Posts Tagged ‘tobacco’

Update: Ness Motley to fight misconduct verdict

Not unexpectedly, the billionaire tobacco/ asbestos plaintiff’s law firm says it will contest a jury’s $36 million verdict, including $28 million in punitive damages, for having allegedly placed its own financial interests ahead of those of its clients in a class action settlement over a Canadian telemarketing swindle (see Jul. 7). The verdict is said to be the second-largest against a law firm in the past ten years: “‘Anytime you see an award of that magnitude, you can expect the jury senses lawyer greed, and that angers them,’ said Joe McMonigle, a San Francisco attorney and former chairman of the American Bar Association’s committee on lawyers’ professional liability.” (Frank Norton, “Reputations hinge on Ness Motley appeal”, Charleston Post & Courier, Aug. 3; “Lowcountry law firm contesting verdict in legal ethics case”, AP/The State (Columbia, S.C.), Aug. 4).

Meanwhile, two lawsuits by former Ness Motley attorneys are painting an unattractive picture of life inside the giant firm, which is now known as Motley Rice (more than two dozen attorneys and employees quit and formed a second firm, Richardson, Patrick, Westbrook and Brickman.) In one case, dissident attorneys have asked a judge to ground a $13 million Dassault Falcon used by star lawyers Ron Motley and Joe Rice; in another, a female attorney charges a pattern of sexual harassment and misconduct at the firm, which it strenuously denies (Tony Barthelme, “Court filings shed light on Ness Motley schism”, Charleston Post & Courier, Aug. 22).

Filed under: asbestos, Canada, class actions, ethics, harassment law, Motley Rice, tobacco

Menace of church incense

Just when you thought it was safe to approach the altar: “An Irish Government minister has warned that burning incense in churches could be harmful to the altar boys and girls who help Roman Catholic priests celebrate mass. Jim McDade, who is a former family doctor, said the children were at risk because they inhaled the carcinogenic smoke produced when incense is burnt close by.” (James Helm, “Irish minister links incense to cancer”, BBC, Aug. 22).

Filed under: churches, environment, Europe, tobacco

Mississippi ripples

Continuing fallout from the Mississippi scandal: “State Supreme Court Justice Oliver Diaz Jr. and two former judges are under indictment for loans guaranteed or paid off by Gulf Coast trial lawyer Paul Minor, but they are not the only ones to receive such help from Minor.” State Chief Justice Ed Pittman, for example, benefited from a $40,000 loan guarantee. (Jerry Mitchell, “Loan to chief justice cited”, Jackson Clarion-Ledger, Aug. 17). “Pascagoula lawyer Dickie Scruggs said he guaranteed an $80,000 loan to state Supreme Court Justice Oliver Diaz Jr. in his 2000 runoff,” saying it was necessary to keep business interests from buying the court (“Tobacco lawyer: Influence not factor in funding help”, Aug. 17; Jack Elliott, Jr., “Scruggs defends Diaz, Tuck loans”, AP/Biloxi Sun-Herald, Aug. 15)(see Jul. 27 and links from there).

Read On…

Filed under: Dickie Scruggs, ethics, Mississippi, Paul Minor, politics, tobacco

Update: seeking review of Engle dismissal

To no one’s surprise, plaintiff’s lawyers Stanley and Susan Rosenblatt are seeking en banc review by an 11-member Florida appeals court of the demise of their $145 billion verdict against the tobacco industry in Engle v. R.J. Reynolds. (“Florida smokers to appeal $145 billion lawsuit”, Reuters/Forbes.com, Jul. 16). Perhaps hinting at desperation, their banner argument is that the appeals panel engaged in “judicial plagiarism” because it adopted wholesale in its opinion vast tracts of language from defense briefs — even though this particular form of supposed plagiarism is entirely routine in court opinions when judges consider one side’s briefs convincing and do not expect that they will be able to improve on the style of the briefs’ presentation (Siobhan Morrissey, “A Case of Judicial Plagiarism?”, ABA Journal E-Report, Aug. 1). More: Gary Young, “Plagiarism Charges Plague Tobacco Decision”, National Law Journal, Aug. 21. Update May 15, 2004: Fla. Supreme Court agrees to hear case.

Filed under: procedure, Stanley and Susan Rosenblatt, tobacco

Jury: healthy smokers get stop-smoking program, no medical monitoring

In the latest example of “regulation through litigation,” a New Orleans jury decided Monday in a class action case that tobacco companies should pay for stop-smoking programs for healthy Louisiana smokers — even though the jury also decided that cigarettes are not a defective product. The jury did, however, “reject[] a claim that the companies should finance medical tests for up to 1.5 million current and former smokers, saying free checkups for smokers who show no signs of disease aren’t necessary.” (“Jurors give split tobacco verdict,” The (N.O.) Times-Picayune, July 29; “Medical Monitoring,” National Public Radio, July 29).

