October 1999 archives, part 1
October 15 – Reform stirrings on public contingency fees. U.S. Chamber of Commerce readies a push to curb governments’ growing habit of teaming up with private lawyers to sue businesses (tobacco,...
View ArticleJuly 2000 archives, part 2
July 19-20 – “Coke Plaintiff Eavesdrops on Lawyers; Case Unravels”. After lawyers suing Coca-Cola on discrimination charges hold a conference call with their clients and with Jesse Jackson, one of the...
View ArticleUpdate: two personal-responsibility cases
Updating a case covered on Mar. 28, 2000: a Texas court of appeals earlier this year reversed an award of $43 million (voted as $65 million by the jury, then reduced by the trial judge) against Honda...
View ArticleMcDonald’s coffee revisited
Professor Bernstein (also here) and the “Curmudgeonly Clerk” trade thoughts on the infamous McDonald’s coffee case ($2.9 million verdict for Ms. Stella Liebeck, who spilled a 49-cent coffee on...
View ArticleThe Times’s errors on malpractice, cont’d
I’ve just posted at Point of Law the second and I assume final installment of my long critique of Tuesday’s New York Times article on medical malpractice insurance. The Times coverage contended — in...
View ArticleUrban legends and Stella Liebeck and the McDonald’s coffee case
Thirteen courts have reported opinions looking at product-liability/failure-to-warn claims alleging that coffee was “unreasonably dangerous” and the provider was thus liable when the plaintiff spilled...
View ArticleNJ court: No warning that one might fall out of loft bed required
Donald Mathews, a Stockton State College senior living on campus, woke up in the middle of an October 11, 1999, nap and fell out of bed, injuring himself. For this, he blamed the manufacturer of his...
View ArticleBork sues the Yale Club
Before someone accuses us of playing this down, let me be out front and say that I find Judge Bork’s slip and fall suit against the Yale Club embarrassingly silly. The Wall Street Journal has the...
View ArticleJune 8 roundup
Litigation as foreign policy? Bill authorizing U.S. government to sue OPEC passes House, and is already contributing to friction with Russia [AP; Reuters; Steffy, Houston Chronicle; earlier here, here,...
View ArticleBirthday surprise doesn’t work out
This much seems to be agreed: Itzamargrid Ramos took her friend Clarissa Marino to scenic but hazardous Kaaterskill Falls in the Catskills as a surprise for her 20th birthday. The two were hiking when...
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