From a report on an Apr. 5 Phoenix symposium on health care sponsored by Arizona State University: “[Former Sen. and vice presidential candidate John] Edwards, once a highly successful plaintiff’s personal-injury lawyer, also pointed to lawyers as a problem. They need to be held accountable for frivolous lawsuits that help drive up the cost of malpractice insurance.” (Jodie Snyder, “Ex-senator urging changes in U.S. health care system”, Arizona Republic, Apr. 6).
Posts Tagged ‘Arizona’
Center for Justice & Democracy’s Zany “Zany Immunity Law Awards”
Many farmers use anhydrous ammonia as fertilizer, because it provides vital nitrogen nutrients to the soil. The combustible material is produced in Louisiana, and then shipped to the Midwest on barges or through pipelines, and then stored on tanks on farms. However, ammonia is also useful for making illegal methamphetamines, and thefts are a regular problem. (KOMU-TV, “Law Officers Fight Ammonia Thefts”, May 19). If a thief injures himself tampering with an ammonia tank, should he be able to sue the farmer for the injury? Three states, Kansas, Missouri, and Wyoming, say no, and provide immunity for those who store, handle, or own ammonia equipment from suit by thieves. Legislatures are considering the issue in other midwestern states.
The misnamed anti-tort reform Center for Justice & Democracy has noticed the success of the ATRA’s judicial hellhole campaign (Dec. 15; Dec. 3, 2003), and decided to respond with its own report, the “Zany Immunity Law Awards”, intended to single out “special interests” who opportunistically subvert the legislative system to get improper immunity from liability. The cover shows a legislator receiving a statuette, cash in his pocket, and roses with a ribbon labeled “Sleaziest Legislation.”
Exposing sleazy special-interest immunity laws is a noble sentiment–but it’s a sure sign of how few and far between such laws are that CJD singles out the sensible anhydrous ammonia immunity laws for its top ten list. The CJD incorrectly blames the law on a supposed “anhydrous ammonia business lobby”; in fact, it’s groups like the Michigan Farm Bureau that push for laws like Michigan S.B. 786. Indeed, the only group to oppose such laws? Trial lawyers’ lobbying groups. See also Kelly Lenz, “Fertilizer law to help farmers”, Farm and Auction, Jun. 12, 2002.
How ridiculous are the CJD awards? One of the top ten “zany immunity laws” refers to “immunity” granted to placebo manufacturers and distributors. Except the immunity in question isn’t immunity–it’s an exception to a criminal statute prohibiting the sale of fake drugs! E.g., Fla. Stat. 817.564(6)(a). (This is the only appearance of the word “placebo” in the Florida Code. It’s telling that CJD omits the statutory cite in its footnotes.) Perhaps this law is zany, but it’s hardly an example of a special interest group buying sleazy legislation that damages consumers. A subject of a research test who is injured by adulterated placebos (has this ever happened?) will still have a cause of action.
A different kind of judicial hellhole
We’ll stipulate that Warren Jeffs is not a sympathetic defendant. We’ll further stipulate that that’s an understatement. Jeffs, who calls himself “The Prophet,” is the current leader of the cultish polygamous “Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints” estimated with 10,000 members, a few dozen of whom are his wives. (The Church broke off from its namesake when the mainstream Mormons abolished polygamy in 1890.) “Utah and Arizona prosecutors have been investigating allegations of welfare and tax fraud, incest, child abuse and forced marriages of young girls to adult men in the FLDS community” on the state border. Jeffs allegedly grants himself the power to re-assign spouses and children amongst families. The FLDS has also been excommunicating hundreds of teenage boys, allegedly to reduce competition for wives in the cult; the youths, who’ve grown up uneducated, are now completely isolated from their families and the community they grew up in.
Lawyers across the country have been bringing lawsuits. We make no comment on the claims of assault, terroristic threats, extortion, molestation, and kidnapping; such claims are legally legitimate to the extent that they’re true.
More problematic, however, are the allegations of fraud and conspiracy and the demand for injunctive relief and some damages: the complaint poses that FLDS promised “eternal life” to its members; by excommunicating the plaintiffs, they have not only breached that promise, but they have caused the plaintiffs to “suffer[] the emotional and psychological injuries resulting from… having been condemned to eternal damnation.” One can immediately see the trouble that could arise from making theological disputes actionable (see also Feb. 9). Courts have enough trouble adjudicating truth; it is perhaps not wise to also ask them to adjudicate Truth. The risk is that the failure of criminal authorities to adequately intercede may prompt civil courts to create precedents with consequences beyond a polygamous cult getting its just deserts. (AP, Aug. 30; Angie Wagner, “Ousted from sect, ‘lost boys’ start anew”, AP, Sep. 7; Sylvia Moreno, “Polygamous Sect Moves In, And Texas Town Asks ‘Why?'”, Washington Post, Sep. 7; Jon Krakauer, Under the Banner of Heaven; Child Protection Project; Phoenix New Times coverage) (via Heller).
