Overlawyered: Chronicling The High Cost Of Our Legal System

Archive for June, 2005

RFK Jr. vs. thimerosal

One of America’s least credible public figures, celebrity environmentalist Robert F. Kennedy Jr., wades into the mercury in vaccines/autism controversy (Dec. 29, 2003, earlier posts) with a “special investigation” for Salon and Rolling Stone rehearsing the contentions of anti-thimerosal activists (“Deadly Immunity”, Jun. 16). Orac at Respectful Insolence, who’s covered the controversy extensively, hits back hard here, here and here. Reactions from Salon’s readers are here, and the online magazine has already been obliged to post several corrections of Kennedy’s errors, including the following remarkably embarrassing one:

The article also misstated the level of ethylmercury received by infants injected with all their shots by the age of six months. It was 187 micrograms — an amount 40 percent, not 187 times, greater than the EPA’s limit for daily exposure to methylmercury.

More: Skeptico (Jun. 20) challenges RFK Jr.’s account of a supposedly hush-hush meeting of vaccine scientists held outside Atlanta (via Adler, the Corner).

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Strippers, privacy and class actions (again)

Once again the application of class action procedure to the world of exotic dancing is raising privacy issues not encountered in your ordinary everyday class action. In recent Texas litigation (see May 3), the concern is the sending of notices in the mail to past lap-dance customers informing them of their rights to recovery over alleged fee overcharges (which notices will in some cases be opened by their outraged spouses and significant others). And now in a San Francisco wage-and-hour class action, former managers of one club are arguing that many of the exotic dancers themselves don’t want their real names known and face potentially harmful intrusions into their privacy under any notification plan likely to be effective (“Dear Former Exotic Dancer…”). A lawyer pressing the class action, which concerns alleged misclassification of the dancers as independent contractors, dismisses the management argument as merely tactical. (Pam Smith, “Privacy Worries Don’t Shake Up Stripper Class Action”, The Recorder, Jun. 14).

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Update: staking the Shinnecocks

On the day the Shinnecock Indian tribe filed the first of an expected series of lawsuits laying claim to wide swaths of the Hamptons (see Jun. 13), the tribe disclosed that its courtroom offensive was being underwritten by wealthy Detroit casino investors Marian Ilitch, who with her husband Michael founded Little Caesars Pizza and since then has gone on to purchase baseball’s Detroit Tigers as well as the city’s Red Wings hockey team, and real estate developer Michael Malik. “Gateway Funding Associates, a company backed by [Ilitch and Malik], signed an agreement with the tribe more than a year ago to pay for the lawsuit and other ‘economic development’ initiatives in exchange for a part of any future proceeds, said Tom Shields, a spokesman for Gateway.” Champerty has been defined as the practice of aiding in a lawsuit in return for a share in the benefits being sued over; it was illegal at common law but “the prohibitions have been greatly relaxed in modern times” and in some cases abolished. (Katie Thomas, “Shinnecocks launch legal claim to Hamptons land”, Newsday, Jun. 16; “Lawsuit backers invest in casinos” (sidebar), Jun. 16; James Langton, “Native American tribe lays claim to the Hamptons”, Sunday Telegraph (U.K.), Jun. 19).

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U.K.: fruit trees get council axe

“A council is cutting down dozens of healthy trees because it fears that it will be sued if people slip on fallen fruit. Mature crab apple and pear trees are the prime targets of the cull by Havering council, east London, which said it had never been sued by anyone over rotten, slippery fruit on the pavement but the potential existed for such action.” Homeowners have protested, to no avail so far. (David Sapsted, “Trees cut down amid fears of fruit case”, Daily Telegraph, Jun. 18).

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Long sentences for liquor-serving mom and dad

Draconian character of philanthropic legislation, cont’d:

The Virginia Court of Appeals upheld yesterday the convictions of an Albemarle County couple sentenced to 27 months in jail for providing alcohol at their son’s 16th birthday in August 2002.

George and Elisa Robinson were sentenced originally in Albemarle Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Court to eight years in prison but received the lesser terms after they appealed to Circuit Court….

The Robinsons have acknowledged a mistake in judgment but said they decided to provide alcohol in a safe environment to make sure that no one at the party would be driving under the influence of alcohol.

Cops had entered the couple’s property without a warrant; according to the Richmond paper, no sentence as high as 90 days had previously been handed down locally for a similar offense. (Alan Cooper, “Court upholds couple’s sentence”, Richmond Times-Dispatch, May 18). Radley Balko has more (May 27).

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Rip tide warnings might pose legal danger

Putting up signs warning visitors of the dangerous rip currents off New Jersey’s Long Beach might seem like an obvious step. “However, Long Beach Township Attorney Richard Shackleton said there are liability issues to consider. According to the law, the town does not have to warn people about natural conditions, and if Long Beach put up a sign and a jury found its warnings to be inadequate, the town could possibly be found liable for a drowning or injury. Having no signs, he said, reduces the risk of being sued.” (Brian Prince, “Warning: Rip tide alerts not islandwide”, Asbury Park (N.J.) Press, Jun. 15). See Jun. 30, 2004 (similar).

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New bloggers at Point of Law

Atlanta attorney Jonathan B. Wilson, author of the newly released book Out of Balance: Prescriptions for Reforming America’s Litigation System, has now begun blogging at our sister site Point of Law and also has his own weblog site which is eminently worth checking out. And next week two guest bloggers — both already well established on their own blogs — are scheduled to begin guestblogging stints there as well. Check it out!

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“Court Lets Law Graduate Sue GMU Over F”

Overruling a trial judge, the Fourth Circuit has ruled that Carin Constantine can sue the George Mason University Law School in northern Virginia as well as professor Nelson Lund (whose work we’ve cited favorably in the past) over alleged failure to accommodate her disability, in this case severe migraine headaches which led to attendance problems and to an “F” on an exam. Her suit also charges that the university retaliated against her for voicing complaints, chilling her exercise of First Amendment rights. (Jerry Markon, Washington Post, Jun. 15).

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S.F. softball fields

They’re in pretty sorry shape, but the city government isn’t wild about the idea of letting volunteers spiff them up. “Topping the list are liability concerns — what happens if someone throws out their back patching the gopher holes in the outfield and decides to sue the city?” On top of that, there’s the reluctance to pick a fight with unionized city workers who might feel entitled to be paid for the same work. (Rachel Gordon, “Teams offer help on parks”, San Francisco Chronicle, Apr. 29)(via Common Good Society Watch).

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Texas lawmakers modify zero tolerance

Good news for a change: a bill awaiting the signature of Texas Gov. Rick Perry would restore some discretion to school boards, reducing the chances that students will be expelled over inadvertent violations of zero tolerance rules. In particular, according to a newspaper report quoted at Zero Intelligence (Jun. 6),

If the bill becomes law, students still could face severe sanctions for serious offenses, such as bringing a weapon onto a campus or a school-sponsored activity off campus. But if the bill passes, administrators would be able to consider the student’s intent or lack of intent, disciplinary history, a disability that substantially impairs the student’s capacity to appreciate the wrongfulness of the conduct and whether the action was done in self-defense.

Both Democratic and Republican lawmakers took active roles in support of the bill. (Helen Eriksen, “Discipline bill on Perry’s desk”, Houston Chronicle, Jun. 4).

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