Sorry, wrong (class-action) number

Maryland state judge Steven I. Platt “has knocked down a class-action settlement involving late fees on telephone bills, saying the attorneys’ request for $13 million in legal fees was excessive”. Under the terms of settlement of the four-year-old lawsuit, Verizon Maryland had agreed to set aside an impressive-sounding $51.9 million for refunds, but in fact only 18,000 of the 2-million-plus eligible customers submitted claims for their refund of (in most cases) $6, “making the settlement worth less than $200,000.” “Virtually all of the money on the table would have gone to the lawyers, and only a very small share would have gone to the class members themselves,” said Michael J. Quirk, a staff attorney for Trial Lawyers for Public Justice, which opposed the settlement. (Caroline E. Mayer, “Md. Judge Cites Legal Fees In Rejecting Phone Accord”, Washington Post, Nov. 18).

Richmond & Oklahoma City radio

Yesterday at 3:15 p.m. EST I was a guest on Michael Graham’s talk show on WRVA, Richmond, Va., to discuss money laundering regulations and the latest controversy to assail radio host Rush Limbaugh (I wrote about the general subject of money laundering law in 1999 for Reason). And tomorrow morning at 8:35 a.m. CST I’ll be a guest on Oklahoma City’s WKY radio morning program.

Back from travel & award

I’m finally on web duty again following my trip to give a talk before the American Tort Reform Association gathering in Las Vegas. ATRA has two current projects that especially merit readers’ attention. One is its recent update of its “Judicial Hellholes” reports on local jurisdictions famed for unfairness to outsider defendants, such as Madison County, Ill., Jefferson County, Miss., St. Louis, Philadelphia, Miami and Los Angeles. Recent news coverage can be found here.

The other project is ATRA’s recent launch of what it calls the Legal Reform Champions List. The list is intended to address a widespread (and sometimes infuriating) phenomenon: many lawyers who make a career specialty of litigation defense quietly undermine their clients’ interests by working covertly or openly to block reforms that would curb the volume or cost of litigation, often mindful of their own self-interest in ensuring there are plenty of future lawsuits requiring their services to defend. ATRA’s new list takes a relatively positive approach to this problem: rather than denounce by name defense lawyers who operate as effective allies of the litigation lobby, it singles out for praise those who (often at a real cost to their strict monetary interest) work in the public policy process to combat excessive litigation. We wrote about this problem in The Rule of Lawyers (in a passage not online through conventional means, but available with registration through Amazon’s book-peek feature).

I am happy to report something I wasn’t expecting when I set off for the trip: at my Monday appearance ATRA was kind enough to give me its “Civil Justice Achievement Award” 2003. This seems to be the year for me to receive handsomely engraved awards (see Sept. 24). Thanks! (& welcome Ernie the Attorney readers)

Phony class action nabs alleged murderer

See? Class actions do have social value! Seattle police tied a suspect to a murder by sending him a solicitation to obtain money in a class action over parking tickets–thus obtaining DNA from saliva on the return envelope. The National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers asked unsuccessfully for the evidence to be thrown out. (Tracy Johnson, “Judge upholds police trickery”, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Nov. 18; Christine Clarridge, “Ruse police used to get DNA was legal, judge declares”, Seattle Times, Nov. 18; Tracy Johnson, “Police ruse illegal, lawyer says”, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Oct. 25; Richard Willing, “Police dupe suspects into giving up DNA”, USA Today, Sep. 10; AP, May 30). (via Daily Legal Newswire)

Lawyer contacted over class reading

The families of two eleventh graders at Vero Beach High have contacted a civil rights lawyer after their English teacher read a selection from a book, “A Land Remembered”, where a character uses a racial slur. (Linda Jump, “Racial slur spurs book ban initiative”, Florida Today, Nov. 17). (via Jacobs, who asks why a teacher is reading to eleventh graders)

