Despite objections from rival plaintiff’s lawyers and others, state district judge Donald Floyd in Beaumont, Texas, has approved the settlement of a class action on behalf of consumers who own or owned recalled Firestone tires allegedly prone to tread separation. The settlement excludes anyone who has filed actual claims of personal or property injury related to the tires. Class members (other than 45 named plaintiffs who will receive $2,500 each) will get no monetary compensation, but will have the right to trade in the tires if they did not respond to the earlier recall, and Firestone has pledged another $65 million for education and safety programs. The class action lawyers, meanwhile, which include Beaumont’s Provost Umphrey, will get $19 million. See our reports of Sept. 19 and Oct. 8. (Brenda Sapino Jeffreys, “Judge Approves $149 Million Firestone Tire Settlement”, Texas Lawyer, Mar. 22).
Update: PPA litigation
In 2000, after a study raised concerns of a possible connection with hemorrhagic stroke, the Food and Drug Administration banned the use of phenylopropanolamine (PPA), a stimulant long widely used in over-the-counter decongestants like Alka-Seltzer Plus and Contac, as well as in appetite suppressants. Lawyers rushed to file suits blaming drugmakers for strokes and other ills suffered by persons who had used the once near-ubiquitous compound (see Apr. 6-8, 2001; Oct. 28, 2003). Earlier this spring the Los Angeles Times ran a long piece summarizing (and uncritically endorsing) the plaintiffs’ case (Kevin Sack and Alicia Mundy, “A Dose of Denial”, Mar. 28). However, juries thus far have found that case considerably less persuasive: last month a Philadelphia jury returned a defense verdict in a case against Glaxo SmithKline over its Contac 12 hour medication (representing the plaintiff: the senatorially well-connected Kline and Specter). In three trials so far, that leaves the score at 0-3 in favor of the defense. (Melissa Nann, “Defense Wins Pennsylvania’s First PPA Verdict”, The Legal Intelligencer, Apr. 6). Update Jan. 21, 2006: further setbacks to litigation.
Miss. governor: legal climate helped cost us auto plant
Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour says the Magnolia State’s famously pro-plaintiff litigation climate may have played a role in Toyota’s decision last year to locate a new plant in Texas rather than northern Mississippi. Barbour “gave reporters and legislators copies of a letter written to him last week by Dennis C. Cuneo, a New York-based senior vice president of Toyota Motor North America Inc. …Cuneo said he led the site selection for the Japanese auto maker’s newest plants and was impressed by Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s commitment to changing that state’s civil justice system. Cuneo wrote Mississippi is ‘desirable’ for its infrastructure, pool of skilled labor, quality of life and proximity to other Toyota plants and suppliers. But he said ‘the litigation climate in Mississippi is unfavorable, and negatively impacts the state’s business climate.'” (Emily Wagster Pettus, “Barbour: Legal climate hurt state in push to get Toyota plant”, AP/Biloxi Sun-Herald, Apr. 26). Barbour was promptly assailed by lawmaker Ed Blackmon, himself a successful plaintiff’s lawyer, who heads a judiciary committee in the lower house of the Mississippi legislature where he has helped to bottle up liability reform. Blackmun said he “doesn’t believe tort reform played a role in Toyota’s decision and said he guesses ‘Maybe someone at Toyota owed (Barbour) a favor’ and wrote the letter.” (Geoff Pender, “House, Senate show little tort progress”, AP/Biloxi Sun-Herald, Apr. 27; Shelia Hardwell Byrd, “Barbour says House needs chance to vote on tort reform”, AP/Biloxi Sun-Herald, Apr. 29; “Letter shows state needs tort reform” (editorial), Natchez Democrat, Apr. 27; Julie Goodman, “Lawmaker accuses gov. of exploiting tort myth”, Jackson Clarion-Ledger, Apr. 29).
Tobacco-ban roundup
“California could be on its way to becoming the first U.S. state to outlaw smoking in cars or trucks that have children inside.” The bill, which would make lawbreakers of parents transporting their own children, has been introduced by Assemblyman Marco Firebaugh and is being supported by the bossyboots American Lung Association, a good reason to scratch that organization off one’s charitable donation list (“Calif. Bill Would Ban Smoking in Car with Kids”, Yahoo/Reuters, Apr. 28)(see Sept. 24). (Update May 29: bill narrowly defeated in California Assembly.) Irish Minister for Health and Children Miche?l Martin, who pushed through a recent ban on smoking in pubs and most other public places in the Emerald Isle, has announced that he is “very tentatively” mulling a fat tax, according to a profile by Andrew Stuttaford, who calls Martin a number of rude names including “nosey, hectoring clown” (“Goodbye to All That”, National Review Online, Apr. 27)(via Radley Balko). A bill being discussed in Rhode Island’s legislature and backed by state Attorney General Patrick Lynch, primarily aimed at increasing the penalties for school truancy, would also authorize courts to revoke or suspend the driver’s license of high schoolers determined to be “wayward”, a category that includes students found in possession of cigarettes. (Wendy Fontaine, “Truancy plan gets mixed review”, Newport Daily News, Apr. 30). And Jacob Sullum catches the federal government’s National Institute of Aging dispensing flagrant untruths about the relative hazards of smokeless tobacco (“Lies and the Health Nannies Who Tell Them”, Reason “Hit and Run”, Mar. 24).
