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Blocking the Courthouse Door
Attorney Blog News |
2011/12/01 10:28
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The LawBusiness Insider,nbsp; Nationally Syndicated on Bloomberg, Sirius, XM, Fox News, BBC, ESPN Radio, NBC News Radio amp; Citadel Broadcasting Presents:Blocking the Courthouse Door: How the Republican Party and Its Corporate Allies Are Taking Away Your Right to Sue. nbsp;
LISTEN to an Exclusive interview with Stephanie Mencimer now:
http://lbishow.com/index.php?option=com_contentamp;view=articleamp;id=362:blocking-the-courthouse-dooramp;catid=51:americas-best-selling-authors-series nbsp;
Prominent Trial Attorney, Jack Girardi and LBI Producer amp; Host Steve Murphy interview award winning Author Stephanie Mencimer on her groundbreaking Book, Blocking the Courthouse Door: How the Republican Party and Its Corporate Allies Are Taking Away Your Right to Sue. nbsp;
Stephanie works in the Mother Jones' Washington bureau, and covers legal affairs and domestic policy. She's a contributing editor of the Washington Monthly, a former investigative reporter at the Washington Post, and a senior writer at the Washington City Paper, she was nominated for a National Magazine Award in 2004 for a Washington Monthly article about myths surrounding the medical malpractice system. In 2000, she won the Harry Chapin Media award for reporting on poverty and hunger, and her 2010 story in Mother Jones of the collapse of the welfare system in Georgia and elsewhere won a Casey Medal for Meritorious Journalism.Thanks to constant political oratory against frivolous lawsuits and jackpot justice, it is widely known that there's a legal crisis in this country.
President Bush never missed an opportunity to call for laws that would bring more common sense to a legal system that, he claims, is out of control, wrecking the economy, driving doctors out of their practices, bankrupting small businesses, and costing American jobs. Journalists repeat the charges without examining them. As a result, the lawsuit issue moved to the political front burner, and in the past seven years, state after state has responded by limiting citizens' rights to sue. Republicans and Corporate Americanbsp; has influenced legislationnbsp; restricting class action lawsuits and limits on medical malpractice lawsuits. But is there really a crisis? National data show that the number of civil suits is falling, not rising, and that the average damage award is also going down. Despite intense media hype to the contrary, the number of personal injury lawsuits filed every year has been tumbling for the past decade. Upon closer examination, the stories of ridiculous lawsuits usually turn out to be false or badly misleading. The crisis, in short, appears to be a phantom. So how do we explain the scary headlines? Who's behind the tort reform movement, and what are the real goals?
Blocking the Courthouse Door will show that the movement against so-called greedy trial lawyers and irresponsible plaintiffs is the result of a concerted and successful campaign by large corporations to get this issue on the table and thus limit their own vulnerability in the civil justice system. They have spent decades, and many millions of dollars, on focus groups and Madison Avenue public relations research. They have funded institutes, sponsored academic research, bankrolled politicians, set up phony Astroturf grassroots organizations (with chamber of commerce return addresses), and fed copy to all-too-gullible journalists.
For corporations, the self-interest involved is fairly plain. Tobacco companies, no longer able to dodge the bullet of liability for knowingly selling poisons, are making an end run around the civil justice system. If they can't win a class action suit, they'll make suing itself illegal. Insurance companies, drowning in red ink from mismanagement and bad investments in the bond market, hike insurance rates by huge sums and blame malpractice suits. The doctors in turn blame greedy lawyers -- and their own injured patients. And for Republicans, the campaign provides an extra bonus: defunding the Democratic Party. Limits on lawsuits cut into the income of some of the Democratic Party's most generous donors, the trial lawyers, who are often the only source of campaign cash for Democrats in many states. By exposing some of the dubious characters, corporate chicanery, skewed research, fudged numbers, and bogus journalism that have buttressed the calls for lawsuit reform, Stephanie Mencimer shows who's behind the movement to close the courthouse doors, and how they've successfully persuaded millions of Americans to give up their critical legal rights without fully understanding what they're losing -- often until it's too late. |
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NY court hears hedge fund boss' bail arguments
Top Court Watch |
2011/12/01 10:27
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A federal appeals court did not immediately rule Wednesday whether hedge fund founder Raj Rajaratnam must report to prison next week for an 11-year sentence for insider trading, the longest term ever given for the crime.
Attorney Patricia Millett told the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan that Rajaratnam should remain free on bail while the appeals court hears a challenge to his conviction in the biggest insider trading case in history.
Rajaratnam, 54, was sentenced in October after his conviction this year on charges that he engaged in insider trading from 2003 through October 2009 at the Galleon Group of hedge funds that he founded. Prosecutors said insider trading schemes involved the stocks of at least 19 different public companies and resulted in at least $70 million in illegal gains.
Rajaratnam was also ordered to forfeit $53.8 million and to pay a $10 million fine.
