David Giacalone on hiatus

The proprietor of Ethical Esq. is going into hibernation for a while on his blogging efforts, which are invariably among our first stops on the legal-ethics beat. His archives can be found here and a collection of his ethics resources here. Here’s to a speedy return!

“10 years in legal hell”

The tale of Dr. Lenard Rutkowski: plaintiff John Murphy was caught on the stand faking his injuries, but the jury was offended by the violation of privacy from the defense’s secret videotaping of the plaintiff lifting heavy file cabinets, and awarded $5.6 million in damages for a medical error, even though a second surgery didn’t fix the problem for which he blamed the first doctor. Murphy eventually settled for $3 million, and he and his lawyer suffer no consequence for his exaggerations. Illinois, however, lost a neurosurgeon; Rutkowski’s practice was disrupted for years, and he eventually found it was cheaper to practice in a state where insurance rates were nearly 80% lower. (Berkeley Rice, Medical Economics, Jun. 2) (via Kevin MD).

The fact that Rutkowski sued his insurance company for the difference between his policy limits and the verdict shows why the ability of plaintiffs to get jackpot-sized damages on noneconomic claims has an effect on insurers and insurance prices even beyond insurance policy limits.

National Kidney Foundation

Some years back, observing that such old-line health non-profits like the American Lung Association, American Heart Association and American Cancer Society had vocally backed tobacco product-liability litigation along with other bad causes, I suggested the National Kidney Foundation as a major health charity to which one could donate in good conscience without fearing that one might be undermining the cause of liberty and personal responsibility (Reason, Aug./Sept. 1997). Whoops! Virginia Postrel makes me realize I may have been off base with that one (Jun. 2, Jun. 4). Oh well, there’s still the admirable anti-cleft-palate Smile Train.

America’s most litigious

Sometimes they’re doctors: “Since 2001, [Dr. Elizabeth] Rohr has filed at least 900 pages of lawsuits, court records show. There are 14 lawsuits bearing Rohr’s name in the Denton County database.” (Ben Tinsley, “Litigious doctor busily adds to court dockets”, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, May 2)(via KevinMD).

$61 million for racial slurs

Federal Express drivers Edgar Rizkallah and Kamil Issa, both of Lebanese descent, say the nasty epithets from their manager went on for two years, which means the award works out to $15 million per epithet-year, $290,000 per slur-week, or $40,000 per imprecation-day. It was divided between $11 million in compensatory damages to the two men and $50 million in punitives. The jury assessed $1 million in damages personally against the supervisor, Stacy Shoun, terminal manager for the FedEx Ground facility in Oakland. He’ll certainly think twice about behaving that way again, won’t he? (Jordan Robertson, “Jury awards $61 million to two FedEx drivers in harassment suit”, AP/San Francisco Chronicle, Jun. 3). Update Oct. 2: judge reduces award to $12.4 million.

Update: Calif. shakedowns

The New York Times “Small Business” section looks at how Garden Grove, Calif. liquor store owner Vinod Kapoor fought back when targeted by attorney Harpreet Brar, famed for his lawsuits demanding legal fees from small businesses over alleged regulatory infractions (see Aug. 20, 2002, Jul. 22, 2003, Nov. 1, 2004). Included are some updates:

In February, Judge Polos [Peter J. Polos of Orange County Superior Court] sent Mr. Brar to jail for two weeks for violating his order [not to name multiple businesses in one suit], calling him “an extortionist.”

Mr. Brar said his experience in jail was a “nightmare,” which he said included watching several inmates be beaten by guards. Mr. Brar said he planned to represent several of them.

On April 16, Mr. Brar was suspended from practicing law for 30 days and placed on probation for two years for filing a frivolous motion and appeal against the attorney general and for using the courts as a delaying tactic, according to Kristin Ritsema, one of several supervising trial counsels at the state bar.

“I think he is a huge threat to the public,” Ms. Ritsema said.

Another local liquor store owner, Herve Domange, who is from Paris, said: “You couldn’t do this in France. In France, these lawsuits would not be possible. But I don’t want to say too much. I’m afraid I might get sued.” (Regan Morris, “Picking the Wrong Mom and Pop to Sue”, New York Times, Jun. 1).