Overlawyered: Chronicling The High Cost Of Our Legal System

Archive for 2006

Come to Brooklyn, the suing’s fine

Here’s the top elected official in Brooklyn promoting one of his borough’s few truly prosperous industries:

“If you like white-shoe law firms, stay in Manhattan,” said Brooklyn’s borough president Marty Markowitz, who attended the bank’s grand opening. “But if you’re looking for the biggest settlement, come to Brooklyn.”

“The bank” in this case is Esquire Bank, which as Peter Lattman of the WSJ law blog explains (Oct. 10):

[claims] to be the first bank in the country to specialize in serving trial lawyers. It’s located on Court Street in Brooklyn’s judicial epicenter. To some folks in these parts, a “Court Street lawyer” has the pejorative connotation of an ambulance-chasing, personal injury attorney.

Another highlight of Lattman’s account: a quote from an attorney who operates the website moneyforpain.com.

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When schools fall short

Australia: “A settlement between a leading Melbourne private school and a parent who said her child had not been taught to read properly could result in increased litigation between parents and schools, a principals group has warned.” Yvonne Meyer faulted Brighton Grammar School for not placing enough emphasis on phonics-based instruction for her child. (David Rood and Chee Chee Leung, “Litigation warning as private school settles complaint over child’s literacy”, Melbourne Age, Aug. 16; Ewin Hannan and Justine Ferrari, “Private schools to curtail promises”, The Australian, Aug. 16). And in France: “A French schoolboy [Jérome Charasse] has successfully sued the government after blaming his failure in a philosophy exam on his teacher’s frequent absences during strikes. Parents’ groups and teaching unions believe the decision by a court in Clermont-Ferrand will lead to many similar cases.” (Colin Randall, ” Boy wins court case over striking teacher”, Daily Telegraph, Jun. 22)(h/t D.N.).

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Inviting conservative author = hostile environment?

Two teachers have sued an elite Seattle private school charging race bias in the terms of employment: “Among the plaintiffs’ complaints was Lakeside’s invitation to conservative commentator Dinesh D’Souza to speak as part of a distinguished lecture series.” (John Iwasaki, “Teachers accuse Lakeside School of bias”, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Oct. 13)(via Taranto). More: Paul Secunda agrees something is amiss here (Oct. 19).

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October 17 round-up

  • Interview with ICJL’s Ed Murnane on Madison County judiciary elections. [Madison County Record; see also Illinois Justice Blog]
  • London pension fund: oops, we just sued BP [Point of Law]
  • New York court throws out mold suit with systematic rebuttal of the junk science involved. [Point of Law]
  • Next mass tort: anti-psychotic drugs. [Mass Tort Litigation Blog]

  • “Vibrant, dynamic, gravitas, ambitious, hungry and 17 other words or phrases have been banned by one of Britain’s top recruitment agencies for fear of falling foul of new anti-ageism laws.” [Telegraph (h/t F.R.)]
  • Israel Supreme Court: compensatory damages don’t include cost of prostitute visits. This actually reversed a lower-court decision to the contrary. [Avi Bell/PrawfsBlawg via Above the Law]

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Police sued after man in 15-hour standoff kills self

Pennsylvania: “The widow of an upper Bucks County man [John Heckenswiler] who killed himself after a 15-hour standoff has filed a federal lawsuit against authorities, claiming they threatened and harassed her unstable husband so severely that he chose suicide over surrender. Deborah Heckenswiler retained an attorney with a record of success in suing police — John P. Karoly Jr. of South Whitehall, who has won multimillion-dollar settlements in brutality and misconduct suits against the Bethlehem and Easton police departments in recent years. … Police violated Heckenswiler’s ‘federally guaranteed right to be free from discrimination on the basis of disability’ because of policies and practices that encouraged negligence and excessive force in dealing with the mentally ill, the suit claims.” (Daniel Patrick Sheehan, “Widow sues police; Karoly takes case”, Allentown Morning Call, Oct. 14). More: complaint here in PDF format courtesy SuicideMalpractice.Net, a website critical of lawsuits seeking to blame third parties for acts of suicide.

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Great moments in predatory lending law

Paternalism in Chicago, working about as well as paternalism usually does:

The South Side neighborhoods affected by a controversial mortgage law designed to protect would-be homeowners from being gouged have seen a 45 percent drop in home sales in the law’s first month. …

Under the law, if a borrower’s credit score is 620 or less, or if there are other triggers, a borrower must get financial counseling from a U.S. Housing and Urban Development-approved counselor to make sure the borrower knows what he’s getting into, though a counselor can’t stop the loan.

The mortgage broker must pay $300 for counseling….

Some lenders have pulled out of the ZIP codes because they don’t want to deal with the accompanying paperwork. Real estate professionals have also complained that the four-year pilot law is discriminatory, because it is limited to just 10 ZIP codes.

Additionally, borrowers working through state or federally chartered banks are exempt from the law.

(Mary Wisniewski, “Mortgage law socks home sales”, Chicago Sun-Times, Oct. 16).