Archive for November, 2007

“No liability for doctor who revived newborn”

The Washington Supreme Court has ruled that doctors in Vancouver, Wash. can’t be held liable for resuscitating a baby after he was born without a heartbeat. The parents said the medics had wrongly failed to ask their permission before saving the child’s life. The infant survived but with severe disabilities. (AP/Seattle Times, Nov. 8; “State high court: No liability for doctor who revived newborn”, AP/KOMO, Nov. 8; opinion with first and second concurrences, all PDF).

November 8 roundup

Traffic-cams and road safety, cont’d

More damning evidence on a subject on which there’s been plenty already (Sept. 6, 2001, Sept. 24, 2006, etc.; Oct. 31, 2006): “a study by the Federal Highway Administration and the Virginia Department documented a 12 percent increase in rear-enders at Northern Virginia intersections where cameras enforced red-light violations. Although proponents of cameras contend the number of such accidents decreases as motorists become used to this new enforcement technology, the study says that isn’t so. Meanwhile, simply extending the time that the traffic light stays yellow helps reduce violations and accidents. However, that solution isn’t necessarily popular with towns that see red-light tickets as a revenue source, the [Miami] Herald says.” (Martha Neil, “Traffic Cameras Mean More Rear-Enders”, ABA Journal, Oct. 31; Larry Lebowitz, “Red-light cameras a signal for war”, Miami Herald, Oct. 29).

November 7 roundup

Lawyers: no harm in botching suit since it had no merit anyway

“A New York judge has permitted a legal malpractice suit to proceed against a group of personal injury lawyers who tried to argue that the medical malpractice suit they allegedly botched had no merit in the first place.” Morelli Ratner (of Benedict Morelli fame) and Schapiro & Reich had filed a suit on behalf of Victoria Kremen alleging failure to diagnose cancer. The suit was thrown out on statute-of-limitations grounds, but in her later action against the lawyers Kremen argued that they might have avoided the usual time limits by invoking certain exceptions to the statute. The lawyers proceeded to argue that Kremen’s suit was doomed anyway, but Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Emily Goodman was not impressed: “[S]uch arguments fly in the face of the fact that Defendants represented Plaintiffs for almost three years, presumably because they believed that the lawsuit had merit.” (Anthony Lin, Legal Malpractice Suit Against Personal Injury Lawyers Permitted to Go Forward”, New York Law Journal, Oct. 31).

“Mississippi on Trial”

Jim Copland explains what’s at stake in elections today in Mississippi.

And Copland’s piece doesn’t even include the latest news, that incumbent AG Jim Hood has been sued by State Farm, which makes some explosive allegations. A judge has granted (and another judge has extended) a TRO against Hood’s harassment of the insurer.

Update: see also Forest Thigpen’s take.