Overlawyered: Chronicling The High Cost Of Our Legal System

Liability roundup

  • “Syracuse woman sued for not letting adopted cat sleep in bed with her” [CNYCentral]
  • St. Louis talc cases: “Thus, in order to vindicate their Due Process rights regarding personal jurisdiction…, the defendants had to litigate with over $5 billion in potential liability hanging over their heads. Not too many defendants [can] do that.” [Jim Beck on Johnson & Johnson win]
  • Allegation: “instructed Thomas to get behind the wheel of Thomas’ Avalanche to make it appear that Thomas was driving the vehicle at the time of the staged accident.” [WDSU on indictment of five in New Orleans car-crash scheme] “Those cameras right there saved between $150,000 and $200,000 just by capturing the fraud and us not having to go and defend it.” [Mike Perlstein, WWL] “Don’t listen to the lawyers, take tough action to curb [Louisiana] car insurance costs” [R.J. Lehmann and Marc Hyden, The Advocate; earlier here, here, and here]
  • Washington Legal Foundation monograph on judicial oversight of expert testimony [Evan Tager et al.; related webinar] “Stupid expert tricks,” pharmaceutical edition [Jim Beck]
  • “Art Imitates Life: ‘Billions’ Describes Six-Figure, Part-Time Jobs On Asbestos Trusts” [Daniel Fisher, Legal Newsline, 2018]
  • “DOJ eyes requirement that False Claims Act whistleblowers disclose litigation funding” [Alison Frankel, Reuters, remarks by Deputy Associate Attorney General Stephen Cox]

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4 Comments

  • The punishment for fraudulent litigation should be very severe. At the end of the day, when a fraudulent case is filed, the plaintiff is attempting to arm himself or herself with the power of the state to take money. It is a serious crime. And it should be punished seriously.

    The same goes for government attorneys that violate ethics rules . .. .

    • By SPO

  • Syracuse cat adoption–

    I can envision a moot court farce about a boyfriend who self-identifies as a cat…

    On a slightly more serious note, overcontrolling pet adoption agencies have been around for a while:

    https://www.bostonglobe.com/business/2019/01/09/brief-frolic-outside-may-cost-woman-her-cat/Txs0L8dLqOJ1FbvLC172YP/story.html

    It may be part of a general decline of our ownership culture, especially with software products that stop working at the vendor’s whim.

  • Waiting for the first lawsuit to be filed over the corona virus in 3….2…..1…..

  • The first word that you teach a new cat in your house is the word “No”. It is used for all sorts of situations, from the mundane to the extremely dangerous (walking onto a stovetop). It gets the cat used to the concept of limits, so that it is able to deal with those limits when they should arise. Best done when the cat is still a kitten – we recently acquired two Maine Coon kittens and this was the first thing that they learned about us.

    The cats will eventually decide to humor you and “accept” your limits, more-or-less. They will still whine when you do not obey “them”.

    Note: also applicable to children. And maybe also some cat owners.

    • By rxc