“Larry Stewart said shortly after his father gave the agent money for a [million-dollar life insurance] policy, the elder Stewart had a stroke, lapsed into a coma and died about seven weeks later at age 73.” Strangely enough, the agent and Prudential didn’t have a record of the policy. A jury believed the Stewarts, because it’s common for 73-year-old men to have brand-new million-dollar life-insurance policies, and awarded $36.4 million against Prudential (and $9600 against the insurance agent), who will appeal. The $35 million punitive damages award would have been capped had the case been brought after liability reforms were passed in Mississippi in 2003. (Jimmie E. Gates, “$36.4M awarded in lawsuit”, The Clarion-Ledger, Feb. 17).
Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category
Soldier wins judgement against Al Qaida financier
By extending civil liability to acts of terrorism overseas, the Patriot Act has unleashed a new weapon of mass destruction at Al Qaida: The Plaintiff’s Bar. Last Friday, they achieved their first victory. (Dawn House, “GI injured in Afghan war wins lawsuit”, Salt Lake Tribune, Feb 18)
Newspaper defends Craigslist
Vioxx Two for Three, with 9650 At-Bats Remaining
Merck won the first test of Vioxx in a federal court, though the short-term nature of the plaintiff’s use probably made it one of the weaker cases facing the company.
(“Merck wins retrial of first federal vioxx lawsuit”, Bloomberg, Feb 17). Ted Frank has more at Point of Law.
Another Step for Women’s Equality
In another giant leap for the equality of women, Broadway producer Dede Harris has demonstrated that its not just men who can get sued for sexual harassment. Paul Harris, “Turning the Tables on the Casting Couch” The Observer, Feb 19
El Defenzor on the Watts Law Firm
El Defenzor, a Corpus Christi paper of questionable credibility, claims to have uncovered e-mails among the plaintiffs’ bar in that town hand-picking judges for the bench at election time. Unfortunately, this germ of an interesting story is buried in bad punctuation and a deranged-sounding ungrammatical writing style that is consistent with what a commenter here calls “tinfoil hat-wearing.” But the quoted e-mails themselves have indicia of genuineness (including accurate e-mail addresses and corrections of typos in the title line in later iterations), and some of the other allegations in the story are consistent with stories that we have reported from the San Antonio Express-News and a newspaper-destruction scheme we documented in another Watts case. It’s also consistent with the reports filed with the Texas Ethics Commission; witness the disclosures by the front group “Good Government PAC,” which has the same address and office number as the Watts Law Firm.
Imagine what a credible journalist could do with this story! Sixty Minutes? Houston Press? Dallas Observer? Corpus Christi Caller-Times? Texas Monthly? Anyone out there?
Retailers Settle Katrina Gas-Price Suits
Over at Coyote Blog today, I observe that while most of us have shifted our attention away from Katrina, gas price “gouging” lawsuits against gasoline retailers still continue. Sunoco became the latest retailer to settle, paying New Jersey over $300,000 to be left alone. Many other states have also gotten into the act, including Aspiring Governor Eliot Spitzer, who would never miss an opportunity to score some populist points.
So, having spent months trying to explain markets and supply & demand and refute the silliness of the “price-gouging” concept, what are gasoline retailers doing today? Why, they are hauling credit card companies in front of Congress to accuse them of … price gouging (Coyote Blog, Feb 17). Also see Sept 2, Sept 1.
Deep pocket files: Jonathan Samuels v. Bellino Equities Boca
Jonathan Samuels employed a 52-year-old widow named Marta Pinto, who was having domestic abuse problems with her boyfriend, 79-year-old Marc Benayer. Samuels helped Pinto disengage from that relationship, which apparently upset Benayer. On a Rosh Hashana in Boca Raton, Benayer greeted Samuels at his synagogue’s services, wished him a happy new year, and asked him outside to chat; Samuels agreed, and Benayer shot Samuels twice in the back. Samuels was in intensive care for two weeks and has yet to return to work; Benayer has been charged with attempted murder. Samuels has sued Benayer (of course), but also… the owner of the shopping center that leases space to the synagogue, alleging failure to provide adequate security. (Howard Goodman, “Blaming shopping center for assault makes no sense”, Sun-Sentinel, Feb. 16).
Other Deep Pocket File entries.
Home Depot: I Couldn’t Do It Today
Bernie Marcus, who founded the Home Depot chain as a “regular guy” starting from one store, says that he couldn’t have done it in today’s legal environment.
…one share valuekiller lawsuit can kill a startup company. Back in 1978, those lawsuits were rare. Today, all you have to do is pick up a newspaper and read about one after another.
(IBD staff, “The Home Depot’s Bernie Marcus On Why He Couldn’t Do It Today”, Investors Business Daily, Jan 30 pdf). Mr. Marcus dedicates a lot of his philanthropy to tort-reform. When asked why, he said “I’m concerned for the next generation of entrepreneurs whose creativity, risk-taking and innovation are stifled by the current legal and regulatory climate. Will they be able to create the next Home Depot?” As one of those entrepreneurs, thanks! (see also Jan 15).
A Little Taste of Loser Pays?
My company is in the business of managing recreation sites, many of which are located in the National Forest. I deal with local Forest Service rangers all the time, and I’ll tell you they have an almost impossible job. They all joined the Forest Service because they wanted to be close to trees, but many of them find that the closest they get to trees every day is via the reams of paper they must generate in environmental impact studies and motions in lawsuits. Everything they try to do in the forest tends to be blocked legally by somebody, the most common opposition coming from environmental groups.
One federal judge may be raising the costs of filing such suits against everything….
While this is not really a true loser-pay system, and appeal bonds are fairly normal, they seldom cover the true costs of the delay and extra litigation. Apparently this bond is getting attention for being 10x larger than is typical. (Brett Wilkison, “Judge orders litigating enviros to pony up”, High Country News, Feb 6).