“Said Petko Bocharov, a prominent Bulgarian journalist: ‘The fact that today Bulgaria is a member of NATO could happen only after the efforts of this great American president. His name will forever remain in history.’ … ‘For us, Reagan was important because we knew he was really anti-Communist, emotionally anti-Communist,’ said Zdenek Kosina, 65, a Czech computer specialist. ‘For us, he was a symbol of the United States’ genuine determination to bring communism to an end.’ Laurentiu Ivan, 35, a customs officer in the Romanian capital, struggled to describe Reagan’s legacy and then said: ‘It is due to him that we are free.'” (William J. Kole, “International reaction: ‘It is due to him that we are free'”, AP/Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Jun. 6).
Ohio reforms asbestos, silica litigation
A breakthrough? With Gov. Robert Taft’s signature, Ohio has now enacted the nation’s first legislation establishing medical guidelines for eligibility to file lawsuits over exposure to asbestos and silica (see Sept. 13, Nov. 12). Claimants not ill enough to meet the criteria will have their names placed on an “inactive docket” and will be allowed to proceed with suits if their physical condition worsens. The bill was a major objective of business and insurance groups and faced stiff opposition from trial lawyers, who’ve vowed to challenge it in court. (Jim Provance, “Taft signs bill curbing asbestos suits”, Toledo Blade, Jun. 4; “Taft signs law limiting lawsuits over lung damage from silica”, AP/Ohio News Network, Jun. 2). See also opinion pieces: Doug Bandow, “Asbestos Liability Should Be On Domestic Reform Agenda”, Investors Business Daily/Cato Institute, Feb. 20; “Finding an asbestos compromise”, Copley/TownHall, Apr. 26; Dana Joel Gattuso, “Asbestos Litigation Choking Courts with False Claimants”, Heartland Institute Environment News, May 1). More: Point of Law, Aug. 20.
Great moments in economic regulation
With soaring gasoline prices beginning to cause economic hardship, Minnesota’s Commerce Department is cracking down on gas stations for charging prices that are too low. “The state adopted a law in 2001 that bars gas stations from selling gas without taking a minimum profit. These days, stations must charge at least eight cents per gallon more than they paid. The Commerce Department is now issuing its first fines for breaking the law. It fined Arkansas-based Murphy Oil $70,000 for breaking the law at its ten state stations, which are based at Wal-Mart stores,” and also fined one Kwik Trip station. (“Commerce Department Cracks Down on Under Priced Gas”, KARE11.com (Minneapolis-St. Paul), May 29)(via Truck and Barter). Another example, from Maryland: May 21, 2005.
Impersonating a tribe
Ronald A. Roberts of Granville, N.Y., who has called himself Sachem Golden Eagle of the Western Mohegans, awaits sentencing June 17 after pleading guilty to federal charges of perjury and submitting false documents in proceedings asking for recognition as an Indian tribe. Last year Mr. Roberts “sued New York State, seeking millions in rent over the last 200 years on 900,000 acres of public land throughout the Hudson Valley, including land around the Capitol. In another suit, in 1999 he had tried to stop the development of a state park on Schodack Island in the Hudson River near Albany, asserting that it was the ancestral burial grounds of his people. Judges eventually threw out both suits.” According to prosecutors, Roberts advanced his claims to represent a surviving Indian tribe by submitting “an altered death certificate for his grandfather, Arthur E. Smith, on which the cursive ‘W’ for white on the form had been changed to ‘Indian.’ But prosecutors pointed out that it was not much of a forgery, since the clumsy alteration was made with a ballpoint pen, invented after the grandfather’s death.” Roberts “also gave the federal government a doctored version of the 1845 census of Indians in New York, in which someone had conveniently inserted his great-grandfather’s name into a list of Indian household heads.” (James C. McKinley Jr., “Man With Flair for Reinventing Himself Goes a Step Too Far”, New York Times, Jun. 3; Hallie Arnold, “Ex-leader admits lying on tribal application”, Kingston Daily Freeman, Feb. 10). For more on the curious, high-stakes legal world of tribal recognition, casinos and land claims, see May 17, Feb. 9 and links from there.
Update: “Ten Commandments” slate
In Alabama’s GOP primary Tuesday, where a slate of religious-right judicial candidates backed by former chief justice Roy Moore was financially supported by the state’s leading plaintiff’s lawyers (see Jun. 1), Moore loyalist Tom Parker succeeded in knocking off business-favored incumbent Jean Brown by a narrow margin; a second “Ten Commandments” candidate lost outright, while a third trailed badly in voting but may have succeeded in forcing a runoff. (William C. Singleton III, “Roy Moore’s clout swings high court race”, Birmingham Post-Herald, Jun. 2). Mike DeBow of Southern Appeal (Jun. 2) has more, and notes that the Democrat who will be facing off against Mooreite Parker in November, Robert Smith of Mobile, is — unusually for a Democratic candidate in that state, it would seem — a defense- rather than a plaintiff’s-side litigator and indeed a member of the International Association of Defense Counsel.
