Joining several state trial and appellate courts in doing so, a unanimous Florida appeals court yesterday embraced a more exacting standard for expert testimony which, believe it or not, may yet be struck down by the Sunshine State’s notoriously plaintiff-friendly Supreme Court
Judicial Hellholes, Points of LightPreviously disbarred Miami plaintiffs’ attorney Guy Bailey is off to prison for 25 months after failing to pay, as a condition of probation, restitution to clients from whom he’d stolen some $700,000
Points of LightSt. Louis juries have twice levied hefty multi-million dollar damage awards against Johnson & Johnson since February on behalf of out of state ovarian cancer victims. Questions remain as to whether the scientific evidence supported such large verdicts. Johnson & Johnson is appealing both verdicts.
Judicial HellholesCalifornia, the nation’s #1 Judicial Hellhole, has taken a dutiful step forward to remedy the ADA lawsuit epidemic in the state. Governor Jerry Brown has signed legislation which will curb the predatory filing of ADA lawsuits by serial plaintiffs, and reduce the burden on small businesses in the state.
Points of LightThe Florida Supreme Court’s plaintiff-friendly 5-2 majority has once again shown its willingness to substitute its own public policy views for those of the legislature with a late-April decision invalidating a statutory schedule for lawyers’ fees in workers’ compensation cases
Judicial HellholesEarlier this month, the Oregon Supreme Court voted 5-2 to uphold a $3 million statutory limit on tort awards in lawsuits against the state or its employees. The Court’s well-reasoned opinion overrules prior bad precedent which was not grounded in history or a proper reading of the law.
Points of LightThe American Tort Reform Association today called the sentencing of former New York State Assembly Speaker Sheldon SilverShel Done “substantial and worthy of his crimes, and perhaps will help deter widespread corruption in Albany and the ‘double-dipping’ fraud that asbestos plaintiffs’ lawyers regularly perpetrate in the NYCAL”
Points of LightTo no one’s surprise, a new study shows that, on average, personal injury lawyers who concoct and gin up what ATRA calls “empty suit” litigation walk off with nearly 40% of the money from settlements and verdicts while their clients typically get less than 9%, with the rest going to other lawyers and unrelated groups
UncategorizedA new paper by two Philadelphia defense attorneys with extensive experience in asbestos litigation thoroughly debunks six lies regularly told by plaintiffs’ lawyers and the politicians they support with respect to state and federal legislation aimed at reducing fraud on both our courts and the asbestos bankruptcy trust funds
Points of LightPlaintiff-favoring and highly prejudicial evidentiary rulings by a federal judge in Texas led last week to a nearly half-billion dollar jury verdict against Johnson & Johnson subsidiary DePuy Orthopaedics in the second bellwether case in multidistrict litigation over allegedly defective hip prosthetics
Judicial HellholesIn the latest defeat for government officials using the awesome power of the state to suppress political speech with which they disagree, a federal judge yesterday permanently blocked California Attorney General Kamala Harris’s efforts to “out” the donors who support a free-market-minded nonprofit that has had the First Amendment audacity to weigh in on a variety of policy issues
Points of LightThose who tend to be put off by personal injury lawyers might find much to dislike about New Orleans-based auto-accident specialist Greg DiLeo, but no one can fault him for a lack of candor when it comes to the “forum shopping” made easy by Louisiana’s lax venue laws
Judicial HellholesA prosecution document unsealed last Friday purports to show that convicted former New York State Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver had two extramarital affairs that further corrupted state government, one with a lobbyist who frequently represented clients interested in pending legislation and another with a woman who was hired at a succession of state jobs for which critics say she was under qualified
Judicial HellholesAn ATRA ally, the Lawsuit Reform Alliance of New York (LRANY), this week unveiled the latest of its annual “Power of Attorney” reports, analyzing the considerable spending of New York trial lawyers on lobbying and political campaigns
Judicial HellholesFederal trial Judge Lucy H. Koh last month continued her laudable, seemingly one-judge stand against consumer class action abuse in the Northern District of California
Points of LightTwice last month the plaintiff-friendly Florida Supreme Court gave personal injury lawyers new incentives to keep the state’s tobacco litigation chain smokin’
Judicial HellholesCalifornia employers have taken a kick to the keister once again and will now be forced to let employees sit on theirs. (And some economists wonder why productivity growth has stalled.)
Judicial HellholesLong since deposed from his powerful position as speaker of the New York State Assembly, convicted felon Sheldon Silver was finally disbarred this week by a state appeals court
Judicial HellholesWith an apparent desire to ensure in perpetuity Florida’s status as a perennial Judicial Hellhole, three locally based class action law firms have donated $1 million to the University of Miami School of Law to fund an annual forum on complex mass torts and multidistrict litigation
Judicial HellholesThe U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit last week overruled a lower court’s perfectly sound dismissal with prejudice of a food labeling class action against Chobani yogurt
Judicial HellholesA Florida judge who had been charged with ethics violations for repeatedly seeking Major League Baseball tickets from a plaintiffs’ law firm is “Out!”
Judicial Hellholes, Points of Light