Naomi Wolf publishes an article seemingly destined to score a “surefire, indignant bang of contemporary succ?s de scandale” about being the subject of an alleged pass from Prof. Harold Bloom twenty years ago. The expected reactions, however, are not forthcoming. “I keep a close watch on my cultural windmills, and I can tell you categorically that a few years ago, this story would have had them spinning furiously, unanimously, in favor of Wolf.” But a cultural moment seems to have passed, and with it the old inquisitorial spirit once automatically triggered by harassment charges. “Wolf appears now like a helpless vendor trying to peddle a Semper Augustus tulip bulb in Rotterdam circa 1769.” (Celia Farber, New York Press, vol. 17, iss. 9)(via The Minor Fall, the Major Lift).
Author Archive
Hillsdale College “Imprimis”
I’m happy to announce that my speech last month at Hillsdale College in Michigan has been reprinted as the March issue of the college publication “Imprimis”, which reaches a very large (1 million+) readership. (Walter Olson, “The Threat from Lawyers is No Joke”, current issue, will rotate off top page — when that happens, search archive for March 2004)(or permalink printable version)
Karma ran over his dogma, cont’d
More petard-hoisting: “A champion of Berkeley rent control was ordered last week to pay his former tenants more than $100,000 in restitution by the very rent board he campaigned to create. By a unanimous vote, the Berkeley Rent Stabilization Board found that Michael Berkowitz, a paid aide to Councilmember Maudelle Shirek, had willfully misrepresented his residency status at his 2820 Derby St. property to skirt rent control. Berkowitz also works in a second position as chief of information services and neighborhood planning for the City of San Francisco.” (Matthew Artz, “Rent Board Orders Council Aide To Repay Overcharged Tenants”, Berkeley Daily Planet, Feb. 27)(via Myria who had it from Classical Values). And this just in: Republican Joe Thompson, the minority whip of the New Mexico House of Representatives, “was charged with drunken driving, hours after attending a bill-signing ceremony to highlight the state’s newest effort to crack down on DWI offenders.” (“Lawmaker arrested for drunken driving after attending anti-DWI ceremony”, AP/San Francisco Chronicle, Mar. 4)
Chasing clients in the U.K.
“One of the most relentlessly aired advertisements on daytime television this summer is for a contingency law firm touting for business. The advert shows a woman spontaneously falling off her office chair. It seems she will never walk again, until a kindly lawyer reminds her there is no such thing as a simple accident, and hands her a cheque for ?4,000.” (Stephen Robinson, “No one is safe from health and safety regulators”, Daily Telegraph, Aug. 13, 2003)
Oh, working for them
Two years ago we noted that the Environmental Working Group, a frequent source of anti-business stories in the press, seemed to be rather deeply involved with the litigation biz (see May 23, 2001). The group more recently has come in for sharp criticism from the conservative Capital Research Center (Bonner R. Cohen, “The Environmental Working Group: Peddlers of Fear”, Jan.) (PDF)(mentions this site) and from the American Tort Reform Association (also mentions this site).
Looking over EWG’s website recently, we noticed a page dated Nov. 17 of last year on the MTBE liability controversy (on which, see Nov. 25). It seems EWG took out big ads in Roll Call and The Hill calling for oil companies to be held liable for underwater spread of the gasoline additive (sample ad in PDF format, linked from Nov. 17 page). On EWG’s own webpage (see bottom of left column) appears the following notice: “Advertisements paid for by Association of Trial Lawyers of America (ATLA)”. Curiously, that reader advisory didn’t appear in the sample ad itself. Wasn’t there room to fit it in?
And today EWG released a report that echoes the major assertions of the plaintiff’s trial bar on the topic of asbestos, and adds some controversial claims of its own, including a claim that deaths from asbestos-related disease are on the rise. The report doesn’t have much to say about perjury mills or about the domination of the asbestos docket by unimpaired claimants. It turns out (as you learn if you reach this page) that the new report “would not have been possible without the financial, intellectual and material support of the Association of Trial Lawyers of America (ATLA)”, and in particular a “grant in the amount of $176,000 from ATLA to the EWG Action Fund.” You might almost think there’s a pattern here.
At Disneyland, slower teacups
At Disneyland in Anaheim, Calif., the “Mad Tea Party ride with 18 giant spinning teacups was recently modified in the name of safety to make it harder for people to spin. The move has prompted fans of the ride to march to City Hall on Disneyland’s Main Street in protest and post hundreds of messages on Internet discussion boards under headings such as ‘Save the Teacups.’ … Purists acknowledge that Disneyland also faces criticism for not paying enough attention to safety, but they see the ride’s modification as part of a pattern. They believe the fear of lawsuits is taking some of the fun out of the Magic Kingdom. ‘It’s like all the good times are over,’ said annual pass-holder Isaac Martin, 24. ‘It feels so depressing.’ … Park officials said they made the change after a disabled rider lost his balance last month and slipped from a teacup. The rider did not require medical treatment.” Disney officials insist the ride, which takes its theme from an Alice in Wonderland scene, remains entertaining. (“Disneyland purists decry tame teacups in Fantasyland”, AP/Sacramento Bee, Feb. 29)(via onel7). More: MickeyNews, MiceAge. Yet more: Jun. 22, 2005.
Stop treating nursing home patients, or lose your insurance
In Ohio, doctors treating the elderly are being given an “ultimatum: Stop seeing nursing home patients or get no insurance at all. … Frank O’Neil, vice president of corporate communications for malpractice insurer ProAssurance, said the company has made it a policy to stop insuring doctors whose main business is nursing home care. The lawsuit climate in nursing homes, O’Neil said, is worse than any other area of malpractice law, ‘bar none.'” (Tracy Wheeler, “Insurers push doctors to drop older patients”, Akron Beacon Journal, Feb. 15) (via MedPundit, who also covers the Ohio malpractice crisis in posts dated Feb. 14 and Feb. 17). See also Tracy Wheeler, “State seeks solutions to rising insurance costs”, Akron Beacon Journal, Feb. 15. For more on nursing home litigation, see Dec. 17 and links from there.
Varieties of legal practice
Sherry Fowler (Stay of Execution) has two posts looking at the good and bad points of practicing transactional law, and how it differs from a litigation practice (via Bainbridge).
“Lucky gambler sues Las Vegas casino”
“A Los Angeles lawyer who claims he was thrown out of Las Vegas last year because he was too lucky has sued MGM Mirage in a bid to force the casino to warn prospective gamblers that they can be barred for winning too much.” Ernest Franseschi, Jr., “who plays blackjack as a hobby, said casino officials did not accuse him of cheating, but of counting cards to determine which had been played — a practice that is not illegal.” “We, like any other business, reserve the right to refuse service,” said a spokesman for MGM Mirage. (Reuters/Yahoo, Mar. 3). On the longstanding war between casinos and card-counters, which occasionally spills over into litigation, see I. Nelson Rose (professor at Whittier Law School), “Dealing with Card-Counters”, 2002, at Rose’s site Gambling and the Law.
Probe of Connecticut tobacco deal
Picking up where our Feb. 24 posting left off: “The House committee that will decide whether to recommend the impeachment of Gov. John G. Rowland is examining a Waterbury law firm, one of four firms that brought Connecticut’s 1996 class-action suit against the tobacco industry and shared $65 million in fees.” The state’s attorney general, Richard Blumenthal, said: “I can tell you unequivocally that politics had nothing to do with this decision [to hire the Carmody firm]”. Such a card, that AG Blumenthal! (Stacey Stowe, “Impeachment Panel Examining Law Firm”, New York Times, Mar. 3)