First came the mixing up of allegations of racial discrimination against Interstate Bakeries, producer of Wonder Bread and Hostess Twinkies (Jul. 3, 2000). Then came the baking of juror sentiment to a tasty turn by San Francisco plaintiff’s lawyer Angela Alioto’s team, resulting in a $132 million award to 21 workers (Aug. 4, 2000). Then came some deflation of the spongy loaf, as a judge lopped $97 million off the award (Oct. 10, 2000). Now, six years later, the case having settled for maybe $25 million, a lawyer who worked with Alioto continues to battle her in court for a share of the mouth-watering fees (Mike McKee, “Lawyer Still Seeks Slice of Wonder Bread Fees”, The Recorder/Law.com, Apr. 28).
Archive for May, 2006
Update: McLeod v. Mt. Sinai Medical Center
We covered this case as Hollins v. Jordan in 2004 on Nov. 20, Oct. 11, and Aug. 31. In a disingenuous 2-1 opinion, an Ohio appellate court overturned the lower court’s grant of a new trial, and reinstated the liability verdict. The court did hold that the $30 million verdict was too high, but it is unlikely to be reduced more than 20%. I found the dissent, starting on page 23, persuasive; the majority opinion falsely claims that the defendants did not challenge liability on appeal to argue that there was no need for a new trial. New detail that the press did not cover: the plaintiff suffered from microcephaly—is there a legitimate doctor out there who wishes to claim that brain damage from microcephaly results from the failure to perform a C-section? Also worth reading in the dissent is the detailing of the dishonesty with which Geoffrey Fieger characterized testimony. Lawyers plan to appeal to the Ohio Supreme Court. (AP/Canton Repository, May 5 (link fixed 5:45 pm)).
$20 million for nursing home death
[84-year-old Loren] Richards died on March 2, 2002, at Beverly Health and Rehabilitation of Frankfort.
Richards’ daughter, Wanda Delaplane, sued the home, alleging that nurses had ignored her father’s repeated calls for help with abdominal pain. With an impacted bowel, he later died of a heart attack and a blood clot in his left lung.
The home argued that Richards had a heart attack because he had smoked for years and had severely blocked arteries. The Kentucky jury also awarded $200,000 for failing to immediately notify the family of a downward turn in Richards’ health. The Richards family had asked for over $150 million in total damages. Delaplane is an attorney with the Kentucky Attorney General’s office, so you know which government agency not to complain to when nursing home expenses go through the roof because of the liability insurance costs. (Greg Kocher, “Man’s estate to get $20 million”, Lexington Herald-Leader, May 5; Greg Kocher, “Nursing home provided proper care, attorney says in closing arguments”, Lexington Herald-Leader, May 3; Steve Lannen, “Nursing home sued for $155 million”, Lexington Herald-Leader, Mar. 23).
NYC plans “interventions” with diabetics
More scary paternalism in the name of public health from the Bloomberg crew: the New York City government has begun “legally requiring laboratories that do medical testing to report to the Health Department the results of blood-sugar tests for city residents with diabetes — along with the names, ages, and contact information on those patients. City officials are not only analyzing these data to assess patterns and changes in diabetes prevalence in the city, but are planning ‘interventions.’ … If you wish to keep your medical data confidential, you cannot.” Coercive public-health techniques originally seen as needed to combat communicable and infectious disease will now be deployed in hopes of correcting less-than-healthy individual behavior. Where’s HIPAA, the manically overbroad federal patient-privacy law, now that it might actually do some good? (Elizabeth Whelan, “Big Brother Will See You Now”, National Review Online, Apr. 25).
Blawg Review #56 upcoming at Point of Law
Next Monday sister site Point of Law will be hosting Blawg Review #56, the weekly traveling carnival which rounds up some of the best recent law-related blog writing. If you’d like to nominate a post from your own or someone else’s blog, you’ll need to do so by Saturday evening. The submissions guidelines are here, and you can submit posts here.
From the lawyers-as-legislators file
There’s nothing tremendously surprising about, say, a criminal defense lawyer winning election as a state legislator and then using his or her influence to strengthen due process protections for persons accused of crimes or to lower excessive penalties for those convicted. But what are we to make of the much rarer, opposite phenomenon — the criminal defense lawyer who gets elected and then pushes for the application of more stringent penalties against people like his own clients? Jerry Stratton, Charles Homiller, Radley Balko, and Lines in the Sand all discuss the case of Virginia Del. David Albo, a Fairfax Republican whose day job is as a lawyer defending motorists from DUI and other traffic charges. Del. Albo is also a sponsor of a bill in Richmond that would stiffen traffic fines as a way of providing money to fund transportation projects, and he has been the sponsor over the years of numerous other bills that make life more difficult for traffic defendants. Radley Balko is perhaps uncharitable when he suggests that the motive of lawyer/legislators like Albo is to “[steer] customers toward their criminal defense practices” — it’s possible, after all, for a lawyer to hold honest convictions that happen to be adverse to their clients’ interests. But it’s hard not to join in Balko’s parting observation: “I wonder if Albo tells his clients that he wrote many of the laws they’ve hired him to defend them from.” Update: Point of Law, Jun. 25, 2007.
Chicago foie gras II
Stephen Bainbridge and the Los Angeles Times (h/t W.F.) go into more detail on the Chicago ban we covered last week.
“Hollywood’s Most Litigious Assistants”
Gawker Media LA-blog Defamer has an entertaining cease-and-desist letter sent to a site that ranked photos of assistants on a hotness scale.
Judicial hellhole West Virginia
National Law Journal on medical malpractice bills
Marcia Coyle’s May 3 piece extensively quotes me and the Liability Outlook I wrote with Martin Grace of RiskProf, the good parts of which can be attributed to him.
Sen. Ensign’s S. 22 itself is finally available on THOMAS.
(cross-posted at Point of Law)