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ARCHIVE -- DECEMBER 2002
(I & II)
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December 20-22 --
Advance notice for The Rule of Lawyers. Our author's
new book still won't reach most stores for a few weeks, but it's garnering
early notice in some prominent places. More than a month back Amity
Shlaes of London's Financial Times gave it a mention in a column
profiling hyperactive New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer (Amity Shlaes,
"Local enforcer who has changed national laws", Financial Times/Jewish
World Review, Oct.
31). Last month it got discussed in the New York Times
arts section (Daphne Eviatar, "Is Litigation a Blight, or Built In?", New
York Times, Nov.
23, second page). Wall Street Journal editorialist John
Fund, recounting highlights of the career of Sen. Trent Lott for the paper's
online OpinionJournal.com, quotes the book's discussion of how the lawyers
suing the tobacco industry tried to exploit Lott's family connection to
attorney Dickie Scruggs ("A Tale of Two Bubbas", OpinionJournal.com, Dec.
19).
Deserving special notice is Roger Parloff's piece in The American
Lawyer and other Law.com publications ("Authors Throw the Book at Lawyers",
Dec.
12), which calls the book "a focused, healthy, provocative, enjoyable
read. ... that rare book that, should it ever burrow its way into the opposing
camp's conversational pipelines, could really gum up the works."
Among other blushworthy excerpts: "Olson's wry, amusing, libertarian take
on the increasingly preposterous role that mass tort lawyers have assumed
in our society -- and in the funding of the Democratic Party -- may not
only spur many Democrats to reshuffle their standard talking points on
those issues, but may even afford them some guilty, cant-piercing pleasures
along the way. Speaking as a Democrat, I'd say the burgeoning scandal of
the mass tort bar is our Enron." (DURABLE
LINK)
December 20-22 --
Trial lawyers vs. thimerosal. Glenn Reynolds at InstaPundit
(Dec. 19, three posts: # 1,
2,
3)
has the latest on the flap over new federal curbs on lawsuits that claim
damage to children's health from thimerosal, a mercury-containing compound
long used to preserve vaccines.
According to the Centers for Disease Control ("Thimerosal
& Vaccines"), citing Food and Drug Administration research, "There
is no evidence to suggest that thimerosal in vaccines causes any health
problems in children and adults beyond local hypersensitivity reactions
(like redness and swelling at the injection site.)" This has not
kept trial lawyers from urging parents of autistic children to view the
compound as responsible for their children's plight: Derek Lowe checked
out law firms' websites and found lurid examples (Dec.
various dates -- scroll down for more good posts). "Dr. Manhattan"
has much more on the controversy (Dec.
18) and see also MedPundit (Dec.
5). For more on the recent legislative move to ensure that claims
against thimerosal are incorporated into the general federal vaccine compensation
scheme, see Margaret Cronin Fisk, "Suits Over Mercury-Containing Vaccines
May Be Down for the Count", National Law Journal, Nov.
27; "The Truth About Thimerosal" (editorial), Wall Street Journal,
Dec.
5. (DURABLE LINK)
December 20-22 --
Putting fraud proceeds to use. John Deokaran, a former
insurance manager from Hammond, La., has pleaded guilty to taking more
than $530,000 from Allstate Insurance by routing checks for imaginary claims
to fictitious plumbing contracting companies that he controlled.
Deokaran must make restitution or face prison time. "Among other
things, Deokaran spent some of the money to pay for law school," said Louisiana
Attorney General Richard Ieyoub. ("AG Ieyoub: Hammond Man Must Pay Back
Fake Claims Money Laundering Sentence Stipulates Full Restitution", Office
of AG Ieyoub, Aug.
20). (DURABLE LINK)
December 18-19 --
The right not to be looked at? "The Chicago Cubs are suing
the owners of rooftop businesses that overlook Wrigley Field and sell tickets
to watch games, saying the establishments are stealing from the team."
