Since Florida’s repeal in 1990 of a little-known doctrine in state law known as the “fireman’s rule”, police officers and firefighters injured while responding to calls have been free to sue private parties for damages. “In the past month, a Jupiter motorcycle officer and a Palm Beach County sheriff’s deputy have sued people who called for help. In both cases, the officers blamed their injuries on the negligence of people they were dispatched to protect. Earlier this year, officers in Sunrise and Plantation filed similar suits after suffering serious injuries.” Although the fireman’s rule still exists in most states, it’s “being slowly eradicated state-by-state” according to one observer; in Florida, lobbying by a police union helped ensure its demise. And although the Florida police union claims it only wanted to open the gates for suits over gross negligence and the like, suits have become a growth area and often name deep-pocket bystanders. (Bill Douthat, Palm Beach Post, Sept. 30).
Author Archive
“Injured student sues goal post maker”
Had to happen dept.: “A man whose legs were paralyzed when fellow Ball State students toppled a goal post after a 2001 football upset of Toledo is suing the goal post maker. Andrew Bourne, 23, of Liberty, Ind., and his parents are suing Marty Gilman Inc. of Gilman, Conn., claiming the aluminum posts were ‘designed and constructed in a manner which allowed them to suddenly snap and collapse.'” (Gary Mihoces, USA Today, Sept. 30). Update Jul. 24, 2005: court rejects Bourne’s case and his lawyer vows appeal.
Judge: killer is 70% responsible for killing
“A federal judge ruled Friday that the manufacturer of an ankle monitor should pay $191,400 to the family of an Arlington woman killed in 1997 by an ex-boyfriend who cut off the transmitter 400 feet from her home without triggering an alarm. U.S. District Judge Terry Means held the manufacturer, Boulder, Colo.,-based B.I. Inc., 20 percent liable in Karen Sawyers’ death, but assigned 70 percent of the responsibility to gunman Joseph Whitlow, who committed suicide after killing Sawyers.” The judge, presiding over a bench trial, assigned 10 percent liability to the murder victim herself for her killing because she was drunk and had methampetamine in her system at the time of her death. A plaintiff’s attorney expressed disappointment that the manufacturer had not been held liable for a greater share of the blame. (“Ankle monitor’s maker held 20% responsible in killing” Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Sept. 26).
Ordeal continues for 12 held captive in Oakland
“A criminal trial of three dismissed Oakland police officers accused of falsely arresting and beating suspects has become a marathon unusual even by the often plodding standards of American criminal justice. The trial began more than a year ago, and on Thursday the jury deliberated for a 55th day without reaching a verdict.” According to criminal justice historian Charles Weisselberg at the University of California’s Boalt Hall School of Law in Berkeley, the case’s extreme prolongation is not typical: “Weisselberg said, for example, that of 12,817 trials held in federal courts in the year ended September 2002, only 97 lasted more than 20 days and just one exceeded the 165 trial days this case has logged so far.” (Barbara Grady, “A Year Later, Judge Won’t Let Jury Go Home”, Reuters/Lycos, Sept. 29)
Class Action Fairness Act: more editorials
Last month the Hartford Courant editorially endorsed the Class Action Fairness Act: “No one in Congress is proposing doing away with class-action lawsuits. Rather, this overdue legislation would curtail some of the worst abuses. Legislators have debated the issue long enough. There’s no good reason to wait another year to adopt this important reform.” (“Stop Class Action Abuses”, Aug. 22, no longer online). This weekend the New York Daily News takes a sharper tone: “Who could be against this rational reform? The trial lawyers’ lobby, that’s who. The sharks are not about to surrender their feeding grounds. Sens. Chuck Schumer and Hillary Clinton could have a huge impact on the matter, but so far both appear happy in the role of remora.” (“End lawyers’ shopping spree” (editorial), New York Daily News, Sept. 28).
Notwithstanding Schumer’s and Clinton’s stance, Business Week notes that the bill has won significant support among moderate-to-liberal Democrats (Lorraine Woellert, “Tort Reform Even a Democrat Could Love”, Jun. 2). A study from the Illinois Civil Justice League finds that, contrary to widely repeated reports, it is untrue that the state courts will lose jurisdiction over the great majority of the class actions they now hear. Meanwhile, Sen. John Breaux (D-La.) has been promoting a watered-down alternative to the legislation, but last week Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Ia.) blasted the Breaux alternative as a “poison pill” which would doom class action reform efforts (Mark A. Hofmann, “Grassley blasts competing class-action reform plan”, Business Insurance, Sept. 23). (Earlier editorial (Washington Post, Christian Science Monitor, etc.): see our Jun. 25 report.)
