Dept. of ill-timed announcements

The Drum Major Institute for Public Policy (“DMI”) is proud to announce the selection of Cyrus Dugger as the first Milberg Weiss Legal Fellow at DMI. The newly created Milberg Weiss Legal Fellowship will focus on developing a new generation of lawyers who are committed to working in a legal and public policy capacity to preserve access to the courts and our civil justice system….As a Milberg Weiss Senior Fellow, Mr. Dugger will focus his efforts on preserving access to the courts at a time in which persons with limited financial means are finding it difficult to pursue remedy through the legal system.

— from the Milberg Weiss website, May 9.

Filed under: Milberg Weiss, politics

Update: Milberg Weiss indicted

Following a six-year investigation, the nation’s best-known plaintiff’s law firm is the subject of a 102-page federal indictment charging it paid millions in illegal kickbacks to a stable of docile “named plaintiffs” in its suits, and engaged in elaborate concealment and deception to keep the details of the scheme from coming to the attention of courts, class members and others. (“Top Law Firm Indicted in Alleged Scheme to Pay Plaintiffs for Class-Action Suits”, AP/FoxNews.com, May 19; Julie Creswell, “Milberg Weiss Is Charged With Bribery and Fraud”, New York Times, May 18; Josh Gerstein, “Criminal Charges Levied Against Big Tort Law Firm”, New York Sun, May 19).

Blog reaction: Stephen Bainbridge; Tom Kirkendall; Evan Schaeffer; Greg Mitchell; Jonathan B. Wilson.

Our extensive earlier coverage: Apr. 7, Nov. 18 and links from there.

Filed under: class actions, Milberg Weiss, scandals

UK: Police “wanted” posters could infringe privacy

“Detectives across the country are refusing to issue ‘wanted’ posters for [foreign ex-criminals in flight from police] because they do not want to breach human rights laws. Forces said that the offenders had a right to privacy and might sue for defamation if their names and photographs were released.” (Ben Leapman, “Human rights fears mean police refuse to issue wanted posters of foreign criminals”, Daily Telegraph (UK), May 14) (fixed broken link).

Filed under: crime and punishment, libel slander and defamation, United Kingdom

“Doctor loses malpractice case, kills self”

Yes, it does happen: “A Florida urologist killed himself a few hours after a jury awarded a former patient $1 million in a malpractice claim.” And this part is especially charming: “Timothy Moran, a Jacksonville lawyer who represented the plaintiff, blamed [Dr. Lawrence] Grey’s insurance company for not settling the case.” (UPI/M&C, May 5)(via KevinMD).

Filed under: medical

Suing an Islamic moderate

In its many lawsuits against critics of its activities (see Jan. 5) the Islamic Society of Boston has added as a defendant Muslim reformist Ahmed Mansour, a former visiting fellow at Harvard Law School. (Jeff Jacoby, “Muslim reformer still a target”, May 17; Dean Barnett, “Mosque meltdown”, Weekly Standard, Mar. 24; Miss Kelly, Mar. 24).

Filed under: free speech, Harvard, Massachusetts

New Tabarrok/Agan med-mal study

Today the Manhattan Institute’s Center for Legal Policy (with which I’m affiliated) released a major new paper by Alexander Tabarrok and Amanda Agan of George Mason University’s Department of Economics. It’s titled “Medical Malpractice Awards, Insurance, and Negligence: Which Are Related?” As summarized by my colleague Jim Copland this morning at Point of Law, Tabarrok and Agan reach the following conclusions:

1. They show that medical malpractice premiums are closely related to medical malpractice tort awards. …

2. They show that medical malpractice premiums are not explained by insurance industry price gouging. …

3. They show that medical malpractice tort awards are related to some factors not rationally related to injuries. …

4. They show that malpractice tort awards and thus insurance premiums can vary dramatically for reasons having little or nothing to do with negligence.

More here and here.

Filed under: Manhattan Institute, medical

When is a plane more like a boat?

The crash of American Airlines Flight 587 in a quiet residential neighborhood nearly five years ago is subject to general maritime laws, a judge ruled Tuesday, allowing potentially higher damages for dozens of people who sued.

If the result was piquant, the rationale was priceless:

U.S. District Judge Robert W. Sweet said it did not matter that the plane crashed on land in Queens, killing 260 people on the plane and five on the ground. He noted that the plane was on a 1,500-mile transoceanic flight to the Dominican Republic.

“There can be no question that, but for the development of air travel, this trip or some portion thereof would have been conducted by a waterborne vessel and that it therefore bears a significant relationship to traditional maritime activity,” the judge wrote in a 78-page opinion analyzing the issue.

Besides, a piece of the aircraft, though not one containing passengers, did land in Jamaica Bay. So that would seem to settle it. (Larry Neumeister, “Plane that struck Queens neighborhood subject to maritime laws”, AP/WINS, May 9) (via Taranto).

Filed under: airlines

“Mexico Threatens Suits Over Guard Patrols”

Now here’s a great way to pour oil on troubled waters: “Mexico said Tuesday that it would file lawsuits in U.S. courts if National Guard troops on the border become directly involved in detaining migrants.” (Marina Montemayor, AP/Niagara Gazette, May 16).

Party like you’re a tobacco lawyer

To celebrate Beaumont tobacco/asbestos lawyer Walter Umphrey’s seventieth birthday, fellow Texas Tobacco Five member John Eddie Williams took over a private aircraft hangar — Umphrey’s own, in fact — “moved out the two private jets and the helicopter, added on a two-story party tent and threw a no-holds-barred tribute to Umphrey.” Music was provided by Chuck Berry, Jerry Lee Lewis and Rotel and the Hot Tomatoes, performing on two different stages, and there was some pretty decent food too. Among the 400 attendees: gubernatorial candidate Carole Keeton Strayhorn. (Shelby Hodge, “Wild soiree in hangar was Western to the hilt”, Houston Chronicle, May 14). Of course it was a mere kaffeeklatsch compared with a Willie Gary or Mark Lanier party.

Now back to your previously scheduled news story about excessive CEO compensation.

Filed under: asbestos, Beaumont, Houston, Mark Lanier, Provost Umphrey, tobacco, tobacco settlement, Willie Gary

Duke lacrosse case, cont’d

Thomas Sowell nominates the controversy’s low point:

According to Newsweek, the young man at NCCU [North Carolina Central University] said that he wanted to see the Duke students prosecuted, “whether it happened or not. It would be justice for things that happened in the past.”

(“The Biggest Scandal in the Duke University Rape Case”, syndicated/Capitalism Magazine, May 17). The comment was hardly representative of anyone’s views but the one student’s, though, contends John Schwade in the Durham News (“Article opts to sensationalize with its color commentary”, Apr. 29). More: Dr. Helen, Apr. 22. Stuart Taylor Jr. has a powerful column on the subject which however is online only to National Journal/The Atlantic subscribers (“An Outrageous Rush to Judgment”, May 2). And guess who’s involved himself in the case, as an advisor to the complainant’s family? None other than ace money-extractor Willie Gary, long familiar to readers of this site (Wendy McElroy, “Is ‘Duke’ Case Headed to Civil Court?”, FoxNews.com, May 16).

Filed under: Duke lacrosse, North Carolina, sports, Stuart Taylor Jr., Willie Gary