Consumer Law

Prop 8., Ground Zero and Joe the Plumber: Conservatives Who Sue

Posted on August 05, 2010
We just thought this might be a good day to remind everyone that our civil courts don?t discriminate. Even conservative extremists who rail against lawsuits (we?ve covered a bit of that phenomenon here, here) are allowed to sue in civil...

Olbermann on BP Trying to Cap What It Owes Fisherman

Posted on August 03, 2010
Ah, here we go. Check out last night's Keith Olbermann's interview with the very frustrated George Barisich, president of the United Commercial Fishermen's Association. Here's an excerpt: OLBERMANN: But a question about BP -- do you -- have they been...

The Michigan Supreme Court?s Peaceful Revolt

Posted on August 03, 2010
You don?t often think about judges and justices engaging in passive resistance. But what do you call a court that wants to make things right for hard working men, women, and children but is faced with a wrongly-decided decision that...

GE?s Killer Tests

Posted on August 02, 2010
Thank you, Walt Bogdanich of the New York Times, for staying on the story that we?ve covered a couple times here, here ? that is, the terribly strange and potentially lethal problem of CT scan radiation overdoses. Turns out, manufacturers...

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The New 9/11 Patriotism: Screw Over Rescue Workers

Posted on July 30, 2010
You may recall that for months after the 9/11 attacks, thousands upon thousands of people worked or volunteered on Ground Zero?s ?pit?, generating both patriotic news bursts from the likes of Fox News, and tragedy for many of these workers...

Sean Bell and Sherri Rasmussen - Civil Justice Remedies Police Violence

Posted on July 28, 2010
The anger which ignited the 1992 Los Angeles riots is frightfully similar to what many New York City residents felt after the acquittal of police officers who shot and killed Sean Bell in a hail of NYPD gunfire outside a...

NFL Fumbles Concussion Data

Posted on July 26, 2010
In the last couple years, the dirty little secret of football brain injuries - concussions that cause brain damage and significant cognitive decline in players ? has been kicked out of the closet. It?s a significant problem, for example, diagnosed...

The Complicated Story of Shirley Sherrod, Tom Vilsack and the USDA

Posted on July 22, 2010
A funny thing happened to Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack on his way to repairing the USDA?s history of discrimination against African American farmers. (There he is, all the way to the left.) As we all know by now, he erroneously...

Lesbian Teen Sues, Wins and Changes High School Forever

Posted on July 21, 2010
Kurt Vonnegut once said, ?True terror is to wake up one morning and discover that your high school class is running the country.? For most of us (except for Carrie here), that?s a pretty funny ?ha ha? joke. But also,...

The Curious Case of George McGovern

Posted on July 20, 2010
Yesterday, I received a direct mail piece on behalf of an outstanding and vital organization, the Southern Poverty Law Center. The SPLC, based in Montgomery, Alabama, is a legendary civil rights organization, renowned for fighting hate groups and dismantling them,...

Huff Post Repost: U.S. Chamber of Commerce Sells Out Small Businesses and Local Communities

Posted on July 19, 2010
Last week, a student walked into the offices of the South Carolina Small Business Chamber of Commerce, asking to see the organization's public 990 tax forms. Odd, thought Frank Knapp Jr., the organizations' president and CEO. There was nothing legally...

Financial Reform Gives State Attorneys General New ?Kick Butt? Powers ?CJ&D Interns Discuss!

Posted on July 16, 2010
One of the financial reform stories not receiving all that much attention (except, we imagine, at U.S. Chamber of Commerce headquarters) is the grant of new authority to state Attorneys General to enforce parts of the new financial protection law....

What?s Clogging the Courts? Debt Collections, That's What

Posted on July 14, 2010
Unless you?re about 200 years old, you probably don?t remember debtors? prisons, given that the U.S. abolished them in 1833. At least that?s what we thought. Two Minnesota legislators announced yesterday that they will be introducing legislation to deal with...

Lawsuits Protecting Students

Posted on July 12, 2010
Some ?tort reform? groups have built entire campaigns around liability issues in schools, lamenting (falsely) that lawsuits prevent teachers and principals from not only disciplining (or hitting) students, but touching them in ?nice? ways, too. (Like when Vincent L...

How Do You Solve a Problem Like John Stossel?

Posted on July 09, 2010
Remember in the Sound of Music, when the nuns sing, ?How do you solve a problem like Maria?? ? ?How do you find a word that means Maria? A flibbertijibbet! A will-o'-the wisp! A clown?? I?m not quite sure what...