("Cubs sue owners of rooftop businesses near Wrigley", AP/Indianapolis
Star,
Dec. 17). Update May
9, 2004: dispute settled with payments from rooftop business owners
to team. (DURABLE LINK)
December 18-19 --
"Asbestos fraud". Extremely scathing column on the case
of asbestos litigation, in
which "the thirst for profits has led a small group of trial lawyers to
erode the rights of legitimate victims while driving dozens of companies
into bankruptcy and -- worst of all -- corrupting the court system. If
Congress does not fix this problem, shame on it." (Robert J.
Samuelson, Washington Post, Nov.
20). (DURABLE LINK)
December 18-19 --
British free-speech case. Robin Page, a columnist
for the London Daily Telegraph, "has been arrested on suspicion
of stirring up racial hatred after making a speech at a pro-hunting rally,"
according to that paper. How had he done that? "Mr Page ...
told his audience that Londoners had the right to run their own events,
such as the Brixton carnival and gay pride marches, which celebrated black
and gay culture. Why therefore, he asked, should country people not have
the right to do what they liked in the countryside[?]" Page, who
was released on bail, "denied having made any comment
that could be construed as racist during the address. ... Gloucestershire
police confirmed that they had arrested Mr Page on suspicion of violating
Section 18 (1) of the Public Order Act, referring to stirring up racial
hatred." (Daily Telegraph, Nov.
20) (via WSJ Best of
the Web) (DURABLE LINK)
December 18-19 --
Mass disasters belong in federal court. Most mass litigation
resulting from transportation accidents or other single-site disasters
which result in the deaths of 75 or more people will henceforth have to
be filed in federal court, according to the provisions of a bill quietly
enacted by Congress this fall with the support of the Bush administration.
The bill is favored by defendants in part because it restricts the ability
of plaintiff's lawyers to shop around for state court venues that are hostile
to defendants or that afford "home cooking". (Julie Kay, "Disaster
Plan", Miami Daily Business Review, Nov.
21). (DURABLE LINK)
December 16-17 --
By reader acclaim: "Ex-jurors file $6 billion suit against '60 Minutes'".
"Two former Jefferson County, Mississippi, jurors have filed a $6 billion
lawsuit against CBS' '60 Minutes' and a newspaper owner over comments about
the size of jury awards in the county. Anthony Berry and Johnny Anderson
said the news program defamed them in a segment that called the county
a haven for 'jackpot justice.' Berry was among jurors who made a
$150 million verdict in an asbestos case, and Anderson sat on a jury that
awarded a $150 million judgment in a diet drug case. Wyatt Emmerich,
who owns Emmerich Newspapers Inc., is also being sued: "In the program,
Emmerich described those on Jefferson County juries as disenfranchised
residents who want to stick it to Yankee companies". Emmerich
called his inclusion in the suit an attack on free
speech. (AP/CNN, Dec. 10; Jerry Mitchell, "TV show on Miss.
justice stirs suit", Jackson
Clarion Ledger, Dec.
10). Update Mar.
6, 2005: federal appeals court affirms dismissal of suit. (DURABLE
LINK)
December 16-17 --
"Bogus Claims Discovered in Fen-Phen Class Action". "In
a strongly worded opinion that questioned the ethics of two law firms and
two doctors, the federal judge who is overseeing the $3.75 billion fen-phen
diet drug class action settlement has found that dozens of claims of heart-valve
damage were 'medically unreasonable' and that the doctors and lawyers responsible
for the bogus claims must now be watched more closely. U.S. District
Judge Harvey Bartle III said he was forced to issue an injunction because
the settlement funds were set aside for 'rightful claimants who suffered
from fen-phen and not as a pot of gold for lawyers, physicians and non-qualifying
claimants.'" Two New York law firms -- Napoli Kaiser Bern & Associates
and Hariton & D'Angelo -- had submitted claims for their clients which
included an unusually high rate of claimed serious heart valve abnormalities.
Judge Bartle wrote that the practice of an expert employed by the Napoli
and Hariton firms "resembled a mass production operation that would have
been the envy of Henry Ford". (Shannon P. Duffy, The Legal Intelligencer,
Nov.
19)(see
Sept. 27 and links from there).
(DURABLE
LINK)
December 16-17 --
Ninth Circuit panel sniffs collusion in bias settlement fees.
