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ARCHIVE -- MAY 2003 (III)


May 30-June 1 -- "Judge Allows Lawyer to Add Shell Oil as Nightclub Fire Defendant".  Rhode Island: "Attorney Ronald Resmini, who sued for damages in federal court last month, said he added Shell Oil and its affiliate, Motiva Enterprises LLC, to his lawsuit because The Station nightclub owners distributed tickets to their club from a Shell gas station they owned. 'They were giving away free tickets if you bought so much merchandise,' Resmini said."  Lawyers' quest for deep pockets has already resulted in the naming of brewer Anheuser-Busch and the town of West Warwick, among other defendants.  (AP/MSNBC/7 News Boston, May 29). (DURABLE LINK)

May 30-June 1 -- "Diet Drug Litigation Leads to Fat Fees".  "A federal judge in Philadelphia has awarded interim fees of more than $150 million to 83 plaintiffs' law firms for their work in the massive fen-phen diet drug litigation that led to a $3.75 billion class action settlement. The interim fees are just a fraction of what the plaintiffs' lawyers could ultimately earn, since it covers only work up to June 30, 2001. In their fee petition, the lawyers asked for $567 million." (Shannon P. Duffy, The Legal Intelligencer, May 21)(see Sept. 27-29, 2002, and links from there).  And, reports Texas Lawyer: "A group of Houston plaintiffs' lawyers who were major players in fen-phen litigation in the late 1990s are now jumping into the ephedra arena and plan to use many of the tactics they learned in fen-phen suits in the new litigation."  Ephedra, an herbal remedy, promotes weight loss and energy but can have serious side effects.  (Kelly Pedone, "Lessons Learned in Fen-Phen Suits Factor Into Ephedra Cases", Texas Lawyer, Apr. 15)(see Sept. 10, 2001). (DURABLE LINK)

May 30-June 1 -- "Buchanan & Press".  Viewers who tuned into the popular MSNBC debate show last night (Thurs.) saw our editor debate former ATLA president Barry Nace on the merits of Common Good's "early offers" proposals for limiting lawyers' contingency fees (see May 29) A full transcript is likely at some point to be posted here. (DURABLE LINK)

May 29 -- Hold the gravy?  Common Good, the reform organization headed by author Philip Howard, has launched a new campaign to limit the fees plaintiff's lawyers can charge in cases that settle promptly.  "The proposal would require plaintiffs' attorneys to submit a notice of a planned lawsuit to defendants in contingency fee cases. If a settlement offer is made and accepted within 60 days of the notice, the attorney must charge an hourly rate that cannot exceed 10 percent of the settlement amount."  (Elizabeth Neff, "Plan Would Cap Contingency Fees", Salt Lake Tribune, May 25).  Petitions to this effect have been filed in recent weeks by lawyers working pro bono in Alabama, Arizona, California, Colorado, Maryland, Mississippi, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Texas, Utah and Virginia.  (Daniel Wise, "Attorney Fees in Personal Injury Cases Targeted", New York Law Journal, May 8; Adam Liptak, "In 13 States, a Push to Limit Lawyers' Fees", New York Times, May 26). (DURABLE LINK)

May 29 -- Decorating for reconciliation.  Okay, for a change, here's a vignette that made us think maybe there's hope for the profession: "Though hardly sentimental in the courtroom, Ms. Gold-Bikin [divorce attorney Lynne Z. Gold-Bikin of Philadelphia's Wolf, Block, Schorr & Solis-Cohen LLP] says she often urges settlement and, even, reconciliation.... Coupons for free marriage-counseling sessions are set out on the coffee table. ... 'I'm a divorce lawyer who believes in marriage. So I started collecting old wedding photos and licenses. Then I found that if I put them up around the office, clients would have to walk past them and, hopefully, think twice about what they were about to do. There are plenty of marriages we're never going to save. But there are a lot we can work on. Many people who come here shouldn't be getting divorced. They're just stuck, and I hope this makes them reconsider.'" (Nancy D. Holt, "The rite of matrimony", CareerJournal.com (WSJ), May 15; also appeared in Wall Street Journal, May 14, as the "Workspaces" column). (DURABLE LINK)

