Updating our report of Oct. 16-17: “A man acquitted of murder because he was psychotic has won a $300,000 payout after suing a hospital for negligently releasing him into the community.” (Louise Milligan, The Australian, Aug. 20). Supreme Court Justice Michael Adams “found Hunter Area Health Service and a psychiatric registrar had breached their duty of care by failing to detain [Kevin Presland] in Newcastle’s James Fletcher psychiatric hospital.” After Presland’s release he brutally murdered his prospective sister-in-law, Kelley-Anne Laws. Justice Adams “noted that while it was generally unacceptable for someone to recover damages where they had committed a crime, in this case ‘he was insane at the time of the killing and innocent of any crime'”. The murder victim’s mother “was devastated at yesterday’s judgement. ‘Don’t give it to him,’ said Christine Laws. ‘Put it back into the mental health system to help people … It was his choice to take marijuana, his choice to drink — nobody else’s. No one made him do it, yet the system sees fit to pay him. I can’t understand the law.'” (Leonie Lamont and Miguel Holland, “Judge awards woman’s insane killer $300,000”, Sydney Morning Herald, Aug. 20).
Fen-phen: the defense strikes back
“Plaintiff lawyers have squeezed Wyeth for billions over its faulty weight-loss drugs. Now the company is pushing back with allegations of greed and wrongdoing.” The drug maker, which has paid out $13 billion since Redux and Pondimin were pulled off the market in 1997, thinks it can refute a huge portion of the 153,000 pending claims. “They’re out to humiliate the plaintiff bar and its expert doctors by handing their evidence over to law enforcement officials and medical licensing boards.” Meanwhile, plaintiff’s lawyers are fighting bitterly among themselves over charges of inadequate class representation as well as poor case-screening (Robert Lenzner and Rob Wherry, “Bad Medicine”, Forbes, Sept. 1; Kelly Pedone, “Plaintiffs’ Lawyers Want Fen-Phen Class Counsel Tossed”, Texas Lawyer, Aug. 18)(see Sept. 27-29, 2002; May 30-Jun. 1, 2003).
U.K.: safety signs, second ropes for rock climbers?
Sounds like an April Fool’s joke, but it’s the wrong time of year dept.: “Because of a bizarre decision by the Health and Safety Executive — that a European Union directive designed to promote safety on building sites must be applied to rock climbers — British mountaineers will have to endanger their lives by fixing two separate ropes up rock faces instead of one. It will also be necessary to fix safety notices on mountains to warn climbers when they are approaching icy or snow-covered surfaces.” The move is said to have dismayed Britain’s leading climbing and mountaineering organizations. (Christopher Booker, “Notebook: HSE has no head for heights”, Daily Telegraph (UK), Aug. 17)(and see Jul. 23, Jun. 30).
Mississippi ripples
Continuing fallout from the Mississippi scandal: “State Supreme Court Justice Oliver Diaz Jr. and two former judges are under indictment for loans guaranteed or paid off by Gulf Coast trial lawyer Paul Minor, but they are not the only ones to receive such help from Minor.” State Chief Justice Ed Pittman, for example, benefited from a $40,000 loan guarantee. (Jerry Mitchell, “Loan to chief justice cited”, Jackson Clarion-Ledger, Aug. 17). “Pascagoula lawyer Dickie Scruggs said he guaranteed an $80,000 loan to state Supreme Court Justice Oliver Diaz Jr. in his 2000 runoff,” saying it was necessary to keep business interests from buying the court (“Tobacco lawyer: Influence not factor in funding help”, Aug. 17; Jack Elliott, Jr., “Scruggs defends Diaz, Tuck loans”, AP/Biloxi Sun-Herald, Aug. 15)(see Jul. 27 and links from there).
