legal malpractice – Overlawyered

The case for popular legal education

Walter Olson — Sat, 11 Jan 2014 20:59:18 +0000

“A British woman attempted to sue her former lawyers for professional negligence, claiming that, alongside a number of other allegations, they failed to advise that finalizing divorce proceedings would inevitably cause her marriage to end.” [Independent, U.K.]

Tags: Catholic Church, divorce, legal malpractice, United Kingdom

Medical roundup

Walter Olson — Wed, 13 Nov 2013 04:05:51 +0000

Pressure from HHS leads day cares to ban practice of baby-swaddling, and not everyone’s pleased about that [Abby Schachter, Reason]
“If Big Pharma likes your healthcare plan, you can keep it” [Tim Carney]
For “those of us with polycystic kidney disease… stringent FDA regulation seems to be taking away hope” [Bill Brazell, Atlantic] And: speaking of the FDA, “Dallas Buyers Club Is a Terrific Libertarian Movie” [David Boaz, Cato] Also: New Peter Huber book, “The Cure in the Code: How 20th Century Law Is Undermining 21st Century Medicine” [Basic/Manhattan Institute, Wired]
$7,440 annual expected loss per hospital bed in Florida vs. $810 in Minnesota, and other med-mal loss statistics [Becker’s Hospital Review via TortsProf]
Charge: black lung defense firm finds ways to conceal medical expert reports from adversaries [Center for Public Integrity via Joe Patrice, Above the Law]
Prescribing drugs for off-label uses is perfectly legal, but Johnson & Johnson will pay $2.2 billion for promoting the practice [Ann Althouse]
Jury awards $4 million legal malpractice verdict against prominent D.C.-based plaintiff’s firm [Richmond Times-Dispatch via White Coat]
“Can You Secretly Record the Medical-Legal Exam?” [Eric Turkewitz]

Tags: FDA, Florida, legal malpractice, medical malpractice, Minnesota, ObamaCare, pharmaceuticals

Medical roundup is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

August 7 roundup

Walter Olson — Wed, 07 Aug 2013 04:05:01 +0000

7th Circuit cites Rumpelstiltskin; quashes plaintiff’s bid to turn straw to gold [Legal Ethics Forum]
“One of the most prolific writers and tweeters in the online legal world. A must read.” Thanks Jim D. [Abnormal Use, and his suggestion about ABA best-blawg nominations is worth heeding]
“… as if compliance departments actually are associated with law-abiding behavior…” [Ira Stoll]
Sex extortion lawyer Mary Roberts won’t have to pay restitution [MySanAntonio, background]
Guess who’s the big new lobby fighting marijuana legalization? Medical-pot providers [Politico]
“Woman awarded $775,000 after tripping on speed bump at a Vegas casino” [Calgary Herald]
Some thoughts on “libertarian populism” [Jesse Walker, Josh Barro/Tim Carney]

Tags: accolades, illegal drugs, legal malpractice, Nevada, Roberts sextortion

August 7 roundup is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Medical and pharmaceutical roundup

Walter Olson — Mon, 03 Dec 2012 04:06:46 +0000

Community college restructures staff to avoid ObamaCare employee mandate [Daniel Luzer, Washington Monthly] New pressure toward part-time employment is a big story [Coyote] But do regulations allow shift to part-time workers as a way of evading 50-employee rule, as seemingly contemplated in above post? [Gunn Chamberlain, P.A.] Why some workers might prefer being dropped from their employer’s health plan if higher pay results [Thom Lambert]
Eleventh Circuit: hospital can be sued for not providing sign-language interpreter for emergency department visitors [Disabilities Law/Bagenstos]
Proposition: “Off-label use can be, in many circumstances, the standard of care.” [Drug and Device Law] On Ben Goldacre’s new book “Bad Pharma” [Tyler Cowen]
Overnight solution to med-mal crisis? Perhaps standard for lawyers’ malpractice should automatically fluctuate to reflect that for doctors [Ted Frank, Point of Law]
Criminalizing the professions [White Coat]
Drug shortages persist [ACSH, earlier here, here, etc.] What the FDA could do to speed antibiotic approval [Yevgeniy Feyman, Medical Progress Today, earlier]
Clearer line-drawing between pharmacy and mass drug-compounding needed after tainted-steroid debacle [Scott Gottlieb/Sheldon Bradshaw, WSJ, earlier] With compounding pharmacy doubtfully able to pay claims, “You’re going to get people suing everyone.” [Boston Globe, David Oliver]

Tags: FDA, hospitals, legal malpractice, medical malpractice, ObamaCare, pharmaceuticals

Medical and pharmaceutical roundup is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

“Lawyers Intentionally Inflicting Emotional Distress”

Walter Olson — Tue, 22 May 2012 17:45:56 +0000

Imagine how it would change the practice of litigation if lawyers could be held answerable for intentionally inflicting emotional distress on opponents, witnesses or third parties. Of course that’s not going to happen, since our legal profession is quite good at immunizing itself from exposure to liability for the same sorts of injuries that it sues over when inflicted by others. In this SSRN paper (via Robinette, TortsProf), Alex Long of the University of Tennessee proposes a presumption that lawyers’ behavior is “extreme and outrageous,” a precondition of IIED liability, if they could get disbarred for it.

Tags: discipline, emotional distress, legal malpractice

“Lawyers Intentionally Inflicting Emotional Distress” is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Connecticut: court-appointed probate lawyers seek immunity

Walter Olson — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 15:10:16 +0000

The Connecticut Supreme Court is being asked to rule that lawyers and conservators appointed by probate judges are immune from being sued by those they represent. The case arose “because of the abuse that Daniel Gross, an elderly New York man, suffered during 2005 and 2006 at the hands of a Waterbury probate court after he became sick while visiting his daughter.” Gross was placed in a nursing home on conservator’s orders, a decision eventually reversed by a court. [Rick Green, Hartford Courant]

Tags: Connecticut, legal malpractice, wills and trusts

Connecticut: court-appointed probate lawyers seek immunity is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Calmer = more conscientious?

Walter Olson — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 05:37:50 +0000

Lawyers who practice stress reduction techniques want discounts from their malpractice insurers [ABA Journal]

Tags: legal malpractice

Calmer = more conscientious? is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

“Law Firms Are Tough to Sue”

Walter Olson — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 14:09:11 +0000

In case you didn’t know that. [Zach Lowe, AmLaw Daily]

Tags: legal malpractice, sanctions

“Law Firms Are Tough to Sue” is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Law firm’s typo

Walter Olson — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 13:48:39 +0000

Will it cost its real estate client tens of millions? [NY Times via Above the Law] More: NY Post and Above the Law again.

Tags: legal malpractice

Law firm’s typo is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Update: court dismisses Kremen v. Morelli

Walter Olson — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 12:34:15 +0000

We covered this legal malpractice claim last year, with particular attention to the defendant law firm’s argument that it didn’t matter whether the case was handled flawlessly since it was obviously low on merit in the first place. Now a New York appellate court has reversed the trial court and dismissed the action on other grounds. (Scott Kreppein, Sept. 17).

Tags: legal malpractice, New York

Update: court dismisses Kremen v. Morelli is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system