Consumer Law

New York Coverups That Only Tony Soprano Could Love ? Lead, Asbestos, and Medical Malpractice

Posted on April 27, 2010
Remember that story line in The Sopranos, where Carmella's spec house was built with substandard materials, the building inspector wouldn?t OK it and finally Tony had Sil lean on the building inspector? OK well there are a couple story lines...

Farm Justice

Posted on April 26, 2010
Civil rights and farmers. These are not terms you often hear in the same sentence but thanks to years of relatively recent discrimination by the United States Department of Agriculture, they are forever linked. During the early 1980s, several African-American...

Financial Reform - A Little Enforcement Would Be Nice

Posted on April 23, 2010
How to gut financial reform? Let me count the ways. (Apologies to all PopTort poets for involving Elizabeth Barrett Browning in this mess!) Of course, the ?battalions of financial industry lobbyists descending on Capitol Hill,? as the President put it,...

A Very Civil Justice Earth Day

Posted on April 22, 2010
It?s the 40th An niversary of Earth Day, and we thought of no better way to celebrate than to remind folks of the Center for Justice & Democracy's great booklet, ?How The Civil Justice System Protects Environmental Health.? To quote:...

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Guidant Defribillators - Corporate Crime in the Immunity Age

Posted on April 21, 2010
In 2005, at the encouragement of two well-respected cardiologists Dr. Robert G. Hauser and Dr. Barry J. Maron, New York Times reporter Barry Meier broke the story about a Guidant implanted defibrillator that was short-circuiting at a rate of about...

Lawsuits and the Right to Safe Contraception

Posted on April 20, 2010
Is it too much to ask that pharmaceutical companies produce a safe contraceptive that doesn?t increase the risk of blood clots, heart attacks, pulmonary embolism and stroke, not to mention acne and weight gain? This is apparently a rhetorical question...

The Most Obvious Medical Malpractice Solution in the World

Posted on April 19, 2010
We thought we?d be a little wonky today - forgive us because it?s important. Last Thursday, we briefly mentioned the just-released Rand Institute for Civil Justice study that found actual empirical support for the most obvious thing in the world...

Jay Angoff, the SEC and The Times They Are A Changin?

Posted on April 19, 2010
I?m not quite sure this is what Bob Dylan had in mind, but good lyrics are timeless, after all. And not that we?re quite yet past the dark ages of the Bush years, but there are a few good signs....

Medical Errors Continue to Get the Celebrity Treatment

Posted on April 15, 2010
You may have been hearing Dennis Quaid?s name pop up this week following his speech before the National Press Club, where is discussed the near fatal experience of his newborn twins in a California hospital, and an upcoming documentary on...

Merck, Vioxx and the Wacky World of Executive Pay

Posted on April 14, 2010
The AFL-CIO has started a nifty little web project called ?Executive Pay Watch? which begins, ?A chief executive officer of a Standard & Poor?s (S&P) 500 index company was paid, on average, $9.25 million in total compensation in 2009. At...

What do Retiring Justice Stevens, Senator Patrick Leahy and Sarah Palin Have in Common?

Posted on April 13, 2010
What a question, right? The Blog of the Legal Times had an interesting piece about Senate Judiciary Chair Pat Leahy (D-VT)?s comments on a couple TV news shows his week. They concern some of the extremist (far right) decisions coming...

Legally Blocked - The Corporate Crackdown on Students

Posted on April 12, 2010
Things can be pretty tough for law students these days. When students are in school, you hope that at least they get a chance to do interesting and important clinical work (like Elle Woods over here) before becoming slaves to...

Another Wall Street Bank Fairly Tale

Posted on April 09, 2010
Once upon a time, Michigan regulators tried to oversee a Wachovia-owned mortgage business that had recently become a wholly-owned subsidiary of the nationally chartered bank, Wachovia. In 2007, the U.S. Supreme Court said no, Michigan couldn?t do this...

Speaking Out from Within: Toyota Exec and West Virginia Miners

Posted on April 08, 2010
Whenever there is a major corporate disaster and cover-up, you hope someone on the inside has the courage to come forward and talk. But anyone who has ever known a ?whistleblower? knows the terrible risks they take for doing so....

Yes It?s True: Lawsuits, Patients and their Attorneys Make Hospitals Safer

Posted on April 07, 2010
It may seem a bit late for a health insurance reform post-mortem, which for us means relief now that extreme tort restrictions were properly and thankfully left out of the law. And it would be a bit late - that...

