Overlawyered: Chronicling The High Cost Of Our Legal System

Posts Tagged ‘Missouri’

Sudden acceleration: litigation springs eternal

Fifteen years after the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration concluded that the explanation for supposed “sudden acceleration” in cars was that the drivers were mistakenly pressing the accelerator rather than the brake, trial lawyers continue to sue automakers, and now NHTSA has agreed to open an investigation into claims of unintended acceleration in Toyota and Lexus models. While an earlier wave of suits tended to blame cruise control malfunctions, the new favorite culprit is electronic throttle control systems. In lawsuits over the accidents, the car’s brakes, which can ordinarily bring a car to a stop even when its throttle is fully open, will typically be said to have mysteriously failed as the same time as the acceleration defect was manifesting itself, although nothing will be found physically wrong with the brakes afterward.

“For more than a decade, decisions usually favored car companies and blamed drivers in unintended acceleration cases, but some recent trials and court decisions reversed that. Ford Motor and General Motors each recently lost a high-profile case. … A Missouri jury last year ordered GM to pay Constance Peters and her husband $80 million for the crash of her 1993 Oldsmobile Cutlass, which accelerated 120 feet in reverse and into a tree while she was backing up. They blamed faulty cruise control. GM is appealing.” And: “The U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York in 2002 reinstated a $1.1 million judgment against Ford in the crash of a 1991 Ford Aerostar. Jurors had found that the crash was caused partly by a ‘negligently designed’ cruise control system.” (Jayne O’Donnell and David Kiley, “Technology puts unintended acceleration back in spotlight”, USA Today/Detroit News, Apr. 13)(via Reason Hit and Run). For more on the issue, see Jun. 6, 2000.

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$12.5 M verdict in pickup crash suit

On October 9, 1999, a construction zone on Interstate 70 near Warrenton, Missouri, was slick after a hard rain. An eastbound tractor-trailer hydroplaned, hit the median, and flipped over, blocking the westbound lanes. John and Shirley Mathes, driving a Ford pickup pulling a camper trailer with propane tanks, slammed into the 30-ton trailer at 60 miles per hour, and were then sandwiched by another pickup truck driving 50 miles per hour. The Matheses and their grandson died in the crash, though it was a matter of dispute whether they survived the initial impacts; medical examiners on both sides of the case found no evidence that they had.

The deep pocket in the case was Ford, and a Jackson County jury decided that, in a case where three vehicles were traveling too fast, and all three leaked fuel and ignited, it was Ford that should be legally responsible for $12.5 million in damages because the pickup truck’s fuel tank — which met a crash test three times more severe than the federal safety standard — was “defective” for not remaining intact in such a dramatic collision. (Dan Margolies, Kansas City Star, “Ford told to pay $12.5 million”, Mar. 5; AP, Mar. 4).

Disclaimer: I represent Ford in different litigation.

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New 9/11 lawsuits/conspiracy theories

A Florida lawyer has filed suit against the city of New York on behalf of some plaintiffs who feel that deaths of family members in the World Trade Center were the fault of the city, and hope to maintain the lawsuit and simultaneously collect from the Federal Victims Compensation Fund. A plaintiff blames sinister forces for her inability to find a lawyer closer to home.

One of the plaintiffs, Catherine “Sally” Regenhard, said she spent two years trying to find a New York City lawyer who would file the lawsuit.

“I couldn’t get one New York City law firm to touch this legal issue with a 10-foot pole,” Regenhard said. “You ever hear the saying ‘You’ll never eat lunch in this town again?’ I guess the lawyers have to keep eating lunch in New York City. It’s political.”