Filed under: Louisiana, tobacco

Scotland: “Alcoholics sue booze companies”

“Alcoholics are attempting to make legal history by suing the drinks industry for failing to warn them of the dangers of addiction. Twelve addicts, aged between 18 and 60, claim their lives have been destroyed by the demon drink and that they were not warned of the risks.” Lawyers from the Glasgow firm of Ross Harper “believe they can use the arguments employed in successful prosecutions against huge American tobacco companies in 2000 to win their case” and are applying for officially funded legal aid to help finance a test case. (Glasgow Daily Record, Jul. 21). Liquor companies have been curiously absent from the list of targets of mass litigation campaigns in the U.S.A. in recent years; but see Mar. 22, 2000.

Filed under: alcohol, personal responsibility, Scotland, tobacco

Motley’s Sept. 11 crusade

Profile of bigshot tort lawyer Ron (“U.S. foreign policy, c’est moi”) Motley, who after ultra-successful runs in asbestos and tobacco and a far less successful run against lead paint manufacturers has embarked on a crusade to sue various rich Saudi Arabians over Sept. 11 because they allegedly had paid off bin Laden over the years, whether from sympathy, fear or other motives. The State Department has repeatedly complained that the suit (with its demands for compulsory discovery of foreign nationals, etc.) threatens to upset the delicate management of U.S.-Saudi relations, but who (aside from the U.S. Constitution) says the executive branch should get to run foreign relations anyway? Quotes our editor (Tony Bartelme, “The King of Torts vs. al-Quaida [sic] Inc., Charleston Post & Courier, Jun. 22). Newsiest nugget to us: according to the article, Motley has hired full time to work on the case a well-connected Washington lawyer named Harry Huge; this is pretty rich once you consider something not spelled out in the article, which is that Huge served on most if not all of the arbitration panels that awarded the Ness Motley firm vast fortunes in the state tobacco litigation. What could be more ingenuous and conflict-of-interest-free than for Motley to turn around and give him a job?

Filed under: airlines, arbitration, asbestos, lead paint, Motley Rice, Saudi Arabia, September 11, tobacco

Today’s fast food update

“I think food is the tobacco of the 21st century” says an aspiring plaintiffs’ lawyer attending a secret strategy conference at Northeastern University. (Karen Robinson-Jacobs, “Lawyers Put Their Weight Behind Obesity Cases,” LA Times, July 2 (via Appellateblog)). Other papers have reported on the conference (Marguerite Higgins, “Fast food next on the menu for lawyers,” Washington Times, June 23; Jay Fitzgerald, “Lawyers in fat city,” Boston Herald, June 21; Duane Freese, “Nutrition Irrelevant?”, TechCentralStation, June 24).

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce released a study yesterday arguing that fast food is not the culprit for the nation’s obesity (also via Bashman). News coverage on the study: Fox News; CNBC.

Filed under: personal responsibility, tobacco

“Loitering” outside their workplace?

Kim Phann and Bruce Rosaro say they were both hit with summonses for “loitering” when a cop spotted them smoking outside Sha’s Big Time, a barbershop in the Bronx. The two “weren’t just hanging outside the Bronx barbershop. They work there. ‘We can’t smoke inside because it’s against the law,’ Phann, 23, told the Daily News. ‘What are we supposed to do? Go home to have a cigarette?'” (Fernanda Santos, New York Daily News, Jun. 10) (via Eve Tushnet). Plus: New York Post’s Page Six has more (via Gene Healy).

Filed under: tobacco

For personal responsibility, a Custard’s Last Stand

Roundup of opinion on fast-food-made-me-fat lawsuits quotes our editor; his lame joke about personal responsibility facing a “Custard’s Last Stand” with these suits didn’t quite come through in the final copy (Steve Brown, “Possible Immunity for Fast Food Industry a ‘Different Ballgame’ From Tobacco”, Cybercast News Service, Jun. 24). Reason’s correspondents cover the recent AEI conference on “obesity policy” (Ronald Bailey, “Time for Tubby Bye Bye?”, Reason.com, Jun. 11; Jacob Sullum, “Thinning the Herd”, syndicated/Reason, Jun. 13). And the restaurant-defense Center for Consumer Freedom has dug up a bunch of alarming quotes from the activists propelling the campaign (“Cabal Of Activists And Lawyers Plot To Sue Food Companies”, Jun. 19)

Filed under: personal responsibility, tobacco