"The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upended a multimillion-dollar race
discrimination settlement Tuesday, citing suspicions that the attorney
fees were the product of collusion. The split three-judge panel described
the injunctive relief won in the case against Boeing Co. as 'relatively
weak,' and said it and the $7 million in damages didn't appear to justify
more than $4 million in fees and a broad release of liability." The
case, purportedly on behalf of 15,000 black Boeing employees, had resulted
in the company's promise to institute changes in employment
practices. However, Judge Marsha Berzon called such curative
measures an "inexact and easily manipulable value," and said they should
not be viewed as creating a common fund for purposes of fee calculation.
"Harrell, Desper, Connell, Hunter & Gautschi, the Seattle-based firm
representing the class, had supplied many declarations, including one from
the Rev. Jesse Jackson, supporting the terms of the settlement."
(Jason Hoppin, "9th Circuit Scraps Race Bias Settlement, Cites Attorney
Fees", The Recorder, Nov.
27). (DURABLE LINK)
December 13-15 --
Back from hiatus. Our editor's hiatus to handle personal
business met with the happiest possible outcome, but as a result he's facing
new family responsibilities that will keep posting slow at best.
Better some posting than none at all, at least, right? (DURABLE
LINK)
December 13-15 --
Using his own name a legal risk. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution's
Bill Wyman shares his name with a somewhat well-known musician who played
bass with the Rolling Stones. He was nonetheless unprepared when
he received a letter from the musician's lawyer suggesting that he might
be violating the other guy's rights
by ... well, by going on using his own name (Bill Wyman, "Will the real
Bill Wyman please tune up?", Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Nov.
14). (DURABLE LINK)
December 13-15 --
Florida school shooting: the deep pockets did it. A Palm
Beach County, Fla. jury has declared that a school
board, an owner from whom a gun
was stolen and the gun's distributor should be liable for the classroom
shooting of Lake Worth teacher Barry Grunow by 16-year-old student Nathaniel
Brazill. "The jury didn't find any liability for Brazill, who pulled
the trigger. Brazill stole the unloaded gun and bullets from a cookie tin
stashed away in a dresser drawer of family friend Elmore McCray."
("Gun Company Must Pay Teacher's Widow", WPLG, Nov.
15). "Attorney Bob Montgomery,
known for successfully spearheading the state's efforts to sue Big Tobacco
for $11.3 billion, said he hoped the gun case would achieve the same crippling
results against the gun industry." ("Gun distributor must pay in teacher's
death", AP/Redding (Calif.) Record Searchlight, Nov. 15).
Update
Feb. 4-5: judge throws out case (DURABLE
LINK)
December 13-15 --
Law's attraction for the bully. "[A] lot of hyper-glandular
people are attracted to the legal profession because it looks like the
perfect job for bullying other people. Plus, it pays well. Of course,
the apologists for this sort of bad lawyering (mostly like-minded and acting
lawyers) ... argue that all that I am carping about is what is known as
'zealous advocacy' -- which
is next to godliness in the pantheon of ethical requirements. Of course,
there is no 'ethical requirement' that justifies what some lawyers do in
terms of name-calling, rules-flouting and frivolous motion-filing. It is
simply a conceit that these lawyers rely on to transform their vices into
supposed virtues." (Jim McCormack, "Deconstructing Opposing Counsel",
Texas
Lawyer,
Oct.
25). (DURABLE LINK)
December 13-15 --
Gotham's trial lawyer-legislators. If it's unusually hard
for New Yorkers to obtain any legislative relief from their state's lawsuit
culture, our editor observes in an op-ed, maybe one reason is that numerous
lawmakers
are themselves trial lawyers, including Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver
of Manhattan (who previously practiced with controversial tobacco-beneficiary
law firm Schneider Kleinick, and recently joined controversial asbestos/product
liability law firm Weitz & Luxenberg) along with New York City
Council members Michael E. McMahon and Domenic M. Recchia. (Walter Olson,
"Legal Payola", New York Post, Nov. 21, reprinted
at Manhattan Institute site). (DURABLE
LINK)
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