The real reason, one suspects, is that the New York lawyers might be aware that submitting a claim to the Fund waives all lawsuits against other entities (with the exception of the terrorists themselves and collateral claims on insurance policies), a fact that her lawyer, Barry Cohen, disputes in an interview with the Tampa Tribune. Apparently neither Mr. Cohen nor the newspaper could be bothered to check the Federal Fund’s web site for a definitive answer. (Joshua B. Good, “Tampa, Fla., Lawyer Sues New York on Behalf of Sept. 11 Families”, Tampa Tribune, Dec. 24; Graham Brink, “Tampa attorneys file 9/11 lawsuit”, St. Petersburg Times, Dec. 24). Fortunately for Mr. Cohen’s malpractice carrier and his clients, the effect of any conflict would be to nullify his lawsuit rather than his clients’ rights to receive compensation from the government.

Lest you think that takes the cake, the SoCalLawBlog informs us of an even nuttier lawsuit that blames the September 11 attack on a RICO conspiracy involving, among others, the first President Bush, Condoleeza Rice, the Council for Foreign Relations, and Kenneth Feinberg. (complaint; press release, Nov. 26). The non-lunatic media’s refusal to cover this before now is, no doubt, part of the conspiracy.

Read On…

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Med-mal roundup

Lack of malpractice insurance is threatening to close the only obstetrics practice in Virginia’s rural and economically depressed Northern Neck region. The closure of Rappahannock General Hospital’s OB unit, which delivers about 250 babies a year, would be “absolutely devastating” to community health, says Albert C. Pollard Jr., who represents the region in the Virginia House of Delegates: “we’d lose a lot of babies if somebody has to drive to Richmond or Newport News.” (Frank Delano, “Crisis presses OB docs”, Fredericksburg (Va.) Free Lance-Star, Dec. 21). “While the governor and Legislature dither over fixing the state’s medical malpractice system, the [Philadelphia] region’s doctors have been voting with their feet,” reports the Philadelphia Daily News. “And they are choosing states that cap damages in malpractice lawsuits — or have other strong reforms to keep malpractice insurance premiums low.” (Michael Hinkelman, “Pa. docs are moving to ‘cap’ states”, Philadelphia Daily News, Dec. 8). Hard numbers on malpractice payouts are often in short supply, but the Missouri state department of insurance has some: it says insurance companies operating in the state “reported paying $135 million to cover 524 claims closed last year”. Self-insured entities, mostly hospitals, “reported paying $6.6 million to close 42 claims, but the actual number of claims and the amount paid may be understated in the data, department spokesman Randy McConnell said. … The average malpractice claim takes more than four years to reach resolution, so the 2002 claims data capture injuries sustained over a period of years. Only 15 of the 566 claims went to a court verdict.” Most of the paid cases involved claims that medical misadventure led to permanent injury or death. (Judith Vandewater, “566 medical malpractice claims were settled in Missouri in 2002”, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Dec. 4). The American Medical Association rates Missouri a “crisis” state. (M. Steele Brown, “Malpractice ‘crisis’ drives docs from Missouri”, Kansas City Business Journal, May 5).

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Failure of urban school-finance litigation

For two decades and more, civil rights groups have been filing lawsuits claiming that the supposed underfunding of urban schools is unconstitutional. How successful have these suits been, even on their own terms? “In one of the most notable such cases, decided in 1984, a federal judge in Missouri ordered a doubling of Kansas City’s property tax, an income tax surcharge and extra state contributions to finance $2 billion in spending on Kansas City’s schools. What followed was a decade of lavish excess — new schools boasting television and animation studios, a planetarium, a model United Nations with simultaneous translation capability, even a zoo, a Cato Institute study found. By 1991 Kansas City was shelling out $9,412 per student, compared with $2,854 to $5,956 in the suburbs. Despite this flood of dollars, white enrollment dropped from 27% to 20%, and the test scores of black students in Kansas City didn’t improve.

“State courts have gotten into the act, too. So far, courts in 19 states have found violations of state constitutions in the way schools are funded, according to the Education Commission of the States. Some of these rulings are pretty creative. In June New York’s highest court ruled that the state is violating a constitutional requirement to provide ‘a system of free common schools’ to New York City students, despite the fact that $10,795 per student was spent in the city’s schools in 2000-01. That was slightly lower than the New York state average of $10,922, but greater than the average spent in any other state.

