…and it was the Massachusetts Lottery Commission’s fault, you have to understand. For our part, we intend in future to avoid drunken brawlers in Dedham, Mass. (Jonathan Saltzman, “Lottery sued after toes crushed”, Boston Globe, Jun. 26). On the dangers of tippable vending machines, see also Jul. 20-22, 2001.
NEA lawsuit left behind?
The AP reports that the National Education Association’s plans to launch a legal challenge the No Child Left Behind Act have, thus far, come to naught. No state government has signed on to the proposed suit, announced a year ago, and NEA is rethinking its strategy. The NEA website offers its views on the Act here; Education Secretary Paige’s response to the NEA’s threat of a lawsuit last summer is here.
Academic notes
U. of Wisconsin law professor (and blogger) Ann Althouse is not exactly impressed by Judge Guido Calabresi’s apology for his ACS remarks: “You’d think someone who makes principles of democracy central to his legal argument wouldn’t stop at saying his argument is complicated and academic.” Her earlier post on this subject is also worth reading, as is Point of Law’s treatment.
The July-August issue of Legal Affairs magazine includes a debate on the question of American courts’ use of foreign law, featuring Judge Richard Posner (advising against) and Georgetown law professor Vicki Jackson (making the case in favor).
Update: Forbes on Lodi mess
Champerty in the suites: “Lehman Brothers’ hopes of underwriting some juicy tort litigation crashed badly, leaving behind the toxic residue of avarice and gullibility.” Forbes examines one California town’s “man-made legal disaster”, a saga previously covered in our posts of Jan. 12, Jan. 17 and May 8 (Scott Woolley, “Municipal bombs”, Forbes, Jun. 21).
Update: Hotel settles “Murder by Mercedes” case
An attorney for the Hilton hotel in Clear Lake, Texas, in whose parking lot wronged wife Clara Harris ran down her cheating husband, confirms that the hotel has reached a settlement of the lawsuit filed on behalf of David Harris’s children for failing to prevent the 2002 incident. (see Feb. 24, 2003). The hotel’s management was “accused in the lawsuit of failing to provide effective security, notify police in time to prevent Harris’ death or train employees to deal with domestic disputes.” After a widely publicized trial, Clara Harris was sentenced to 20 years in prison. The Blue Moon detective agency, which had been engaged by Mrs. Harris to investigate her husband, has also settled a lawsuit in the case. (“Lawsuit by slain orthodontist’s children tentatively settled”, AP/KRTK Houston, Jun. 24).
“Diary of a Bashed Attorney”
“July 2 — Thank God I’m not a litigator. Jerry just got a 137 page motion to dismiss his 85 page complaint. By fax yet, right before a holiday weekend. Jerry says he’ll see the defendant’s motion and raise it a hundred. I think Jerry should consider therapy.” — humorist Madeleine Begun Kane, on her former career as a lawyer, first published Pacific Magazine & Funny Times, March 5, 1993.
Scruggs watch
Last week lawyers associated with uber-tobacco lawyer Richard Scruggs fanned out across the country to file a dozen lawsuits against thirteen large non-profit hospitals in eight states. According to one press account, the lawsuits allege that “the institutions are not living up to their charitable missions, are overcharging uninsured patients and are using overly aggressive collection tactics.” (Rob Kaiser, “Class actions filed against non-profit hospitals,” Chicago Tribune, June 18) Scruggs characterizes the litigation as his attempt “to stop profiteering by nonprofit hospitals.” (Bill Lewis, “St. Thomas among hospitals accused of ‘profiteering,'” Nashville Tennessean, June 18)
The Tennessean article further explains:
“The lawsuit said Saint Thomas unfairly benefits from its long-held tax-exempt status, and the suit alleges a breach of contract, consumer fraud and deceptive business practices because Saint Thomas and the other nonprofits allegedly haven’t provided enough charity care in return for their tax exemptions….
“He criticized the hospitals named in the lawsuits for charging what he said were their highest rates to patients who do not have insurance, while giving discounts to big insurance companies. If the poor or uninsured patients cannot pay their bills, the hospitals garnishee wages and bank accounts, seize houses and force people into bankruptcy, he said.”
University of Chicago law professor Richard Epstein, quoted in the Tribune article, had this reaction: “Dicky Scruggs has got a lot of money, and he’s looking for a lot of trouble,” Epstein said. “The question is, what’s the law that’s being violated?”
Brookings study of state regulation
I became aware only this week of the publication earlier this year of Paul Teske’s book, Regulation in the States, by the Brookings Institution Press. I have not yet read it, and so cannot recommend it to you from that vantage point. However, the abstract looks interesting, I think it might interest a substantial set of Overlawyered readers, and the time of a guest blogger is short. So, here’s a clip from the book’s abstract:
“Regulation in the States provides original quantitative analyses of state-level regulation across all the states in ten important sectors such as telecommunications, electricity, and professional licensing. Each section uses the same template for research and discussion, enabling cross-comparison among industries. Teske finds that commonly held fears of regulatory capture by industry are overblown, as are worries about an inevitable ‘race to the bottom.’ Legislatures and agencies still tend to base their policy decisions on their own ideologies and analysis. Teske also examines important exceptions, however, such as the case of occupational regulation.”
For a short, mostly favorable review by a political scientist, click here.
“Can these settlements be redeemed?”
A 2002 class-action settlement against cable purveyor MediaOne (now Comcast) over alleged overcharges resulted in a payout to consumers ballyhooed at $17 million, with $3 million going to fees for class counsel. Boston Globe columnist Alex Beam tries to find out how much of that $17 million was actually paid to consumers, and — imagine! — gets blown off by both the company and the lawyers. He also tries to check out how much consumers actually received from a settlement against the Poland Spring water company (see Feb. 2, Sept. 10) that was billed as being worth $8 million, with $1.35 million to the lawyers. The lawyer he reaches tells Beam he has no idea, and the company never gets back to him. All’s well with the system (Jun. 17).
Worker’s comp: trauma over visitor’s remark
New Jersey: “County freeholders Tuesday paid nearly $26,000 to a Crest Haven Nursing Home employee who claimed she suffered a psychiatric disorder in 2001 after a nursing home visitor made an inappropriate remark to her.” Nursing assistant Cynthia Allen, a longtime employee whose lawyer said she had a good work record, “alleged that she was feeding another patient in late December 2000 when a nursing home visitor said ‘I bet you have some fresh stuff.'” Although the visitor later denied saying anything and no one else heard the comment, Allen said it had been made in a sexually offensive way and that she had felt intimidated when seeing the visitor on two subsequent occasions. Medical experts agreed that she had suffered psychological trauma over the incident. A freeholder who voted for the payment nonetheless termed it “bizarre” and said “This is what’s wrong with our legal system.” (W. F. Keough, “Visitor?s remark to worker at Crest Haven costs county $26,000 in compensation claim”, Press of Atlantic City, Jun. 23 (reg)).