Disappearing swings, cont’d
In addition to liability and safety fears, the Americans with Disabilities Act turns out to play a role in the decline of swing sets at public playgrounds: it seems the least expensive way to make a swing set safer is to surround it with sand, but sand is considered a non-accessible surface for wheelchairs which makes it suspect under the ADA. (Scott Simonson, “Safety rules retiring playground standby”, Arizona Daily Star, Sept. 7). See Mar. 28, Aug. 23, etc.
“Lawsuit in deaths of aliens lingers”
“A lawsuit many called frivolous because it sought more than $41 million from the U.S. government for the relatives of 11 Mexican nationals who died trying to cross illegally into the United States has proven to have more staying power than predicted. A federal court in Tucson has given the relatives another two months to prove accusations that their family members died in the treacherous southern Arizona desert in May 2001 because the Interior Department failed to approve the installation of water stations ‘in the exact area’ of the desert where the Mexicans were found dead. … [The] suit said the illegal aliens died in the Interior Department-managed Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge north of Yuma after department officials denied a request by Humane Borders, a Tucson-based social-welfare organization, to place water stations in the area. The suit seeks $3.75 million for each of the victims.” (Jerry Seper, Washington Times, May 17; “Dead illegal aliens’ lawsuit to continue”, UPI/Washington Times, May 17). We originally covered the case May 10-12, 2002.
Arizona wildlife: when in doubt, take it out
Arizona court decisions have recently eroded the state’s historical immunity from being sued over the actions of wild animals, and wildlife managers have been hit with two big liability payouts: a $2.5 million settlement for a girl mauled by a bear, and a $3 million jury verdict payable to a motorist whose vehicle struck an elk. Tucson attorney Mick Rusing, who defended the state in the bear case, says the cases influenced a recent decision to order mountain lions hunted in Sabino Canyon. “The default position of Game and Fish is now, ‘When in doubt, take it out,’ ” Rusing said. “If the courts and the Legislature are not going to protect these agencies and the people who make the decisions, that’s the way it’s going to be.” Rusing drafted a bill that would have provided immunity to game managers but the bill died “after trial lawyers opposed it and the Game and Fish Commission declined to support it.” (Tom Beal, “Bear, elk lawsuits influence lion hunt”, Arizona Daily Star (Tucson), Mar. 13)
NFL draft age ruling
Gregg Easterbrook (Feb. 6) takes a dim view of U.S. District Judge Shira Schindlin’s ruling that it’s an antitrust violation for the National Football League to place limits on the age at which players can be drafted. See Andrew Bagnato, “NFL teams may alter way they do business”, Arizona Republic, Feb. 6.
U.S. lawyer count now exceeds 1 million
Welcome USA Today readers: the national newspaper reports that the number of lawyers in the U.S. now exceeds one million, and that the number of students taking the Law School Admission Test is nearing the previous record, set in 1990-1991. The article quotes yours truly at some length and mentions this website. “Lawyers say they are busy. Fifty-three percent say their greatest challenge is managing increased workloads, according to a November poll by the Affiliates, a lawyer and paralegal staffing service.” (Del Jones, “Lawyers, wannabes on the rise”, USA Today, Dec. 26) (also reprinted, via Gannett News Service, in Indianapolis Star, Arizona Republic, Salt Lake Tribune, and others)
“Lawsuits battering local governments”
Arizona: “Taxpayers have shelled out more than $140 million since 1998 to cover the cost of claims against Valley and state governments, and experts expect the losses to mount as the public sector’s deep pockets become an ever more attractive target.” Arizona Republic does a heavily reported feature on the state of public liability in the surprisingly litigious Phoenix area, including the case of the Scottsdale parkgoer who got $10,000 for being attacked by a goose. A bunch of sidebar stories too, and more is promised on Wednesday (Pat Flannery, Arizona Republic, Nov. 30)
Anthropologist feud thrown out of court
Over the years, Professors Fikes and Furst have been feuding over their respective scholarship over the Huichol Indian community in northern Mexico, in a dispute reminiscent of the cliche referring to academic politics and small stakes. The two had threatened each other with libel lawsuits, but Fikes went through with his; it was litigated up to the New Mexico Supreme Court, which threw out the case Friday. (AP, Nov. 22; Simon Romero, “A real-life feud springs from peyote’s hallucinations”, Arizona Republic, Sep. 17).