Zavala County, Texas: Judge Amado Abascal of the 365th District Court has refused Ford Motor Company’s request for a new trial in that very curious $31-million-verdict case in which Ford alleges that juror Diana Palacios, city manager of Crystal City, turned out to be romantically involved with one of the plaintiff’s lawyers suing Ford, Jesse Gamez, and even “allegedly helped Gamez sign up three of the victims as clients in the lawsuit against Ford”. Further tidbit from the new coverage: Palacios is said to work as a jury consultant. See Mar. 7, Mar. 22, and, on other issues raised by the case, May 13 and May 16. (Tresa Baldas, “A Small Town’s Big Verdict Leads to Ugly Charges”, National Law Journal, May 27).
“Brand Name Bullies”
Unreviewed, but sounds promising: Brand Name Bullies, by David Bollier (website), published last December, bills itself as an “impassioned, darkly amusing look at how corporations misuse copyright and trademark law to stifle creativity and free speech.” The publisher, John Wiley & Sons, has a website with excerpts. For many examples of that phenomenon, see our pages on intellectual property/technology and free speech/media law.
“South Park Conservatives”
Want to know what destructive craziness the trial lawyers are up to? Legal thinker Walter Olson records every jot and tittle on his constantly updated website Overlawyered.
— from p. 117 of the hit new book South Park Conservatives: The Revolt Against Liberal Media Bias, written by my Manhattan Institute colleague Brian C. Anderson (buy on Amazon).
“Long, pointy knife control”
No, of course it doesn’t stop with guns: The British Medical Journal, which we have had occasion to criticize in the past (see Dec. 17, 2001 and links from there), has run an editorial entitled “Reducing knife crime: We need to ban the sale of long, pointed kitchen knives”. (John Schwartz, “British Medical Experts Campaign for Long, Pointy Knife Control”, New York Times, May 27; Edward Black, “Doctors seek kitchen knife ban”, The Scotsman, May 27). Dave Kopel (May 27) has more. And: Max at Untamed Fire of Freedom comments (May 27).
Enter land with forbidden vehicle, then sue
Via Common Good “Society Watch“, and we can’t do better than to just repeat their description of the case:
The mission of the Earth Conservancy, a non-profit organization in Northeastern Pennsylvania, is to revitalize “16,300 acres of former coal company-owned land. … More than 10,000 acres of Earth Conservancy land has been dedicated to open space and recreational activities.” But the Conservancy now faces a lawsuit from the mother of 30-year-old James Bertrand, who died “when the Jeep in which he was a passenger ran off a dirt roadway, down an embankment and into a 15- to 20-foot-deep waterhole on conservancy property.” The property in question is open to the public, but motorized vehicles are strictly prohibited. Had Bertrand obeyed the rules, says conservancy executive director Mike Dziak, the accident would have been avoided.
(Kasia Kopec, “Woman sues Earth Conservancy over son’s drowning in 2004 four-wheeling accident”, Wilkes-Barre Times-Leader, Mar. 29)
Jury raises eyebrow at lawyer’s $300K “success bonus”
A federal jury has disapproved a $300,000 “success bonus” that a Greenwich, Ct. divorce lawyer tried to charge his client following a high-pressure five-day divorce mediation. Noted lawprof ethicist Geoffrey Hazard, testifying for dissatisfied client Gary Zimmerman, said the extra charge resembled a contingent fee on the lawyer’s part and that contingent fees are supposed to be disallowed in divorce litigation. (Thomas B. Scheffey, “$300,000 ‘Success Bonus’ for Five-Day Mediation? Not So Fast, Says Jury”, Connecticut Law Tribune, Mar. 29). David Giacalone has more (Mar. 29).
Also new at Point of Law
If you’re not visiting our sister site Point of Law regularly you’re missing out on an awful lot. F’rinstance: contingency-fee tax collection in Mississippi, courtesy of that state’s AG; Alan Dershowitz’s coincidental whereabouts during the Larry Summers flap; liability reform in Georgia, South Carolina and Missouri, and (on asbestos) in Texas and Florida; topical TrackBack spam pings; the “Constitution in Exile” brouhaha; overtime lawsuits; crying wolf on class action reform; pressure for cooperation in white-collar crime cases; how Westchester County, N.Y. residents subsidize wildman enviro-litigator Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. and California residents subsidize trial-lawyer front groups as well as propaganda for antitrust enforcement; jury selection in Scotland; several posts on The American Lawyer’s recent special issue, “Plaintiff’s Power”; the supposed hypocrisy of lawsuit reformers; high-tech shareholder suits; much, much more from Ted on silicosis doctors’ testimony; Mike DeBow on Ford Crown Victoria suits; and Jim Copland on the Second Circuit’s dismissal of a tobacco class action. And don’t miss Ted’s priceless story of what happened to ATLA’s own insurance company (did you really think those guys would be good at running one?).
“Cancer label for foods is considered”
There’ll always be a California, cont’d: “Buying cereal, olives, potatoes, bread, almonds — even prune juice — at the grocery store soon might come with a cancer warning from the state of California. State officials are considering a requirement that grocery stores, retailers and restaurants alert customers about acrylamide, a carcinogen created when starchy foods like potatoes and breads are baked, roasted, fried or toasted.” (Greg Lucas, San Francisco Chronicle, May 25). For more about the naturally occurring compound and the litigation it has already provoked, see Dec. 27-29, 2002, Sept. 19, 2003 (final item), and Apr. 6, 2004. For more on Proposition 65, the bounty-hunting statute under which lawyers will inevitably file more suits against businesses that fail to post signs warning of acrylamide should the proposed regulation become effective, see Nov. 4-5, 2002 and these links.
Beach blanket bankruptcies, cont’d
Now it’s the $60 million in legal fees from the bankruptcy of Pacific Gas & Electric-affiliated energy companies that’s drawing criticism. (Tom Schoenberg, “$60M Bankruptcy Bonanza”, Legal Times, May 6). See Jan. 13, Sept. 22, 2004 (hundreds of millions in main PG&E bankruptcy), etc.
“Investigators Blame Stupidity In Area Death”
It’s a parody from The Onion (May 25), and more than one reader has written in to direct our attention to the final paragraph.