April 2010 Archives

"Amazing isn't it. We have a natural disaster way beyond the control of mankind and the western world sharpens its pencils and looks around for someone to sue."

Anna Williams, commenting on a April 29, 2010, Times Online article about possible legal repercussions about airline flights grounded by volcanic ash in April.

"SB 1275 is nothing more than a litigation minefield... Proponents of this measure have admitted that their primary goal is to create an avenue for borrowers to sue when they are ineligible for a loan modification. Any violation, no matter how technical, would be enforceable by a lawsuit to stop foreclosure. This will only further frustrate and prolong existing foreclosure prevention efforts..."

Rodney K, Brown, president and CEO of the California Bankers Association, in a Sacramento Bee op-ed published April 21, 2010.

"[The Court's decision] aligns the judicial system with those who would use litigation to enrich themselves at the expense of attorneys who strictly follow and adhere to professional and ethical standards.

"When the law is used to punish good-faith mistakes; when adopting reasonable safeguards is not enough to avoid liability; when the costs of discovery and litigation are used to force settlement even absent fault or injury; when class-action suits transform technical legal violations into windfalls for plaintiffs or their attorneys, the Court, by failing to adopt a reasonable interpretation to counter these excesses, risks compromising its own institutional responsibility to ensure a workable and just litigation system."

Justice Anthony Kennedy, dissenting in Supreme Court's ruling in Jerman v Carlisle, April 21, 2010

"I won't take issue with the characterization of Justice Stevens as the Court's most reliable liberal in most areas, but it's worth noting that Justice Stevens was also the author of one of the most business-friendly decisions issued by the Supreme Court in the past few decades: BMW v. Gore. That was the case in which the Supreme Court first recognized a federal constitutional limitation on excessive punitive damages. Justice Stevens also joined the majority when the Supreme Court further developed those limitations in State Farm v. Campbell. As readers of this blog are aware, the application of those two opinions in the lower courts has saved American businesses billions of dollars."

Attorney Curt Cutting, a partner at the well-known California appellate firm of Horvitz and Levy, in his California Punitive Damages blog.

"If a class action is an individual case on steroids, then an MDL (multidistrict litigation) is a class action on steroids."

Trey Childress, Pepperdine University law professor, commenting on the circus surrounding the efforts by more than 100 trial lawyers to consolidate cases against Toyota in their preferred venue. Daily Journal, March 29, 2010.

"John Grisham would have to struggle to invent a character as brilliant and unethical as Bill Lerach."

Kimberley A. Strassel, Wall Street Journal book review, March 1, 2010