News
This Week In Torts: A Compendium Of Tort-Related News Ripped From Today’s Headlines!
Who’s Your Daddy? The New York Times is reporting that Dr. Donald Cline fathered many, many children, while running a fertility clinic in Indianapolis during the 1970’s and 1980’s. Many couples sought Dr. Cline out at his Indianapolis-area fertility clinic during the 1970s and ’80s. They had children, who grew up and had children of…
Read MoreBrett Kavanaugh and the Starr Report
Brett Kavanaugh has been nominated to replace Justice Anthony Kennedy as a member of the United States Supreme Court. Twenty years ago he served as an attorney working for Kenneth Starr, the independent counsel who investigated a series of scandals during Mr. Clinton’s presidency, and he worked on the report that led the House of…
Read MoreBayer Pays Doctors Amid Birth Control Implant Scandal
By Tom Lebert Pharmaceutical company Bayer announced on July 20, 2018 that a controversial device for permanent birth control, Essure, will be taken off the market amid reports of injury and death. The device was taken off the market in England, Canada, and France, among other countries, but has still been sold in the United…
Read MoreWhen Cops go Bad
There is an interesting article in the New York Times, today, “$16 Million vs. $4: Why Payouts in Police Shootings Vary Widely,” written by Timothy Williams and Mitch Smith, (A version of this article appears in print on June 29, 2018, on Page A10 of the New York edition with the headline: “The Value of…
Read MoreRisk and Tragedy from Vaping
A 38 year old Florida man, Tallmadge Wakeman D’Elia, was killed when a vape pen exploded and shot fragments of its casing into his skull. Alexandra Ma, “A Vape Pen Killed A Man After It Exploded And Pierced His Skull,” Business Insider, May 16, 2018. According to the medical examiners, the man died on May…
Read MoreSomething Wicked This Way Comes
The future is racing up on us with breathtaking speed. New products, new technologies are constantly being touted and developed, often before they are fully understood; often before safeguards are put in place. Sometimes new technologies bring with them unintended harm. And worse, sometimes that harm, even though it is unintended, is foreseeable. Everyone who…
Read MoreNot All Is Lost – There Is Much To Be Gained
The Berkeley Law School at the University of California announced the creation of a major new consumer center, funded by a generous 3.5 million dollar grant from noted attorney Elizabeth Cabraser. The Berkeley Center for Consumer Law and Economic Justice is intended to become a national leader in the study, research, and practice of consumer…
Read MoreThey’re Up to No Good
The White House Fiscal Year Budget for 2019 contains proposals that would gut the ability of injured patients to hold healthcare providers accountable for the consequences of medical errors. It would also usurp state laws, and eliminate constitutional rights. And cost taxpayers money, while resulting in more injuries and death. Fortunately, the Center for Justice…
Read MoreFootball Settlement Excludes Players
Football causes C.T.E. C.T.E. is an abbreviation for chronic traumatic encephalopathy, a degenerative brain disease caused by repeated hits to the head. It is a brutal disease, leading to personality changes, mental slowing and confusion, and early death. The NFL has negotiated an approximately $1 billion dollar settlement with professional football players who have been…
Read MoreThe Parade of Horribles
The American Association for Justice (AAJ) has just released its annual report: “Worst Corporate Conduct of 2017” – and it is appalling reading. Here is the link: https://www.justice.org/sites/default/files/_Justice/Communications/Corporate%20Misconduct%202017%20FINAL.pdf This is the sort of conduct that that keeps people awake at night. Callous, unfeeling, greedy, and hurtful. This is why the tort system – the only…
Read More