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, [...]
Susan G. Komen, March of Dimes, and Corruption by Branding
[Update: The Komen Foundation reversed its decision. That's of course the right decision; the question now is if they will publicly explain how they came to make such an obvious mistake, and why they dishonestly denied the influence of politics in making the decision.] If by chance you read this blog but live under a rock, earlier this week the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation, Inc., cut all grant funding for Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Inc. For some reason the Susan G. Komen Foundation claims the decision wasn't political even though, of course, it was. This isn't even an abortion ... Continue Reading
Supreme Court Sets The Tone For 2012 Term: Might Makes Right
Yesterday, the Supreme Court issued its first two opinions this term* in civil cases, Minneci v. Pollard, a lawsuit brought by a prisoner who was denied medical care at a federal prison run by a private company, and CompuCredit v. Greenwood, a proposed class action on behalf consumers deceived into signing up for a credit card that claimed it would help "rebuild poor credit" but actually instantly filled its $300 limit with $257 in fees. If you own a prison management company or fake credit repair company, yesterday was a good day for you. If you don't, not so much. The ... Continue Reading
Tis The Season For Law Blog Lists
It’s holiday season again, time for the giving of gifts. In the blawgosphere (a word I despise but have been unable to replace), we give and receive gifts in the form of pies. Yes, pies — see my post here, and Scott Greenfield here. The new pie-giver in town, LexisNexis, has added a “Top 25 Tort Law Blogs” listing, including your humble author, for whom you should go vote as the top tort blog (and not any of these other tort blogs I’m about to mention). Unfortunately, as Eric Turkewitz says in his post comparing the LexisNexis list unfavorably to ... Continue Reading
How A Bill Comes A Law And How The Law Becomes Reality
For a certain generation or two, there is a single, definitive source on the legislative process, "I'm Just A Bill" from Schoolhouse Rock!: If you're under forty years old, "I'm Just A Bill" probably taught you everything you know about how Congress works. I'm sure you remember how it ends: Boy: By that time it's very unlikely that you'll become a law. It's not easy to become a law, is it? Bill: No! But how I hope and I pray that I will, But today I am still just a bill. Congressman: He signed you, Bill! Now you're a law! ... Continue Reading
The Lawsuit Abuse Reduction Act: Welfare For Overbilling Lawyers
Back in the summer time, the House Judiciary Committee approved the Lawsuit Abuse Reduction Act (H.R. 966; identical Senate version S. 533 still in committee), the claimed purpose of which is "To amend Rule 11 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure to improve attorney accountability, and for other purposes." Attorney accountability? Sign me up! I've been railing against improper conduct by lawyers for years. See, for example, my posts on Grider v. Keystone Health, how lawyers deceive themselves into lying for clients, and a bogus sanctions threat I received. (For those of you who wrongly believe only plaintiff's lawyers ... Continue Reading
Corporations: It’s Our Fault, But You’ll Have To Pay
Whenever a corporation is caught causing a catastrophe — an oil company that destroys an ecosystem through shoddy maintenance, a drug manufacturer that sells a drug which they know causes cancer, et cetera — the corporate entity goes through a three-stage public relations process to avoid responsibility. First, there's denial. Nothing happened and if it did happen it's not so bad. Second, there's phony regret. It's not our fault, but we're sorry something happened. This tragedy was unpredictable, but if it was predictable, then it was unavoidable, but if it was avoidable, then we were doing everything we could to ... Continue Reading
Andy Warhol And The Purpose Of Law School
A couple days ago the New York Times inexplicably had a front-page story on an issue that is news to no one: law schools don't teach much about the practical side of lawyering. Yeah, no kidding. All the usual folks have chimed in (see, e.g., Greenfield, Concurring Opinions, Above The Law, etc.; probably my favorite was Balkinzation tying it larger economic forces), with Elie Mystal having the most depressing take of all: At the end of the day, this all comes down to the lack of responsibility and critical thinking on the part of individual prospective law students. Law students ... Continue Reading
Colleges and Universities Start To Take Campus Rape Seriously (We Hope)
The fallout from the child molestation scandal at Penn State continues with a thousand articles saying roughly the same thing and a handful of in-depth reports, like Sports Illustrated’s This is Penn State piece, which explains a lot about what Happy Valley was like: Outgoing, accessible (his home phone number is in the campus directory) and philanthropic, Paterno was the benevolent despot. But he was a despot nonetheless. Org chart be damned—unlike Schultz and Curley, Paterno is not classified as a senior staff member—he ran the place. "He built this university, he built this town, and everybody knows it," says ... Continue Reading
Law Professors: Check Legal Blogs Before Adding Your Two Cents
The big legal news in Pennsylvania last week was of course the indictment of former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky for allegedly sexually abusing at least eight children on or around Penn State. Being a civil litigator who has sued universities and has represented victims of sexual abuse on college campuses, I felt compelled to say something, so I wrote about Penn State's potential liability in civil lawsuits brought by the victims. I reviewed and cited cases and statutes; you know, the stuff lawyers do when they want to get things right. Then I read the news today, oh, ... Continue Reading
2011 PA Judicial Election Candidate Guide (Plus Philadelphia, Montgomery, Bucks, Chester and Delaware Counties)
[UPDATE: The returns are in. Wecht (D) won the Superior Court race and Covey (R) won the Commonwealth Court race. Every judge up for retention was retained. For the new seats for Court of Common Pleas, Chester and Delaware went to the Republicans and Montgomery went to the Democrats. See more detail at the Pennsylvania Department of State's Election Returns website.] Admit it, my fellow citizens of Pennsylvania: you’re clueless who is running for judge. It’s okay. Even lawyers rarely recognize most of the candidates. A few months ago I put together a voter’s guide for the Philadelphia judicial primary ... Continue Reading
