July 2009 Archives
"Texas used to be a plaintiff's dream, with few restrictions on who could sue for what and where. Class-action suits against big corporations used to be heard by juries who made free with the defendants' money."
In a special report about Texas, The Economist notes that tort reform has caused malpractice-insurance rates to fall and doctors to return
"Texas used to be a plaintiff's dream, with few restrictions on who could sue for what and where. Class-action suits against big corporations used to be heard by juries who made free with the defendants' money."
In a special report about Texas, The Economist notes that tort reform has caused malpractice-insurance rates to fall and doctors to return
"The courts are going to get strangled all the more, and they're having trouble now just with their normal dockets."
Maurice L. Zilber, president of the California Dispute Resolution Council, commenting in a Daily Journal article about efforts by opponents to end pre-dispute consumer arbitration
"Unless something unforeseen occurs, the services litigants and attorneys in Los Angeles are used to will begin to be seriously diminished. The leadership of the court is committed to avoiding a reduction in services, but with diminishing resources this may not be possible."
Los Angeles County Bar Association President Don Mike Anthony writing in Los Angeles Lawyer magazine about the challenges facing the Los Angeles Superior Court system
"Yes Mr. (Scott) Johnson has the 'right' to sue -- but he is a serial litigator with a track record of ... costing honest hard working businesses thousands upon thousands of dollars in 'repairs.' Many of these businesses have been forced to shut down or move, nobody wins but Mr. Johnson's bank account. If he is 'suing for the rights of the disabled' then how come he asks for 'personal' damages to go along with the repairs. Mr. Johnson is doing nothing but manipulating the laws to increase his bank account."
Comment on a Sacramento Bee article about a local business owner who was sued by plaintiffs' lawyer Scott Johnson and spent more than $100,000 to bring his restaurant into compliance with Americans with Disabilities Act requirements
"Plaintiffs' attorneys 'hijacked' the case and made it more about themselves than consumers."
Sacramento Bee report on settled case against Ford Motor Company, quoting John C. Sims, a former Ralph Nader staffer and now McGeorge Law School professor
"Studies have repeatedly demonstrated that the current ad hoc system of justice, with verdicts that vary widely from one jury to the next, has spawned a culture of legal fear and self protection. Studies also show that the system fails injured patients -- a claim takes an average of five years to resolve and nearly 60 cents out of every dollar spent in the malpractice system ends up going to lawyers or administrative costs."
Philip K. Howard, chairman of Common Good, in a Wall Street Journal op-ed, "Health Reform Requires Lawsuit Reform"
"It's an outrage to have anything labeled as a consumer class action if the lawyers get $25 million and the class members effectively get nothing."
John C. Sims, former Ralph Nader staffer and now McGeorge Law School professor, in Sacramento Bee report on a settled case against Ford Motor Company
"Litigation over DBCP has become something of an international industry in recent years, with U.S. lawyers competing for clients abroad with the goal of getting U.S. courts to try their cases or enforce foreign judgments."
Los Angeles Times, reporting July 12 how L.A.Superior Court Judge Victoria Chaney's dismissal of Nicaraguan pesticide claims due to audacious plaintiff attorney fraud is threatening to upend hundreds of other claims in U.S. courts as judges examine them for orchestrated fraud as well
"Medical malpractice, of course, is not just an American issue. And now that the U.S. is considering universal health care systems similar to those found elsewhere, it's worth a quick peek at their medical malpractice systems -- which usually attract far less controversy, and are far less expensive, than our own."
Richard A. Epstein, professor of law at the University of Chicago, in Wall Street Journal op-ed, June 30
"Logic tells us that the fraudulent conduct of the lawyers that infected the testimony under oath by plaintiffs at their trials in Los Angeles had to influence -- if not infect -- the testimonials given to the filmmakers, who translated what they heard into cinematic form. ... As a result, there seems to be little question that the version of reality that the film portrays does not match the reality that emerged in the courtroom."
Statement from Film Independent and the Los Angeles Film Festival handed out at the beginning of the screening of the film, "Bananas!*" The film purports to tell the story of Los Angeles plaintiffs' attorney Juan J. Dominguez, who has been referred to the State Bar for investigation by a Superior Court judge for his role in committing a "fraud on the court" and a "blatant extortion" of the defendants.
"This double standard -- U.S. courts applying stricter rules against U.S. companies than the foreign country would apply to any company within its jurisdiction -- tilts the playing field against America. It makes it more costly to invest overseas. It allows the foreign country to enforce lower safety standards, knowing that its citizens can sue in U.S. courts for punitive damages while its own companies simply follow the local rules. Only U.S. companies must comply with local laws and the law of whatever U.S. state in which foreign plaintiff decides to sue, decades later."
Ronald D. Rotunda
Constitutional Law Scholar and Professor of Law at Chapman University School of Law, in the Orange County Register