Free Republic

A man who has filed well over a hundred lawsuits against local small-business owners says he's an advocate for the disabled. His critics say what he does is harassment and extortion. James Farkus Cohan says he's disabled with end-stage emphysema. He sues small businesses, claiming those businesses are violating the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Cohan has filed at least 161 lawsuits... Eyewitness News caught up with Cohan after his daily hike up a steep hill near his Sun Valley home. He was hiking without a wheelchair, walker or oxygen tank.

Business owners are skeptical of "help" from Washington. In fact, our research indicates that business thinks Washington is so far removed from their real-world concerns that they won’t know how to be of any practical assistance.

The nation's trial lawyer group, the American Association for Justice, revealed Tuesday that it expects the U.S. Department of Treasury to soon give its members a tax break on contingency fee lawsuits. The tax break could be similar to proposed legislation that didn't make it through Congress last year. That proposal, sponsored by U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter, D-Pa., would have allowed attorneys to deduct fees and expenses up-front for filing contingency fee lawsuits. John Bowman, the Director of Federal Relations for the AAJ, said in response to a question from a state delegate regarding recruiting new members that an administrative...

But it's unclear whether Obama intends to work tort reform into the bill at all. He treated his entry into the issue Wednesday night as an executive-level regulatory change, directing Sebelius to immediately work toward starting the pilot programs in individual states.

But today, the White House indicated that as a gesture of bipartisanship, President Obama would discuss malpractice reform. “The president is going to talk about the downside of what many doctors have told him is the practicing of defensive medicine, where doctors because they are worried about this order more and more tests in order to make sure that they don't get sued,” Gibbs said on CNN. “That costs our system billions and billions of dollars every year.”

For arbitration’s opponents, ensuring that consumers can go to court is not the end goal. It is actually the first step of a two-step dance at the plaintiffs’ lawyer prom. The second step is to allow these consumer cases to become large class actions—the kind that are famous for making a relatively few plaintiffs’ lawyers rich while giving the consumer masses pennies on the dollar, or even coupons, for their trouble.

President Barack Obama's push for an overhaul of the nation's health care system could be stymied by Senate lawmakers, particularly moderate Democrats, the lobbyist for trial lawyers said... "Democracy is a great thing except on the Senate floor," she said.

Federal legislation that would afford trial lawyers a special tax break faces an uncertain future, says one of the chief lobbyists for the nation's trial lawyers. The proposal would allow attorneys to deduct fees and expenses up-front for filing contingency-fee lawsuits. The proposal amounts to about a $1.6 billion tax break for plaintiffs' attorneys, estimates indicate. "Everyone wants to do it, but the problem is there is not a tax vehicle yet," said Linda Lipsen, American Association for Justice (AAJ) Senior Vice President of Public Affairs. Lipsen was speaking to the Birth Trauma Litigation Group at the annual meeting this...

Howard’s small business was the target of an enormous lawsuit that could have forced him to close his doors. His offense? A wild Canada goose nesting outside his store startled a passerby, causing her to fall. Two years later, Howard was served with papers announcing that the woman was suing Contemporary Watercrafters for $750,000, alleging that the goose was the store’s responsibility. Ironically, Howard had wanted to remove the goose from his property long before the accident, but, because it was protected under the Migratory Species Act, the bird could not be disturbed.

Once again, what's good for the plaintiffs' lawyers is bad for everyone else, including those who need the latest medical breakthroughs to help save or improve their lives.

All the plaintiffs’ bar really needs is a single precedent-setting victory with a public nuisance case. This means that even confronted with long-shot odds, firms like Motley Rice are willing to gamble on the outcome because the ultimate payoff would be astronomical. In Rhode Island, they rolled the dice and they lost. However, those tempted to think that this nearly decade-long pursuit of former lead paint manufacturers ends in the Ocean State, think again. There are numerous “elsewheres” for Motley Rice and other plaintiffs’ firms to look for mega payouts.

Mercedes Clemens is certified to massage humans, but she claims the state of Maryland is keeping her from her first love: Massaging horses.

Well, I can finally identify with some of my clients. In my first 41 years of life, I have been relatively injury free. However, that all changed at the AAJ (American Association for Justice) Conference in Philadelphia, PA. On Sunday, July 13, 2008, we decided to run a sponsored 5k (3.1 miles) in Philadelphia. About half of the way through, I was talking to the attorney next to me and not paying attention. At that point, there was a lower area of the sidewalk where a tree was planted, and my left foot folded under, breaking my fibula. Of course,...

I recently sat down with a reporter from the Ukrainian Service of the Voice of America to talk about the impact that lawsuit abuse is having on America’s small businesses. It seems she had stumbled across our Web site, IAmLawsuitAbuse.org, which brings home the sad reality that lawsuit abuse hurts working families and neighborhood businesses. As someone who is still trying to understand the unique legal culture of the U.S., the foreign-born reporter was shocked that even the most ridiculous of lawsuits has the potential to destroy a business or force it to lay off employees.

After years of being forced to play defense in Washington, the trial lawyer lobby is preparing to go on the offensive in 2009. When Republicans controlled Congress from 1995 to 2006, and during most of President Bush's two terms, trial lawyers were demonized on Capitol Hill and forced back on their heels. The president and GOP leaders pleased their business allies--while targeting a sector that is a mainstay of Democratic fundraising--by passing laws curbing the ability to file class-action suits and tightening the bankruptcy laws. Republicans also tried to restrict medical-malpractice lawsuits and limit asbestos-litigation claims. It reached the point...

Civil lawsuits seek to compensate victims of negligence or wrongdoing, like the unlucky passer-by hit by a falling piano. But how much of a penalty should such suits exact, above and beyond compensation, in order to deter wrongdoing? What about someone traumatized by the sight of the accident, or maybe a whole class of potential victims? And whom can these people sue — the movers, the piano’s maker, its owner?

The huge fees that Weiss and Scruggs were able to pocket stemmed from their technique of gathering very large groups of plaintiffs to sue corporations for damages. Weiss's genius was getting in the door first as lead counsel, using a ready-made stable of clients who, it turned out, were receiving kickbacks in what a federal judge described this week as a "nationwide conspiracy that continued for decades." Scruggs was also adept at enrolling long lists of plaintiffs -- whose damage claims were so sizable that corporations often settled rather than run the risk of multibillion-dollar payouts and possible bankruptcy. Scruggs's...

This seems to be the year of big-time plaintiffs’ trial lawyers facing bad behavior charges. The latest case is the Kentucky Three – wealthy trial lawyers who are now themselves on trial, accused of stealing $65 million from their clients in a diet drug settlement. During the ongoing – and increasingly bizarre – saga, a new excuse has been articulated by the defense attorney for Melbourne Mills, Jr.: the accused suffered from alcoholism, wasn’t involved in the case and therefore could not be held accountable.

A scandal has been emerging in the trial lawyer industry. It points to a potentially cancerous growth in our economy that is killing jobs and hampering prosperity at a time when families are being pummeled by the rising cost of living. What are Democrats in Congress planning to do about it? So far, the answer has been: nothing.

Pop quiz question: Who are the victims of the recent housing crisis? A. Borrowers who signed mortgages they couldn't afford B. Owners who have seen the values of their homes plummet C. Local governments who are dealing with neighborhoods of vacant, foreclosed housing and a shrinking tax base If you chose any of the above, you are wrong. According to the latest legislation getting ready to pass the House, the answer is: D. Plaintiffs' trial lawyers.