Free Republic

Lawyer tells 67 businesses they violate ADA; he wants fee. The letters arrived in the mailboxes of 67 business owners here more than a month ago. San Diego attorney Theodore Pinnock, who describes himself as a "warrior for the disabled," said he was "shocked" to find during a Veterans Day weekend trip to the historic town that many of the stores were in violation of the Americans With Disabilities Act. Wheelchair ramps and handicapped parking spaces were in short supply. Doors weren't wide enough at some businesses. Some bathrooms weren't equipped properly for the disabled. The letters threatened lawsuits against...

WASHINGTON, July 29 - The Senate agreed to shield gun manufacturers and dealers from liability lawsuits on Friday, as Congress broke for a monthlong recess after sending President Bush energy and transportation bills that had been years in the making. Long sought by the gun lobby, the Senate measure - approved 65 to 31 - would prohibit lawsuits against gun makers and distributors for misuse of their products during the commission of a crime. Senate supporters said the plan was needed to protect the domestic firearms industry from a rash of lawsuits that threatened its economic future. "This bill is...

His two presidential plans had put the project on hold, but Ralph Nader says an architectural firm is now "putting final touches on the plans" for his dream of a lifetime: a museum in his hometown of Winsted, Conn. This won't be just any museum, mind you. It will be — yes — a celebration of tort law. You know, like the case that won $2.9 million for the woman who spilled a hot cup of McDonald's coffee in her lap. Or the fellow who convinced a jury he deserved $3.6 million when he got falling-down drunk and lost an...

The judgment was entered by a Los Angeles Superior Court judge this month after the two defendants — Gregory P. Gaines and Harold X. Wesley — failed to adequately file formal responses with the court.Gaines and Wesley attacked Blunt last April 2 as he was walking across an exercise yard, Lancaster prison spokesman Lt. Ken Lewis said. In the civil case, Blunt, who is 25 and has worked for the prison system for 2 1/2 years, said he suffered "permanent traumatic brain injury" from the attack. He remains partially paralyzed and on disability. Task force members believe prisoners serving long...

I find myself stunned by the magnitude of the quick victory President Bush has won on tort reform, with the new bill, now awaiting his signature federalizing most class action lawsuits. No longer will judges and juries in obscure rural counties of Illinois, Mississippi and Alabama be able to award hundreds of millions or even billions of dollars to nebulous classes of supposedly injured consumers or shareholders, at the expense of productive corporations, on the thinnest of evidence. Instead , the federal judiciary, which used to be so beloved of the Democrats when it was intervening in Southern elections, will...

Could Children's Motrin Make Your Child Blind?   A 7-year-old child recently developed blindness after taking a recommended dose of Children's Motrin.The BeginningThe tragedy started when the girl (age 6 at the time) had come home from school with a headache; her parents gave her a recommended dose of Children's Motrin. However, instead of "curing" her ache, the drug led to an acute allergic reaction known as Stevens-Johnson Syndrome -- a rare, violent allergic immune system response that causes fever and blistering, which may affect the cornea and other parts of the eye.The very next day the girl was...

The City Council on Wednesday overwhelmingly passed legislation that would allow crime victims to sue gun manufacturers and dealers who do not follow a set of selling and distribution guidelines. The sponsors of the gun safety package say that by restricting and punishing members of the gun industry, New York's streets will see significantly less gun violence. "Starting today, if they don't clean up their act, they're going to face stiff penalties in courts of law and have to pay compensation to the victims," said Councilman David Yassky, the legislation's main sponsor. Guns used in New York crimes are usually...

Holding a solid conservative view on the world certainly infringes on my ability to be congenial. I can’t help but approach the multitude of decisions and obligations presented in everyday life from a deductive point of view. It’s a simple remedy really. Recognize a difficulty. Identify the problem. Assess your options. Address the problem. There is no reason, in most cases, to seek counsel or solutions from an outside source. Life is an ongoing conveyer belt of such scenarios. The self-sufficient among us recognize these challenges and face them in stride.

