National Journal, the ultimate Washington insider’s magazine, gave this site a nice write-up earlier this month. It says we provide “juicy morsels” as well as “ammunition” in legal reform battles (Peter H. Stone, Dec. 6, not online to nonsubscribers at least). In Claims magazine, for insurance professionals, columnist Kevin Quinley names The Rule of Lawyers (St. Martin’s) as #3 in his list of 2003’s “Top Ten Risk Management Books” (Dec.), calling it “a devastating critique of the current wave of class action and mass tort litigation” and “good catharsis” for risk managers. And talk radio WGOW-FM in Chattanooga picks this site’s much-visited personal responsibility page as its “Website du Jour” for yesterday.
Archive for December, 2003
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)
U.S. taxpayers won’t pay Lewinsky’s legal fees
Former White House intern Monica Lewinsky cannot recover the $1.1 million she spent on legal fees for the independent counsel investigation of President Clinton, a federal appeals panel ruled today. (Carol D. Leonnig and William Branigin, “Lewinsky Denied Reimbursement of Legal Fees,” Washington Post, Dec. 30; “Court rejects Lewinsky legal fees request,” Reuters, Dec. 30).
For the federal government to reimburse her under the applicable independent counsel statute, Lewinsky had to show that she would not have had to hire a lawyer, save for the independent counsel’s investigation. The three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit rejected Lewinsky’s argument that “there would have been no investigation of her … conduct had it not involved the President,” noting that the independent counsel’s office argued that Lewinsky was accused of lying about her affair and perjuring herself. The panel also noted arguments by the independent counsel’s office that Lewinsky initially refused an immunity deal and incurred more than $800,000 in legal fees before negotiating a deal she found acceptable. The panel’s per curiam opinion, in In re Madison Guaranty Savings & Loan, No. 94-00011, is available here.
“For Their Own Good: Limit Students’ Rights”
Richard Arum (see Nov. 14) writes again about the perverse effects of litigating students’ rights have had on public school education. A 1975 Supreme Court case, Goss v. Lopez, extended due process rights to student discipline, literally making every effort by a school to punish a student for misbehavior a federal case. (Washington Post, Dec. 29) (via Jacobs).
Naturally, teachers and schools respond by under-disciplining rather than risk being told that their discipline was a civil rights violation. But the effects ripple from there. School districts adopt “zero tolerance” policies so that they can’t be accused of abusing their discretion. Private school discipline is a matter of contract, rather than government due process, so the Goss line of cases does not affect them; the result is just another way in which the federal court system has disadvantaged public schools relative to private schools. Wealthier parents substitute away from public schools to private schools, reducing political support for public schools and disadvantaging the schools further. The ones who lose the most? The children from poor families who have no choice but to attend a public school system where lack of discipline makes learning unreasonably difficult.
Sometimes the system works
Despite much hue and cry about the September 11 Victim Compensation Fund (see Dec. 29, 2003, almost immediately below, and Apr. 2-3, 2003, Sept. 9-10, 2002, Oct. 26-28, 2001), more than 95 percent of eligible families ultimately opted to file claims with the fund rather than going to court. (Jennifer Barrett, “A Dramatic Success,” Newsweek, Dec. 23 (via msnbc.com)).
More than 6,450 claims were received by the December 22nd midnight deadline, with about 70 of the remaining 150 eligible families having decided to pursue a lawsuit instead of filing with the fund. Other families have chosen to forego both a lawsuit and the administrative fund, saying others need the money more than they do. “None of us were dependent on” our sister, one such family member explained, “and none of us wanted to gain from her death.” (Stephanie Saul, “Foregoing the WTC Victims’ Fund,” NYNewsday, Dec. 23).
Latest newsletter
Our latest free newsletter, summing up the past 3-4 weeks’ worth of items on the site, went out this afternoon to its 2100+ subscribers. If you didn’t receive it, you can sign up here for future mailings and to read older newsletters. It’s a great way to keep up with items on the site you may have missed.
Detroit News on gun design
Two weeks ago the once-great Detroit News (oh, how we miss its pre-Gannett days) published a “Special Report” entitled “Flawed guns: America unprotected” (Dec. 14-16) which recycles the plaintiffs’ allegations in seemingly every extant “design defect” case against the firearms industry. Matthew Hunter (“Trigger Finger”) has now posted a ten-part rebuttal (first entry). One of Hunter’s themes: many of the design features portrayed as “defects” in the News series are in fact sought out knowingly by many sophisticated gun buyers, as with Glock’s deliberate omission of a manual safety on its extremely popular police gun.
“Elf chairs” in New Zealand
A Christmas event in Mosgiel, a small village in New Zealand, decided, for liability reasons, not to allow children to sit on Santa’s lap; instead, the children conveyed their Christmas wishes from decorated “elf chairs.” (AFP, Nov. 28).
Chinese court orders virtual goods returned to gamer
A court in Beijing has ordered an online gaming company to return a player’s virtual goods that had been hacked and stolen. Li Hongchen had been playing the online game “Hongyue” (Red Moon) for two years when he discovered that an unknown miscreant had invaded his account and taken virtual money and weapons. The court told the game’s operator, Beijing Artic Ice Technology Development, to return the virtual goods to Hongchen; it has not yet ruled on his request for real-world US $1,200 in compensation. Gamers cannot recall another case in which a court has ordered the transfer of game-defined imaginary goods, but the Xinhua news agency reports that disputes over virtual property are burgeoning in China’s booming online-gaming industry. (“Real verdict in China for virtual loss”, CNET Asia, Dec. 29; “Online gamer in China wins virtual theft suit”, Reuters/CNN, Dec. 20; Jay Lyman, “Gamer Wins Lawsuit in Chinese Court Over Stolen Virtual Winnings”, TechNewsWorld, Dec. 19). A conference last month on “Games and the Law” at New York Law School (papers) included a paper by Dan Hunter and F. Gregory Lastowka on “Virtual Property” (PDF).
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.