Consumer Law

Huff Post Repost - Toyota Finally Gets Around to Blaming the Victim

Posted on March 16, 2010
We all like a good thriller, especially true stories about powerful institutions that respond to problems with disinformation and smears. The Insider (Big Tobacco vs. Jeffrey Wigand) and Silkwood (Kerr McGee vs. Karen Silkwood) are great thriller movies...

Emergency Room Immunity Picks Up Support

Posted on March 15, 2010
Well, the Georgia Supreme Court has spoken today, upholding a state statute that makes it very difficult for victims of emergency room medical malpractice to get access to the courts. Hope these ER immunity laws aren?t a new trend but...

The Toyota Prosecutions Start

Posted on March 12, 2010
Today, the Orange County, California District Attorney filed the first state (or federal) case against Toyota, this one against its U.S. sales division, Toyota Motor Sales USA -- "to enjoin them from continuing to endanger the public through the sale...

Patient Safety Gone Wrong

Posted on March 11, 2010
You may not have heard, but it?s National Patient Safety Awareness Week. Certainly, who could argue with any group working to stop needless deaths and injuries due to unsafe medical care (which kills up to - or at least -...

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Huff Post Repost: Time to Reform that Other Insurance Industry

Posted on March 10, 2010
We all depend on reasonably-priced insurance to function and I'm not talking just about heath insurance. Without affordable property-casualty insurance, we couldn't drive cars or own homes, doctors wouldn't be able to practice medicine, small businesses like day care centers...

Nobody Makes Bad Law Like McDonald's

Posted on March 09, 2010
The New York Times has an interesting editorial today called ?A Nonfrivolous Suit,? supporting the decision of a Richmond Virginia federal court of appeals that reinstated a customer?s suit against McDonald?s. The customer?s mouth was severely burned by scalding grease...

Punitive Damages ? The Silly Season

Posted on March 08, 2010
There?s been a lot of silly talk about ?punitive damages? lately ? the kind of damages awarded when hideous misconduct is involved - so we thought this might be a good opportunity to revisit this misused and misunderstood topic. First,...

Happy as a Pig Farm in Slop

Posted on March 05, 2010
That silly ?lipstick on a pig? brouhaha during the 2008 presidential election campaign came to mind today when we read about a Missouri jury verdict yesterday. The jury awarded around $11 million to folks living near an 80,000-head hog farm...

The Wrong Respone to Toyota

Posted on March 04, 2010
Have you heard the latest about Toyota's problems? It now seems the company?s sudden acceleration? fixes? aren?t working. This comes after evidence that the company tried to cover up problems by withholding discovery documents in litigation. Could it get any...

Going Nowhere With ?Tort Reform?

Posted on March 03, 2010
We now know that President Obama has decided to endorse four ?Republican? ideas that he says he?s willing to support to get a health care bill passed. Now that things are moving in a ?reconciliation? direction, it is unclear how...

The Truth About "Health Courts" - Say Goodbye to Juries

Posted on March 01, 2010
In the context of medical malpractice and the health care debate, a new proposal may be surfacing called ?health courts? that would force all medical malpractice cases out of the court system. These measures have a strong public relations spin...

Senator Durbin on Medical Malpractice

Posted on February 26, 2010
We have a number of thoughts about yesterday's health care summit - but none nearly as awesome as the remarks of Senator Richard Durbin (D-IL). So for now, just watch:

Huffington Post Repost: Huff and Puff

Posted on February 24, 2010
As a small consumer rights organization that works on issues of corporate accountability and access to the courts, it's not always easy to command attention. That's why we usually say "thank you" - even when right-wing "think tanks" or corporate...

Huff Post Re-Post: Medical Malpractice - The Tragic Human Price Tag of "Tort Reform" (Raw and Unedited)

Posted on February 24, 2010
This is a re-post from The Huffington Post. Lisa Gourley has had her share of hardships. Her son Colin was born with severe brain damage due to a doctor's negligence. But because Nebraska has a Draconian "cap" on compensation for...

The Cushy Life of the Medical Malpractice Insurance Industry

Posted on February 24, 2010
If you're following the health insurance debate - especially medical malpractice issues - this post's for you! When Illinois lawmakers passed their clearly unconstitutional ?cap? on compensation for medical malpractice victims a few years ago, they did something only a...

