July 3, 2009

Around the web, July 3

• Now that Harold Koh has been confirmed, let's have a calm debate on the merits of importing international law [Eric Posner, Volokh, parts one and two]
• New symposium on originalism in Northwestern U. Law Review has contributions from Barnett, Balkin, S. Calabresi, McGinnis, Rappaport [Prawfsblawg]
• Blogging by big-firm lawyers comes of age [Beck & Herrmann] Related: George Lenard.
• Arkansas, New Mexico AGs' responses to WSJ hints of pay-for-play in pharmaceutical price recoupment lawsuits [Arkansas Times, Santa Fe New Mexican, KRQE]
• Not good news: New York's second biggest medical malpractice insurer is insolvent [Crain's New York Business, Turkewitz, White Coat (last item)]
• duPont sued in Delaware over asbestos use in Argentina [Wilmington News-Journal]

June 23, 2009

Around the web, June 23

Asbestos litigation edition:

• Nonmalignant asbestos claims headed back up, per Manville trust data? [Hartley] Asbestos suits targeting new defendants [MC Record and more ("take-home" liability)]
• One-industry town of Asbest, in Russia, stoutly defends its production of the mineral [Shaun Walker/Slate, Hartley]
• CSX moving toward trial on its bogus-diagnosis claims against Peirce and Harron [Hartley] Asbestos deponent turns out to know little about his case against the railroad [WV Record]
• New generation of asbestos trusts "tempts plaintiffs' lawyers to seek double recoveries by concealing their clients' trust recoveries from tort defendants" [Jacob Cohn and Joseph Arnold/Daily Journal, PDF, via California Civil Justice]

June 16, 2009

Charges dismissed against final W.R. Grace defendant in Montana

From The Missoulian, "Prosecutors dismiss charges against final Grace defendant":

Last month, Grace and three individual defendants - Robert Bettacchi, Jack Wolter and Henry Eschenbach - were acquitted of charges relating to a criminal conspiracy involving Clean Air Act violations and obstruction of justice. A fourth defendant, the company's in-house legal counsel, O. Mario Favorito, was severed from the case due to potential conflicts with his defense, and he was slated to stand trial separately in September.

However, prosecutors decided to forego efforts to bring Favorito's case to trial, apparently because of the not guilty verdicts. The jury of six men and six women heard 35 days' worth of testimony over the course of several months before finding the defendants innocent on all counts.

The Missoulian quotes the government's order, which is not yet posted at the court's document site for the case.

Earlier POL posts on the trial here. Whatever the motivation, prosecutors overreached by attempting to turn a regulatory and civil matter into a criminal one.

June 12, 2009

Judge Weinstein on mass torts

The federal judge identified more than any other with mass-tort innovation recalls highlights of the field's development in the Cardozo Law Review's new online supplement. Weinstein credits brilliant lawyering with saving the tobacco industry (so far) from ruin, continues to begrudge the consensus of national opinion (as expressed through Congress) its right to cut off the handgun suits, and lays blame in multiple directions for the many failures of asbestos litigation. And he speaks up strongly at several points for judges' obligation to prevent the charging of excessive attorneys' fees. Also of note: "The breast implant litigation was largely based on a litigation fraud."

Weinstein's unrepentantly activist view of the judicial role fascinates, but also "scares the bejeesus out of", Beck & Herrmann. More: AmLaw.

June 9, 2009

Left holding the asbestos bag

Longtime asbestos defendants enter bankruptcy trusts, while smaller not-yet-bankrupt companies can be left holding the bag, explains prominent reformist attorney Mark Behrens [Madison County Record].

June 3, 2009

Around the web, June 3

• "Court of Appeals Affirms Exclusion of Junk Science In Mold Case" [Cal Biz Lit]
• "GM Bankruptcy Underway and the Asbestos Plaintiffs' Lawyers Already Have Appeared in Force" [Hartley]
• On Thursday, House Judiciary holds hearing on trial-lawyer-backed bill to crack open settlement confidentiality and protective orders [Wood, ShopFloor]
• Institutional investors vs. Royal Dutch Shell: sign of things to come in European class actions? [Ben Hallman/AmLaw Litigation Daily, Karlsgodt]
• In hot pursuit of drywall: "Florida builders and the not-so-Great Wall of China" [James Thorner, Popular Mechanics via ShopFloor]
• Jump into a schoolyard fight? You probably can't win damages from the school for your injury [Hochfelder]

June 2, 2009

"Skinner Asbestos Bankruptcy Rejected As Collusive"

Kirk Hartley has the story on a Western District of Pennsylvania bankruptcy judge's decision. For a few samples of our criticism of less-than-fully-adversarial practices in asbestos bankruptcies, see links here, here, and here. Related post here (summarizing article in Columbia Business Law Journal by S. Todd Brown of Temple). More: ABA Journal.

June 1, 2009

Around the web, June 1

• Uh-oh: British report proposes seriously curtailing centuries-old loser-pays protections for defendants [Times Online]
• Trial lawyers' drive to curtail predispute arbitration agreements endangers employers' interests [Jottings By an Employer's Lawyer]
• Louisiana gasket maker facing torrent of asbestos suits is latest in U.S. Chamber's featured "Faces of Lawsuit Abuse" [video, more]
• Malcolm Carlisle, "Collective Redress Without Collective Action Litigation: The Challenge for Europe" [WLF, PDF]
• "Parade of Amici in Santa Clara Lead Lawsuit" [Cordrey, Lexis/Nexis] Civil Justice Association of California amicus filing is kind enough to cite my writing, see p. 10 [brief, PDF, more]
• MBTA, the Boston-area transit agency, budgets $7 to $9 million a year for settling employee lawsuits [Globe]

May 18, 2009

Asbestos-removal training

Investigators in Massachusetts are still stunned at the extent of the scam they discovered at a "school" where both classes and examinations were often just pretend.

May 16, 2009

The defense in the W.R. Grace trial: 'Credibility'

The AM Law Litigation Daily declared David Bernick of Kirkland & Ellis its "Litigator of the Week" for his defense and closing arguments on behalf of W.R. Grace. Bernick said he sought to win the case of the merits, but the reporter notes he didn't let the prosecution's errors go unremarked. The article is a good quick review, and especially appreciated is a link to the transcript of the closing arguments.