Think Tanks or in the Tank?

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Monday May 07, 2007 · 8:55 AM PDT

2007/05/07 · 08:55

Cross-posted from Tort Deform

In well publicized run-ins with the Securities and Exchange Commission and the former Attorney General of New York, Maurice "Hank" Greenberg became an avatar of the corporate movement to overturn Sarbanes-Oxley and to promote so-called tort reform. The SEC’s investigation of AIG had prompted the corporation to ease Greenberg out of the top slot.

TortDeform com

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Friday April 27, 2007 · 8:21 AM PDT

2007/04/27 · 08:21

Cross-posted from Tort Deform

by New York State Senator Eric Schneiderman

Each year in the United States, there are between 44,000 and 98,000 hospital deaths and another 300,000 injuries attributed to preventable medical errors. New York's hospitals are no exception. In fact, a2006 study of medical errors by the private research group HealthGrades rated New York State's hospitals the second worst in the country.

TortDeform com

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Friday April 20, 2007 · 9:47 AM PDT

2007/04/20 · 09:47

Cross-posted from Tort Deform

by Marc Dittenhoefer

This year in New York, what with a new Governor and all sorts of Budget drama, it seems an appropriate time for those of us concerned with consumers' rights to stop a bit and take our bearings. Albany is replete with this year's calls for sweeping changes in the civil justice system - wholly apart from the ridiculously overdue and eminently deserved judicial pay raise. New Bills are being floated all the time, even during placid seasons. Now, with an entirely new political equation in the capital, every conceivable new "combination" is being considered to open the doors to the Legislature, the Governor’s favor, or both.

TortDeform com

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Thursday April 19, 2007 · 10:08 AM PDT

2007/04/19 · 10:08

Cross-posted from Tort Deform

by New York State Senator Eric Schneiderman

In the wake of this week’s tragic shooting rampage at Virginia Tech, we are witnessing a lot of hand-wringing by politicians who acknowledge that the flooding of America with easily available handguns is a problem, but contend that the overwhelming power of the gun lobby prevents us from doing anything about it. In fact, there’s a great deal we can do. For one thing, we can unshackle our law enforcement officers and lawyers by allowing them to use data on "crime guns" to stop the small minority of gun dealers that supply America’s criminals with their weapons.

TortDeform com

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Monday April 16, 2007 · 7:33 AM PDT

2007/04/16 · 07:33

Cross-posted from Tort Deform

by New York State Senator Eric Schneiderman

One of the most important and least reported accomplishments in this year’s state budget was the enactment of a New York State false claims act. This law is a major step forward for health care reform and protection of taxpayers, but it was far too long in coming, and it was achieved only after overcoming opposition that can only be described as bizarre on the part of "tort reform" devotees in the Republican Majority.

TortDeform com

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Wednesday April 11, 2007 · 8:30 AM PDT

2007/04/11 · 08:30

Cross-posted from Tort Deform

by Laura K. Abel & David Pedulla*

Sometimes, complex, intractable problems require complex, expensive solutions. So it’s particularly frustrating when government refuses to adopt a free, simple and proven method to address an important social issue.

That’s the case in New York City, where social services officials are struggling to get public assistance benefits to the people who need them most. A recent report by the grassroots group Community Voices Heard shows that people with disabilities continue to have a hard time getting the help they need, despite a city program dedicated to helping them.

TortDeform com

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Tuesday April 10, 2007 · 6:58 AM PDT

2007/04/10 · 06:58

Cross-posted from Tort Deform

By Professor Henry Greenspan

As lawsuits continue to pile up over dogs and cats poisoned by adulterated pet food, pet food manufacturers can learn a lot from the ways drug companies have defended themselves.

With that in mind, here are some of the arguments they may want to deploy:

All pet foods have dangers.

Pet food manufacturers deserve protection. After all, they are constantly pouring billions of dollars into the risky business of developing new, life-sustaining chows and kibbles.

TortDeform com

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Tuesday April 03, 2007 · 7:24 AM PDT

2007/04/03 · 07:24

Cross-posted from Tort Deform

by Professor Charles Silver, University of Texas School of Law

Jury verdicts hold center stage in policy debates over the tort system. This is unsurprising. They are public events, they are easy to collect, and some verdicts are even large enough to catch the attention of readers dulled by repeated exposure to sensational news stories. But trials also are rare, occurring in only 3% of state court cases and 2% of federal lawsuits. Settlements are far more numerous and account for the vast majority of the dollars that change hands. Why, then, do trials receive so much attention? Why care about them at all?

TortDeform com

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Monday April 02, 2007 · 12:28 PM PDT

2007/04/02 · 12:28

Cross-posted from Tort Deform

by Professor Henry Greenspan, University of Michigan

On February 22, what had been unthinkable a year earlier actually happened. The Michigan House passed a bill to rescind the drug industry's absolute immunity from civil liability in our state. The vote on the main bill was 70-39, with about one-third of the House Republicans joining with all but one Democrat to support rescinding. That proportion pretty much parallels the state as a whole, in which polls show that approximately 70% of Michigan citizens favor repealing drug industry immunity.

TortDeform com

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Thursday March 29, 2007 · 7:47 AM PDT

2007/03/29 · 07:47

Cross-posted from Tort Deform

By Jordan Fogal

Many of us joined Texas Watch last Thursday, March 15,2007 for Builder Reform day at the capitol in Austin. We passed out information, lemons, and told our stories to anyone who would listen. Many of us wore lemon pins on our lapels. Lemons – signifying the need for lemon laws to protect us from substandard builders of defective housing. Some of us wore these pins because we had been sold lemons, and others had lost our homes through foreclosure because we could not afford the repairs on our new lemon homes.

I was back at the capitol on Monday, March 19,2007 to testify before the state affairs committee. The room was filled to capacity, and people overflowed into the halls.

TortDeform com

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Friday March 23, 2007 · 8:30 AM PDT

2007/03/23 · 08:30

Cross-posted from Tort Deform

By Marc Dittenhoefer

Recently I had the opportunity to watch an unhealthy dose of daytime TV. Though much is as I remember it from my youth, it seems that every region of the country now has at least one Judge with a Courtroom show running sometime, somewhere, somehow!

TortDeform com

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Tuesday March 13, 2007 · 12:10 PM PDT

2007/03/13 · 12:10

Cross-posted from Tort Deform

by Michael Townes Watson

A report came out on the Columbia, South Carolina NBC affiliate WIS-TV website about a $30 million verdict being overturned by the trial court. Here is the link to the story:

The website version of the report is all of five short sentences, whereas the report of the verdict, when it was rendered last summer, was in every newspaper in the state, on every blog, every newscast and every major media website. I wonder how many people heard the report of the verdict, and what small fraction of those heard the report of the trial judge’s ruling overturning the verdict?

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Think Tanks or in the Tank?

Time to Reduce Medical Errors with Full Disclosure

The Real Frivolous Lawsuit Crisis

The Tiarht Amendment: Undermining Civil and Criminal Justice Efforts Against Illegal Guns

The New York False Claims Act: A Victory for Civil Justice

Time to Let a Little Sunshine In

What Pet Food Manufacturers Can Learn From Drug Companies

“A Lot Off the Top”: Jury Verdict Haircuts

Big Noise in the Mitten State: Part 5 – Pinocchio Unbound

Justice – Texas Style

Judge Not, Lest Ye Get Ratings

Media Bias About the Courts