Well, that didn’t take long
A law firm “announced today that it has filed a class action lawsuit in the Court of Common Pleas in Cuyahoga County, Ohio on behalf of all persons and entities residing in the United States who lost electrical power during the massive energy blackout that began on August 14, 2003.” (PR Newswire/Yahoo, Aug. 18). “The Great Blackout of 2003 is sure to generate countless lawsuits aimed at holding someone liable for the massive economic losses it caused – but experts said yesterday the only ones cashing in may be the lawyers.” (William Neuman, “Only Lawyers To Get a $$ Surge From Big Losses”, New York Post, Aug. 16; Adam Liptak, “Plaintiffs Face Hurdles Proving Liability”, New York Times, Aug. 15)(more on law firm Cauley Geller: Stephen Taub, “The Suing Game”, CFO.com, Jun. 15, 2001; Wesley Brown, “Predatory Law Firms Hover as Company Woes Are Made Public”, Northwest Arkansas Morning News, Dec. 23, 2001 (PDF first, second pages)).
More on comics clerk’s conviction
Reader William Dyer (BeldarBlog) writes that he “was disappointed to see your brief entry today on Overlawyered regarding the Jesus Castillo obscenity case. The stories you linked today are filled with factual errors and generally overblow the story.”
Interview with our editor, and more publicity
Steven Martinovich at Enter Stage Right talks with our editor about what’s wrong with the legal system and how this site came to be (“The case against lawyers: An interview with Walter Olson”, Aug. 18). Doug Bandow’s review of our editor’s new book The Rule of Lawyers, which appeared in National Review this spring, is finally online now (“Shyster Heaven”, National Review Online, Apr. 21). More recent publicity: “Lawsuit lockdown” (editorial on malpractice crisis), Las Vegas Review-Journal, Aug. 7; Anne Marie Borrego, “Fairer Class Action” (on the Class Action Fairness Act), Inc. magazine, Aug.; “Shame on you Rush”, Cut on the Bias (Susanna Cornett’s blog), Aug. 9.
Oz: trucker can sue over skin cancer
Australia: a “truck driver has won the right to sue his former employer for not warning him that over-exposure to sunlight causes skin cancer.” A lawyer who represented 71-year-old Eric Reeder “said it put employers on notice that sun protection was not just a worker’s responsibility.” (Adam Morton, “Truckie to sue boss over cancer”, AAP/News.com, Aug. 16).
Biggest NY staged-accident bust ever
The operation staged thousands of car accidents around the New York City area, investigators say, following the classic modus operandi of having a ring member pull in front of an unsuspecting driver and slam on the brakes to force a collision so as to generate insurance claims. (New York has a no-fault insurance law; similar scams are found in states with both fault and no-fault systems). A second car would then drive up, often discharging more claimed passengers while whisking away the original driver of the scam vehicle (so that his name would not turn up in too many claims). “Those indicted included doctors, psychiatrists, chiropractors, dentists and nearly 20 bogus health-care clinics … Lawyers whom prosecutors said were aware that the claims were false often called the insurance companies and threatened to file suits if the claims were not paid.” (Patrick Healy, “Investigators Say Fraud Ring Staged Thousands of Crashes”, New York Times, Aug. 13)(see Apr. 2, 2001, Aug. 25-27, 2000, Sept. 13, 1999).
Comics? Must be for kids
“Earlier this [month], the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear an appeal of Jesus Castillo’s 2000 obscenity conviction for selling a comic book. … In September 1999, Castillo, manager of Keith’s Comics in Dallas, sold a copy of ‘Demon Beast Invasion: The Fallen’ No. 2 to an undercover police officer. The adults-only comic (an English translation of a Japanese manga) was labeled as such and was stocked in an adults-only section of the shop. The police officer was an adult. … ‘I don’t care what kind of testimony is out there,’ the prosecuting attorney said. ‘Comic books, traditionally what we think of, are for kids.'” (Franklin Harris, Pulp Culture Online, Aug. 7) (via Unqualified Offerings)(Comic Book Legal Defense Fund). More: reader William Dyer (BeldarBlog) writes taking issue with the linked stories.