West Virginia's Deep Mine Blues

Posted on April 06, 2010
We could devote today?s blog to the anti-worker, anti-consumer political antics of the disgraceful Don Blankenship, CEO of Massey Energy, which owns the West Virginia mine responsible for the (now) worst U.S. mine disaster since 1984. (His attempts to buy...

Patent a Body Part, Make a Buck

Posted on April 05, 2010
Is it too much of a stretch to say that corporations want to own everything? I?m not even talking about the repulsive trend of companies sticking their name on every cultural venue and sports arena, tainting the entire world?s entertainment...

Madoff Victims Quest for Justice Blocked ... Again

Posted on April 01, 2010
Look, it?s not our job to comment on Bernie Madoff's prison life (we'll leave that to tabloids like the Wall Street Journal), or even to cover the criminal cases of Madoff aides who helped run his $20 billion Ponzi scheme....

Kudos to Eric Turkewitz! (April Fool's)

Posted on April 01, 2010
I hope this isn't an April Fools joke, but if not (but it is!)... Big Congrats to Eric Turkewitz, who writes the excellent New York Personal Injury Law blog, for being chosen by the White House to be official law...

Secret Agents, State Secrets and One Angry Judge

Posted on March 31, 2010
So I was at my local spy shop the other day, checking out the latest in bug and camera detectors (just cause I?m paranoid doesn?t mean I don?t have enemies!) when I came across a story that seemed appropriate for...

And In Michael Jackson News Today ? California Emergency Rooms

Posted on March 30, 2010
California emergency rooms make news today ? but at slightly different ends of the spectrum. First, a jury verdict has come down in the atrocious story of Juana Magnaye vs. her board certified surgeon, Dr. Morad Tourah (aka Morad H....

Fighting Insurance Abuse in Court

Posted on March 29, 2010
The high profile and, many believe, politically-motivated litigation by a few state Attorneys General (some in defiance of their own Governors) to invalidate the new health insurance reform law is nothing compared to the litigation that will likely be needed...

Insurance Monster Attacks Florida, Again!

Posted on March 26, 2010
Florida?s demon creature, the property/casualty insurance industry, is slashing its way through the state once again. Not like this is all that new. But the latest development ? a new push for nearly full on deregulation - is really beyond...

Louisiana Rips the Mask Off U.S. Chamber of Commerce Smear

Posted on March 25, 2010
Louisiana's Chief Justice Catherine Kimball is blasting the bogus and destructive ?survey? released by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce?s Institute for Legal Reform this week that ?ranks? court systems and business climates based on the views of out-of-state corporate lawyers...

Judicial Elections Have Consequences, Especially If You?re Injured

Posted on March 24, 2010
In the 1980s, Ohio enacted a law allowing workers who have been injured in the workplace to sue employers who intentionally harm them or expose them to ?a condition or practice almost certain to cause injury.? Seems reasonable. Twice (in...

"Tort Reform" Hypocrisy that Makes Your Head Explode

Posted on March 23, 2010
As the health care reconciliation package moves to the Senate, Senators from ?tort reform? town will again try to amend the bill with limits on patients' legal rights. Today, at least 12 conservative state Attorneys General will be filing a...

Huff Post Repost - The Brazen U.S. Chamber of Commerce Campaign to Hurt the Economy

Posted on March 22, 2010
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has become a despicable organization. I'm not talking about the local Chambers to whom many of us turn when we're relocating to a new area, inquiring about civic and business associations or good tourist sites...

When Child Sexual Abuse Calls Out for Civil Justice

Posted on March 19, 2010
Today we focus on an issue that is extremely disturbing and sad ? the sexual abuse of children. The civil justice system has become an extremely important vehicle for abuse victims to obtain justice. It?s something to remember when politicians...

A Sign of the Times Through Court Statistics

Posted on March 18, 2010
We saw a story today that made us kinda chuckle, but it got us thinking about what kinds of cases are really flooding our civil court system today. Here?s a hint ? they?re not personal injury cases. The humorous case...

The ABC's of Unsafe and Greedy Health Care

Posted on March 17, 2010
Hey kids, its alphabet time! We thought we?d make this really fun by teaching you just how dangerous the world of pharmaceutical companies, medical device manufacturers and greedy health care providers can be! Let's begin. A is for Alpharma, a...

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