New Manhattan Institute Report: “The Business Of Asbestos” Jim Copland of the Manhattan Institute says his organization certainly doesn’t oppose new business concepts. After all, the think tank’s mission statement includes fostering new ideas that promote economic growth.
Still, he let it be known Tuesday that the Manhattan Institute considers one business model fiscally problematic — the one used by trial lawyers to drum up asbestos lawsuits.
“The business model underlying such abusive litigation uses sophisticated marketing to attract thousands of claimants, generates cases with flimsy medical diagnoses and packages claims together to overwhelm defendants and courts,” wrote Copland in the Institute’s Center for Legal Policy’s fifth installment of its Trial Lawyers, Inc., series.
“Ultimately, the attorneys bully besieged defendants into settlements that enrich Trial Lawyers, Inc., while genuinely injured claimants high and dry.”
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Blog
Congressmen Call For Hearings On Class Action Abuse
Ohio Congressman John Boehner and Texas Congressman Lamar Smith called on the Judiciary Committee to convene hearings on the alleged class action abuse of Milberg Weiss that has been documented in the ongoing federal investigation.
According to today’s article from the National Law Journal, Boehner hopes to have the hearings started before May 19, the day securities class action giant William Lerach is slated to start his two-year jail sentence:
Referring to the kickback issue at the heart of the federal government’s case against Milberg Weiss as “a cancerous growth” and an “economic threat” that threatens American jobs, two high-ranking Republican Congressmen have called on House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers Jr., D-Mich., to set a hearing to investigate the pervasiveness of such unethical conduct among trial lawyers.
One of the most notable admissions by Lerach is that plaintiff kickback schemes are “industry practice” within the class action litigation field.
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News Update
Malpractice Review Filed
From the Illinois State Medical Society
SPRINGFIELD — The Illinois State Medical Society and the American Medical Association filed an amicus brief Thursday asking the Illinois Supreme Court to preserve Illinois patients’ future access to medical care by upholding the state’s 2005 medical lawsuit reform law, and thereby overturning the Cook County Circuit Court’s November 2007 decision declaring it unconstitutional.
“The state legislature, in a nonpartisan manner, thoroughly debated and carefully crafted the medical lawsuit reform law to stop the steady exodus of doctors retiring early, dropping high-risk specialties, and leaving the state due to an out-of-control medical litigation climate in Illinois,” stated Illinois State Medical Society President Dr. Shastri Swaminathan. “The reform law fairly balances an individual’s right to sue for medical negligence with the needs of Illinois citizens to find good medical care.”
Among a host of reform provisions aimed at preserving patient access to medical care, the law in question capped non-economic damage awards at $500,000 for physicians and $1 million for hospitals. Non-economic damages are largely unpredictable and unquantifiable sums awarded by juries for emotional issues such as pain and suffering. Under the reform law, victims of true medical negligence could still receive unlimited economic damages such as lost wages, medical expenses, and future earning potential.
Read today’s news update…
