Overlawyered: Chronicling The High Cost Of Our Legal System

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There’s money in glass-eating, son

“A man was sentenced Thursday to more than five years in jail for his role in a multistate insurance fraud scheme in which federal prosecutors said he and his wife intentionally ate glass fragments and collected more than $200,000 in compensation.” Ronald Evano, 49, and his wife defrauded restaurants, grocery stores, and insurers around the Northeast by claiming there was glass in the food they ate and obtaining liability settlements; they were treated more than a dozen times for glass ingestion, and proceeded to stiff the doctors and hospitals too, declining to turn over any of the settlement money to them. Cultural-sensitivity bonus: “Evano asked the judge for mercy, saying in court that he and his wife are members of the minority Roma community, and needed the money to pay for dowries and other costs associated with the marriages of his sons under cultural practices.” (“Man jailed for 63 months in glass-eating fraud scheme”, AP/Boston Globe, Oct. 4).

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Thanks to Robert Ambrogi

For identifying Overlawyered as one of the top ten legal blogs. We’re invited to name our ten favorite. I’d be remiss if I didn’t identify Point of Law, our sister blog, but that seems poor sport. Here’s my ten, though, of course, Walter’s may differ:

  • Drug and Device Law Blog: Beck and Herrmann do such a good job covering pharmaceutical litigation in detail that I’ve virtually stopped posting on the subject. It’s one of two blogs where I’d link to every single post they made if it didn’t quickly become redundant to do so.

  • Insurance Coverage Blog. David Rossmiller’s blog is the other one that has occupied the field: he covers insurance litigation so thoroughly that it feels redundant for me to post on the subject, and he affirmatively breaks stories in Katrina litigation and the Scruggs contempt hearing. We’re glad to have been able to add David to Point of Law.

  • The Volokh Conspiracy: An obvious choice. Intelligent discussion of the law by some of the nation’s top law professors, while fairly acknowledging opposing arguments. Is it wrong that I aspire to being a Conspirator?

  • How Appealing; WSJ Law Blog; and Above the Law. Three more obvious choices for breaking news, but I read them daily, and I would be remiss if I didn’t mention them in my top ten.

  • The 10b-5 Daily. Lyle Roberts provides excellent coverage of securities litigation issues.

  • Ideoblog. I don’t always agree with Larry Ribstein (who also blogs at Point of Law) but his discussion and thoughts on corporate legal issues are always interesting.

  • Legal Pad. That’s the Roger Parloff version; several blogs have similar names. One of my favorite legal journalists, and the original reporting done on this blog is top notch.

  • Prettier Than Napoleon. My top ten has to have one non-obvious choice if it’s going to be at all interesting. Only a small portion of attorney Amber Taylor’s blog is about legal issues, but her daily posts are provocative, intriguing, and well-written, and the comments section community is surprisingly productive for a blog.

Update: My, this meme is widespread, we’re honored to also be selected by The Common Scold, What about clients?, and May it Please the Court. Eric Turkewitz also names us to his top ten, but I have to disagree with his characterization: Overlawyered is a pro-consumer blog, as excessive litigation hurts consumers. We criticize socially wasteful litigation whether it comes from big business or the traditional plaintiffs’ bar.

Update: more encomiums from Lowering the Bar; f/k/a; Lawbeat; and QuizLaw.

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So now everybody’s happy

Following breathless press exposes of the “payday lending” business near military bases (they charge high interest rates! It’s a bad deal if you’ve got access to conventional credit!) a new federal law sharply restricts the interest that can be charged to military borrowers. This report from Utah finds lenders responding by simply refusing to make loans to members of the military. A critic of the industry, Linda Hilton of the Coalition of Religious Communities, says she’s glad the option is disappearing and recommends that if service personnel find themselves in financial straits “then they ask their church, military relief groups, family or others for help”. More great moments in predatory lending law: Oct. 17, 2006 (cross-posted from Point of Law; & welcome Marginal Revolution readers).

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October 3 roundup

  • Yet another Apple suit, this time on behalf of user who wishes iPod and iTunes were more compatible with other song vendors and devices [Miami Herald/ILR]

  • Fairview Heights, Ill. alderman says town was “deceived” into serving as lead plaintiff in class action against Orbitz, Priceline, Expedia and other online travel firms [Madison County Record]; More: here and here.

  • “Evasive”, “bad faith”: federal judge slams health insurance lawyers for stalling suit by docs [Phila. Inquirer; Plus: their side @ Law.com]

  • Plastic water guns draw ire of politicos in Albany, N.Y. [Times-Union via Nobody’s Business]

  • High lawyers’ fees said to be pricing middle class Canadians out of the justice system, but it must be said the numbers cited sound pretty low by U.S. standards [Maclean’s]

  • Flickr makes it easy to grab and reuse strangers’ photos, and legal sorrows ensue [NY Times]

  • Jack Thompson tries to get federal judge Jordan removed from hearing one of his lawsuits against the Florida Bar [GamePolitics.com; & yet more]

  • New at Point of Law: trial lawyers deem “slanderous” ads featuring fictional law firm of Sooem, Settle & Kashin; Business Week cover story on wage/hour suits; John Edwards comes out again for “certificate of merit” med-mal reform; replace your old kitchen cabinets and get lead paint companies to pay; and much more;

  • Some New York lawmakers think secondhand smoke is just as bad for you as actually being a smoker [Siegel via Sullum; more on recent smoking bans, complete with culturally-sensitive hookah exception]

  • “Disability Math” video explores paradox of how employment fell among handicapped after enactment of the ADA [Dubner, Freakonomics; more (now with more direct Freakonomics link)]

  • Class-action lawyers sue over kids’ Pokémon card trading craze, claiming it’s illegal gambling [Eight years ago on Overlawyered; Milberg Weiss angle here]

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Contingent-fee tax collection in Mississippi, cont’d

Mississippi state auditor Phil Bryant “has issued a demand letter for recovery of the $14 million in legal fees paid by MCI to two law firms in the wake of the state’s $110 million settlement with MCI in a 2005 tax fraud case.” The Langston and Lundy & Davis law firms “were hired as outside counsel to represent the state by current Attorney General [Jim] Hood. Langston has been identified as one of Hood’s largest campaign contributors, a reality that Langston doesn’t deny.” The two firms were then cut into the $14 million as part of the negotiated settlement, but Bryant says the money belonged to the public and should have gone through the appropriations process. The twist: to enforce the state’s rights in the matter, Bryant will apparently have to call on legal support from the office of AG Hood himself, and you have to wonder how cooperative he’ll be. (Sid Salter, “Langston: State asks recovery of legal fees”, Jackson Clarion-Ledger, Sept. 23; “State parties bring smack down”, Biloxi Sun-Herald, Sept. 23). More on the furor: Point of Law, May 13 and May 23, 2005.

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