Lester Brickman – Overlawyered

Liability roundup

Walter Olson — Tue, 10 Feb 2015 05:05:32 +0000

Lester Brickman, others testify before House subcommittee on proposed asbestos-reform FACT Act [Chamber-backed Legal NewsLine]
“B.C. student-turned-dominatrix awarded $1.5M after car accident left her with new personality” [National Post]
Here, have some shredded fairness: New Jersey lawmakers advance False Claims Act bill with retroactive provisions [NJLRA] Maryland False Claims Act, which I warned about last year, reintroduced as leading priority of new attorney general Brian Frosh [Maryland Reporter; my coverage here, here, etc.]
Oregon: a “man badly burned when he poured gasoline on a fire is suing Walmart, claiming the gas can he bought there was defective.” [KOIN]
Minnesota jury is latest to buy sudden-acceleration case, awards $11 million against Toyota [Reuters]
Insurers, trial lawyers gear up for Texas legislative fight over hailstorm litigation [Bloomberg/Insurance Journal]
Breaks ankle in “watch this” stunt, files negligence claim, but some spoilsport posted the footage to YouTube [U.K.: City of London police]

Tags: asbestos, Lester Brickman, Maryland, New Jersey, qui tam, retroactive, sudden acceleration, Texas, Toyota

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

Mass tort roundup

Walter Olson — Wed, 16 Jul 2014 04:05:08 +0000

New Hampshire lottery: after Granite State’s MTBE contamination suits pays off big, Vermont files its own [WLF Legal Pulse]
Supreme Court declines to review various cases arising from Florida’s Engle tobacco litigation [Lyle Denniston, SCOTUSBlog, earlier] “U.S. Supreme Court Rejects Fen-Phen Lawyers’ Appeal of $42M Kentucky Verdict” [Insurance Journal, earlier]
In action against five drug firms over opioid marketing, California’s Santa Clara County partners with law firms Robinson Calcagnie, Cohen Milstein, and Hagens Berman, marking at least the tenth time the county has teamed up with outside law firms to file suits [Legal NewsLine; earlier on Chicago’s involvement in painkiller suit]
Lester Brickman on fraud in mesothelioma litigation [SSRN] “Plaintiff Lawyer Offers Inside Look At `Institutionalized Fraud’ At Asbestos Trusts” [Daniel Fisher]
“‘Light’ cigarette case vs Huck’s continues after 9 years; Two current judges had been plaintiff’s counsel” [Madison Record, ABA Journal]
“If honesty in the judicial system means anything, it means proceeding with candor before the tribunal, which plaintiffs’ counsel did not do during the removal proceedings.” [dissent in Peter Angelos Cashmere Bouquet asbestos case, Legal NewsLine]
Report on products liability and the driverless car [John Villasenor, Brookings, earlier]

Tags: asbestos, attorneys general, autos, ethics, Lester Brickman, Madison County, New Hampshire, opioids, tobacco

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

October 2 roundup

Walter Olson — Tue, 02 Oct 2012 04:06:15 +0000

CFPB hopes to fix regulation that has prevented stay-home moms from getting credit [Bloomberg Business Week, earlier]
Uncertified class action: “Federal judge orders cost-shifting for fishing expedition” [PoL] Ted Frank objects to $10 million fee in “cosmetic” Johnson & Johnson settlement [Daniel Fisher, PoL]
“Accused of Providing Blank Arrest Warrants to Police, Georgia Magistrate Resigns” [ABA Journal]
Lester Brickman, Peter Schuck in new podcast on Brickman’s book Lawyer Barons [Federalist Society]
“Wright and Ginsburg on Behavioral Law & Economics” [NW Law Review and SSRN via Adler]
“17th injury claim in 12 years got Chicago cop her disability deal” [Sun-Times]
“Injured while working for the Empire? Call Lando Calrissian.” Law firm ad parody [YouTube]

Tags: Chicago, class action settlements, Georgia, humor, Lester Brickman, loser pays, police

October 2 roundup is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

September 16 roundup

Walter Olson — Fri, 16 Sep 2011 15:11:55 +0000

House Judiciary holds hearing on asbestos-claim fraud and abuse, with Prof. Brickman headlining [Main Justice, Legal NewsLine, WSJ law blog, PoL, Brickman testimony]
Endangered species habitat in Nevada: “Elko County wants end to 15-year-old trout case” [AP]
“Why is the Eastern District of Texas home to so many patent trolls?” [Ted Frank/PoL, more] Tech giants say multi-defendant patent suits place them at disadvantage [WSJ Law Blog] Plus: “Patent company has big case, no office” [John O’Brien, Legal NewsLine]
Lawsuit settlement and the lizard brain [Popehat]
“U.S. Commission on Civil Rights Looks Into Eminent Domain Abuses” [Kanner, Somin] U.K.: “Squatters could be good for us all, says judge in empty homes ruling” [Telegraph]
Madison mob silences Roger Clegg at news conference where he releases new study of UW race bias [ABA Journal, Althouse]
Life in Australia: “Another motorized-beer-cooler DUI” [Lowering the Bar]

Tags: asbestos, Australia, Eastern District of Texas, eminent domain, endangered species, Lester Brickman, Nevada, patent trolls, settlement, United Kingdom

