Overlawyered: Chronicling The High Cost Of Our Legal System

“Trial Lawyers Inc. — Illinois”

At Point of Law (Oct. 18), Jim Copland announces a new report from the Manhattan Institute’s Trial Lawyers Inc. project:

This afternoon, the Manhattan Institute released Trial Lawyers, Inc.: Illinois, A Report on the Lawsuit Industry in Illinois 2006. The first comprehensive look at litigation in the Prairie State, the report synthesizes work done by the Illinois Civil Justice League, American Tort Reform Association, and U.S. Chamber Institute for Legal Reform, among others. The report also includes new information, such as the percentage of 2004 contributions to the Illinois State Democratic Party that came from plaintiffs’ lawyers and their firms (78 percent) and Illinois’ quantitative rank in terms of its medical-malpractice liability as a percentage of gross state product (49th of the 50 states) and its corporations’ self-insured liability as a percentage of GSP (48th).

The Madison County Record has already reported on the new study here.

More coverage: Adam Jadhav, “Metro East courts have improved somewhat, think tank concludes”, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Oct. 19.

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New Times column — age-bias law

My new column in the Times Online is up. First paragraph:

So now Britain has its own law banning employers from considering workers’ age in most job situations. If your experience follows ours in America, the results will include a range of unintended consequences, some of which will worsen the plight of the workers the law was meant to help.

(Walter Olson, “If the US experience is anything to go by, be sceptical of Britain’s new age-bias laws”, Times Online (U.K.), Oct. 18, newer link and reprint). I treated this subject at length in my 1997 book The Excuse Factory and did a USA Today opinion piece back then exploring some of the ways the law backfires against older workers. The new British law has been getting some attention in the States, in part because of the news item about the company that has banned office birthday cards as potentially ageist (Oct. 13) and the one about the recruiting agency (Oct. 17) that is barring use of any of a list of words including vibrant, dynamic, gravitas, ambitious, and hungry to describe potential employees.

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Come to Brooklyn, the suing’s fine

Here’s the top elected official in Brooklyn promoting one of his borough’s few truly prosperous industries:

“If you like white-shoe law firms, stay in Manhattan,” said Brooklyn’s borough president Marty Markowitz, who attended the bank’s grand opening. “But if you’re looking for the biggest settlement, come to Brooklyn.”

“The bank” in this case is Esquire Bank, which as Peter Lattman of the WSJ law blog explains (Oct. 10):

[claims] to be the first bank in the country to specialize in serving trial lawyers. It’s located on Court Street in Brooklyn’s judicial epicenter. To some folks in these parts, a “Court Street lawyer” has the pejorative connotation of an ambulance-chasing, personal injury attorney.

Another highlight of Lattman’s account: a quote from an attorney who operates the website moneyforpain.com.

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When schools fall short

Australia: “A settlement between a leading Melbourne private school and a parent who said her child had not been taught to read properly could result in increased litigation between parents and schools, a principals group has warned.” Yvonne Meyer faulted Brighton Grammar School for not placing enough emphasis on phonics-based instruction for her child. (David Rood and Chee Chee Leung, “Litigation warning as private school settles complaint over child’s literacy”, Melbourne Age, Aug. 16; Ewin Hannan and Justine Ferrari, “Private schools to curtail promises”, The Australian, Aug. 16). And in France: “A French schoolboy [Jérome Charasse] has successfully sued the government after blaming his failure in a philosophy exam on his teacher’s frequent absences during strikes. Parents’ groups and teaching unions believe the decision by a court in Clermont-Ferrand will lead to many similar cases.” (Colin Randall, ” Boy wins court case over striking teacher”, Daily Telegraph, Jun. 22)(h/t D.N.).

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Inviting conservative author = hostile environment?

Two teachers have sued an elite Seattle private school charging race bias in the terms of employment: “Among the plaintiffs’ complaints was Lakeside’s invitation to conservative commentator Dinesh D’Souza to speak as part of a distinguished lecture series.” (John Iwasaki, “Teachers accuse Lakeside School of bias”, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Oct. 13)(via Taranto). More: Paul Secunda agrees something is amiss here (Oct. 19).

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October 17 round-up

  • Interview with ICJL’s Ed Murnane on Madison County judiciary elections. [Madison County Record; see also Illinois Justice Blog]
  • London pension fund: oops, we just sued BP [Point of Law]
  • New York court throws out mold suit with systematic rebuttal of the junk science involved. [Point of Law]
  • Next mass tort: anti-psychotic drugs. [Mass Tort Litigation Blog]

  • “Vibrant, dynamic, gravitas, ambitious, hungry and 17 other words or phrases have been banned by one of Britain’s top recruitment agencies for fear of falling foul of new anti-ageism laws.” [Telegraph (h/t F.R.)]
  • Israel Supreme Court: compensatory damages don’t include cost of prostitute visits. This actually reversed a lower-court decision to the contrary. [Avi Bell/PrawfsBlawg via Above the Law]

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