Overlawyered: Chronicling The High Cost Of Our Legal System

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Imams sue USAir

A sad case of post-9/11 discrimination, or “performance art” designed to elicit a fearful reaction among fellow passengers? And what are we to think of the suit’s naming, as “John Doe” defendants responsible for damages, an “older couple” who reacted with alarm and the gentleman of which “kept talking into his cellular phone”, possibly alerting authorities? (John McWhorter (Manhattan Institute), “Drama Queens on U.S. Airways”, New York Sun, Mar. 15; Katherine Kersten, “The real target of the 6 imams’ ‘discrimination’ suit”, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Mar. 14; Kersten blog, Mar. 14; Power Line, Mar. 15; Dystopian Philosopher (Dennis Miller video), Mar. 14; Bruce McQuain, QandO, Mar. 15). Earlier coverage: Dec. 6.

More: Audrey Hudson’s coverage of the issue in the Washington Times is kind enough to quote me (“Imams’ suit risks ‘chill’ on security”, Mar. 16).

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Selling an item on eBay…

…is not enough contact with the buyer’s state to subject you to the jurisdiction of its courts, according to a judge on Staten Island who ruled that even New York’s “long arm” law has its limits. (Mark Fass, “Contact Held Insufficient to Sue eBay Seller”, New York Law Journal, Mar. 7). I discussed the rise of long-arm jurisdiction, and the powerful impetus it can provide to litigation in many situations, in Chapter 4 (PDF) of my book The Litigation Explosion.

P.S. As commenter Elliot points out, “even” was not the mot juste in this circumstance; New York’s long-arm statute has never been interpreted as liberally as, say, California’s.

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Another Brockovich Medicare suit dismissed

This time it’s the federal court for the Eastern District of Tennessee that’s sent the glamourpuss bounty-hunter packing:

Plaintiff and his associate Erin Brockovich have filed 49 nearly identical complaints in jurisdictions across the country. Kris Hundley, Brockovich Teams Up With Local Firm, St. Petersburg Times, Dec. 21, 2006. Many of these complaints have already been dismissed . . .

Roy F. Harmon III at Health Plan Law explains why this one failed too (Mar. 13). For more, see Jun. 22 and Nov. 18, 2006 as well as, on the general Brockovich phenomenon, my October 2000 treatment in Reason.

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March 14 roundup

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“Business has not trounced the trial lawyers”

My latest column in the Times Online explains why Business Week and some other media outlets are being at best premature (and that’s putting it diplomatically) in declaring the American plaintiff’s bar down for the count. Opening excerpt:

America’s litigation fever is cooling off, or so one hears. Merck & Co is doing reasonably well defending suits over its painkiller Vioxx, while actions blaming foodmakers for obesity have sputtered. Doctors’ malpractice-suit payouts are said to be flat (at what by other countries’ standards are still unthinkably high levels). Last month, the Supreme Court ruled on a punitive damage case in favor of tobacco giant Philip Morris, which has become a Wall Street favorite after wrestling down its perceived legal risks. Nearly every American politician claims to be on board with reform, even the nation’s most famous plaintiff’s-lawyer-made-good: “We do have too many lawsuits”, said John Edwards during the 2004 Presidential debates. A recent Business Week cover sums it up: “How Business Trounced the Trial Lawyers”.

And yet one wonders whether a contest is being called prematurely. … To call a high-water mark is going to require more evidence than we’ve seen so far.

P.S. Other reactions to the Business Week cover story came from Bizzyblog (“Year’s Most Unintentionally Comical”), Roger Parloff (article itself was better than headline), and me at Point of Law (see also this WSJ column).

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Profitable angles in harlotry law, cont’d

Washington, D.C. has been on edge lately over the news that Deborah Jeane Palfrey, facing charges of running a pricey call girl operation in the capital, wants to sell her list of 10,000 clients and 46 pounds of phone records to the highest bidder to raise money for her legal defense. (Scott McCabe, “Accused D.C. madame’s client list remains in limbo”, Washington Examiner, Mar. 10; Fox News, Mar. 9; Anne Schroeder, Politico, Mar. 1; TPM Muckraker, Dec. 7, Mar. 1, Mar. 7, Mar. 9). Palfrey’s attorney and adviser, Montgomery Blair Sibley, says numerous overtures for purchase have already come in, that efforts are underway aimed at “mining the data to identify individuals,” and that his client will do her part in cooperating with the buyer of the data to identify clients. Attorney Sibley is quoted in the Examiner as teasing journalists about the newsworthy nature of the client names: “You won’t be disappointed.”

Something about the name of Palfrey’s attorney, Montgomery Blair Sibley, rang a bell from the past. Was it the historical resonance of his having been named after a member of Lincoln’s cabinet? Or his having once headed an organization called Forfeiture Endangers American Rights, which I’ve had occasion to cite favorably for its work against police and prosecutorial abuses? No, that wasn’t it. Oh, wait, here it is: an Overlawyered entry from March 7 of last year about how Arthur Vanmoor, a South Florida man accused of running one of the largest prostitution rings in the Southeast, had taken the step of suing his own former clients for getting him in trouble (seems they had signed credit card slips which read “Cardholder states that this transaction is not for illegal activity”). As I noted then, “One wonders whether the possibility of [publicity for the “johns” being sued] might be one factor influencing the prospective settlement value, if any, of the new round of suits.” Vanmoor’s attorney appeared on Tucker Carlson’s “The Situation” to discuss the strategem, with entertaining results. His name? Montgomery Sibley.

Maybe Mr. Sibley can adopt as a new promotional slogan for his law practice, “Turning your client lists into gold.”

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By reader acclaim: “Woman holds door open for man at Pizza Hut…”

“…then sues both.” According to her lawyer, Tom Maag, Amanda Verett was holding open the door for co-defendant Clarence Jackson when he “grabbed the door in such a fashion that it caused the door to suddenly and sharply move,” resulting in injuries for which Ms. Verett wants upwards of $150,000 from Jackson, the restaurant, or some combination of both. It happened in Edwardsville, Ill., in lawsuit-famed Madison County, where Thomas Maag is a member of a famous family of lawyers (Oct. 29, 2004). (Steve Gonzalez, Madison County Record, Mar. 8).

P.S. The website of the Dennis & Verett Law Office of Edwardsville indicates that Amanda Bradley Verett was admitted to the Illinois Bar in 2003 and is a member of the Association of Trial Lawyers of America, now renamed the American Association for Justice. (hat tip: reader David Nowlan)

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