Prominent Alabama trial lawyer Lanny Vines, last seen in these columns (Jan. 7-8, 2003) having apparently used a straw purchaser to buy then-Gov. Don Siegelman’s Montgomery home for twice its appraised value, is now having a bit of trouble with the Internal Revenue Service. Vines “temporarily quit his law practice to become a day trader” but ran into trouble when the tech bubble burst. Vines sued his former accountant, J. Wray Pearce, the straw buyer in the Siegelman case, over allegedly bad tax advice on the stock trading, and reached a confidential settlement. An attorney for Vines says the $13.1 million IRS matter is “highly technical” in nature and in no way a reflection on his client: “If you don’t like Lanny Vines, you don’t like ice cream.” (Jerry Moskal, “Vines files petition to overturn tax bill”, Birmingham News, Aug. 18). Update: May 27, 2006.
Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category
Welcome KION-AM Salinas listeners
I was a guest on Mark Carbonaro’s a.m. show this morning on KION-AM in Salinas, Calif. to discuss The Rule of Lawyers. To book a broadcast interview on the book, email me directly or contact Jamie Stockton at the St. Martin’s/Griffin publicity department: 212-674-5151, ext. 502.
Some other recently noted publicity on The Rule of Lawyers: reviewer Art Taylor of Metro Magazine in North Carolina’s Research Triangle named it as one of the top ten nonfiction books of 2003 (Jan.). Writing in Salt Lake City’s Deseret News, Hal Heaton of the Brigham Young University Center for Entrepreneurship devoted much of a column to discussing the book’s contents (“Litigation hinders new ideas, growth”, Jul. 11, not online). And Maurice Neligan, a distinguished cardiac surgeon in Ireland, recommends the book as “most revealing” in a piece published in Irish Times (“Common sense, fat chance”, May 11, not online).
When the judge is a curmudge, cont’d
Is there something about the name Sam that does it? U.S. District Judge Sam Kent in Texas has long been famed for his colorful excoriations of lawyers in his court whose practice does not come up to his standards (see May 14, Sept. 6, 2001 and links from there). Now, per Curmudgeonly Clerk (Aug. 11) who got it from Begging to Differ, Judge Sam Sparks, another federal district court judge in Texas, has just penned an opinion complaining that his duties in supervising the lawyers in a commercial dispute now resemble those of “a person who supervised kindergarten. … The Court simply wants to scream to these lawyers, ‘Get a life'”. (Klein-Becker v. Stanley, PDF)
Client neglect: Fagan ordered to pay $3.4 million
Attorney Edward Fagan, much publicized for his role in Holocaust and other reparations controversies, “is facing a $3.2 million legal malpractice judgment for suing the wrong party in a personal injury case and failing to oppose its dismissal.” Former client Allen C. Tavel sued Fagan, saying he had neglected a product liability case against Honda Motor Corp. and the manufacturer of a seat belt that allegedly failed over an accident in which Tavel was seriously injured. “Fagan did not contest Tavel’s malpractice suit, which resulted in a default judgment. In May, Justice Shirley Kornreich of Manhattan Supreme Court awarded Tavel $1.2 million for his economic losses and $2 million for pain and suffering.” (Anthony Lin, “Personal Injury Client Wins Malpractice Award Against Holocaust Victims’ Lawyer”, New York Law Journal, Aug. 12). Fagan has been the subject of extensive coverage on this site, including Jun. 24-25, 2002; Apr. 2 of this year and links from there. More: Feb. 5, 2005.
Target: general aviation services
Ten years ago, in one of the few significant liability reforms to emerge from Washington, D.C. in modern times, Congress provided litigation relief to small-aircraft makers, most notably by cutting off lawsuits filed more than 18 years after an aircraft was sold. As was widely reported, general aviation thereafter enjoyed a substantial recovery from its previous slump, with significant numbers of planes again being manufactured and sold. But trial lawyers, casting around for parties to sue after crashes, simply began naming everyone else in sight: flight instructors, “mechanics, manufacturers of replacement parts, fuel suppliers and airports. Aviation is again in decline.” Frasca Field in the college community of Champaign-Urbana, Ill. has “shut down its flight training, recurrent training and mechanics’ services a year ago because of skyrocketing insurance costs brought on by a lawsuit in which the field itself was found not guilty.
