A spokesman for the American Tort Reform Association today called this morning’s arrest and filing of federal corruption charges against New York State Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver a “turning point” in the effort to combat abuses in the nation’s #1 judicial hellhole
Judicial HellholesIn light of a stunning defense motion filed today in a West Virginia federal court, alleging massive fraud on the part of plaintiffs’ lawyers in their aggressive recruitment of clients for pelvic mesh litigation, the American Tort Reform Association (ATRA) renewed its call on Congress, prosecutors and bar associations to investigate and prosecute those who defraud the civil justice system
Judicial HellholesMadison County hosted 1,300 new asbestos lawsuit filings in 2014. Madison County’s docket has doubled in the last four years and tripled in the last seven. Nine of ten plaintiffs who file in Madison County don’t live in Illinois. And less than 1% live in Madison County.
Judicial HellholesIn a New Year’s eve gift, the Nevada Supreme Court ruled that plaintiffs’ lawyers can bring lawsuits seeking medical monitoring costs on behalf of people who aren’t injured. The ruling, which is contrary to the trend in state courts, will allow individuals who may never develop an illness to bring massive class actions. Unlike courts that have allowed medical monitoring claims, but placed stringent requirements on plaintiffs to avoid speculative claims, the Nevada Supreme Court “decline[d] to identify specific factors that a plaintiff must demonstrate to establish entitlement to medical monitoring as a remedy.”
Judicial HellholesOn Thursday, October 30th, an Ohio jury delivered a “trick” of their own to frighteningly mischievous class action plaintiffs lawyers who have been running around scaring up unfounded complaints against the washing machine manufacturer, Whirlpool Corp. After a three week trial, the jury found in favor of Whirlpool – that the company’s front loading washing machines did not suffer from a design flaw, leading to mold accumulation.
Judicial Hellholes, Points of LightIn the latest of several troubling decisions by the Missouri Supreme Court in recent years, it yesterday ignored both the will of “Show Me State” voters, as expressed through their elected representatives, and U.S. Supreme Court precedent on punitive damages
Judicial HellholesAlleging that the attorney appointed to administer compensation claims for the 2010 Gulf oil spill has conflicts of interests, allowed corruption of the claims process, and has otherwise mismanaged the multibillion-dollar compensation fund it established, energy giant BP yesterday filed a motion in federal court seeking his removal
Judicial HellholesAs the Supreme Court of Alabama on Friday reaffirmed its earlier, first-and-only-in-the-nation state high court embrace of an expansive theory of civil liability known as “innovator liability,” the American Tort Reform Association (ATRA) condemned the 6-3 decision, saying “the court majority denies the broader and dangerous implications of this decision, but it’s as disappointing as the first”
Judicial HellholesThe West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals, arguably the most arbitrary and capricious — to say nothing of ridiculous — state high court in the nation has done it again…
Judicial HellholesThe U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit tossed out a “scandalous” settlement stemming from a Pella window consumer protection class action suit that would have paid the plaintiffs’ attorneys $11 million up front, with $2 million going to the ethically-challenged lead counsel. It’s just one more example of how state Consumer Protection Acts are abused
Judicial HellholesThe latest in a long line of plaintiff-friendly asbestos judges in Madison County, Illinois, recently denied dozens of defendants’ perfectly persuasive motions for forum non conveniens in four separate cases, making it ironically clear that jurors, not judges, are asbestos defendants’ only hope for justice in this perennial Judicial Hellhole
Judicial HellholesCBS’s “60 Minutes” last evening served to further expose the inbred fraud of Gulf Coast shysters as they parasitically seek to suck free money out of BP in the wake of the 2010 oil spill off the coast of Louisiana
Judicial HellholesAfter spending millions of taxpayer dollars on a delusional national advertising campaign aimed at bringing start-up businesses to a dying state controlled by personal injury lawyers (who in their right mind would bring a business to such a state?), New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has now admitted that those lawyers dominate state politics and he is powerless to push through a popular reform bill that actually could boost redevelopment efforts
Judicial HellholesFollowing ATRA’s lead in repeatedly exposing disability-access lawsuit abuse in California and elsewhere, NPR has finally joined in with an April 23 report during its “All Things Considered” program
Judicial HellholesAt the behest of powerful personal injury law firm Weitz & Luxenberg, New York Supreme Court Justice Sherry Klein Heitler Tuesday reintroduced punitive damages to New York City’s asbestos litigation (NYCAL) with an order that will enrich those lawyers at the expense of the many who will develop asbestos-related illnesses in the future
Judicial HellholesA shamelessly foolish rock-climber and his disgraceful attorney are suing New York City taxpayers for the city’s failure to post a “No Climbing” sign near a rock sculpture and thus simultaneously tempting those who’ll foot the bill to stone them
Judicial HellholesBy striking down a 2003 statutory limit on awards for pain and suffering in lawsuits against health care providers, a five justices of the Florida Supreme Court earlier this month arrogantly and dangersouly disregarded the will of more than 2.5 million Florida voters.
Judicial HellholesAs national news coverage of BP’s effort to do the right thing by promptly compensating those hurt by the 2010 Gulf oil spill continues to expose the incestuous and shameless nature of the civil justice system in the nation’s #2 Judicial Hellhole, 7 in 10 recently surveyed Louisiana voters express support for tort reform legislation
Judicial HellholesThe Times-Picayune reports reports that the 5th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals upheld a lower court’s dismissal of lawsuits filed by 11 Louisiana parishes based on state law, ruling that the claims against BP were preempted by federal law
Judicial Hellholes, UncategorizedATRA spokesman Darren McKinney appeared on WKBK-Radio’s Dan Mitchell Show this week to renew his organization’s criticism of New Hampshire’s “meritless, no-injury” lawsuit against ExxonMobil for alleged groundwater contamination from leaky gas station storage tanks
Judicial HellholesA Nevada judge this week ordered state Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto to pay the legal and discovery costs of a mortgage processing provider she and a private-sector class-action law firm from Washington, D.C., had unsuccessfully sued for fraud
Judicial Hellholes, Points of Light