Overlawyered: Chronicling The High Cost Of Our Legal System

Notable quote

The whole point of the rule of law is the certainty it gives the citizen. There is no greater injustice than for a citizen to be unable to determine what legal consequences would flow from an action contemplated.

— Matthew Parris, writing on the vaguely worded speech-prohibitions in the British Government’s proposed Racial and Religious Hatred Bill. (“This is no sort of way to make a law -– and no sort of law to make”, The Times (U.K.), Jun. 25). For more on the legislation, see Jul. 16, 2004 and Jun. 11, 2005.

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“Paw laws”

A British view of the campaign in American courts (see May 10, etc.) to allow recovery of sentimental value, emotional anguish and so forth when domestic animals are killed or injured (Philip Sherwell, “Now pets really are part of the family thanks to US ‘paw laws'”, Daily Telegraph, Jun. 26).

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New York Times and thimerosal

Creationists apparently have no monopoly on unscientific nonsense. There’s an excellent article in the New York Times on the thimerosal controversy (Jun. 20 and links therein), though it fails to follow the money from the plaintiffs’ bar behind the pseudoscience. (Gardiner Harris and Anahad O’Connor, “On Autism’s Cause, It’s Parents vs. Research”, NY Times, Jun. 25). Meanwhile, the Huffington Post spouts irresponsible conspiracy theories for why ABC refused to endorse Robert Kennedy Jr.’s attack on the vaccine industry. The excellent Skeptico blog follows up its earlier post on the subject. And you just knew Michael Fumento would weigh in, and he shows the real costs of the plaintiffs’ bar scaremongering:

The conspiracy-mongers have scared parents into not protecting their children. “Sadly, as exemptions proliferate, disease ‘hot spots’ are cropping up across the United States,” observed an article in the Winter 2004 University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform. “Outbreaks of measles, whooping cough, mumps, rubella and diphtheria are reoccurring, costing hundreds of lives and hospitalizing thousands more.”

Remember that next time you hear the plaintiffs’ bar taking credit for safety innovations that have saved lives.

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Update: Suing a “recovered memory” critic

The L.A. Times has a lengthy account of the continuing litigation against famed psychologist Elizabeth Loftus, who after publishing an article in Skeptical Inquirer casting doubt on the “recovered memory” claims of a claimed abuse victim described as Jane Doe, was sued for defamation and invasion of privacy by the real-life woman behind the pseudonym. We originally posted on the case Aug. 26, 2004. (Maura Dolan, “Memory, Pain and the Truth”, Los Angeles Times, Jun. 21)(via Nordberg). More: LawLimits (Jun. 23) has more, including the latest procedural status of the case (Calif. Supreme Court agrees to review Loftus’s attempt to get the case thrown out under the state’s “anti-SLAPP” law, which a lower court declined to do).

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Update: U.K. court rejects smoker’s lawsuit

Once again the inevitable worldwide triumph of tobacco litigation turns out to be not so inevitable after all: “In the first case of its kind in Britain, a judge rejected Margaret McTear’s attempt to sue Imperial Tobacco over the death of her husband Alf 12 years ago. … Lord Nimmo Smith, at the Court of Session in Edinburgh, said the test case failed on every count. He ruled that Mr McTear knew what he was doing and there was no proof that his cancer was caused by a particular cigarette brand.” (Auslan Cramb, “Widow fails to pin blame on tobacco company”, Daily Telegraph, Jun. 1). Ever the gracious loser, Northeastern University lawprof-advocate and interest-nondiscloser Richard Daynard called the ruling “an extraordinarily ignorant opinion”: “The UK suffers from a conservative, narrow-minded judiciary who don’t know or don’t want to know the relevant medical and social facts,” he said. (Stephen Davis, “Smokescreen”, New Statesman, Jun. 27)($).

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Update: DVT claim fails in Australia

The High Court of Australia has dismissed a claim against British Airways and Qantas by a businessman who suffered a stroke arising from deep-vein thrombosis (DVT), sometimes known as “economy-class syndrome”, after a long-distance flight (see Sept. 12, 2004). “If his case had succeeded, it could have opened the floodgates to dozens of DVT cases which had been prepared to go before Australian courts.” (Chris Herde, “Court throws out DVT-related case”, The Australian, Jun. 23). More: Oct. 3, 2004 and links from there.

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Estee Lauder class action

Retiree Diane Hutto of Fort Walton Beach, Fla. bought the giant cosmetics company’s “anti-aging” products, but aged anyway. A refund of what she paid wouldn’t do the trick, it seems; her lawyer’s asking for class action damages that could exceed $5 million depending on the size of the class. (Patrick Danner, “Retiree sues Estee Lauder over anti-aging claim”, Knight Ridder/Salt Lake Tribune, Jun. 18).

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