“The case stemmed from the 1996 death of a man who was a passenger in a Piper J-3 Cub that crashed in a cornfield near Thomasboro. Federal Aviation Administrators inspectors found no mechanical problems. The National Transportation Safety Board said the accident was caused by pilot error. Frasca Air Services Owner Rudy Frasca said the final legal defense price tag was about $600,000. ‘We won the case, but we lost the field,’ said Tom Frasca.” Much more here (J. Philip Bloomer, “Liability costs ground Frasca”, Champaign (Ill.) News-Gazette, Jun. 20).
Terrorism legal risk: see no evil…
“A year after the Sept. 11 attacks, the Justice Department obtained video surveillance tapes suggesting terrorists were targeting Las Vegas casinos, but authorities never alerted the public as they discussed whether a warning might hurt tourism or increase the casinos’ legal liability, internal memos show. …Another memo states the casinos didn’t want to see the footage for fear it would make them more likely to be held liable in civil court if an attack occurred.” Most local law enforcement authorities also declined an opportunity to view the tape. (John Solomon, “U.S. Didn’t Warn Las Vegas of Threats”, AP/Washington Post, Aug. 9). On the other hand, MGM Mirage spokeswoman Yvette Monet said her company did see the tapes and cooperated with authorities. An anonymous casino executive also tells the Las Vegas paper that the casinos kept their distance from a Detroit terrorism trial in which surveillance tapes were a factor because they feared having to reveal their security plans in sworn testimony, to the advantage of future terrorism attempts. (“Terrorism threats: city accused of inaction”, Las Vegas Review-Journal (with AP coverage), Aug. 10). More: Eugene Volokh comments as does Radley Balko.
Update: commentary on Merenstein lawsuit
Dr. David Merenstein’s Journal of the American Medical Association article (“Winners and Losers”, JAMA. 2004;291:15-16, reprinted here), first noted here Jan. 14, continues to be the source of discussion in the medical community.
Update: Further Kennewick Man litigation likely
The Los Angeles Times reports that the eight-year-old legal battle over scientists’ attempts to study the 9,300-year-old bones (Feb. 14) is probably not over, even though Indian tribes and the Department of Justice decided not to appeal the Ninth Circuit’s ruling to the Supreme Court. Before, Clinton administration objections under the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act prevented study. Now, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which has custody of the bones, is objecting under the Archaeological Resources Protection Act of 1979 to anthropologists’ plans to study the skeleton. And the tribes have filed papers expressing their intent to continue litigating. In the words of the Houston Chronicle’s headline-writers in reprinting the LA Times article, “Curse of lawyers surrounds ancient skeleton.” (Tomas Alex Tizon, “Skeleton Case’s New Bone of Contention”, Los Angeles Times, Aug. 2 (via Bashman); Eli Sanders, “An 8-Year Fight Ends Over a 9,200-Year-Old Man”, New York Times, Jul. 20; Tim Sandefur, Panda’s Thumb blog, Mar. 25; Bonnischen v. United States; Friends of America’s Past website and Aug. 4 press release).
Super-sized something
“Although [filmmaker Morgan Spurlock in Super-Size Me] generally presents critics of McDonald’s as public-spirited activists, he can’t resist taking a shot at Samuel Hirsch [Jul. 25 and Sept. 12, 2002; Jan. 23, Mar. 25-30 and Jun. 20, 2003], the lawyer who filed the first two obesity lawsuits against fast food restaurants. When Hirsch is asked his motive for getting involved in such litigation, he looks puzzled. ‘You mean, motive besides monetary compensation?’ he says. ‘You want to hear a noble cause?’ That’s his only appearance in the film.” (Jacob Sullum, “Big Mac Attack”, Reason, Jul.). Update Mar. 23, 2005: Hirsch sues Spurlock and film distributor.
Long weekend
I’ll be traveling on business, so there’ll be no more posting from me until Sunday or Monday. See you then.