L.A. Jury Tells Parasitic Jackson Clan to ‘Beat It’
To its credit, a Los Angeles civil jury yesterday unanimously found for the defense in a much watched lawsuit by the mother of the late King of Pop, Michael Jackson
Points of LightJudge Orders Asbestos Fraudsters to Pay Triple Damages in Landmark RICO Case
A federal judge in West Virginia has ordered two Pittsburgh-based personal injury lawyers and a discredited radiologist to pay triple damages, or roughly $1.3 million, in a landmark case that found them liable for concocting fraudulent asbestos lawsuits
Points of LightOklahoma Legislators Act Quickly to Restore Tort Reforms Struck Down Earlier by Activist High Court
Oklahoma lawmakers completed a brief but intense special session yesterday by approving 23 separate bills aimed at deterring frivolous lawsuits and making Oklahoma a more business-friendly state
Points of LightNebraska Joins Vermont in Overdue Crackdown on Patent ‘Trolls’
Nebraska has become the second state, joining Vermont, to crack down on so-called “patent trolls” with state consumer protection laws as officials work to thwart alleged shakedowns of productive companies by the parasitic trolls
Points of LightATRA Lauds Maryland High Court Decision Upholding ‘Contributory Negligence’ Doctrine
The American Tort Reform Association today welcomed a much anticipated Maryland high court decision that upheld, with a 5-2 majority, the doctrine of “contributory negligence,” which has been a settled part of state law for more than 165 years and prevents someone at fault for his own injuries from collecting damages in a lawsuit
Points of LightColorado High Court to Trial Courts: Discovery Must Be Reasonably Limited
Winning an automatic Points of Light citation in the upcoming edition of ATRA’s annual Judicial Hellholes report (due out in
Judicial Hellholes, Points of LightATRA Urges Reform of Wisconsin’s ‘Outlier’ Lemon Law
Says Applying Brakes to Runaway Lawyers Good for Consumers, Auto Industry . FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Darren McKinney (202)
Judicial Hellholes, Points of LightReformers Score Wins over Lawsuit Lenders in Colorado, Oklahoma
A unanimous Colorado Court of Appeals yesterday ruled against lawsuit lenders seeking to evade the state’s consumer lending laws, and Oklahoma legislators sent a bill to the governor that will subject such lenders to the Uniform Consumer Credit Code
Points of LightAlabama Passes Important Transparency Bill, Limits State’s Hiring of Outside Counsel
The American Tort Reform Association applauds Alabama lawmakers for final passage of legislation that will bring “good-government transparency to the state’s hiring of private sector attorneys on a contingency fee basis”
Points of LightVideo Speaks to Character of Wisconsin’s ‘Lemon Law King’ Now Fighting Reform
As reform legislation offered today in Wisconsin’s Assembly promises to close loopholes in the state’s outlier “lemon law” — loopholes that have been infamously exploited by unscrupulous lawyers there — a new video speaks to the character of one of those lawyers
Judicial Hellholes, Points of LightNJ High Court Raises Bar for ‘Expert’ Testimony
In a decision that should reduce the number of meritless medical liability lawsuits filed in the Garden State, a unanimous New Jersey Supreme Court yesterday ruled that doctors called as expert witnesses on plaintiffs’ behalf must hold the same credentials as defendant physicians
Points of LightIdaho Justices Ban ‘Vexatious Litigant’
The Idaho Supreme Court yesterday unanimously upheld a lower court’s decison to declare Holli Lundahl Telford a “vexatious litigant” under a new law aimed at neutralizing those who repeatedly file frivolous lawsuits
Points of LightPunishing Lawyers, Plaintiffs and Witnesses Who Conspire and Lie to Defraud Our Courts
It’s long overdue, but a nascent movement to hold accountable and punish those who pursue fraudulent lawsuits at the expense of taxpayers, consumers and jobseekers may finally be materializing
Points of Light, UncategorizedMissouri Coalition Backs Bill, Amendment To Undo Bad High Court Decision
The Missouri State Medical Association has launched a new website to boost the efforts of the Missouri Tort Reform Coalition, an alliance of medical groups and tort reform advocates supporting both legislation and a proposed state constitutional amendment to reverse a 2012 Missouri Supreme Court decision that struck down a reasonable statutory limit on awards for noneconomic damages in medical malpractice lawsuits
Points of LightNinth Circuit Sanctions Plaintiffs’ Attorney for Vexatious M&A Litigation
In recent years, it has become routine for plaintiffs’ law firms to announce investigations of mergers or acquisitions within hours of such an announcement. Lawsuits challenging such deals are filed, on average, within two weeks. Two recent developments may damper the plaintiffs’ bar’s enthusiasm for such lawsuits.
Points of LightGood News on Class Actions, Hoping for More
The U.S. Supreme Court yesterday delivered good news for those of us nauseated by self-serving promulgators of meritless class actions, and the high court is considering whether to hear still another important appeal that could further rein in class action abuse
Points of LightArizona High Court Upholds Law Designed to Limit Meritless Medical Liability Lawsuits
Arizona’s Supreme Court yesterday unanimoulsy upheld state law that reasonably requires medical liability plaintiffs to adduce expert testimony in support of their claims from physicians practicing within the same medical specialty as defendant physicians
Points of LightAlabama Wisely Protects Aerospace Jobs with ‘Statute of Repose’ Reform
In an effort to protect from speculative lawsuits the thousands of jobs provided by commercial aircraft maker Airbus and its parts suppliers, the Alabama House this week is expected to pass a bill that has already cleared the Senate, limiting product liability years after manufacture
Points of Light, UncategorizedFederal Appeals Court Upholds Mississippi’s Million-Dollar Limit on ‘Pain and Suffering’ Awards
In a victory for reasonableness, the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit this week upheld Mississippi’s $1 million limit on awards for non-economic damages
Points of LightLatest News from Philadelphia Courts Is Encouraging
Philadelphia’s Court of Common Pleas had 70 percent fewer mass-tort case filings in 2012 than in 2011, but out-of-state plaintiffs continued to predominate
Points of Light, UncategorizedAsbestos Racketeers Suffer Huge Loss, Plaintiffs’ Bar PR Campaign Devastated
With the personal injury bar gearing up a multimillion-dollar public relations and lobbying campaign in 2013 aimed at winning back some of the ground lost to ATRA and other tort reform groups in recent years, a federal jury in West Virginia took just two-and-a-half hours yesterday to return civil verdicts on all counts against two personal injury lawyers and a discredited former physician for conspiring to file fraudulent asbestos claims
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