Overlawyered: Chronicling The High Cost Of Our Legal System

NYT snoozes through Milberg scandal

I’ve got details at Point of Law, where there is also much additional Milberg coverage.

On the other hand, the Times today continues to show admirable persistence in tracking the Anthony Pellicano scandal, even though that one (unlike Milberg’s) doesn’t have its roots in New York. (David M. Halbfinger and Allison Hope Weiner, “Pellicano Case Casts Harsh Light on Hollywood Entertainment Lawyers”, May 23).

Also at Point of Law this week, in the “Featured Discussion” section, Jonathan B. Wilson and Larry Ribstein debate whether licensing lawyers makes sense.

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Baseball club to hold “Frivolous Lawsuit Night”

From a May 17 news release by the Eastern League Altoona Curve:

ALTOONA- Inspired by a Los Angeles Angels fan who filed a lawsuit against the club because he did not receive a red nylon tote bag as part of the major league club’s Mother’s Day promotion last May [see May 11], the Altoona Curve have announced that they will be holding Salute to Frivolous Lawsuit Night as part of their Sunday, July 2nd game at Blair County Ballpark.

The Curve’s salute to all ridiculous lawsuits ever filed will include the following:

* A Pink Tote Bag Giveaway to the first 137 men in attendance ages 18 and over

* The first 137 women 18 and over will receive lukewarm coffee so they will not burn themselves [see Oct. 20, 2005]

* The first 137 kids will be given a beach ball with a warning not to ingest it

* Angels merchandise and novelty items given away throughout the game

* Honoring some of history’s “Most Frivolous Lawsuits” during the game

A grand prize drawing in which one fan will receive a “clue” and their own frivolous lawsuit.

Read On…

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Stupid Class Action Settlement Dept.: Enterprise Rent-A-Car and Jeffrey Lowe

Two St. Louis attorneys (including Jeffrey Lowe (cf. POL Oct. 15)) will collect “up to” $975,000 in a settlement of a class action against Enterprise Rent-A-Car; their putative clients, a class of Missouri plaintiffs, will receive a 25%-off coupon that results in higher rates than standard discounts, and is thus entirely worthless. Consumerist (h/t Slim) has the details. The final hearing on the settlement is June 14. (“Judge OKs settlement in Enterprise class-action suit”, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, May 5).

The allegation against Enterprise? That a 5% surcharge (which the plaintiffs admit Enterprise can legally charge) didn’t clearly state what it was for. Enterprise isn’t lowering its rates, but will state that the 5% covers various local taxes that it pays—thus adding more bulk to a lengthy list of small-print disclosures that obscures potentially useful information, since customers care about the bottom line to themselves, rather than how their rental car company spends its money. How precisely has this lawsuit made consumers better off? More on class actions.

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“Inside Milberg’s Credenza”

I’ve got a lengthy op-ed in today’s Wall Street Journal (sub-only) discussing the indictment of Milberg Weiss. A few excerpts:

Since such payoffs are baldly illegal, prosecutors claim the firm took elaborate steps to keep them concealed from judges and others. They say Milberg funneled much of the money through law-firm cut-outs and other channels, including casinos, and drew on a stash of money kept in a safe located in a credenza in partner David Bershad’s New York office, “to which access was strictly limited.” Again and again, prosecutors add, the firm submitted sworn statements on behalf of its clients denying any receipt of the sorts of payments they were in fact receiving. …

With other class members absent, named plaintiffs are one of the few watchdogs against self-dealing or misconduct by the lawyers — specifically, the pursuit of settlements that result in high legal fees, whether or not they serve the interest of the class. … if the Justice Department’s allegations are correct, Milberg was taking no chances on the watchdogs staying pacified: It threw regular chunks of raw liver into their cages. …

The two celebrity lawyers who made Milberg famous, Melvyn Weiss and the now-departed William Lerach, have thus far escaped indictment: Of course, if they were prosecuting such a case, they would miss no opportunity to insinuate that misconduct by part of a team of top executives must have been at least tolerated by the others, that the rot goes straight to the top, that senior partners turned a convenient blind eye to signs of misconduct because they profited handsomely from that misconduct, and so forth. Messrs. Weiss and Lerach must count themselves lucky that such reasoning did not lead to their inclusion as defendants.

The Journal also has an editorial today on the subject.

Our earlier coverage: May 20 and links from there, May 21, as well as many posts at Point of Law. When The Economist profiled Melvyn Weiss three years ago, I told them, “A distinguishing characteristic of the Milberg Weiss approach is that the clients became tokens to be moved around a game board” (Jan. 17, 2002).

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Baseball stats, cont’d

Updating our Apr. 12, 2005 post: Does it violate the rights of Major League Baseball when the rest of us conduct “fantasy baseball” leagues employing the names and statistics of actual players? A lawsuit making such contentions is now heading, notes Ron Coleman (May 17), “into the bottom of the ninth”. (Alan Schwarz, “Baseball Is a Game of Numbers, but Whose Numbers Are They?”, New York Times, May 16; Legal Fixation (IP blog); Infamy or Praise) (via Blawg Review #58 at Kevin Heller’s Tech Law Advisor).

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Update: trial lawyers in GOP primaries

In the Pennsylvania contest discussed in this space Apr. 4, their efforts fizzled, with candidate Jim Haggerty placing third in the field. (Michael P. Buffer, “Baker cuts a wide swath”, Wilkes Barre Times-Leader, May 18). And Texas Shark Watch, devoted to this subject (see Jan. 17), reports that trial lawyers were largely unsuccessful this year in Lone Star State GOP primary contests despite pumping in a good bit of money: four plaintiff’s lawyers slated as candidates went down to defeat. Two lawyer-backed incumbents held on, but would probably have won in any case (Apr. 5, Apr. 12).

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Update: Agoraphobic employee’s promotion

Regarding the jury award to the Sonoma County, Calif. employee sued over failing to win a job promotion losing his position in a job redesign because his agoraphobia prevented him from working except at home (Mar. 17), Michael Fox at Jottings By an Employer’s Lawyer has an update (May 15):

The trial judge has shaved $4 million from the jury verdict, reducing the award to a still sizeable $2.5. Plaintiff has until this Friday to accept the lowered award or face a new trial on damages. The Court also conditionally granted a new trial finding juror misconduct on the damages. Affidavits indicated jurors inappropriately increased the award 40% for attorneys fees and 35% for taxes. The Court still has to award statutory attorneys fees.

More: see addendum to our Mar. 17 post.

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