May 28 -- Vitamin class action: some questions for the lawyers.  Last month "appeal court justices in San Francisco did something unusual: They mailed out a letter asking lawyers in a massive vitamin price-fixing class action to explain a few things.  Why, the 1st District Court of Appeal wanted to know, are so many law firms involved? How did the number of coordinated cases grow by 12 in one six-month period? How many out-of-state law firms are involved? Which of the defendants previously entered guilty or no contest pleas to criminal charges?" At least fifty class action law firms nationwide are hoping to split a $16 million fee pot, but Oakland, Calif. attorney Larry Schonbrun, the nation's best-known objector to class actions, says there's "no reason why much fewer law firms could not have handled this case". And: "This is a money machine. It's feeding at the trough." (Mike McKee, "Enriching the Record", The Recorder, May 27).  (DURABLE LINK)

May 28 -- "Sex, God and Greed".  Forbes on the priest scandals and the associated "litigation gold rush" which could leave the Roman Catholic Church facing $5 billion in payouts.  "The lawyers who are winning settlements from Catholic dioceses are already casting about for the next targets: schools, government agencies, day care centers, police departments, Indian reservations, Hollywood. ... The lawyers are lobbying states to lift the statute of limitations on sex abuse cases, letting them dredge up complaints that date back decades."  (Daniel Lyons, Forbes, Jun. 9).  Sidebars: "Battle of the Shrinks" (role of recovered memory in some cases); "Heavenly Cash" (questionable claims).  Our editor weighed in a couple of years ago on the practice of lifting statutes of limitation. (DURABLE LINK)

May 27 -- "State is suing ex-dry cleaners".   California Attorney General Lockyer is suing retired owners of Mom-and-Pop dry cleaners in the town of Chico under the federal Superfund law, accusing them of pouring dry-cleaning chemicals down their drains decades ago.  "Bob and Inez Heidinger -- he's 87, has Alzheimer's disease and is blind in one eye; she's 83, has bone marrow cancer and needs shoulder surgery" -- are being sued for $1.5 million on charges (which they deny) of disposing of PCE in such a manner between 1952 and 1974, when they sold the business.  Also being sued is "Paul Tullius, a 57-year-old retired Air Force pilot, and his wife, Vicki, who own a warehouse that last housed a dry cleaner in 1972 -- 16 years before they bought the building without knowing its entire history." "This is the most draconian law you could ever imagine," says Tullius. "...Can you imagine what that does to your life? I'm sort of thinking this isn't the country I thought it was." (Gary Delsohn, Sacramento Bee, Apr. 28).  (DURABLE LINK)

May 27 -- Courtroom assault on drugmakers.  A week or two ago the New York Times somewhat belatedly discovered that trial lawyers have ginned up a large amount of well-organized litigation against pharmaceutical makers over alleged side effects.  (Alex Berenson, "Giant drug firms may face lawsuits", New York Times/Oakland Tribune, May 18).  Some reactions: Derek Lowe ("Because That's Where the Money Is", Corante, May 16), Ernie the Attorney (May 18), MedPundit (May 19), MedRants (May 19), William Murchison ("Lawyers Who Make You Sick", syndicated/TownHall, May 20) (the last of these via SickofLawsuits.org, a new health-focused site associated with the Citizens Against Lawsuit Abuse tort reform groups).   (DURABLE LINK)

May 24-26 -- "'Trial Lawyers Get Spanked'".  Our editor had an op-ed Friday in the Wall Street Journal celebrating the Florida appeals court's striking down of the absurd $145 billion class action verdict in the Engle tobacco case. (Walter Olson, WSJ/ OpinionJournal.com, May 23).  Other columns on the decision include Jacob Sullum, "Appealing Price", syndicated/Reason.com, May 23, on the appeals bond issue; and George Will, "The States' Tobacco Dilemma", syndicated/Washington Post, May 23, on the hypocrisy of state governments.  (DURABLE LINK)

