A jury in Brownsville, Texas, has determined that the Quincy, Ill.-based Titan Tire Corp. was not negligent for failing to provide a Spanish-language warning relating to maintenance of its tires. “The case involved the death of 33-year-old Raymundo Barrera, who died after a tractor tire exploded while he was airing it up at a farm near Camargo, Mexico, in 2002.” Plaintiffs filed suit neither in Mexico nor in Quincy but in south Texas, alleging that the company was aware that some of its products would find their way to Mexican farms (and also, presumably, to farms on which numerous other languages are spoken besides Spanish). “However, the jury decided Friday that Barrera was at fault and Titan was not.” Lawyers for the Barrera family, who had been seeking $10 million, say they plan an appeal. (“Jury clears tire company that lacked Spanish warning”, AP/Houston Chronicle, Sept. 1).
Author Archive
Oz: mom’s car crash caused my cerebral palsy
From Australia, more evidence that the presence of liability insurance may tend to lead ineluctably to the alleged causation of cerebral palsy:
An Adelaide teenager suffering from cerebral palsy is suing his mother after she crashed into a tree when he was a foetus. Supreme Court documents claim Sylvia Neave, of Ferryden Park, was negligent and breached her duty of care as a mother to her unborn child.
Under law, Graham Neave, 16, has to sue his mother and [the state of South Australia’s] compulsory third party insurer, the Motor Accident Commission, in his bid to gain an estimated $3.5 million compensation.
The Queen Elizabeth Hospital also is part of his claim for allegedly failing to treat him “sufficiently early or at all” before his emergency delivery.
— “Boy sues mum in $3.5m bid”, The Advertiser/News.com.au, Aug. 22.
Political notes
According to the Washington Monthly’s Kevin Drum (Sept. 2), commenting on President Bush’s convention acceptance speech, “His biggest applause line of the night came when he took a shot at trial lawyers.” Drum terms this “weird” and doesn’t understand why the issue might resonate so, however. While on the subject of the Washington Monthly, it has a symposium on a Bush second term which includes a Grover Norquist article predicting dramatic setbacks at the national level for the trial bar if GWB is re-elected, which would certainly be a change from the lack of same in his first term. And in Florida, former housing secretary and former president of the Academy of Florida Trial Lawyers Mel Martinez prevailed in a hard-fought primary against former Rep. Bill McCollum (see Feb. 21, May 6) with a campaign so nasty as to cause the St. Petersburg Times to withdraw its previous endorsement of Martinez; Democrat Betty Castor will be his opponent in November (editorial, Aug. 30; Miami Herald, Sept. 1).
On the road
I’m heading off to speak to the Federalist Society chapter at the University of Arkansas law school in Little Rock. I should be back and posting on Friday.
Cash for pols and judges: like curing cancer, sort of
From another article on the extraordinary role played by trial lawyers in Illinois Democratic fundraising (see Aug. 29):
Chicago trial attorney Myron Cherry said political fund raising is another aspect of his charitable work.
“I view politics the same way as eradicating cancer,” Cherry said.
— Dennis Conrad, “Illinoisans among Kerry’s top fundraisers”, AP/Daily Southtown, Jul. 29. The article goes on to note that trial attorneys’ extensive involvement in politics frequently focuses on issues of litigation reform that “could affect their legal income”.
Police officers, above the law
According to Newsday, reporting from Long Island, N.Y., the spring issue of the local union newsletter of the Police Benevolent Association ran an item by treasurer Bill Mauck advising members that in case the car stopped for a traffic violation happens to be that of a police officer, “you don’t summons another cop”. Questioned by the newspaper, union president Jeff Frayler confirmed that “it has been union policy to discourage Suffolk police officers from issuing tickets to fellow officers, regardless of where they work. ‘Police officers have discretion whenever they stop anyone, but they should particularly extend that courtesy in the case of other police officers and their families,’ Frayler said …. ‘It is a professional courtesy.'” Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy said he was appalled at the policy: “We can’t be sending the message that some are above the law.” (Joe Kelley’s The Sake of Argument, Apr. 5; via Charles Oliver, “Brickbats”, Reason, Apr.).