Welcome InstaPundit readers
Leftist filmmaker Michael Moore is again drawing fire for not being willing to submit himself to the sorts of borderline-harassment journalistic investigation to which he has long subjected others. Thanks to reader Robert Racansky, our Sept. 16, 1999 coverage of Moore’s hypocrisy has now become the subject of a Glenn Reynolds Instalanche (Sept. 27). Also, welcome readers from Law.com which linked to our recent Wilbur Wright item.
“Video games back in US dock”
“Claims by teenage boys in Tennessee that they were acting out the Grand Theft Auto game when they shot at vehicles are threatening to put the US entertainment industry back on trial.” (Rachel Clarke, BBC, Sept. 15; “Game blamed for murder, $100 million lawsuit likely”, Out-Law.com (UK), Sept. 26). Jeff Taylor at Reason Online has the full story (“You Do Know Jack”, Sept. 10) on Miami attorney Jack Thompson, impresario of this and other litigation against videogame makers (see Apr. 3-4, 2002). Thompson is the author of a fondly remembered letter to this site (“go to Afghanistan where your anarchist, pro-drug views will be greatly rewarded” — Apr. 11, 2002) and his website stopkill.com must be seen to be believed.
More: Will Baude points to a relevant opinion by Judge Richard Posner in American Amusement Machine Association v. Teri Kendrick, and Curmudgeonly Clerk also comments.
The Madison County scent
That was quite an editorial from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch: “The scent of fish in Madison County finally reached the noses of the Illinois Supreme Court judges. It’s about time. The court should crack down on venue rules that make Madison County a Mecca for plaintiff’s lawyers and a ‘judicial hellhole’ for corporations.” (“Plug the hellhole”, Sept. 19). See Kevin McDermott, “Penchant for attracting class-action suits is damaging business climate, petition says”, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Sept. 9 (industry and legal experts petition for venue rules restricting plaintiffs from strategic selection of Madison County). A ruling last month has lawyers on both sides hopeful/fearful that venue reform may be coming in Illinois: “In a case involving a 1997 collision in Macoupin County between a truck of Union Pacific Railroad and a tractor of a private individual, the justices overturned lower court rulings that the case be heard in Madison County. The Supreme Court said a judge must consider more than just where a plaintiff would like the case heard. Judges must also weigh other factors, such as where the event that led to the suit occurred and where the parties live or work.” (Trisha L. Howard, “High court orders case moved from Madison County”, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Aug. 21) (see recent John Stossel coverage, and our earlier coverage).
Did a lawsuit kill Wilbur Wright?
The great aviation pioneer, who died of typhoid fever in 1912 at age 45, spent his last years enmeshed in bitter litigation with rival Glenn Curtiss. “Wilbur did not survive the litigation. In an official history [of intellectual property law firm Fish & Neave, the firm’s resident historian Albert E.] Fey wrote, ‘In the interest of full disclosure, I must tell you that the Wright Brothers case went on for so long it may have killed Wilbur in the process. A little known fact is that we dragged him to Boston for a deposition, where he became ill. He never recovered.'” (James V. Grimaldi, “After Historic Flight, Wrights Went to Court”, Washington Post, Sept. 21(via Ernie the Attorney who got it from Dennis Kennedy)(& welcome Law.com readers)
$1 damages and reinstatement; $118,000 fee request
“An attorney who helped a fired city employee win back his job and $1 in damages is seeking nearly $118,000 in fees and costs related to the case.” Attorney Cynthia Pollick had sued on behalf of vehicle mechanic Robert Murray, fired by the city of Scranton. A jury agreed that the firing was wrongful under a state whistleblower statute but awarded only token damages. “The reason the jury’s monetary award was only $1, she said, is because Mr. Murray managed to find another job paying $4 more an hour within one week of his termination.” (Thomas K. Staff, “City employee’s attorney seeks fees”, Scranton Times Tribune, Sept. 18).