Overlawyered: Chronicling The High Cost Of Our Legal System

Posts Tagged ‘Katrina’

Election observation

I seldom agree with Kevin Drum of Washington Monthly, but I don’t think he’s entirely off base here about one of the factors behind yesterday’s Republican wipeout:

* Terri Schiavo and Katrina. This is sort of a gut feeling on my part, but I think it was the combination of these two things within a couple of months of each other that really hurt Republicans last year, not either one alone. The contrast was deadly: the Republican Party (and George Bush) showed that they were capable of generating a tremendous amount of action very quickly when the issue was something important to the most extreme elements of the Christian right, but were palpably bored and indifferent when the issue was the destruction of an American city. It’s hard to think of any two successive issues painting a clearer and less flattering picture of just what’s wrong with the Republican Party leadership these days.

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New Times column — Katrina verdict

My new column at the Times (U.K.) Online is on last week’s Mississippi Katrina insurance verdict. (Walter Olson, “Insurers can breathe easier over Katrina lawsuits”, Aug. 30). Concluding paragraph:

Major coverage issues remain to be resolved (and appealed), but at least we can take note at this point that America is not Zimbabwe or Bolivia. As Dickie Scruggs said before the Leonard ruling, “If you win it, it’s a huge win. If you lose it, you spin it the best way you can.”

Also, I was a guest last evening (6:30 p.m. Eastern) on Marc Bernier’s high-rated radio show, “The Talk of Florida” to discuss the article.

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“Katrina rescuer is sued by boat owner”

Giving property rights a bad name? “A Broadmoor man who said he rescued more than 200 residents after commandeering a boat during the flood after Hurricane Katrina is being sued by the boat’s owner for taking it ‘without receiving permission.'” Mark Morice cut the unattended boat loose and managed to hot-wire it, then used it to rescue an elderly dialysis patient and many others; he then left the vessel for other rescuers’ use. “The lawsuit contends that boat owner John M. Lyons Jr. suffered his own distress, in the form of ‘grief, mental anguish, embarrassment and suffering … due to the removal of the boat,’ as well as its replacement costs.” One of those who benefited from Morice’s rescue efforts, Molly Gordon, says she has trouble understanding the mental-anguish angle: “This man should be so grateful he had a boat that saved lives,” she said. (Steve Ritea, New Orleans Times-Picayune, Aug. 26)(& No Quarter/Michael Silence, KnoxNews).

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Big news day

Looking for commentary on recent developments in tobacco, Vioxx, or Katrina cases? Check our sister site, Point of Law, for extensive detailed discussion on all three, as well as Will Wilson on the perils of fifty state attorneys general negotiating Medicare fraud claims, information missing from the Wall Street Journal’s punitive damages debate, Michigan’s ban on asbestos bundled settlements, ABC’s John Stossel on the plaintiffs’ bar, and much, much more.

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Bureaucracy vs. Katrina recovery

Jonathan Rauch has a must-read dispatch from devastated St. Bernard Parish, Louisiana:

Cleanup and repair cost the school system tens of millions of dollars, but federal payment has been slow. Reimbursement for small projects goes through five to 10 weeks of federal and state review, according to David Fernandez, the school system’s financial manager. Any expenditure over $1 million is subject to another four to 12 weeks of review in Washington, he said.

This is the so-called “million-dollar queue.” “Anything over a million dollars has to be reported to Congress,” says Brown, the former FEMA director. “Why do you think that is? Congress wants to make an announcement.” In other words, members of Congress want to be the first to boast of a federal project in their district.

“This is all political,” Brown says. “It has nothing to do with good public policy.” …

On private property, even debris — including, for example, 1,600 tree stumps — had to be reviewed for archaeological value before FEMA would pay for removal.

(“Struggling to Survive”, National Journal, Aug. 11; “Stretchier Red Tape”, Aug. 11).

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Katrina medical volunteers, cont’d

“Dozens of federally insured medical providers have been blocked from helping the Gulf Coast recover from Hurricane Katrina because their medical liability protection doesn’t apply outside their own states.” (“Law keeps federally insured doctors on sidelines in disasters”, AP/Biloxi Sun-Herald, Feb. 9). More on Katrina medical volunteers: Sept. 19, Sept. 6, Sept. 2, Aug. 31.

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Katrina cruise-ship evacuees dig in

“A federal court hearing on whether some two dozen hurricane evacuees can remain on a cruise ship past a mid-week deadline was delayed Monday while lawyers for the evacuees and the federal government tried to work out a compromise.” (“Settlement efforts underway in lawsuit over cruise ship deadline”, AP/KATC, Feb. 27). The Scotia Prince, on loan by its owners to FEMA to house St. Bernard Parish evacuees, was supposed to set sail this week. “Evacuees’ attorney Michael Ginart Jr. said he would work to keep the evacuees on the ship as long as possible but declined to say what exactly what the settlement might entail.” (“Hurricane Evacuees Head to Court Over Cruise Ship Housing”, AP/FoxNews.com, Feb. 27; Steve Ritea, “Cruise ship residents sue over Wednesday eviction”, New Orleans Times-Picayune, Feb. 25).

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“Midwest Oil fined for selling gas too cheaply”

Yep, it’s happened again: “The Minnesota Commerce Department on Thursday announced plans to fine a gas station chain $140,000 for repeatedly selling gas below the state’s legal minimum price.” (Tom Ford, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Feb. 24). For earlier installments, see Jun. 5, 2004 (Minnesota again), May 21, 2005 (Maryland). And, of course, for the reverse, see Feb. 17, etc.

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