February 4, 2010

Around the web, February 4

• DOT-'n'-GM Secretary LaHood: Did I say to stop driving Toyotas? Naughty me [Bloomberg, Business Insider, Hodak Value, earlier and more]
• Penn State is doing an Iqbal/Twombly symposium next month [Workplace Prof]
• Plaintiff's prior back injury no bar to sustaining of Bronx jury's $1.5 million award for subway slip [Hochfelder]
• Oklahoma AG Edmondson: Don't blame me for setting up my lawyer friends in chicken farm case, courts threw out the theories on which they'd have gotten rich [Muskogee Phoenix]
• Advocates push for "workplace bullying" law in Massachusetts [Fox]
• Messy divorce between class-actioneer Michael Hausfeld and his former firm, Cohen Milstein [ABA Journal, Hallman, AmLaw Litigation Daily]

February 3, 2010

"Pay to play with AGs"

Updated: Readers of Point of Law have known about many of these specifics for years, but here comes another wave of major media coverage: the Wall Street Journal weighs in with a front-page news account on the contributions and other cozy relations between politicos in Ohio, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and elsewhere and leading class action firms. And it quotes a dissident in the class-action ranks:

"Plaintiffs' lawyers donate because they think it buys them access to people who make decisions over how pension funds select counsel," says Fred Isquith, a partner at Wolf Haldenstein Adler Freeman & Herz LLP, a plaintiffs' firm in New York. Such giving "creates an appearance of complete impropriety," he says, and "should be outlawed."

Earlier: A Washington Times editorial reviews some eyebrow-raising episodes in outside-counsel-hiring by the past or present attorneys general of California, New Mexico and Alabama.

February 2, 2010

State AGs throwing their weight around, cont'd

Now Richard Blumenthal is demanding that Connecticut, not Maine, labor be used on a bridge project financed by federal stimulus money. On what legal basis? [Legal NewsLine] It's the latest of numerous ways the oughta-be-controversial AG has seemingly put the power of his office at the disposal of labor unions.

January 29, 2010

Around the web, January 29

Tour of the states edition:

• "It Is New Jersey, But Business to Business Sex Harassment?" [Michael Fox]
• California as "litigation magnet"? State high court hears asbestos venue case [CalLaw "Legal Pad", Cal Biz Lit]
• New York wins big round in $13 billion wholesale pricing suit against drug makers [Longstreth, AmLaw Litigation Daily]
• Florida state Sen. Dave Aronberg praises trial lawyers' response to drywall problem, three guesses as to what's his day job [Broward-Palm Beach New Times]
• Pennsylvania lawyer: "I like the idea, and I will be shot for this, of a cap on damages'' [Paul Carpenter/Allentown Morning Call]
• Class action connections in the New Mexico AG's office: "Ex-Associate's Suit Proceeds Against Labaton Over Origination Fees" [NYLJ]

January 27, 2010

Florida: McCollum plan on outside counsel advances

Per Legal NewsLine, the state Board of Administration has unanimously voted to approve a plan under which outside counsel representing the state of Florida will be paid on a sliding scale that tops out at $50 million. The plan is based on the current practice of Attorney General Bill McCollum, who still hopes that the legislature will enact it into law as the rule for his successors.

January 23, 2010

Early line on New York AG race

The Wall Street Journal's Kate Kelly reports on early Democratic maneuvering for the seat being vacated by gubernatorial hopeful Andrew Cuomo. Candidates include former Eliot Spitzer aide and insurance commissioner Eric Dinallo, who's drawing some Wall Street support even though (or is it because?) he talks a tough enforcement game; class-action plaintiff's lawyer Sean Coffey; and Nassau County D.A. Kathleen Rice. More: WSJ Law Blog.

January 21, 2010

Eastman: I'll clean up mess Jerry Brown leaves behind

John Eastman, dean of the Chapman University College of Law, is closer to declaring in the California AG race.

January 19, 2010

Searle Center on state consumer protection acts

Last month the Searle Center at Northwestern released "State Consumer Protection Acts: An Empirical Investigation of Private Litigation." Russell Jackson notes the report's key findings:

* Litigation under state consumer protection acts has increased by 119% between 2000 and 2007.

* Vague statutory definitions of prohibited conduct are a major driver of state consumer protection act litigation.

* Between 1995 and 2007, the expected value of recovery for state consumer protection act plaintiffs increased dramatically as measured by the statutory requirements to bring a cause of action and available remedies.

* Those states with more generous remedies and less strict requirements for bringing an action see more consumer protection act litigation.

* Employing a "Shadow FTC" of five Shadow Commissioners who reviewed representative sample case scenarios, most state consumer protection act claims would not constitute illegal conduct under the Federal Trade Commission's consumer protection standards.

* Almost 40% of consumer protection act claims where the consumer plaintiff prevailed at trial would not constitute illegal conduct under the FTC's consumer protection standards.

January 15, 2010

McCollum still keen on outside-counsel reform

Florida: "Attorney General Bill McCollum renewed his push to cap contingency-fee payments to outside lawyers who sue on behalf of the state and make contracts with outside firms competitively bid and open to public scrutiny." [Tallahassee Democrat]

Related: the class-action-firm "beauty contest" held by the government of Florida revealed a lot of interesting information about leading firms in that sector, which Andrew Trask tries to put in perspective.

January 11, 2010

Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission, the legal angle

The Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission holds its first hearing Wednesday to begin its bipartisan investigation into the causes of the crisis. The Chairman is former California Treasury Phil Angelides, a Democrat, and the Vice Chairman is former California Congressman Bill Thomas, a Republican who chaired the House Ways & Means Committee.

As Walter has previously noted, Angelides is one of the nation's most durable and influential allies of the securities class-action plaintiff's bar. On the plus side, Peter Wallison of the American Enterprise Institute is a member, and he called the collapse of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac years before it happened. 

Top executives from Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, J.P. Morgan Chase and Bank of America will be first in the dock (USA TODAY article, CNNMoney.com). We expect some political posturing at their expense.

The witness list for day two features state and local officials, including attorneys general, a panel entitled "Current Investigations into the Financial Crisis - State and Local Officials." Witnesses are Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan; Colorado AG John W. Suthers; Denise Voigt Crawford, Commissioner, Texas Securities Board and President, North American Securities Administrators Association; and Glenn Theobald, Chief Counsel, Miami-Dade County Police Department and Chairman, Mayor Carlos Alvarez Mortgage Fraud Task Force.

Madigan, a Democrat, sued Countrywide Home Loans for predatory lending practices, in 2008 reaching a settlement with its new owner, Bank of America. She is a proponent of an independent "consumer financial protection agency" -- think of it as a Consumer Product Safety Commission for financial services.

Attorney General Suthers, a Republican, has made mortgage fraud one of his high-profile issues.