Overlawyered: Chronicling The High Cost Of Our Legal System

“Kiss ladies’ night goodbye”

Although the California Supreme Court ruled as long ago as 1985 that the state’s civil rights law prohibits “Ladies’ Night” discounts at bars, various San Diego taverns apparently hadn’t gotten the word. That created a perfect opening for Steven Surrey and Alfred Rava to make the rounds of nightspots in the county, demanding similar discounts for themselves and taking note when they were refused. The Unruh Civil Rights Act provides $4,000 fines for each violation plus “one-way” attorneys’ fee awards (pay if you are a losing defendant, collect nothing if you win). The next step was for lawyers to swoop down and obtain $20,000 settlements from six errant bar owners and $5,000 from a seventh that was going out of business. “One of the [complainants] is a California Western School of Law classmate of the two lawyers who filed the suits on their behalf. The other is a paralegal. When asked about the social merits of these lawsuits, Erik Jenkins, one of the attorneys who filed the suits, made comparisons between ladies night discounts and the discrimination faced by African-Americans in the South.” (Alex Roth, San Diego Union-Tribune, Aug. 3).

In other news of California bounty-hunting, the Long Beach Press-Telegram (Aug. 2) has editorially cited our editor’s recent WSJ op-ed in upbraiding local Assemblywoman Martha Escutia for advancing a measure that masquerades as reform of the state’s notorious section 17200 law but in fact would give lawyers even more scope to use it for shakedowns (see Jul. 28).

Addendum: Lest anyone doubt that highly entrepreneurial applications of section 17200 remain alive and well despite the downfall of the Trevor Law Group, John Sullivan at the Civil Justice Association of California reprints a recent letter (PDF) from a Bay Area law firm demanding $6500 in legal fees in exchange for not filing a 17200 lawsuit over an allegedly erroneous advertisement; the law firm does not claim to represent any clients injured by the ad, but does state that “A substantial percentage of this firm?s practice is devoted to prosecuting UCL violations.” (“17200 Abuses don’t stop with Trevor: Shakedowns Head North”, CJAC press release, Jul. 23)

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Brooklyn judges scandal

It’s looming as the worst judicial scandal in years: “Since Barron’s conviction [Judge Victor Barron of Brooklyn was sentenced to three to nine years in prison for taking thousands of dollars in bribes], authorities have arrested a second Brooklyn judge [Gerald Garson] for allegedly accepting gifts from a corrupt lawyer, kicked a third off the bench for breaking rules on rental property and scrutinized a fourth for his handling of his elderly aunt’s life savings.” The borough’s judicial selection system, which gives party bosses a key say in nominating jurists to the bench, is being widely blamed. (“Corruption Scandal Shakes Brooklyn Court”, AP/ABCNews.com, Aug. 3; Jack Newfield, “‘Regime Change’ Should Be Goal of Judge Probe”, New York Sun, Jun. 30; “Norman schemes while B’klyn burns”, New York Daily News (editorial), Jun. 30; Anthony M. DeStefano, “Their Goal: Dismissal”, Newsday, Jul. 14; Mark Berkey-Gerard, “Judges”, Gotham Gazette, Aug. 8) (many links via former Parks Commissioner Henry Stern’s NYCivic.org).

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More on jackpot justice

Michigan: A federal jury awarded $270.05 in general damages and $875,000 in punitive damages to a 74-year-old woman who claimed she was “questioned, photographed, held against her will and finally tossed out” of a casino after she found an abandoned nickel credit in a deserted slot machine. Plaintiff Estella Romanski prevailed on her claims for violation of her civil rights, false arrest and false imprisonment, while Detroit’s MotorCity Casino defeated her claims for defamation and intentional infliction of emotional distress.

MotorCity spokesman Jack Barthwell told a reporter that the practice of so-called “slot walking” is discouraged to ensure “that proper taxes are paid, and to preserve order in the casino. … Because it’s not your money, you’re taking something that doesn’t belong to you. We believe it’s owned by the person who bet it or by the casino.” But Romanski’s lawyer “said the jury was instructed that under Michigan law the finder of lost or abandoned property has superior title to it than the owner of the locality where the property is found.” Barthwell said the casino plans to appeal, but may first ask the court to reduce damages. (Leonard Post, “Casino Visitor Parlays Nickel Into Legal Jackpot,” The Nat’l Law Journal, Aug. 4) (via law.com) (see also earlier Overlawyered.com report, Jul. 25). [Update Feb. 28, 2007: Supreme Court denies casino’s certiorari petition.]