Ten arrested in probe of Miss. fen-phen verdict
Jefferson County, Mississippi:
Ten people were arrested in Fayette on charges related to the $150 million verdict in 1999 in Jefferson County against the manufacturer of the diet drug fen-phen, FBI special agent Bob Garrity said Tuesday.
Garrity said in a statement that the arrests came after an 18-month investigation that began in November 2002 into large jury awards. The FBI started the investigation to learn how individuals became part of these lawsuits and, perhaps, how juries were picked from an area where many people are kin or acquaintances.
(“Ten charged with fraud in fen-phen case in Jefferson County”, AP/Biloxi Sun-Herald, Aug. 31; “10 arrested in probe of $150M fen-phen verdict”, Jackson Clarion Ledger, Aug. 31; WLBT-TV. See Oct. 3 and links from there. Update Oct. 20: three defendants plead guilty.
To protect, and serve, and sue
The traditional “firefighter’s rule” holds “that firefighters, police and rescue personnel accept an inherent risk of injury or even death in their jobs and generally cannot sue those they’re hired to protect. Their recourse is worker’s compensation claims, according to the rule. But lobbying by powerful unions and court decisions have led some states to limit the rule’s scope or rescind it altogether.” I’m quoted in the article criticizing recent moves away from the rule. “New Jersey is one of 11 states that allow police officers, firefighters and rescue personnel to file civil lawsuits when they’re injured through the negligence of individuals or entities.” (Tim Zatzariny Jr., “Police officers sue over injuries on job”, Camden (N.J.) Courier-Post, Aug. 30). For more, see Sept. 30, 2003; Apr. 1 and Jul. 16, 2004.
His so-called reputation
Reports David Giacalone (ethicalEsq):
Elderly Schenectady (NY) lawyer Romolo Versaci has filed a $100,000 defamation suit against Diane C. Richie, an unemployed social worker and widow with two children. Versaci claims — and Richie admits — that she called him a “so-called attorney” on a SchenectadyNY.info message board. …
Versaci says the comment has “greatly injured” his reputation, and adds that “She’s got to stop these cutesy messages and think a little bit.” He has been replaced with another lawyer in the controversy that spawned this lawsuit. Richie says, “I haven’t got $100, let alone $100,000. I couldn’t even imagine a judge looking at this. It’s so stupid.”
Adds ethicalEsq: “Most days, I’d consider being called a ‘so-called attorney’ a compliment.” Evan Schaeffer has strong words concerning the action and his comments section should also be checked out. More watch-what-you-say-about-lawyers cases: Nov. 30, 2003, Sept. 16-17, 2002, more. Updates Jan. 19: David Giacalone reports on a further development; Mar. 20: judge throws out case.
New at Point of Law
There are all sorts of new posts over at our sister website Point Of Law. Attorney Leah Lorber, who’s appeared on this site in the past, has just joined for a week’s worth of guestblogging contributions, including posts on a Mississippi Supreme Court case undoing the joinder of 264 asbestos cases and a Kentucky punitive award against Ford Motor (in a “park-to-reverse” transmission case). On medical malpractice, Ted Frank examines the benefits of the damage limits approved by Texas voters, Jim Copland discusses my WSJ op-ed on the Kerry campaign’s ideas for reform, and I link to an informative paper by Richard Anderson of the Doctor’s Company. Law professors Lester Brickman and Richard Painter, both experts on the ethics of contingency fees, have now completed their featured discussion of the issue.
Plus lots more, including posts by me on the ABA’s plans to push reform of jury trials; how contingency-fee litigation by the state of California is straining U.S. relations with France; Eliot Spitzer, the comparison-shopper’s friend; two posts (here and here) comparing the American way of litigation with that prevailing in other democracies; how liability law affects the way certain products smell; and who you can’t trust to explain the new overtime regulations.