November 09, 2005

In Washington state, voters defeated I-330, a doctor-backed plan to limit medical malpractice awards and lawyers' fees, by about a 54-46 margin, while also drubbing I-336. a lawyer-backed alternative (Seattle P-I, Seattle Times). California voters trounced, by a 61-39 margin, Proposition 79, which would have regulated drug prices via freelance lawsuits among other means; they defeated Proposition 78, a drug-industry-backed alternative, by nearly as wide a margin. (L.A. Times, Sacramento Bee). In Virginia, former Richmond mayor and Democrat Tim Kaine, who had been criticized by the American Justice Partnership (OL Nov. 2), won the governorship anyway (Wash. Post). Texas voters easily passed an anti-gay-marriage constitutional amendment that Houston attorney Warren Cole, chairman of the State Bar of Texas' family law section, called "horribly drafted" and which would prohibit the recognition of any "legal status" that is "similar to marriage" (see yesterday's OL post) (Dallas Morning News)(cross-posted from Overlawyered)