this year, an Italian court has ruled that it is not inappropriate for a lawyers’ association to discipline one of its members for uttering in the course of a social interaction that classic phrase of intimidation, “Do you know who I am?” (“We know who you are” (editorial), Daily Telegraph, Jan. 15). If adopted in this country, such a disciplinary rule might tend to crimp the style of famed tort high-roller Stanley Chesley, to judge by an generally puffy recent Cincinnati Enquirer profile (Chuck Martin, “Champion for little guy”, May 28). (These seeming puff pieces so often turn out to embarrass inadvertently.) More on Chesley: Mar. 6, 2006; Aug. 24, 2005; Jan. 11, 2004; Aug. 7-8, 2001; Aug. 16-17, 2000; Jun. 1, 2000; Apr. 12, 2000; Mar. 30, 2000; Dec. 23-26, 1999.
Thanks to guestblogger Hans Bader
You can find out more about Hans’s work here, and his posts appear frequently at the Competitive Enterprise Institute’s group blog, Open Market.
The first refuge of a scoundrel
A Feministe commenter writes about street harassment (h/t Slim):
Last summer, I was walking on the street, holding a large coffee I had just bought. Suddenly, a guy coming from behind me grabbed my ass and asked me ‘where I was walking with that nice ass of mine’. I was lost in my thoughts when it happened, and it surprised me so much that it made me screamed and jumped, which resulted in me throwing *very* hot coffee all over his face and shoulders. It was an accident, but I can’t tell you how much satisfaction I got from hearing him scream in pain as he got burned by the coffee.
The best part? As I was walking away, laughing my ‘nice’ ass off, he screamed at me that he was going to sue me!
Long-time Overlawyered readers will also note the fortunate fact that the commenter’s coffee didn’t have an identifiable brand name that permitted her assailant to sue the restaurant for serving hot coffee.