“She said she notified authorities about Cho, but said she was told that there would be too many legal hurdles to intervene.” — Lucinda Roy, a writing professor who’d noticed the disturbed personality of the Virginia Tech killer-to-be and tried to take an interest in his case, quoted in an ABC News report. (Ned Potter, David Schoetz, Richard Esposito, Pierre Thomas, and staff, “Killer’s Note: You Caused Me To Do This”, Apr. 17). More: Apr. 19.
Archive for 2007
Fighting fire with fire
We don’t generally endorse litigation as a solution to problems here at Overlawyered, but here’s one that just might be justified:
A business owner is suing an Anaheim man and his lawyer for filing at least 123 lawsuits that allege disabled-access law violations, saying the practice is “an effort to extort a quick and dirty settlement.”
In a lawsuit filed last week in Orange County Superior Court, Huy Dinh accuses David Gunther and Morse Mehrban of filing “frivolous lawsuits” to extort money from small businesses. Dinh, is suing alleging malicious prosecution, fraud and abuse of process, and seeks punitive damages.
Dinh was sued last year by the pair, who alleged a work station at his business was too high for disabled persons. A jury sided with Dinh, according to the lawsuit.
We’ve covered the exploits of the Gunther/Mehrban racket before: Dec. 1, 2006 and Dec. 7, 2006. And more of Mehrban’s activities: Nov. 2002, Mar. 2004, July 2004.
Ready, aim, fire… get sued
Given Walter’s mention of the EEOC’s new attempt to solve America’s chronic shortage of employment litigation, this covery story from Business Week is timely. It surveys the state of employment litigation in the U.S., describing how risky it is for companies to fire employees, and the six figure price tag associated with the lawsuits that often result. The article discusses the growing trend in suing over “retaliation” claims:
As it happens, the judge in Mody’s case tossed out his discrimination claims. But the retaliation allegation did go to the jury—a development that is increasingly blindsiding businesses. Plaintiffs are winning large sums not because a company discriminated against them, but because the company retaliated when they complained about the unproven mistreatment.
The rules surrounding retaliation may sound crazy, but they are one of the big reasons why the fear of firing is so prevalent. Retaliation suits are a hot growth area in employment law. In 2005 and 2006, retaliation claims represented 30% of all charges individuals filed with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, a required first step before most discrimination cases can go to federal court. That’s up from about 20% just 10 years ago. “Even if there isn’t a good discrimination claim, the employee has a second bite at the apple,” notes Martin W. Aron of defense firm Edwards Angell Palmer & Dodge in Short Hills, N.J.
Doctors’ first-person accounts of litigation
Back in November we noted Sid Schwab’s account at SurgeonsBlog of being sued (first, second, third parts). A number of other medical blogs have also lately run first-person accounts of what it’s like to get dragged into a malpractice suit. Examples:
- Charity Doc at Fingers and Tubes in Every Orifice, Nov. 15, Nov. 20: This is suit #9, but “the bare-boned fact of the matter is that each case is a new wound that tears at your heart, leave just as bad a scar on your psyche, while re-opening the gut wrenching emotions of the old ones. As your name is dragged through the mud over and over, you begin to re-question your dedication and love for medicine, just as you have during the previous times.” A few weeks back, by the way, we noted a priceless anecdote by Charity Doc about the time a personal injury lawyer came into his office as a patient unaware that he’d previously sued the doctor;
- Musings of a Dinosaur, Nov. 20: among the few who can laugh at the experience;
- Examining Room of Dr. Charles, Nov. 17: “The Trial Lawyers Association is changing its name to the American Association for Justice. George Orwell is smiling somewhere, the skies are getting clearer every day, and no child is being left behind. A doctor acquaintance of mine just got destroyed with a $20,000,000 jury award in a bogus malpractice case.”
- Pediatrician “Flea”, Jun. 8, Jul. 12, Jul. 13, Oct. 22, and miscellaneous posts: two suits in all, “litany of abuse…heaped on me”, deposition stage fright.