“DirecTV accused of filing baseless suit”
“Two years after DirecTV launched a legal onslaught against thousands of alleged satellite television ‘pirates,’ a Florida resident who was sued by the company is now claiming malicious prosecution.” The company has filed numerous actions against persons it believes have been in possession of illegal signal piracy devices — famed non-murderer O.J. Simpson is one such defendant — but critics charge (see Jul. 24) that it is casting too broad a net. “The legal assault began after a series of raids on companies that sold decoders enabling viewers to steal DirecTV’s signal. The satellite television operator obtained the names of some 100,000 people in the raids from credit card receipts and other lists.” In the Florida case, Luc Senatus alleges that he was a victim of credit card theft and neither purchased nor received a signal decoder, but was sued by DirecTV anyway. (Matthew Haggman, Miami Daily Business Review, Mar. 26).(& letter to the editor, Oct. 31). Update: see also Crime and Federalism, Feb. 15, 2006 (court rules suits by DirecTV not a RICO violation).
“The fell attorney prowls for prey”
Who wrote that line, and about which city? Terry Teachout knows.
Oz: a sued gardener’s plight
Even the loser-pays principle wasn’t enough to shield 78-year-old backyard gardener Vincenzo Tavernese of Hornsby, New South Wales, from a far-fetched claim by litigious neighbors claiming injury from the pesticides he used. “The growing popularity of no-win, no-fee law [in Australia] has led to an increase in litigation with little downside for the losing plaintiff. It has been a major driver of the liability crisis.” (Miranda Devine, “Don’t blame me, I’m just the lawyer” (opinion), Sydney Morning Herald, Mar. 4). The article drew responses in the form of letters that appeared in the SMH (one of which asserts that defendant Tavernese had the right to seek a costs security order in the litigation requiring the plaintiffs to show an ability to pay his fees if unsuccessful); a response by Ian Harrison SC defending contingency fees; and a discussion on the Slattsnews blog.
Cochran’s multistate presence
Celebrity attorney Johnnie Cochran has been working hard to expand his Los Angeles-based law firm into a nationwide presence (“America’s Law Firm”, proclaims a banner on its website), and it now claims offices in ten states. Last month, amid considerable fanfare, the Cochran firm announced that it plans to merge with the Las Vegas personal injury law firm of Mainor Eglet Cottle, which we have had occasion to mention on this site in its previous incarnation as Mainor Harris (see “Crumbs from the Table”, Feb. 8-10, 2002) (Alana Roberts, “Celebrity lawyer Cochran in deal with LV law firm”, Las Vegas Sun, Mar. 2; Xazmin Garza, “Law firm set to go national”, Las Vegas Business Press, Mar. 5). It happens that the case involving Mainor Harris that we discussed two years ago, regarding charges of malfeasance in dividing a settlement on behalf of a catastrophically injured client, is still pending on appeal, and makes quite a colorful story (Ed Vogel, “Lawyer accuses two others of lying to judge”, Las Vegas Review-Journal, Feb. 10). As for the Cochran firm, its national footprint may be somewhat less impressive than you’d assume from its big Yellow Pages spreads, or at least so we gather from Evan Schaeffer’s account last month (Mar. 2) of what happened when he decided to pay an unannounced visit to the firm’s listed St. Louis offices: “The security guard had never heard of the Cochran Law Firm.”
Fen-phen: O’Quinn extracts $1 billion from Beaumont jury
“A jury awarded $1 billion to the family of a woman who once took the Wyeth-made diet drug Pondimin, part of the now-banned weight-loss combination fen-phen.” Cynthia Cappel-Coffey, who died last year at 41 of primary pulmonary hypertension (PPH), did not develop symptoms of PPH until more than four years after using the Wyeth drug. According to Bill Sims, a lawyer for Wyeth, the Beaumont judge refused to allow the company to introduce evidence that Cappel-Coffey had taken four other diet drugs in the intervening years, although all four of the other drugs warn of a risk of PPH. Wyeth has already set aside nearly $17 billion for fen-phen litigation. (“Jury awards $1 billion to family of woman whose death was connected to diet drug”, AP/Court TV, Apr. 28; Reed Abelson and Jonathan D. Glater, “Texas Jury Rules Against the Maker of Fen-Phen, a Diet Drug”, New York Times, Apr. 28; Tony Freemantle, “Beaumont jury awards $1 billion in diet drug suit”, Houston Chronicle, Apr. 28). (More: Texas Lawyer). For more on fen-phen litigation, see Jan. 25, Jan. 6, Aug. 19 and links from there. For more on Beaumont, that very special jurisdiction, see Jul. 31 and many more. And for more on attorney John O’Quinn, a frequent source of material for this page, see Feb. 26 and many more.
Send Overlawyered a letter, go on TV
Viewers of Catherine Crier’s show on Court TV yesterday (see yesterday’s entry) should follow these links to find out more about the stories we discussed: lawsuit over unsolicited faxes results in unsolicited faxes to clients; the perils of road courtesy; lawyers paying per click for searches on words like “mesothelioma”; Florida divorce lawyers send “Dear Prospective Client” letters to persons who don’t know yet that they’re being divorced (& see Apr. 14); and court refuses to enforce scuba diving waiver. The highlight came when Crier interviewed by telephone Overlawyered reader Rick Provost of Richmond, Va., who wrote a letter to the editor alerting us to the story after receiving an unsolicited fax advising him of his rights in the class action lawsuit.