Oz: jilted wife wants stress damages too
Two months ago (see Apr. 8) a workers’ comp tribunal caused a furor in Australia by awarding $A28,000 to teacher Jeff Sinclair, who was fired over an affair with a teenage student. (“School for scandal”, Melbourne Age, May 3). Now Sabina Sinclair, the educator’s spurned wife, is also seeking compensation for psychological injury from the New South Wales education department over the incident. “I am really fragile,” she said. (Martin Wallace, “Jilted wife seeks damages”, Daily Telegraph/News.com.au, May 31).
Jackpot in San Diego
Drivers of the Ford Explorer have a lower fatality rate than drivers of other vehicles — and a lower fatality rate from rollovers than drivers of other SUVs. The NHTSA found that there was nothing wrong with the Explorer’s design after a spate of well-publicized accidents resulted in an investigation. Nevertheless, plaintiffs persist in filing lawsuits accusing the Explorer of being unreasonably dangerous. And one can see why: Ford has successfully defended the vehicle in at least ten consecutive jury cases, but on Wednesday a San Diego jury rewarded the latest roll of the dice with a $122.6 million verdict for a paraplegic plaintiff, Benetta Buell-Wilson. Ms. Buell-Wilson was driving at a high speed on Interstate 8, when the RV in front of her lost a large piece of metal; she lost control of the SUV when she swerved, and the vehicle went off the highway and flipped 4 times before landing on the roof. The jury returns today to deliberate the question of punitive damages. (Ray Huard, “$123 million awarded in SUV rollover”, San Diego Union-Tribune, Jun. 3; Myron Levin, “Jury Orders Ford to Pay $122.6 Million”, LA Times, Jun. 3) (via Bashman). “This was an extremely severe crash, and any SUV would have reacted in the same way under similar circumstances,” Ford spokeswoman Kathleen Vokes said. “Our concern goes out to Ms. Buell-Wilson and her family, but this tragic accident was caused by a combination of high speed and a large metal obstruction in the road.” (“Verdict ends Ford streak”, Detroit News, Jun. 3). Ford says it will appeal; the jury awarded four times more than what plaintiffs asked for.
Update: Jury awards $246 million in punitive damages. Ford protests that it wasn’t allowed to introduce evidence to the jury comparing the safety record of the Explorer to other SUVs. (Reuters, Jun. 3; Myron Levin, “Jury Adds Punitive Award in Ford Case”, LA Times, Jun. 4).
Update: Judge reduces damages to $150 million; Ford has appealed. (Michelle Morgante, AP, Aug. 19; Nora Lockwood Tooher, “Explorer Rollover Yields $368.6 Million Verdict”, Lawyers Weekly USA, Dec. 30).
As with all my posts, I speak for myself and not my firm or any of my firm’s clients (which include Ford).
Autopsy finds mouse died of skull fracture
…undercutting plausibility of claim that it got into the soup by mistake. The “incident caused Cracker Barrel to stop serving vegetable soup at all of its 497 stores nationwide. … [A spokeswoman for the company] said the Pattersons had demanded $500,000 from the company” but now they’ve been arrested instead. (Peter Dujardin, “Tests reveal mouse-in-soup hoax; pair charged”, Newport News (Va.) Daily Press, Jun. 2)(via Legal Reader). See also Jan. 25-27, 2002.
Asbestos bankruptcy shenanigans
In 1994 “Congress fiddled with the bankruptcy code in a way that allowed trial lawyers to exploit asbestos bankruptcies. It works like this: In a normal bankruptcy, a creditor’s voting weight is mainly determined by how much he’s owed. But thanks to the 1994 change, all asbestos ‘creditors’ (claimants) are treated equally.” A dying cancer patient gets the same vote as someone with no detectible health impairment at all. “It didn’t take long for tort lawyers to figure out how to game this system. The leading asbestos law firms team up and pool their unimpaired plaintiffs (who each get a vote), draw up a plan that gives the bulk of the money to their clients, and then outvote the other creditors.” Once in control, the lawyers can begin in effect running the affairs of the company in ways that provide them with further benefits, including cutting themselves large fees for their administrative and dealmaking services. (“The latest asbestos scam” (editorial), WSJ, Jun. 1)($$) See also Mar. 15-16, 2003.
4,000 federal crimes
A new study for the Federalist Society finds that the U.S. Code now defines well over 4,000 crimes, and that the count has risen by more than a third since the early 1980s. A substantial share of the newer offenses, around a third, are environmental in nature, and the rate of enactment of federal criminal statutes spikes in election years, finds the author, Prof. John S. Baker, Jr. of Louisiana State University Law Center. Moreover, the trend is toward a chipping away of the traditional requirement for a mens rea — that is, a guilty or otherwise knowing state of mind — in favor of the criminalization of what may be inadvertent regulatory infractions. (“Measuring the Explosive Growth of Federal Crime Legislation”, study in PDF format/supplementary reading). More: William L. Anderson and Candice E. Jackson, “Washington’s Biggest Crime Problem”, Reason, Apr.