“Rather than wait for independent plaintiffs, school districts themselves now sometimes bring these suits as a revenue grab.” (Ira Carnahan, “Desegregation’s Broken Promises”, Forbes, Nov. 10) See Paul Ciotti, “Money And School Performance: Lessons from the Kansas City Desegregation Experiment”, Cato Policy Analysis, Mar. 16, 1998.

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Victory in Missouri

“A St. Louis County judge has dismissed a lawsuit the city of St. Louis brought against the gun industry seeking reimbursement for costs associated with gun-related injuries. St. Louis County Judge Emmett O’Brien said he found no basis for the claim. O’Brien dismissed the lawsuit against gun manufacturers on Oct. 15. Then on Friday, he dismissed it against the remaining defendants: gun distributors and trade organizations. In a five-page opinion, O’Brien wrote that such lawsuits would open ‘a floodgate to additional litigation.’ He also said that ‘issues of both logic and fairness’ favored dismissing the case.” (“Judge dismisses lawsuit against gun industry”, AP/Southeast Missourian (Cape Girardeau), Oct. 29). And this from last month: “The Missouri Legislature overrode on Friday Gov. Bob Holden’s veto of a bill that bars cities, counties and other political subdivisions from suing gun dealers and manufacturers for the social costs of their products. … The legislation was prompted in part by St. Louis’ lawsuit against gun manufacturers, which [state Rep. Larry] Crawford said aimed to bankrupt gun and ammunition companies.” (Bill Bell Jr., “Gun makers get shield from suits as 3rd veto is rejected”, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Sept. 12).

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Workplace killer’s mom wants comp benefits

The mother of Jonathon Russell, who killed three people and wounded five before shooting himself in a July shooting spree at the Modine Manufacturing Co. in Jefferson City, Missouri, has filed a workers? compensation claim that seeks a death benefit from the company. The late Russell died on company time, according to her filing. The company and its workers’ comp insurer have rejected the claim on the grounds that Russell’s homicidal and suicidal activities were deliberate and were not undertaken in the course of his employment, which means the claim is most likely headed to an administrative judge. (Nate Carlisle, “Shooter’s mom seeks job-injury benefit”, Columbia Tribune, Oct. 5).

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Update: Missouri tobacco fees

The Missouri Supreme Court has refused to entertain a legal challenge to the $111-million fee bonanza awarded to private attorneys who represented the state in its relatively late tagalong lawsuit against the tobacco industry. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch had decried the fee award as a “political gravy train” which “grossly overpays the lawyers involved”, who had plenty of friends in high places in Missouri politics (see our coverage of Sept. 21, 2000 and Jun. 5, 2001). (“Court turns down appeal of tobacco attorney fees”, AP/Jefferson City News Tribune, Oct. 2) (via Lori Patel, Law.com). Ethical Esq.? (Oct. 3) comments on the case, citing a pertinent passage from the Missouri Rules of Professional Conduct, as well as our previous coverage.

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Children and the Law

This is a trifle off-topic, but a pair of posts by Amanda Butler highlight some intriguing issues about the way the law treats children, an issue I touched on briefly in a previous post on voting ages. Here is one post on Patrick Kennedy, sentenced to death for raping a child, and here is another, about a decision by the Missouri Supreme Court that it is unconstitutional to execute murderers under the age of 18.

Read On…

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It’s raining money for Mo. governor

Against a backdrop of growing political difficulties for Missouri Governor Robert Holden, “how did Holden’s campaign pile up an impressive $623,245 in contributions? Who are the governor’s backers and why are they opening their wallets? … Reports filed last week show that the biggest identifiable chunks of money the last three months came from two groups: trial lawyers and labor unions.” Holden just vetoed a bill that would have limited damages in lawsuits. Besides giving more than $80,000 to his campaign in the last quarter, lawyers also gave $240,000 to the Missouri Democratic Party. (Virginia Young, “Lawyers, unions give big to Holden war chest”, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Jul. 21.)

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