September 16 roundup is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

July 29 roundup

Walter Olson — Fri, 29 Jul 2011 12:47:11 +0000

Don’t: “Lawyer Disbarred for Verbal Aggression to Pay $9.8M Fine for Hiding Cash Overseas” [Weiss, ABA Journal]
Loser-pays might help: “Dropped malpractice lawsuits cost legal system time and money” [Liz Kowalczyk, Boston Globe]
“Kim Kardashian and the Problem With ‘Celebrity Likeness’ Lawsuits” [Atlantic Wire]
Kim Strassel on the Franken-spun Jamie Leigh Jones case [WSJ]
Peggy Little interviews Prof. Lester Brickman (Lawyer Barons) on new Federalist Society podcast;
Worse than Wisconsin? “Weaponizing” recusal at the Michigan Supreme Court [Jeff Hadden, Detroit News]
New York legislature requires warning labels for sippy cups [NYDN]

Tags: Al Franken, don't, Lester Brickman, loser pays, medical malpractice, Michigan, nanny state, recusals, right of publicity

July 29 roundup is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Margaret Little reviews Lester Brickman

Walter Olson — Fri, 10 Jun 2011 13:57:23 +0000

In the new issue of the Federalist Society’s Engage, Margaret Little reviews Lester Brickman’s Lawyer Barons: What Their Contingency Fees Really Cost America, one of the most important new books on tort law in years (review, PDF). Excerpt:

No scholar has studied the role of the contingency fee in America more comprehensively than Professor Lester Brickman. He has now published a definitive book that examines the historic, economic, and political legacy of this American means of financing the always elusive quest for justice. …

Litigation, while public in name, takes place out of the public eye. … the defense bar is up to its elbows in preserving these arrangements because of the mirror image benefits they derive from the expansion and complexity of tort liability.

Tags: contingent fee, Lester Brickman

Margaret Little reviews Lester Brickman is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

April 6 roundup

Walter Olson — Wed, 06 Apr 2011 13:08:23 +0000

Lack of defect poses problem for plaintiff: Toyota prevails in first acceleration case [NLJ]
Australia: writer Andrew Bolt on trial for alleged racially disparaging columns [Herald Sun, Crikey, The Age]
“Attorneys Put Themselves Before Consumers in Class Action over Faulty Computer Chip” [CJAC, Frank/CCAF on NVidia case]
Ruling by Federal Circuit is thinning out rush of patent marking cases [Qualters, NLJ, earlier]
Podcast: Lester Brickman and “Lawyer Barons” [PoL, earlier here and here]
“Are class actions unconstitutional?” [Lahav, Mass Tort Lit, on Martin Redish book]
“Free speech belongs on campuses too” [Ilya Shapiro, Cato, on Widener case, with kind mention of Schools for Misrule]
King Canute turns attention to dry land: states mull bills to forbid use of distressed properties as appraisal comps [Funnell]

Tags: Australia, class action settlements, class actions, hate speech, Lester Brickman, patent marking, real estate, sudden acceleration, Toyota

April 6 roundup is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

March 15 roundup

Walter Olson — Tue, 15 Mar 2011 13:37:58 +0000

“A conversation with class action objector Ted Frank” [American Lawyer]
Reviews of new Lester Brickman book Lawyer Barons [Dan Fisher/Forbes, Russell Jackson] Plus: interview at TortsProf; comments from Columbia legal ethicist William Simon [Legal Ethics Forum]
“Collective Bargaining for States But Not for Uncle Sam” [Adler] Examples of how Wisconsin public-sector unionism has worked in practice [Perry] Wisconsin cop union: nice business you got there, shame if anything were to happen to it [Sykes, WTMJ] “Union ‘rights’ that aren’t” [Jeff Jacoby, Boston Globe]
“Minnesota House Considering Significant Consumer Class Action Reform Measures” [Karlsgodt]
10,000 lawyers at DoD? Rumsfeld complains military overlawyered [Althouse via Instapundit]
“Are Meritless Claims More Prevalent in Copyright?” [Boyden, Prawfs]
Claim: availability of punitive damages reduces rate of truck accidents. Really? [Curt Cutting]
Now with improved federalism: “The Return of the Lawsuit Abuse Reduction Act” [Carter Wood, more, earlier here].

Tags: class actions, copyright, labor unions, Lester Brickman, military, Minnesota, police, public employment, punitive damages, sanctions, Ted Frank, Wisconsin

March 15 roundup is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

February 7 roundup

Walter Olson — Mon, 07 Feb 2011 05:13:26 +0000

Paper by Lester Brickman previews his much-anticipated new book Lawyer Barons [Mass Tort Lit, SSRN] More: Sheila Scheuerman, TortsProf.
“A Players’ Class Action Against the NFL for Concussions?” [Russell Jackson]
C’mon, DoJ, stop spreading domestic violence myths [Christina Hoff Sommers, USA Today]
“Historians as Experts: A Plea for Help” [Bill Childs, TortsProf; related, Nathan Schachtman]
Might not really work, though: “A call for aviation liability reform in South Dakota” [PoL]
“Chevron Turns Tables on Ecuador Plaintiffs; Sues Them” [WSJ Law Blog, ShopFloor, more, yet more, NYLJ]
Hedge funder plays race card against NYC’s famed Dakota co-op. How plausibly? [Business Insider]
N.C. official: citizen who challenged road plans might be practicing engineering without a license [N&O]

Tags: aviation, Chevron, domestic violence, expert witnesses, football, Lester Brickman, real estate, South Dakota

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

Sleight of hand and litigation statistics

Walter Olson — Wed, 13 Oct 2010 13:53:57 +0000

In a preview of his much anticipated new book, Cardozo lawprof Lester Brickman examines contentions that caseload statistics do not bear out fears of a litigation explosion, and says these claims depend on severe undercounting of both cases and costs [TortsProf, PoL]

Tags: Lester Brickman, lying with statistics

Sleight of hand and litigation statistics is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system