Toyota?s Profit Over Safety Decision ? Deja Vu All Over Again

Posted on February 23, 2010
The revelations in the Toyota calamity have been coming fast and furious, with so much news coverage that there frankly hasn?t been too much for ThePopTort to add (since here). However, when AP first broke the story of new documents...

Military Contractors Misbehavin?

Posted on February 22, 2010
There are surely some clever take-offs of the Fats Waller standard Ain?t Misbehavin'. There?s the Simpson episode, Eight Misbehavin?. And the Wavy Gravy movie Saint Misbehavin'. Even a TLC show called Paint Misbehavin'. Admittedly, they?re all much catchier than ?Defense...

The Other Nuclear Power Subsidy ? A Liability Cap

Posted on February 19, 2010
With all the hoopla about the resurgence of nuclear power thanks to the President?s announcement of $8.33 billion in loan guarantees for Georgia's Vogtle plant, there?s a lot of talk about whether the federal government should be backing a technology...

FAQ on Burn Pits in Iraq and Afghanistan ? The New Agent Orange

Posted on February 18, 2010
Please explain the irony of surviving the terrifying ordeal of serving in Iraq and Afghanistan, only to become severely diseased and perhaps die as a result of waste disposal practices on U.S. bases. Sure enough, the Pentagon confirms that it...

Huff Post Repost: The Corporatists - Running the Nut House from Bizarro World

Posted on February 17, 2010
Who didn't nod his or her head just a little bit this week when Bill Maher chastised everyone lamenting the departure of "centrist" Senate-quitter Evan Bayh. "He isn't a centrist," explained Maher, "He's a corporatist, and that's the main problem...

Legal Abandon: How Limiting Lawsuits Led To The Financial Collapse And What To Do About It

Posted on February 17, 2010
Did you know that in the mid-1990s, during the disastrously counterproductive ?deregulation hysteria? that gripped the country, Congress made it much more difficult for defrauded investors to bring any kind of legal action? Did you know that the U.S. Supreme...

Whistles, Pipes and Modern Day Robber Barons

Posted on February 16, 2010
Bob Herbert has a New York Times column today about the sorry state of this country?s infrastructure, a problem that hopefully the President is more willing to tackle especially because of the jobs it could generate. Herbert tells an interesting...

Things that make you go hmmm

Posted on February 12, 2010
(Here something from one of our readers!): I'm not entirely referring to C+C Music Factory's popular 90's dance single, "Things That Make You Go Hmmm", off their hit album Gonna make you Sweat. Though it is a great song, I'm...

New Twist in Texas Nurses Prosecution

Posted on February 12, 2010
Some great reporting by the Texas Tribune today about the Texas nurses who were prosecuted (and fortunately just acquitted) for anonymously reporting a doctor to the Texas Medical Board who had delivered unsafe care. Seems the Board is not as...

We Will All Benefit from the New Vioxx Settlement

Posted on February 11, 2010
You rember Vioxx right? That multi-billion dollar blockbuster arthritis painkiller that received ?fast-track? approval by the FDA, which the company (and the FDA, it turns out) knew greatly increased the risk of heart attack or stroke, and ultimately killed or...

Rep. Murtha Died from Medical Malpractice

Posted on February 09, 2010
There are numerous reports today that but for medical negligence, Congressman John Murtha, who sadly died yesterday, would still be with us. As reported in the Pittsburg Post Gazette, ?According to a source close to Mr. Murtha -- confirming a...

Right-Wing Wingnuts and "Tort Reform"

Posted on February 08, 2010
What do you call someone who is anti-family, supports burdening taxpayers with more government spending, backs those who won?t take personal responsibility for their actions, and opposes states rights? No, this isn?t Sarah Palin trying to offend liberals...

Judicial Activism - Not.

Posted on February 08, 2010
As many U.S. Supreme Court observers, such as Jeffrey Toobin, have written about the Court?s Citizens United decision, ?it is hard to imagine a more activist decision than the Citizens United case.? Actually, we once wrote something similar about the...

Judicial Activism - Not.

Posted on February 05, 2010
As many U.S. Supreme Court observers, such as Jeffrey Toobin, have written about the Court?s Citizens Union decision, ?it is hard to imagine a more activist decision than the Citizens Union case.? Actually, we once wrote something similar about the...

This Week in Horrific Medical Negligence News - A Huff Post Repost

Posted on February 03, 2010
As POTUS and Congress try to figure out what to do about health care, check out Joanne Doroshow's Huffington Post blog item. "I took a quick survey of the news in the past week to try to diagnose which is...

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