The Norwegian Supreme Court has held that tobacco companies are not responsible for a smoker’s death, because by 1964, smokers had widespread knowledge of the risks of smoking and could have chosen to quit. (Nina Berglund, “Family loses fight against tobacco firm”, Aftenposten, Oct. 31; Doug Mellgren, “Smoker’s lawsuit is rejected in Norway”, AP, Oct. 31). Lest you fear that Norway is a complete oasis of common sense, another Norwegian court has ordered the state to purchase an automobile for a 4’2″ individual who claims to have anxiety attacks at the thought of riding a bus. (Kaare M. Hansen and Nina Berglund, “State ordered to buy car for short man”, Aftenposten, Nov. 11).
Off for a few days
I’ll be away through Tuesday speaking at the American Tort Reform Association‘s 2003 Annual Conference for State Coalition Leaders in Las Vegas. Co-blogger Ted Frank, however, will still be watching the news for postworthy items. See you on Wednesday.
NYC cops nabbed on claims fraud rap
The urban accident racket, as we’ve had occasion to observe, has over the years corrupted any number of doctors (more), clinics, insurance adjusters and even parents, as well as (of course) lawyers. We are reminded to add “policemen” to the list by the latest report that more than a dozen persons, including several New York City police officers, have been indicted in a claims fraud scheme in which cops’ role was to write up fake accident reports for crashes that never occurred which were then used as the basis for filing personal-injury claims. (Michael Wilson, “City Officers Are Arrested in Bogus Claims of Accidents”, New York Times, Nov. 13; “Fraud Didn’t Enrich Officers, Authorities Say”, Nov. 14) (more, from 1996)
Job opening
The Manhattan Institute Center for Legal Policy (with which I’m associated) tells me that it has an opening for a staff position to work on compiling articles, reports and other material related to the Trial Lawyers Inc. project. Candidates need not be located in New York City but should have a strong interest in litigation reform issues combined with writing ability and familiarity with Web-based publishing (you might be a blogger, for example). If you fit the bill, email me at editor -at – thisdomainname and I’ll forward your response to the Institute.
Update: College Board resists test-accommodation tide
The College Board finally appears to be halting its years-long slide toward offering extra time and other accommodations to an ever-growing number of test-taking students claiming learning disability (see our earlier coverage going back to Feb. 1999). The last straw came when litigation pressure forced testers to abandon the practice of “flagging” scores on tests taken with accommodations (see Jul. 22-23, 2002 and links from there). Searching for a way to prevent a new flood tide of requests, the Board instituted “a new requirement that students seeking extra time must generally have a diagnosis and a plan for accommodations in school at least four months before taking the SAT.” In addition, it compiled a list of 142 schools which had accounted for a greatly disproportionate share of accommodations requests — a list including many highly affluent public and private schools — and asked those schools to supply greater documentation for the requests. “Faced with such scrutiny, many of the schools that had asked for the most accommodations have pulled back substantially on their requests.” The number of parental appeals has also tripled, suggesting that the Board may need to hire more lawyers than ever (and nervously hope for favorable treatment in the courts) if it wants to make the new harder line stick. (Tamar Lewin, “Change in SAT Procedure Echoes in Disability Realm”, New York Times, Nov. 8).
Church bulletin smackdown
Milwaukee paper reports on the unpleasant two-year litigation that resulted after two employees of Liturgical Publications Inc., the country’s largest publisher of church bulletins and newsletters, departed to form a start-up competitor. The case ended with a jury’s rejection of allegations that the former employees stole trade secrets; a judge had earlier ruled a noncompete agreement unenforceable (David Doege, “Bulletin publisher leaves fold, beats lawsuit”, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Nov. 11; Lisa Sink, “Most bulletin publisher’s claims against ex-workers dismissed”, Dec. 30, 2002) (via Employer’s Lawyer (Nov. 11), which says the story provides “a good picture of what I call the soft dollar cost of litigation”)
Privileged, confidential…and in the dumpster
What’s that in the dumpster at the University Park Plaza in Fort Myers, Fla., available for curious strangers to pick through? Why, it’s thousands of personal, confidential client files, abandoned after the Florida law firm of Annis, Mitchell, Cockey, Edwards, and Roehn went bankrupt and closed its local office. (“Attorneys abandon old client files”, MSNBC, Oct. 30)(via Carolyn Elefant)
Dr. Phil Sued
A scheduled guest on the Dr. Phil show had a panic attack before she was set to appear. (The guest, former Playboy Club waitress “Bambi” Bembenek, was going to proclaim her innocence of murder charges to which she had previously pled no contest.) So she decided to tie bedsheets together to escape the second-floor apartment where she was staying. And she fell, and broke her leg. Which was amputated as a result. If you’ve been reading this website any length of time, you know what happened next. (“Ex-cop blames ‘Dr. Phil’ show for injuries that led to amputation”, AP, Nov. 11; press release; see also Jessica McBride, “Bembenek judge calls case a ‘circus'”, Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, Oct. 24; “Bembenek Hurts Foot Trying To Escape Hotel Room”, Channel4000.com, Nov. 17, 2002). (via SoCalLawBlog)
Silica lawsuits: castles from sand
Mississippi is far outpacing the rest of the country in silica litigation (see Sept. 13): “More than 17,000 plaintiffs in this state have sued U.S. Silica, a leading producer of silica sand, for allegedly causing them to develop an incurable lung disease.” One lawsuit filed at the courthouse in Macon, Miss. “was filed by 4,200 plaintiffs, close to double the 2,461 residents in this Noxubee County town.” Less than one percent of the plaintiffs are actually from Mississippi, the others having been brought there by their lawyers to sue. Critics say law firms are using mass solicitation and screening techniques to recruit thousands of claimants with no actual disability, as was done earlier with asbestos. One silica plaintiff, “62-year-old Noah Myers Bufkin of Lucedale, said he was diagnosed in a mass screening as having silicosis, although he can’t say for sure he has any symptoms. …The same screening company diagnosed him as having asbestosis seven or eight years ago, he said. He estimates he has received about $10,000 from that suit. …. He doesn’t know of any symptoms he’s suffering from silicosis or asbestosis. ‘I’m saving up in case I do have a problem,’ he said. ‘For a poor fella like me, every little bit helps.'” (Jerry Mitchell, “Silica suits latest to hit Miss. courts”, Jackson Clarion-Ledger, Oct. 19).
Suing incompetent peacekeepers
Blessed are those who just don’t get involved in the first place dept.: “Relatives of victims of Europe’s bloodiest post-war massacre are to sue the United Nations and the Dutch government for ?370 million.” Since no adequate recovery is to be had from Bosnian Serb war criminals for the Srebrenica massacre, reparations lawyers now wish to extract money from the well-meaning neutrals and noncombatants whose bungling efforts failed to prevent it. That should provide a good incentive for anyone to volunteer as peacekeepers in future, no? U.S. lawyers are said to be involved. (“Srebrenica relatives sue UN and Dutch for ?370m”, Daily Telegraph, Nov. 10).