P.S. Two more, from Scalpel or Sword, which however carries a disclaimer saying that its stories are fictionalized composites: Dec. 2 (shotgun filing; mom who kicked son out of house sues after his suicide), Dec. 4 (doc feels guilty over genuine error, but suit is later dropped).
A letter to RIAA
As a remedy for being sued wrongly or overzealously, malicious prosecution actions are traditionally extremely hard to win. However, should a court happen to allow a counterclaim for emotional distress, watch out — we’ve got a “thin skull plaintiff”. (Recording Industry Versus the People, Mar. 27).
Disbarred, but not gone
Despite the disbarment of its 78-year-old namesake over a long and colorful catalogue of misdeeds, the Kenneth Heller Law Office on lower Broadway in Manhattan has not closed its doors, according to the New York Law Journal. And where exactly are the elusive 47 boxes of litigation files that Heller is refusing to hand over to a widow-client until he gets paid? (Mark Fass, “Sheriff’s Raid Can’t Pry Client Files From Disbarred Lawyer’s Grip”, New York Law Journal, Mar. 28). More: Apr. 24.
“Why is it okay if a dog does it?”
Comedian Will Ferrell, on Saturday Night Live, impersonates dog-suing lawyer Wade Blasingame (some tasteless content):
EEOC launches hiring crackdown
Per the NLJ, it’s employers’ lucky day:
The federal government has launched an initiative aimed at cracking down on discriminatory hiring practices in the workplace — a program that could land unsuspecting employers in court, employment attorneys are warning….
Specifically, the EEOC will focus on hiring decisions that are based on names, arrest and conviction records, employment and personality tests and credit scores — all of which may disparately impact people of color….
Many states have laws that restrict employers from asking about or considering criminal records when hiring. The EEOC holds that if an employer denies a job to an applicant because he or she has a criminal record, it could be considered discrimination if the person is a minority.
For more on efforts to keep employers from taking applicants’ criminal records into account, see Feb. 13 and links from there (cross-posted from Point of Law).
Arizona to Zillow.com: stop estimating homes’ value
“Arizona regulators have ordered a Seattle-based online home price estimator to stop doing business in the state.” Zillow.com has won wide popularity by applying algorithms to publicly available data to come with rough estimates of the value of existing homes, which it makes available for free through its site. The Arizona Board of Appraisal says that Zillow should not be dispensing such information without an appraiser’s license. (“Arizona bars online home price estimator”, AP/Tucson Citizen, Apr. 15)(& Coyote Blog).
John O’Quinn update
Judge Denise Page Hood has issued an order to show cause why the O’Quinn law firm (many entries; also POL Jul. 15, 2005, POL Jul. 10, and POL Aug. 3) should not be held in contempt for improperly withholding breast implant settlement money from their clients. There is no press coverage of this brewing scandal.
There has, however, been plenty of press coverage of one of O’Quinn’s other clients, Anna Nicole Smith’s mother. In that circus, O’Quinn finds himself a defendant in a civil defamation suit brought by Smith’s, er, widower, attorney Howard K. Stern, for going on national television and accusing Stern of murdering Smith. [AP/ABC News] The fact of having this client gave cause TMZ.com to dig up some of the more obvious scandals in O’Quinn’s past, though they still missed the more recent ones covered by Point of Law.
Elsewhere in O’Quinn news: the firm settled its $1 billion fen-phen verdict (Apr. 28, 2004) for an unknown amount on the eve of appeal as part of a global settlement of O’Quinn’s caseload of fen-phen cases. (Brenda Sapino Jeffreys, “$1 Billion Fen-Phen Case Settles Before Appellate Oral Arguments”, Texas Lawyer, Apr. 16). The verdict was tainted because the plaintiffs blamed fen-phen for Cynthia Cappel-Coffey’s PPH, but Ms. Cappel-Coffey had been taking four other diet drugs since fen-phen had been pulled from the market that had the known risk of causing PPH. Yet that evidence was excluded from the jury, though the Texas Lawyer coverage barely touches upon this outrage. The state court in judicial hellhole Beaumont also improperly applied Texas caps on punitive damages.
Complete text of the breast implant order after the jump, if you don’t want to read the order in PDF format.