What, you still haven’t subscribed to our free periodic email newsletter? The latest installment went out this afternoon to its c. 2300 subscribers, covering the last five or so weeks’ worth of postings in telegraphic, occasionally droll style. It’s a great way to keep up with items you may have missed; when you’re finished, pass on the email to let a friend know about the site. Sign up today, right here.
Author Archive
Guest blogger tomorrow
An all-new guestblogger will be joining us tomorrow. For full details, check back then.
Couldn’t outrun cops, sues them instead
Connecticut:
A 21-year-old New Haven man who led Hamden police on a high-speed chase on his all-terrain vehicle before crashing into a utility pole last summer wants the town to pay his medical bills.
Britt Martin, of 75 George Street, claims that Officer Stephen DeGrand and four other unidentified officers were responsible for his injuries because they violated a Police Department policy to discontinue high-speed pursuits when the risk exceeds the need for immediate apprehension….
DeGrand said the suspect went through red lights and made illegal turns while driving well in excess of the speed limit during the chase.
(Fred Musante, Cops blamed for ATV crash, Hamden Journal, Dec. 29). More high-speed chase suits: Feb. 18 and Apr. 27, 2004; Sept. 21, 2003, etc.
Hospital sued over lack of neurosurgeons
Coming full circle: in Florida, the family of the late Barbara Masterson is suing West Boca Medical Center because hospital staff was unable to locate a neurosurgeon willing to come to the scene to perform life-saving surgery after a stroke. “The incident occurred in February, when Palm Beach County neurosurgeons were refusing to perform emergency services for fear of skyrocketing malpractice costs. The Mastersons’ lawyer, Gary Cohen, said the hospital was aware of the unavailability of neurosurgeons for emergency work “and should have never taken her in.” (John Murawski, “West Boca Medical Center sued over woman’s death”, Palm Beach Post, Dec. 23).
Update: judge dismisses apartheid suits
Updating our Aug. 8, 2003 post (and links from there): “Lawsuits seeking more than $400 billion in damages from US corporations for victims of apartheid in South Africa were tossed out [Nov. 30] by a federal judge who said the claims bordered on the frivolous.” (Boston.com/AMABoston, Dec. 1; David Teather, “Apartheid court case dismissed”, Guardian (UK), Nov. 30; Mark Hamblett, “Businesses Win End to Multiple Apartheid Suits”, New York Law Journal, Dec. 1). The South African government, along with former South African president Nelson Mandela, had strongly opposed the suits. (Jonathan Ancer, “Activists hit out at ‘reactionary’ government”, Independent Online (South Africa), Dec. 7). The U.S. Council for International Business was of course pleased. Brandon Hamber has a weblog and site supporting the apartheid reparations claims.
Update: legal malpractice verdict tossed on appeal
“The Nevada Supreme Court recently reversed a jury verdict for $3.3 million against two lawyers for alleged malpractice in their representation of a quadriplegic man.” Attorneys W. Randall Mainor and Richard Harris (see “Crumbs from the Table”, Feb. 8-10, 2002) had settled Jason Nault’s medical malpractice claim for $17 million, of which only $2.5 million went to Nault himself, the rest going to “his wife, whom he has since divorced, the lawyers [who got $6.8 million] and the couple’s daughter.” The high court “concluded that the evidence didn’t support the damages.” (“In Brief”, National Law Journal, Dec. 13, not online as free link).
The Manhattan Institute at 25
The Manhattan Institute, with which I’ve been happily associated for about twenty years now, has lately been celebrating its 25th anniversary, and has now commemorated the occasion with a slender (104 pp.) but impressive volume entitled “Turning Intellect Into Influence: The Manhattan Institute at 25“.
Behind “Boston Legal”
The new ABC show may cause the legal profession’s on-air image to sink to a new low, worries Mark Donald in Texas Lawyer (“Lawyer Prestige Hits New Low With Fall TV Season”, Dec. 8) For more on the views of show creator David E. Kelley, an ex-lawyer who also created the shows “Ally McBeal” and “Boston Public”, see Nov. 21, 2000.
A university athlete’s heirs
But the lion took the biggest share:
Relatives of an Oklahoma State basketball player killed in a university plane crash in 2001 were awarded a $1.6 million settlement, a newspaper [The Oklahoman] reported Monday….
Lawson, a 21-year-old junior guard, was one of 10 men who died Jan. 27, 2001, when an airplane carrying members of the basketball program crashed in a Colorado field on the way back from a basketball game at the University of Colorado….
Lawson’s son, Ramses B. Hereford, received $440,139, his parents, Daniel Lawson Sr. and Phyllis Lawson, each received $223,238 and the remaining money — nearly $730,000 — was awarded to attorneys for legal fees and costs, according to court records.
Contributing to the settlement are North Bay Charter, the owner of the downed airplane; the estate of the late pilot, Denver Mills; Marathon Power Technologies, a maker of airplane parts; and Oklahoma State University. Wichita-based Raytheon Aircraft did not settle, and a lawsuit continues seeking to saddle it with the blame for the crash. (“Legal wrangling not finished”, AP/ESPN, Dec. 19).
Disarming the U.K.
Scotland: In a multi-point program aimed at reducing knife crime, First Minister Jack McConnell has proposed banning the sale of swords; introducing “a licensing scheme for retailers selling knives”; doubling, to four years, the maximum jail term for possessing an offensive weapon; giving police new powers of search and arrest; and raising the age limit for buying a knife to 18, from the current 16. (“Crackdown targets knife culture”, BBC, Nov. 22). And in Yeovil, Somerset, police “have been accused of heavy handedness after arresting two young boys who were playing with toy guns.” The boys, 11 and 13, were wearing Santa Claus and Frankenstein’s-monster costumes and one of them sang the James Bond theme song as they pretended to shoot each other with the toys while rolling around on the floor at a youth club. “One of the boys was held in a cell for five hours.” (Simon de Bruxelles, “Playing with toy gun puts boy, ll, in a cell”, The Times (UK), Dec. 3).