May 24-26 -- Hitting the jack-potty.  "A city worker has hit the jack-potty. Cedrick Makara, 55, scored a $3 million jury verdict last week because he hurt his thumb trying to get out of the john of a Manhattan building where he works."  The building's manager and owner are on the hook.  The stall in question "had a missing doorknob. [Attorney Sheryl] Menkes said Makara reached his hand through a hole where the knob should have been and pulled the door toward him just as someone entering the bathroom pushed the door in," causing him to injure tendons in his thumb and miss six months of work as a city claims examiner. (Helen Peterson, "He's flush after $3M potty suit", New York Daily News, May 21). More: Boots and Sabers comments on the case (May 25). (DURABLE LINK)

May 22-23 -- Court overturns $145 billion Engle award.  Not to say "we told you so" about yesterday's Florida appellate decision reversing the tobacco-suit atrocity, but, well, we did tell you so back in 1999: "The smart money is betting last week's Miami anti-tobacco jury verdict will be overturned on the issue of class certification -- whether every sick Florida smoker should have been swept into a class suing cigarette makers despite vast differences among individuals on such issues as why they decided to smoke or quit."  We had more to say about the case, also in the Wall Street Journal, a year later (July 18, 2000), as well as on this site.  The latest decision is on FindLaw in PDF format and a very fine decision it is indeed -- if this keeps up, the Florida courts may start getting their reputation back (Manuel Roig-Franzia, "$145 Billion Award in Tobacco Case Voided", Washington Post, May 21).  (DURABLE LINK)

May 22-23 -- Must be why the show has so many fans.  Received recently from the publicity department at St. Martin's Press, publisher of our editor's latest book: "The Rule of Lawyers by Walter Olson will be a prop in the show, Sex and the City!  It will be a prop in Miranda's apt. thoughout the season. The pilot airs early June."  (DURABLE LINK)

May 21 -- Update: McMahon's mold claim worth $7 mil.  "Entertainer Ed McMahon reaped a $7 million settlement from several companies he sued for allowing toxic mold to overrun his Los Angeles home and kill his beloved dog, a national mold litigation magazine reported". ("McMahon Gets $7 Mln in Toxic Mold Lawsuit - Report", Yahoo/Reuters, May 7)(see Apr. 25, 2002). Addendum: blogger Stu Greene writes, "I wonder if the Prize Patrol delivered one of those oversized novelty checks with balloons tied to it." (May 21(DURABLE LINK)

May 21 -- Auto-lease liability: deeper into crisis.  Honda has become the latest automaker to announce that it will stop leasing new cars to buyers in New York, Connecticut and Rhode Island (see Mar. 12-14, 2003, Aug. 26, 2002).  The problem is 1920s-era "vicarious liability" laws in those three states, fiercely guarded by the trial lawyer lobby, which expose leasing and rental car companies to unlimited personal injury claims when their customers get into accidents.  Honda's pullout follows withdrawals this spring by GM and Ford as well as by J.P. Morgan Chase, a major provider of auto financing in the Northeast.  ("Industry report: Honda to stop leasing in 3 states", Detroit Free Press, May 20 (scroll down); "American Honda Finance Corp. to Suspend All Leasing In Three States", PR Newswire, May 19; "Auto lease fleece" (editorial), New York Daily News, Apr. 22 (scroll down); SaveLeasing.com; "Ford Blames Liability Law for Decision to Stop Leasing Cars in NY", Insurance Journal, Apr. 7; Zubin Jelveh, "Leasing Companies Exit Left and Right", Newsday, May 4).  "More than $1.5 billion in such claims are pending in New York, said Elaine Litwer, legislative coordinator for the National Vehicle Leasing Association.... [Proponents of easing the law] received a big boost last month when the 75,000-member New York State Bar Association split from the trial lawyers and said the vicarious liability law was never meant to apply to leases and supported changes." (Barbara Woller, "GMAC leaves New York's auto leasing market", Journal News (Gannett, Westchester County), May 1; John Caher, "State Bar, Trial Lawyers Part Ways on Tort Reform", New York Law Journal, Apr. 8). More: Jun. 9, 2003; Sept. 5, 2004. (DURABLE LINK)



 
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