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Update: seeking review of Engle dismissal

To no one’s surprise, plaintiff’s lawyers Stanley and Susan Rosenblatt are seeking en banc review by an 11-member Florida appeals court of the demise of their $145 billion verdict against the tobacco industry in Engle v. R.J. Reynolds. (“Florida smokers to appeal $145 billion lawsuit”, Reuters/Forbes.com, Jul. 16). Perhaps hinting at desperation, their banner argument is that the appeals panel engaged in “judicial plagiarism” because it adopted wholesale in its opinion vast tracts of language from defense briefs — even though this particular form of supposed plagiarism is entirely routine in court opinions when judges consider one side’s briefs convincing and do not expect that they will be able to improve on the style of the briefs’ presentation (Siobhan Morrissey, “A Case of Judicial Plagiarism?”, ABA Journal E-Report, Aug. 1). More: Gary Young, “Plagiarism Charges Plague Tobacco Decision”, National Law Journal, Aug. 21. Update May 15, 2004: Fla. Supreme Court agrees to hear case.

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Update: Judge throws out Milwaukee lead paint case

In the latest high-profile lead paint suit to go down to defeat, Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Timothy G. Dugan dismissed the city of Milwaukee’s lawsuit demanding $85 million from NL Industries, maker of Dutch Boy paint, and Mautz Paint Co. Although Milwaukee’s contingency fee agreement with private lawyers was widely billed as one in which city taxpayers faced no risk, it turns out that the city will owe the private lawyers a substantial sum for expenses if it chooses to abandon the case rather than pursue appeal. (Tom Held, “Judge dismisses lawsuit against lead paint companies”, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Jul. 30; AP/Madison Capital Times, Jul. 30). The lawsuit had already contributed to the demise of the family-owned Mautz Paint Co., which sold itself to Sherwin-Williams in part because it could not afford to shoulder a legal defense (see Nov. 13, 2001). “The African American Chamber of Commerce and the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce praised the court’s action in prepared statements. ‘This lawsuit has hurt efforts to clean up lead paint problems,’ a statement from the African American Chamber said.” (“City’s lead paint suit dismissed”, Milwaukee Business Journal, Jul. 28).

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Update: GM settles Malibu case

General Motors has settled on undisclosed terms the suit in which a Los Angeles jury awarded $4.9 billion, later knocked down to a mere $1.2 billion, to six people injured when their Chevy Malibu was rear-ended by a drunk driver; the plaintiff’s lawyers had charged the Malibu with defective design, although federal statistics show it to have a safety record well above average (see Dec. 16, 1999 and links from there). And contrary to reports (including ours) that trial lawyers were managing to kill off car-lease reform in Rhode Island, major automakers said they would remain in the Ocean State leasing market after Gov. Don Carcieri on Jul. 7 signed legislation which for one year caps at $300,000 the liability of car lessors for accidents that their lessees get into (see Jul. 14). The change leaves New York as the only state with unlimited vicarious liability for lessors. (“Business: National Briefs”, Detroit News, Jul. 25).

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“Area employers urged to forbid foul language”

Employers who allow swearing and sexual references in the workplace could find themselves in, well, ‘blankety-blank’ trouble with the federal government. Policies prohibiting foul language and swearing were recommended by leaders of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission?s district office in Cleveland who spoke to 150 human resources managers, union representatives, and legal aid workers at a seminar in downtown Toledo yesterday.” (Toledo Blade, Jul. 31)(via Freedom News)(& welcome Volokh/David Bernstein and Dean Esmay readers)

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Perhaps we can help choose

“The federal courts are running out of money to pay jurors…. With a growing caseload and longer trials draining the judiciary’s budget, the agency that runs the courts urged judges early this week to defer ‘noncritical civil trials’ until October, when its new fiscal year begins.” The suggestion was not welcomed in some quarters. “I don’t think there is such a thing as a noncritical jury trial,” said Judge John L. Kane of the Federal District Court in Denver. “If someone has a right to a civil trial, the Seventh Amendment guarantees them a right to a jury.” The Judicial Conference of the United States “later backtracked,” cancelling its request to defer trials in hopes that Congress would allocate additional money or OK the payment of jury fees from a $10 million emergency fund. (Adam Liptak, “Federal Judges Find Courts Short of Money to Pay Jurors,” N.Y. Times, Aug. 1).

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Gambler sues casinos for failing to exclude her

Canada: 37-year-old Lisa Dickert “and her husband Steven have filed a $1-million lawsuit against the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corp.” for failing to exclude Ms. Dickert, a compulsive gambler, from the casinos where she gambled away her savings. She had entered a voluntary casino self-exclusion program, but her suit argues that the casinos did little or nothing to enforce the exclusion. (Victor Malarek, “A gambler’s rehab gone wrong”, The Globe and Mail, Jul. 30)(more on gambling suits: May 20-21, 2002).

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