Recently in Public Nuisance Litigation Category

CJAC President John H. Sullivan will discuss yesterday's state Supreme Court decision giving district attorneys the right to hire contingency fee lawyers to help prosecute civil cases this evening on the "Top Story" program on KOGO radio in San Diego.

Sullivan will be on at 7:03 p.m. with host Chris Reed. If you're in the San Diego area, the station is at 600 on the AM dial. If not, just click on the "Listen Live" button on the station's home page. And if you can't listen live, you can hear the segment later by clicking the "On Demand" button and then "Top Story." It will be on the 7 p.m. podcast for July 27.Or just click here to go to the "Top Story" home page.

CJAC filed an amicus brief with the court opposing the decision, arguing that allowing plaintiffs' attorneys to work on a contingency fee basis for local prosecutors could open the door to the kind of corruption that took place in Mississippi when infamous trial lawyer Dickie Scruggs was found guilty of trying to bribe a judge and sentenced to federal prison. You can read more about CJAC's views in the case here and about the Scruggs case here.

At one time, Ohio cities had filed 10 public nuisances lawsuits against former manufacturers of lead pigment, reports the Am Law Litigation Daily. On Wednesday, July 9, the last of those cities -- Columbus -- voluntarily dismissed with prejudice its lawsuit filed in December 2006, according to a statement released by the defendants in the case.

The city's action follows a series of significant decisions over the past two years, all of which have rejected public nuisance lawsuits against former manufacturers, according to the statement.

"The lawyers who sold Columbus on this lawsuit made much of similar litigation in Rhode Island," said Charles H. Moellenberg, Jr., an attorney for The Sherwin-Williams Company, speaking on behalf of defendants Sherwin-Williams and Millennium Holdings, LLC.

"Now, the unanimous ruling by the Rhode Island Supreme Court last week that dismissed the Rhode Island case has confirmed that public nuisance lawsuits are ill-advised and without merit," he said.

According to the defendants' web site, 17 states face lead pigment litigation activity, California among them. California's "Santa Clara" lead paint case took an ominous turn in April when a court of appeal overturned a trial court ruling and tossed out the state's long-standing case-law rule against public agencies hiring private lawyers on a contingency-fee basis.

The ruling in County of Santa Clara v. Superior Court is being appealed to the California Supreme Court. The Civil Justice Association of California has filed briefs supporting the trial court and has urged the Supreme Court to grant a hearing on the contingency fee issue.