Stallone sued over Rocky movies

I bet you didn’t know that the original “Rocky” movie was inspired by journeyman boxer Chuck Wepner’s 1975 fifteen-round loss to Muhammed Ali in 1975. Which doesn’t bode well for Wepner’s lawsuit: he seems to think he’s entitled to a $15 million cut for that movie and its four sequels for misuse of publicity rights. (A look at Wepner’s web site seems to indicate the ex-con benefits more from publicity from Stallone than Stallone has from publicity from Wepner. I didn’t see any references to Mr. T, however.) One looks in vain for an acknowledgement by the press coverage that the lawsuit has less of a chance than Wepner did against Ali–though readers of Professor Volokh’s weblog know better:

No, it’s not legally actionable for a writer to use your name in honestly describing the inspiration for his work. Even if Stallone is intentionally trying to “capitalize” on this story (not terribly likely, I think, but say it’s so), he’s perfectly entitled to do so, just as biographers or journalists are perfectly to “capitalize” on others’ names and stories when writing their works. Wepner wouldn’t be entitled to get damages from someone who wrote a biography of him (unless the biography was libelous, which isn’t an issue here). He’s likewise not entitled to get damages from someone who was inspired by him in making a movie, and who reveals this inspiration in discussing the movie.

(Dave Anderson, “Bayonne Bleeder Throws a Punch at the Italian Stallion”, New York Times, Nov. 16; Steve Springer, “The Eye of the Lawsuit”, Los Angeles Times, Nov. 13; AP, Nov. 13; Eugene Volokh blog, Nov. 10).

Mississippi YMCA drowning case settles

A televised lawsuit against a Mississippi YMCA and a host of other defendants completed settlement late last week. (Terms of the settlement, no doubt motivated in part by the threat of a request for punitive damages, were not disclosed, but the lead plaintiffs’ lawyer, Dennis Sweet (see May 7 and Oct. 25, 2000), implied the total was almost $10 million.) The plaintiffs did not just sue the YMCA over their son’s drowning, but also sued a local television station’s charitable foundation because it had provided funding for the YMCA’s swimming program–which no doubt explains why the press coverage was more skeptical than it usually is when plaintiffs go after deep pockets.

Monte Barton, who represents the Y.M.C.A., says, “The Y.M.C.A. relies on [its] donors and volunteers. If they get scared away, because of the threat of lawsuits, it will definitely [affect] not only the Y.M.C.A., but other organizations like that.”

Charlene Priester, who represents the TV-3 Foundation, says, “That may indeed be something that is discussed in board rooms of charities throughout Jackson, the state and the nation since it was broadcast all over the country.”

Priester represents the TV-3 Foundation, the separate non-profit organization that helps the community. It is also out of the lawsuit now. But Priester says she’s still troubled by it.

Priester says, “Once someone has been sued in this type of lawsuit, it will always make you wonder before you do something to help. Do you subject yourself to this type of litigation?”

That’s why Priester says there needs to be some self-examination in the legal system.

Priester says, “This case might have been the poster child for tort reform…when you start suing charitable organizations when you know all they did is donate money and volunteers.”

(Dawn Russell, “Drowning Suit Draws Community Concern”, WLBT, Nov. 13; “Final defendant settles lawsuit over Jackson YMCA drowning”, AP, Nov. 15; Jimmie E. Gates, “Lawsuit over drowning settled”, Mississippi Clarion-Ledger, Nov. 15; “Three defendants agree to settle lawsuit over Jackson YMCA drowning”, AP, Nov. 14; Joanna Gaitanoglou, “All but One Defendant Dropped from Drowning Suit”, WLBT, Nov. 13; Rochelle Steinhaus, “Most parties in drowning suit settle, but trial goes on”, CourtTV, Nov. 13; complaint).

“Judging School Discipline”

The new book Judging School Discipline : The Crisis of Moral Authority argues that the hundreds of lawsuits challenging school disciplinary procedures has undermined the quality of public education. The book claims to examine every case involving student discipline through 1992, and the authors plan to release updated data through 2003 next month. “‘Clearly, just the threat of lawsuits restrains teachers and administrators from taking charge in their classrooms and schools,’ said [Richard] Arum, chair of the Humanities and Social Sciences Department at The Steinhardt School of Education. ‘Rather than reaffirming civil liberties, litigation has prevented schools from enhancing educational opportunities for all.'” (James Devitt, “Richard Arum Argues that Flood of Lawsuits Hinders Education”, NYU press release, Oct. 10).