Millett said court papers filed to secure wiretaps that provided evidence crucial to his conviction were improperly made, raising a substantial question of law that entitles him to remain free until the appeals court hears the case sometime next year. |
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Man tied to Ohio Craigslist case appears in court
Legal Blog News |
2011/12/01 10:27
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A suspect in a deadly Craigslist robbery plot was wheeled into court in an unrelated case Thursday, his head bobbing rhythmically, and he later ignored questions about the mounting body count and his relationship with a teen murder suspect.
Richard Beasley, unshaved and dressed in a white and gray striped jail outfit, didn't speak and kept his head down as Summit County Common Pleas Judge Tammy O'Brien revoked his bond on a drug-trafficking charge.
The legal problems faced by Beasley, a self-styled chaplain and youth mentor, are mounting: His attorney said a prostitution case involving the 52-year-old Beasley and a 17-year-old boy would be upgraded with a racketeering charge Friday.
The drug and prostitution cases in Akron are unrelated to a widening Craigslist homicide investigation.
Investigators say someone trying to lure robbery victims posted a bogus ad on Craigslist touting a cattle farm job in southeast Ohio.
Authorities have linked two bodies and the shooting of a man who survived to the scheme, which targeted single, out-of-work men in their late 40s or early 50s. The investigators heading up the Craigslist inquiry also found a third body but have yet to link it to the case.
A 16-year-old boy, Brogan Rafferty of nearby Stow, faces juvenile charges of aggravated murder, complicity to aggravated murder, attempted murder and complicity to attempted murder in the death of one man and the shooting of another. |
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Farmers Insurance Settles Class Action Lawsuit
Topics in Legal News |
2011/12/01 02:28
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Farmers Insurance entered into a settlement of a nationwide class action lawsuit, In Re Farmers Med-Pay Litigation, pending in the District Court of Canadian County, Oklahoma. The settlement includes Farmers Insurance Company, Inc., Farmers Insurance Exchange, Truck Insurance Exchange, Fire Insurance Exchange, Mid-Century Insurance Company, Farmers Group, Inc., Illinois Farmers Insurance Company, and certain related entities. The Court entered a final order approving the settlement on November 29, 2011.
Plaintiffs alleged that Farmers failed to pay reasonable expenses for necessary medical services related to automobile accidents under Medical Payments and Personal Injury Protection (PIP) coverage in automobile policies based on Farmers' use of certain claim adjustment systems and procedures. Farmers denies all of Plaintiffs' claims in the lawsuit. However, Farmers agreed to resolve the lawsuit to avoid the burden and expense of continued litigation.
The Settlement Class includes all persons who submitted claims for payment of medical bills related to an automobile accident under Med-pay or PIP coverage if (a) the claim was adjusted from January 1, 2001 to February 9, 2009 based upon a recommended reduction from Zurich Services Corporation (ZSC), (b) the claim was paid at less than the amount billed, and (c) total Med-pay or PIP payments were less than the respective limits of coverage. The Class also includes medical providers who were assigned the right to assert these claims.
Those affected by this settlement must complete and submit a valid claim form postmarked no later than December 29, 2011. Further information and claim forms can be obtained by visiting www.MedpayClaimsAdministration.com. |
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Scott+Scott LLP Announces Securities Class Action
Law Firm Press Release |
2011/11/29 09:51
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On November 28, 2011, Scott+Scott LLP filed a class action complaint against The Cooper Companies, Inc. and certain of the Company's senior officers and directors in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. The action for violations of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 is brought on behalf of those purchasing the common stock of Cooper between March 4, 2011 and November 15, 2011, inclusive.
If you purchased the common stock of Cooper during the Class Period and wish to serve as a lead plaintiff in the action, you must move the Court no later than 60 days from today. Any member of the investor class may move the Court to serve as lead plaintiff through counsel of its choice, or may choose to do nothing and remain an absent class member. If you wish to discuss this action or have questions concerning this notice or your rights, please contact Scott+Scott at (800) 404-7770, (860) 537-5537 or visit the Scott+Scott website http://www.scott-scott.com/cases/coopercos.html for more information. There is no cost or fee to you.
The complaint filed in the action alleges that, during the Class Period, Cooper issued false and misleading statements concealing known quality control problems and process defects at the Company's new overseas contact lens manufacturing facilities.
The complaint alleges that following the announcement of a small voluntary recall, the significance of which Cooper and its senior executives intentionally downplayed, on November 15, 2011, Cooper was forced to disclose a much larger product recall and to finally disclose the seriousness of the potential injuries. As the market learned the true extent of the Company's production issues, product safety defects and the harm to Cooper's reputation and product marketability, the Company's stock price declined precipitously. The class action seeks recovery under the federal securities laws for those who purchased Cooper's common stock between March 4, 2011 and November 15, 2011.
Scott+Scott has significant experience in prosecuting major securities, antitrust and employee retirement plan actions throughout the United States. The firm represents pension funds, foundations, individuals and other entities worldwide. |
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