As longtime readers of this site know well, the late mass tort king John O’Quinn nicked the accounts of breast implant plaintiffs with a fortune in unauthorized overcharges. Austin attorney Terry Scarborough, who spent ten years helping get some of the money back, “says he could have built a practice based on people itching to sue O’Quinn, whose generosity toward charitable and Democratic causes was shadowed by a reputation for stiffing fellow attorneys — a mortal sin in the practice of law.” [Austin American-Statesman, Texas Lawyer]
Canada: STDs not insurable “accident”
“The Supreme Court of Canada has taken away a $200,000 insurance award made to a Vancouver man who became paralyzed after a series of medical calamities arising from him having unprotected sex.” [The Globe and Mail]
Caesarean births up 30% in NYC since 2000
“A rapidly growing number of Big Apple moms are delivering their babies by Caesarean sections, with convenience and doctors’ fears of malpractice lawsuits fueling the dangerous trend according to a study by the nonprofit group Choices in Childbirth.” [NY Post/MyFox Boston]
Dead from eating bad oysters?
No, it turns out, very much alive, and now a Florida couple may have to give back that $2 million insurance payout [Sioux Falls, S.D. Argus-Leader via Obscure Store]
“Car dealer tells man to delete Facebook, Twitter posts …. or else!”
A nastygram from Route 60 Hyundai [Obscure Store, TC Palm, Florida]
Federalist Society pro bono center
It’s a little-heralded gem, as I can confirm from personal experience [Somin, Volokh]
“Penguin v Steinbeck Estate re: The Pearl”
The 1947 novella always did seem to evoke the process of litigation on some psychological level, and here’s a literal lawsuit that arose from it just lately [Schwimmer, Trademark Blog]
Update: “Pizza Hut and cop prevail in door injury claim”
Possibly bringing to an end an odd door-swing case that we last blogged two years ago [Madison County, Ill. Record]
Wayward federal judges
A Houston Chronicle article claims that discipline is too infrequent and too secret (via WSJ Law Blog)
December 23 roundup
- AT&T sued for $1 billion for allegedly misclassifying managers [Hyman, American Lawyer]
- Shaken-baby-syndrome angle deserved more attention in Baucus-girlfriend-for-U.S.-Attorney flap [Kos, Freeland, earlier]
- Awful: “Holocaust Denier Sues Survivor” [South Florida Sun-Sentinel via Faces of Lawsuit Abuse “worst lawsuits of 2009” poll which you can take here]
- Bizarre new twist in rogue Philly cop unit story [Balko, earlier here, here, etc.]
- More on the first “Bruno” lawsuit against Sacha Baron Cohen [Lowering the Bar, earlier]
- False accusation as academic career booster: “The Rot at Duke” [Stuart Taylor, Jr., National Journal]
- Claim: Netflix recommendation algorithm contest exposed a subscriber’s privacy to her detriment [Singel, Wired]
- No “Continuing Duty to Investigate Accuracy” of Newspaper Article Posted on Web Site [Volokh on Jenzabar case, earlier here and here]