Consumer Law

An Unlikely Shout Out on Race, Discrimination and Tort Reform

Posted on December 11, 2009
We always like to pay particular note when our friends over at Dick Cheney?s favorite think tank, the Manhattan Institute, decide to give the Center for Justice & Democracy props?especially since we can always use it to bring more attention...

Common Good?s Medical Malpractice ?Panel? ? What A Bunch of Scaredy Cats!

Posted on December 11, 2009
You know when groups are really scared of the truth. They hold ?panel? discussions on controversial topics and don?t invite experts to speak who might hold an opposing viewpoint, lest their foundation funders and audience members hear embarrassing comments and...

Blink 182?s Travis Barker Settles Plane Crash Suit; DJ AM?s Estate Still Pursuing

Posted on December 09, 2009
If you haven?t heard, there?s an update on a story we?ve been following for over a year now. Blink 182 drummer, Travis Barker, has settled his lawsuit against those responsible for the September 2008 plane crash which severely injured him...

FDA Radiation Investigation Underscores Breadth of Corporate Immunity Sought by Health Care Reform Opponents

Posted on December 09, 2009
We sorta understood the breadth of immunity that House health care reform opponents want to bestow on reckless medical care companies and institutions. (Yes that?s right, Mr. Minority Leader Boehner?s defeated bill would have limited the liability of not just...

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Massachusetts Wal-Mart Case Settles!

Posted on December 07, 2009
We forgot to tell you that last week, some 87,500 current and former Wal-Mart employees in Massachusetts settled their class-action lawsuit against the retail behemoth. The case, which we?ve written about before, was originally filed in 2001 and involved all...

A Great Lesson on Attorney?s Fees Via the U.S. Senate!

Posted on December 07, 2009
Good news out of the U.S. Senate yesterday. A cynical amendment to the Senate health care bill sponsored by Senator John Ensign (R-NV) that would have effectively slammed the courthouse doors on countless numbers of injured patients was soundly defeated...

Tragedy Turns Actor James Woods Into Patient Safety Patron

Posted on December 04, 2009
James Woods recently settled his lawsuit with Kent Hospital in R.I. over the wrongful death of his brother, Michael. But it?s not just the personal justice for the Woods family that?s notable here?it?s also the benefits that future patients will...

Al Franken, the KBR Rape Amendment, and Scapegoating

Posted on December 03, 2009
Apparently there?s a nasty case of ?scapegoat-itis? afflicting several U.S. Senators of late? Politico is now reporting that a handful of senators who voted against the Al Franken amendment (which forbids the government from doing business with military contractors that...

Ford and the $20 Roof Fix

Posted on December 01, 2009
Ever found yourself at an airline gate, standing in a barely moving line, when all of a sudden some idiot bypasses everyone, and audaciously pushes to the front? It?s that sort of obnoxious sense of entitlement?that sense ?these rules don?t...

ThePopTort Makes Top 100 Legal Blogs in Country - Please VOTE!

Posted on December 01, 2009
We are incredibly proud to say that the editors of the ABA Journal have again selected ThePopTort.com, as one of the 100 Best Legal Blogs in the country! Two years in a row! (This is out of over 2,500 legal...

Stork Craft Cribs, Melamine and American Civil Justice

Posted on November 30, 2009
We came upon a positively awful story today about a Louisiana family whose 7-month-old son was killed by one of the 2.1 million Stork Craft drop-side cribs that were deemed hazardous (and recalled) by the Consumer Products Safety Commission recently....

Hyundai and Discovery Abuse - How Far Some Companies Go to Hide Truth

Posted on November 30, 2009
Today, let?s discuss how corporations abuse the legal system. Yes, that?s right, forget all this talk about so-called ?lawsuit abuse?. Here?s the real problem ? discovery abuse by corporations who don?t want to cough up unflattering info about their mess-ups...

Huff Post: Corporate America and Organized Medicine on Notice?No One Likes a Hypocrite!

Posted on November 25, 2009
There was the craziest, most hypocrisy-laden story in the New York Times last Sunday. It seems companies that used to duke it out for market share by say, bashing each other with ?comparison ads,? (remember the old Pepsi challenge?), have...

Early Senate Health Care Buzz Gives Patient Safety Fans Reason to be Thankful

Posted on November 25, 2009
Here at ThePopTort, we love holidays?especially Thanksgiving, which in addition to delicious food, means expressing gratitude for cool and virtuous things?like optimism. So you can imagine how tickled we were to find a couple of news items suggesting fans of...

CPSC Releases 2nd Chinese Drywall Report; Corrosion Link Cited

Posted on November 24, 2009
The Consumer Products Safety Commission (CPSC) released a sequel to its previous report about Chinese drywall yesterday?and surprise, surprise, it found a ?strong association? between the chemicals in Chinese drywall and the corrosion of wires in proximity of the stuff...

