Consumer Law

The Rogues' Roundup – April 20th Edition

By Justinian Lane

It?s time again for another civil justice roundup.  A group of civil justice system supporters are helping get this site migrated to the latest version of Movable Type.  In their honor, ?Inter Alia on the Internet? is being renamed to ?The Rogues? Roundup.?  Thank goodness for alliteration.

• Punitive damages sought in lawsuit against terrorists.  ?Sixty-one family members and companions of the 17 sailors killed in the attack on the destroyer Cole have filed a lawsuit against Sudan seeking punitive and emotional damages they were denied in a previous suit.?  I remember some years ago that the former CEO of AIG said that trial lawyers were like terrorists.  A more accurate statement would be that trial lawyers sue terrorists.
• Differing views on Georgia medical malpractice laws.  ?We trust 12 people in a jury box to sentence a man to death or to spare their life, but we don't trust that same jury to decide what proper damages are? That doesn't make any sense," he said.?
• Still think we should trust the medical profession to regulate itself? ?When state medical regulators sent [Denis? doctor Steven Kaplan] letters suggesting the dosages were worrisome, he ignored them.  Two weeks after Kaplan last saw the boy, on May 23 2007, Denis simply stopped breathing.  The Miami-Dade Medical Examiner?s Office attributed the death to a life-threatening side effect of over-medication, records show.?
• Why is it that those who say trial lawyers make too much money will think these guys aren?t?  ?Amid accusations that it defrauded investors, Goldman Sachs is set to pay more than £3.5 billion ($5.4 billion) in compensation to its staff for the first three months of the year, The Times of London reported.?  That works out to something like $220k per employee for the first three months of the year.  I defy you to show me a law firm with similar compensation.
• Trial lawyers ? ahead of the FDA on Avandia. Trial lawyers have been arguing for years that Avandia is unsafe.  The FDA is finally getting the message.
• Revolving door responsible for 29 deaths.  Maybe we should figure out a way to close this revolving door. 
• Lawsuit aims to improve nursing home staffing levels. The lawyers are also suing for $500 per day in statutory damages, which could add up to millions of dollars.  State Attorneys General should bring suits like this.
• Kwame Kilpatrick Cover up? We?ve got a lawsuit that alleges that (a) a stripper performed at the Mayor?s mansion; (b) the Mayor?s wife beat the stripper up, (c) the stripper was killed in a drive-by; and (d) the Mayor tried to cover up the murder.
• I wonder what Diana Levine thinks of this lawsuit. Diana Levine is the ?Levine? in Wyeth v. Levine, the Supreme Court case that confirmed people injured by prescription drugs may sue the manufacturers for failing to warn of the dangers of that drug.  I thought of her because we have another case involving Phenergan, the same drug that cost Diana her arm. 
• Should arbitrators determine the enforceability of arbitration clauses? ?The question presented to the Supreme Court in Rent-A-Center is, essentially: Can a corporation?s hand-picked arbitrator decide whether it is fair for the company to hand-pick its arbitrator??  That reminds me of the old Latin maxim nemo debet esse iudex in propria causa: no one should be judge in his own cause. 

Full post as published by TortDeform.com on April 20, 2010 (boomark / email).