From Seatbelts to Saws ? That Old ?Safety Doesn?t Sell? Schtick Again

Posted on July 08, 2010
Today, NPR had a great story about an entrepreneur named Steve Gass who invented a safety device for table saws, called SawStop. It?s a safety brake that can actually sense when the blade makes contact with a finger, and if...

New Podcast from Center for Justice & Democracy - The Supreme Court's New Paradigm

Posted on July 07, 2010
Today we discuss the Elena Kagen Supreme Court nomination, recent decisions by the Court to expand the rights of Big Business, and corporate power's threats to democracy. Check it out!

Juries and Nursing Homes - What Would We Do Without Them?

Posted on July 07, 2010
A couple years ago, Cornell University Law Professor Valerie P. Hans and Duke University Law Professor Neil Vidmar, leading experts in the field of jury research, wrote an article (based on lots of earlier research) in Judicature magazine dispelling boatloads...

A Tort Law Celebration!

Posted on July 06, 2010
It was a patriotic weekend to remember! New laws took effect that expanded the rights of people to ?sue for damages following medical accidents, road accidents, harm from pollution, mental distress? and so on. Huh? OK, so I did watch...

For Franken, Arbitration is No Joke

Posted on July 01, 2010
If anyone expected Minnesota Senator Al Franken?s artistry for comedy to blunt his interest and mastery of certain very serious legal and frankly (excuse the pun), not the hottest button issues around, you would be very mistaken. This is one...

Secrets of Magic Revealed: Keep Your Eye on AIG?s Disappearing Act

Posted on June 29, 2010
Don?t look now, but AIG is in the middle of a great magic trick. As it tries (and mostly fails) to generate the billions needed to pay back its vast TARP loans, the enormous conglomerate corporation has been trying to...

(Don't) "Break a Leg," Sally Field

Posted on June 28, 2010
?Cows, Mares and Guinea Pigs? is the name of a chapter in the Center for Justice & Democracy?s study, The Bitterest Pill; How Drug Companies Fail To Protect Women And How Lawsuits Save Their Lives. The chapter deals with post...

Elena Kagan?s Tort Inbox

Posted on June 24, 2010
The Sunlight Foundation has published the emails of Elena Kagan while she was in the Clinton White House. (?She was Associate White House Counsel from 1995 to 1996 and Deputy Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy and Deputy Director...

Center for Justice & Democracy Launches Podcast Series, "Tort Helpings"

Posted on June 23, 2010
Today, the Center for Justice & Democracy launches its yummy new podcast series, Tort Helpings. (Or for our foodie friends, that's "Torte" Helpings!) You can find CJ&D's podcasts, as well as some other new things (like Laurel and Hardy reading...

Rent At Your Own Risk

Posted on June 23, 2010
Who knew that rental industries would be the focus of such monumental news this week. First, you may have heard about the horrendous 5 to 4 civil rights decision out of the U.S. Supreme Court this week, Rent-a-Center v. Jackson....

The Daily Shows Skewers Victim Compensation Fund Hypocrites

Posted on June 22, 2010
Just to be clear, we are non-partisan here at ThePopTort! I'm sure you'll be able to laugh through all party politics of this piece, courtesy of John Stewart. The Daily Show With Jon StewartMon - Thurs 11p / 10cDay 62...

Supreme Court Slaps Down Drug Companies - Now That?s Comedy!

Posted on June 21, 2010
Last Friday, a Javelin Pharmaceuticals, Inc. news release on Business Wire announced that the U.S. Supreme Court had just ruled ?that Javelin?s acute pain products had been lawfully produced and marketed.? Now the FBI?s involved because the whole thing was...

Medical Malpractice ? One Step Forward, Two Steps Back

Posted on June 18, 2010
In a recent post, we reported on the insurance industry-funded (in part) Rand Institute for Civil Justice study that made a supremely obvious finding: ?[There is a] highly significant correlation between the frequency of adverse events and malpractice claims: On...

Can We Please Put James Carville in Charge?

Posted on June 16, 2010
Even if you didn?t watch last night, you no doubt heard bits and pieces of President Obama?s Oval Office speech. Here?s a bit: Tomorrow, I will meet with the chairman of BP and inform him that he is to set...

John Boehner: "Tort Reform" Hypocrite

Posted on June 14, 2010
Ah, what to do. You?ve got a catastrophic disaster that?s the fault of a negligent company and someone needs to pay. And it better not be the taxpayers! Sound familiar? But this isn't about what you think. The medical device...

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