Las Vegas Hepatitis Case Takes a Criminal Turn?Possibly at Victims? Expense

Posted on November 23, 2009
That terrible story about the Las Vegas clinic that reused dirty syringes and vials, potentially exposing some 50,000 Nevadans to Hepatitis C, may be about to take a very unfortunate turn from a civil justice perspective. Ironically, that?s because criminal...

Michael Jackson?s Doctor and So-Called ?Tort Reform?

Posted on July 09, 2009
Were you wondering when the Michael Jackson story would finally cross over to ThePopTort?! Well, it finally has, thanks to TMZ, the apparent news source of record on all things MJ! Today, TMZ published an exclusive which cites a Nevada...

More Evidence that ?Tort Reform? and Patient Safety Don?t Mix

Posted on July 08, 2009
You may have already heard about this next medical malpractice horror story, but it?s oddly similar to a Nevada story we?ve been telling you about (here, here, here) and there?s an interesting article about its civil justice implications in today?s...

What?s Next For The Victims Of Defective GM and Chrysler Vehicles?

Posted on July 07, 2009
So if you have been following our coverage of the GM and Chrysler bankruptcies wiping out the rights of people injured or killed by defective vehicles (for a recap click here) you may be left wondering ?so what now?? Well,...

Hypocrisy Alert: Resigning Sarah Palin Denounces Lawsuits as Her Attorney Threatens to Sue

Posted on July 07, 2009
As partisans and pundits frantically attempt to decipher why soon-to-be-former Governor Sarah Palin quit, we?ve decided to join the fray just long enough to issue the following hypocrisy alert. According to Palin, the filing of so-called ?frivolous lawsuits? against her...

GM Bankruptcy Approved, But Victims Fight ?Far From Over?

Posted on July 06, 2009
Late last night, US Bankruptcy Judge Robert Gerber issued his ruling allowing for the sale of General Motors to move forward ? but left the current victims of defective GM vehicles without any real legal recourse. "It is morally reprehensible...

Some Docs Singing, ?You Don?t Bring Me Flowers? to Drug Makers Over New State Gift Bans

Posted on July 03, 2009
We?ve blogged about the evils of drug companies bearing gifts to doctors a number of times (here, here, here) so when laws to ban such practices in Massachusetts and Vermont went into effect on Wednesday, we thought it was reason...

Nevada Medical Board Elects Not to Hold Malpractice/Hepatitis Doc Accountable

Posted on July 02, 2009
We?ve mentioned before that a Nevada clinic recently ?reused syringes and vials,? ultimately exposing some 50,000 of the state?s residents to hepatitis C (here, here, here). We?ve also mentioned an awful tendency on the part of state medical boards to...

Accutane Finally Removed From the Market Proving Again That Lawsuits Are the Last Line of Defense Against Unsafe Drugs

Posted on July 02, 2009
Over the weekend Roche Holding, the maker of the dangerous acne drug Accutane took it off the shelves. This is a development that consumer groups have been calling for for years (as noted in Center for Justice & Democracy?s report,...

Despite Of What You May Have Heard, GM Will NOT Honor Current Liability Claims

Posted on July 02, 2009
Over the last couple of days, some of the information about GM covering liability claims has been pretty confusing. Due to all kinds of political pressure, GM made a major concession in the bankruptcy last week. So if you?re hurt...

David v. Goliath at the GM Bankruptcy Hearing

Posted on July 01, 2009
Check out last night's CBS Evening News for a great piece making clear that the fight by injured GM claimants to have their rights restored is a real ?good vs. evil? kind of struggle. (Video below.) At the end of...

Nestle Cookie Dough E. Coli Update

Posted on July 01, 2009
We told you several days ago about a young woman who filed a lawsuit against Nestle after some of the company?s cookie dough put her in the hospital with E. coli poisoning. Here are some related developments. The FDA has...

Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Suit All But Over

Posted on June 30, 2009
It was just a couple of weeks ago that we were asking whether Exxon would finally pay what it owed the 33,000 or so Alaskans injured by its 1989, 11 million gallon oil spill into Prince William Sound. Well, lo...

Consumers Injured by Defective GM Cars Continue Fight at Federal Bankruptcy Court Today

Posted on June 30, 2009
The headline pretty much says it all, civil justice fans. GM auto-defect victims and their families, including some with catastrophic injuries, are in NYC today attending the company?s bankruptcy hearing as they continue fighting its attempts to skirt responsibility for...

More Chrysler/GM ?Bankruptcy Loophole? Buzz

Posted on June 26, 2009
Today?s Wall Street Journal is reporting that ?[t]he U.S. Treasury Department is negotiating with more than a dozen state attorneys general to roll back two key features of General Motors Corp.'s bankruptcy plan that would have wiped out billions of....

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