Brushing aside precedents from both the U.S. Supreme Court and its own state supreme court, a California appeals court has affirmed a trial court’s punitive damages award that is 16 times larger than the compensatory damages awarded in a tobacco case
Judicial HellholesCalifornia’s high court is expected to render its decision soon in a key “phantom damages” case, and Sacramento Bee columnist Dan Walters succinctly asseses the importance of the pending decsion
Judicial HellholesDoug Alexander of the Partnership for Commonsense Justice in Kentucky authored an excellent op-ed piece published in today’s edition of the Lexington Herald-Leader
UncategorizedIf it’s not with phony wheelchair access claims or absurd consumer protection lawsuits, California plaintiffs lawyers also extort money from small businessmen and women by exploiting an environmental law that’s ripe for reform
Judicial HellholesA new study shows that meritless medical malpractice litigation in Mississippi has been reined in considerably by 2003 tort reforms, including the limiting of pain and suffering awards.
Points of LightAs the personal injury lawyers always tell us, they’re all fine, upstanding citizens, sticking up for the little guy and the rule of law — except when they don’t. Read the latest rags-to-riches-to-shame story
UncategorizedFollowing similar action by their Senate colleagues earlier this month, members of the North Carolina House have voted bipartisanly to override Gov. Bev Perdue’s veto of important medical liability reform legislation
Points of LightWall Street Journal columnist Kimberley Strassel today takes former comic and now comically phony U.S. Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) to task for his shameless exploitation of rape allegations as a means to promote anti-arbitration legislation that his personal injury bar pals are eager to have enacted.
UncategorizedA recent New York Times piece rightly blames today’s “boring” playgrounds on personal injury lawyers and their parasitic, opportunistic lawsuits that have, during the past few decades, managed to take most of the challenge and practically all of the fun out of jungle gyms and slides
UncategorizedA recent Los Angeles Times story reports that judges there are bemoaning sharp budget cuts. Pardon our lack empathy
Judicial HellholesMississippi’s Supreme Court has ordered a stop to all proceedings in an asbestos case that resulted in a record $322 million verdict last May.
Judicial HellholesA new anti-lawsuit abuse film, “InJustice,” by award-winning filmmaker Brian Kelly, will premier on the ReelzChannel July 11 at 10:oo p.m. and air eight additional times throughout the balance of the year. You can view a trailer at
UncategorizedGov. Tom Corbett today signed the “Fair Share Act,” legislation that heralds a new day for a state’s often exploited and anticompetitive civil justice system
Points of LightMiami Herald TV critic Glenn Garvin saved tort reformers some time by writing a scathing review of “Hot Coffee,” the latest trial lawyer propaganda film
UncategorizedA three-judge panel of Wisconsin’s District III Court of Appeals recently upheld a circuit court’s dismissal of a claim for medical monitoring damages
Points of LightWest Virginia’s Supreme Court of Appeals yesterday reaffirmed the constitutionality of the state’s reasonable limit on inherently subjective awards for pain and suffering in medical liability lawsuits.
Points of LightReacting to an Associated Press story that circulated over the weekend, the American Tort Reform Association is pointing to health research reported by NPR last week that suggests “California’s latest wave of shameless class actions might enrich lawyers while actaully endangering the health of retail employees”
Judicial HellholesFormer presidential candidate, vice-presidential nominee, U.S. senator and personal injury lawyer John Edwards was indicted today, reports the Washington Post, and tort reformers everywhere will, if they’re candid, admit to being pleased
UncategorizedBoth the South Carolina House and Senate have now passed a major tort reform package, and the governor is expected to sign the legislation into law soon.
Points of LightHaving defeated Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s modest medical liability reform proposals — including a $250,000 limit on noneconomic damages — earlier this year, New York’s trial lawyer-dominated legislature in Albany is now trying to take the already high-liability state’s law in the opposite direction
Judicial HellholesBorrowing from the playbook of parasitic personal injury lawyers who have made South Florida the auto accident insurance-fraud capital of America, an attorney from Bethesda, Maryland, got in over his head and has been popped in a sting operation
Judicial Hellholes