Woman Testifies In Victoria's Secret Lawsuit POSTED: 11:12 a.m. EDT April 13, 2004 UPDATED: 11:31 a.m. EDT April 13, 2004 LITTLE ROCK, Ark. -- A woman described to jurors Monday how her full-length Victoria's Secret nightgown caught fire in a 1998 accident. Linda Rossby is suing the Columbus- based lingerie chain for more than $10 million in damages. She appeared in court in Little Rock, Arkansas for the first time Monday. Her lawyers said scars keep Rossby from sitting for long periods. Rossby testified that her right arm caught on fire as she reached in an oven to get a...

IF you are the kind of person who tries to save time by ironing his clothes without first taking them off or who attempts to use his hair dryer while sleeping, you will probably not "get" this column. By the same token, if a cinder block has recently fallen on your head, you will probably not "get" this column either. In fact, these two groups may consist of the same people. If you are like me and have a lot of spare time on your hands, you have probably noticed that product-warning labels are getting wackier and wackier. There was...

Amidst the Catholic clergy sex abuse scandal, a raft of advocacy groups works nonstop, with rallies, press conferences and conventions, to crank up the rage machine. Some attack the settlement of $55 million reportedly offered by the Boston archdiocese to settle 542 claims, arguing this isn't about money--and that, um, they want more of it. Which raises a question: Who is funding these groups? In some cases the cash comes from the same plaintiff lawyers who stand to reap windfalls in clergy settlements. "There has been an incestuous relationship between victim lawyers and victim groups for some time," says William...

<p>JEFFERSON CITY - Gov. Bob Holden vetoed a series of top Republican bills Wednesday, including one that would require women to wait 24 hours before having an abortion and another that proponents said would help doctors with malpractice insurance costs.</p>

<p>We Americans are rightly amused by Belgium's claim to universal jurisdiction so that its courts can try violations of human rights anywhere in the world, having absolutely no relation to Belgium. For instance, Belgium recently opened an investigation of former President Bush, then-Secretary of Defense Cheney, and Gens. Powell and Schwarzkopf for alleged crimes in the first Gulf War. But while we are scoffing, we ought to consider that our courts are engaged in the same judicial imperialism.</p>

As we observe the current frenzy of lawyers preparing to sue McDonald's and Burger King—and even suing Kraft Foods, the maker of Oreos—for allegedly causing their clients to suffer from obesity, we cannot help but wonder what lunatics have taken over the U.S. legal system. This current litigation, which is done in the name of common law torts, seems on the surface to have the trappings of the historical tort system. There exist the allegedly injured parties (obese people) and the perpetrators of the "injuries" (fast food restaurants). Thus, reason those who are principles in these cases, people should be...

LOS ANGELES (AFP) - Erin Brockovich, the environmental activist who inspired the film of the same name that won Julia Roberts an Oscar in 2001, filed claims against a Beverly Hills school over claims that toxins on campus gave students and staff cancer. "Two hundred and eighty alumni and teachers are involved. They want answers, and so do we," Brockovich told a press conference Monday, as she announced the first list of 25 plaintiffs that will form part of a class-action suit. Brockovich and lawyer Ed Masry in 1996 forced the utility company Pacific Gas and Electric to pay 333...

On August 5th, NBC's Meet the Press featured someone and something we're likely to see much more of in years to come: Senator John Edwards (D-N.C.) squaring off against a nervous representative of the Bush administration. The issue in this case was the so-called patients' bill of rights, and Rep. Charlie Norwood (R-G.A.) the Bush surrogate. Days earlier, the president had sweet-talked Norwood into a midnight deal that sharply restricted patients' right to sue their HMOs. Norwood, who for many years had advocated a much tougher bill, had essentially been suckered, and appeared acutely aware of this as he sat...