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Author Archive
Update: another alcohol suit
Piling on in search of a Next Tobacco: “A lawsuit filed in Los Angeles [earlier this month] against the world’s two biggest brewers accuses the beer makers of advertising to minors and seeks $4 billion in disgorgement of profit.” The suit, filed by Seattle’s Hagens Berman, whose doings are oft chronicled in this space (see Sept. 9-10, 2002 and links from there, Nov. 24) targets Anheuser-Busch and SABMiller. It invokes California’s distinctively abuse-prone s. 17200 law (see Dec. 8), as well as a California law which bans alcohol advertising intended to encourage underage drinking. (Ira Teinowitz, “$4 Billion Lawsuit Filed Against Beer Giants”, Advertising Age, Feb. 4) (lawsuit website/complaint in PDF format). Two months ago, lawyers led by David Boies filed a would-be class action against a number of alcohol companies over alleged youth marketing (see Dec. 1)
Update: Mormon actress can sue over script profanity
Updating our story of Jan. 24, 2000: “University of Utah theater professors may have violated the constitutional rights of a former student when they refused to allow her to omit profanity from an in-class performance, a federal appeals court ruled [Feb. 3].” Overturning a district court decision, the unanimous Tenth Circuit panel said Christina Axson-Flynn was entitled to a jury trial on her claim that the university theater program violated her rights when it refused to let her avoid reciting profane lines assigned to her characters, and that its claim to be standing on pedagogical principle was a pretext for religious discrimination. (Angie Welling, “Ex-U. actress to get jury trial in bias lawsuit”, Deseret News, Feb. 4). More: David Bernstein comments. Update Jul. 17: case settles.
Update: Ford settles Romo case
Bringing to an apparent close a legal saga often chronicled in this space (see Nov. 26 and links from there, Nov. 27), the Ford Motor Co. has agreed to pay $23.7 million plus $10.8 million in interest for a total of $34.5 million to settle the Romo family’s lawsuit concerning a fatal rollover of a 1978 Ford Bronco. The original jury verdict of $290 million in 1999 came after a trial noteworthy both for demagogic argumentation and bizarre jury deliberations, and was slashed by an appeals court in November. (Susan Herendeen, “Ford agrees to $34.5M judgment”, Modesto Bee, Feb. 4).
Update: “Woman drops lawsuit over Jackson peep show”
Just in case anyone missed this while we were away: only a few days after filing her class-action lawsuit (Feb. 5, Feb. 8) demanding billions from MTV and other defendants over Janet Jackson’s Super Bowl stunt, Terri Carlin of Knoxville, Tenn. “believes she’s made her point” and is withdrawing the suit. (AP/CNN, Feb. 10; see Blog 702). The attorney who represented Carlin in the action, Wayne A. Ritchie II, would appear to be (per his website) a figure of some dignity in the Knoxville legal community: a former state legislator, he “has served on the Board of Governors of the Knoxville Bar Association and on the Board of Governors and Executive Committee of the Tennessee Trial Lawyers Association.” (See also May 28.)
Update: “Scientists win Kennewick Man ruling”
“The scientific community should be allowed to study the 9,000-year-old human bones known as Kennewick Man, a 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel ruled [last week], rejecting an appeal by several tribes claiming kinship and seeking to rebury the remains.” The court found little evidence of either a genetic or a cultural link between the prehistoric corpse and present-day Indian tribes. (Tom Paulson, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Feb. 5) (see Sept. 27-28, 2000; Oct. 11, 1999). See “In our view: Kennewick Man” (editorial), The Columbian (Vancouver, Wash.), Feb. 8; Moira Breen; Lex Communis; Brian Doherty, Reason “Hit and Run”, Feb. 12; Sarah Graham, “Scientists Win Latest Ruling in Kennewick Man Case”, Scientific American, Feb. 6. More: Aug. 2.
Update: NYC’s lead balloon
The New York City council has overridden Mayor Bloomberg’s veto and passed its Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Act, notwithstanding critics’ warnings that the bill will stack the deck in favor of liability lawsuits against Gotham’s rental property owners (see Dec. 15). My Manhattan Institute colleague Julia Vitullo-Martin sounds the alarm (“Killing housing”, New York Post, Feb. 5). Update Jun. 2: housing market thrown into turmoil.
“No damage award for shot burglar”
Connecticut: “A Superior Court jury has rejected a burglar’s bid for damages for being shot when he broke into a house five years ago. Clarence Wiggins of Waterbury had sued Louis Steponaitis Jr. of Torrington for shooting him in the right arm with a shotgun on Dec. 16, 1998.” (AP/WFSB (Hartford), Feb. 12).
Ninth Circuit judge: sure, sue over ozone damage
“Although the earth’s evaporating ozone layer affects millions of people, the damage is concrete enough that an individual can sue violators of the Clean Air Act, according to a 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals judge. … [Judge Ronald] Gould opined that an individual can have standing to sue for global injuries which affect millions of people, such as ozone depletion, despite some precedent that widely shared injuries are so broad that they preclude individual damages.” Though it’s only a concurrence, it’s likely to encourage the global-warming-suit movement described in this space Feb. 6-9 and Jun. 12-15, 2003; Jul. 31 and Aug. 10-12, 2001, and Aug. 19, 1999. (Alexei Oreskovic, “Global Standing for Ozone Suits”, The Recorder, Feb. 9).
Economic Report of the President
This year’s Economic Report of the President, just published, includes a chapter (large PDF, look for chapter 11) on the economic impact of the U.S. tort system, its growth, the mixed evidence on its success in hazard-reduction, and its impact on particular fields such as medicine and light aviation (via Alex Tabarrok).