I’m a trial lawyer for injured people and businesses at The Beasley Firm. Founded in 1958, we have recovered over $2 billion for our clients through hundreds of verdicts and settlements in excess of $1 million. We’re listed in Super Lawyers, Best Lawyers in America, U.S. News’s Top Lawyers, [...]
Squandering A Personal Injury Contingent Fee Through Attorney Misconduct
That's one way to lose millions of dollars: Disbarred lawyer Kenneth Heller's refusal to turn over files in a matter that ultimately was resolved with a $3.7 million settlement was "symptomatic" of a 24-year record of "utter contempt for the judicial system," Southern District Bankruptcy Judge Stuart M. Bernstein wrote, quoting from an opinion of the appeals court in Manhattan that disbarred Heller in 2004. Bernstein's ruling in In re Ruby G. Emanuel, 97-44969, denied Heller any share in the $1.2 million the judge had awarded to the law firm of Jacoby & Meyers, which took over from Heller the ... Continue Reading
Hollywood’s Top Lawyer Goes Off The Rails Threatening Blogger With Defamation Retraction Letter
[UPDATE: Welcome, Boing Boing readers! The below post was written before the South Korean edition of W Magazine was spotted out in the wild with Demi Moore's hip re-attached. As you can imagine, one of the most important parts of a retraction demand is that you get your facts straight.] Lawyers are men and women of letters. Litigators, in particular, pride themselves on their correspondence; ask a litigator to show you their best work, and they will skip over dozens of briefs and transcripts to reveal a letter — maybe a settlement demand, a cease and desist for infringement, a spoliation warning, or ... Continue Reading
Medical Malpractice “Demonstration Programs” In The Senate’s Health Care Reform Bill
Overlawyered passes along a misleading description of the "tort reform" provisions in the Senate health care bill from an anonymous Capitol Hill source: The “tort reform” section of Senator Reid’s substitute amendment is not merely meaningless, but is actually a significant giveaway to the trial lawyers. It is essentially a 5-year, 50-million dollar grant program to encourage states to develop more plaintiff-friendly alternatives to the current medical liability system. Section 10607 (p.344 of the Manager’s) establishes a 5-year grant program. The program is administered by the HHS Secretary (Sebelius), in consultation with a review panel. The review panel is structured ... Continue Reading
Personal Injury Attorney Representing His Cousin Wins Landmark Supreme Court Case
The ABA Journal reports about Mohawk Industries v. Carpenter: Personal injury associate J. Craig Smith couldn’t turn down his father’s request to take on the case of his cousin Norman, who was fired from his job as a supervisor in a carpet manufacturer after alleging the company was hiring undocumented aliens. "When my father called me from Georgia [in 2006] about Norman being fired, I didn't know if I could do anything for him," Smith told the Connecticut Law Tribune. "But my Dad said, 'Remember who you are, and where you're from--we stick by our own.' I knew I had ... Continue Reading
Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court Denies Philadelphia Power To Lease Burholme Park To Fox Chase Cancer Center
As The Legal Intelligencer is reporting, yesterday the Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court affirmed an order by the Orphans’ Division of the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas prohibiting the City from leasing part of Burholme Park to Fox Chase Cancer Center for use in a substantial expansion of Fox Chase. Under the agreement, 19.4 acres of the Park would have been leased to Fox Chase for 80 years, with options to renew the lease for up to 80 more years. The bulk of the Park was donated to the City 130 years ago by Robert W. Ryerss for use “as a public park ... Continue Reading
Supreme Court (Intriguingly) Respects Jury’s Role In Patent Infringement Cases
As Patently-O reports this morning, The Supreme Court recently rejected Medela's petition for certiorari arguing that the conclusion of obviousness should be made by a judge rather than a lay jury. In the wake of Medela's failure, Acushnet (maker of Titleist) is now asking the Supreme Court to hold that "a court reviewing a jury's [obviousness] verdicts must always independently render its own legal conclusion regardless of whether one or all of the jury's underlying findings are accepted as adequately supported by the evidence." Taking that a step-further, Acushnet argues that a jury's verdict on the question of obviousness should ... Continue Reading
Is The NYTimes’ Ethicist Biased Against Trial Lawyers Or Biased In Favor Of The Federalist Society?
Via @pointoflaw, I learned of a recent column by Randy Cohen, who writes The Ethicist for The New York Times. Last week, Cohen chose two inquiries: While interviewing law students for jobs as paid summer interns and full-time associates for my firm, I noticed several had résumés listing their activities in the Federalist Society. Some of my partners have conservative views similar to those of the society, but I do not. These students’ politics would not affect their professional function, but my review is meant to consider their judgment and personality (though I don’t need to give reasons for the ... Continue Reading
E.D.Pa. Holds False Claims Act Relator Cannot Toll Statute Of Limitations If Government Did Not Intervene
Another interesting statutory construction case arising from allegations scientists at Cornell University Medical College and Thomas Jefferson University "misrepresented the findings of their DNA research when they applied for National Institute of Health research grants and did not correct the misrepresentations on subsequent progress reports and renewal applications." Problem is, the grants in question were filed back in the 1990s. As Judge Savage recounts, The [False Claims Act] prohibits 'any person from making false or fraudulent claims for payment to the United States.' Graham County Soil & Water Conservation Dist. v. United States ex rel. Wilson, 545 U.S. 409, 411, ... Continue Reading
Supreme Court Holds Attorney-Client Privilege Rulings Not Immediately Appealable As Collateral Orders
The Mohawk Industries v. Carpenter (08-678) slip opinion, written by Justice Sotomayor, is available here. Here is the core of the reasoning: The crucial question, however, is not whether an interest is important in the abstract; it is whether deferring review until final judgment so imperils the interest as to justify the cost of allowing immediate appeal of the entire class of relevant orders. We routinely require litigants to wait until after final judgment to vindicate valuable rights, including rights central to our adversarial system.See, e.g., Richardson-Merrell, 472 U. S., at 426 (holding an order disqualifying counsel in a civil ... Continue Reading
E.D.Pa. Finds Arbitration Agreement Inapplicable To Tortious Interference Health Care Litigation
As I’ve written before, health care is “one of the ugliest businesses in America.” Health care litigation is often just as contentious. Today’s example comes from Robotics v. Deviedma, No. 09-cv-3552, 2009 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 112077 (E.D. Pa. Nov. 30, 2009), which denied in part and granted in part Defendants’ motion to dismiss. The facts: Health Robotics, S.r.L. ("HRSRL") is an Italian company that designs, develops, markets and licences robotic medical preparation products. Plaintiff, Devon Robotics, signed two agreements with HRSRL for the distribution of two robotic medication preparation products for hospitals and health care facilities, i.v.Station and CytoCare. … At ... Continue Reading
