Customer Reviews:
Corporate greed.......1998-10-10
A completely compelling account of exactly how far a business will go to make a profit. Brodeur is a brilliant writer.
An amazing account of how corporations poisoned millions........1998-03-08
An amazing account of how the asbestos companies poisoned millions and conspired to prevent the release of the dangers of asbestos. The book displays the possibilities of corporate greed and contains a blueprint for preventing future toxic nightmares.
Amazon.com
Mississippi is not widely known for being first in anything; in fact, Michael Orey notes in Assuming the Risk, the state ranks last or near last on an embarrassing array of scales. And yet, he writes, it was in the courtrooms of this disparaged Southern state that a pioneering team of lawyers led the way in a politically controversial crusade against the tobacco industry. Mississippi was the first state in the nation to sue cigarette manufacturers to recover smoking-related health care costs incurred by the state's Medicaid program. The fierce legal battle resulted in a multibillion-dollar settlement and eventually led to hundreds of billions of dollars in fines levied against the tobacco industry when other states followed suit.
Though decidedly pro-plaintiff, Assuming the Risk is not another vituperative rant against the Evil Empire of Big Tobacco: Orey does not shout and stomp on his soapbox. Instead, the veteran legal journalist and Wall Street Journal editor coolly focuses on the objective facts, presenting the who, what, where, and when of a complex and contentious litigation. His well-researched and detailed narrative spotlights the key figures in this real-life morality play--the mavericks, lawyers, and whistleblowers--including one particularly revealing chapter on Jeffrey Wigand, a former research scientist for the tobacco firm Brown & Williamson, whose decision to break a confidentiality agreement by speaking with 60 Minutes investigative reporter Mike Wallace became the subject of the 1999 film The Insider. --Tim Hogan
Book Description
Mississippi is not widely known for being first in anything; in fact, Michael Orey notes in Assuming the Risk, the state ranks last or near last on an embarrassing array of scales. And yet, he writes, it was in the courtrooms of this disparaged Southern state that a pioneering team of lawyers led the way in a politically controversial crusade against the tobacco industry. Mississippi was the first state in the nation to sue cigarette manufacturers to recover smoking-related health care costs incurred by the state's Medicaid program. The fierce legal battle resulted in a multibillion-dollar settlement and eventually led to hundreds of billions of dollars in fines levied against the tobacco industry when other states followed suit.Though decidedly pro-plaintiff, Assuming the Risk is not another vituperative rant against the Evil Empire of Big Tobacco: Orey does not shout and stomp on his soapbox. Instead, the veteran legal journalist and Wall Street Journal editor coolly focuses on the objective facts, presenting the who, what, where, and when of a complex and contentious litigation. His well-researched and detailed narrative spotlights the key figures in this real-life morality play--the mavericks, lawyers, and whistleblowers--including one particularly revealing chapter on Jeffrey Wigand, a former research scientist for the tobacco firm Brown Williamson, whose decision to break a confidentiality agreement by speaking with 60 Minutes investigative reporter Mike Wallace became the subject of the 1999 film The Insider. --Tim Hogan
Customer Reviews:
Insightful!.......2001-09-19
Michael Orey begins his thorough examination of the courtroom battles against big tobacco by examining Horton v. American Tobacco, the Mississippi case that launched the mid-1980s barrage of legal attacks on big tobacco and led eventually to U.S. settlements of more than $200 billion. As they read about the assault on Brown and Williamson, cinema buffs may feel they are revisiting The Insider with Al Pacino. The book combines a walk-through of the day-to-day legal procedures and motions with a look into the lives of the major players. This well-written volume presents the tobacco case like an engrossing true-crime story, although some readers may find it has too much detail to hold their interest. We [...] recommend this fascinating book to most general readers. But while executives searching for principles to apply to their own companies may find themselves captivated, they won't find much here that is generally applicable.
Great!.......2000-07-27
It may seem paradoxical to most that for trial lawyers are not afraid to lose a case. Every trial is a learning experience. You learn about your opponent; you learn about yourself. You try a losing case over and over in your head at night. You learn from your mistakes. You learn from the opposing lawyer. You become obsessed and through it all you learn how to win.
This is the true story of some country lawyers in Mississippi who launched a holy war against Big Tobacco. They were unlikely Davids battling a Goliath.
The country lawyers looked like easy pickings to the big firm lawyers from the big cities. The silk stocking crowd would bury them in paper, bankrupt them in endless discovery, and outdazzle them in court, if the bumpkins ever got that far. These champions of nicotine had never lost a case. The clients had never paid one dime to any tobacco victim. They were the chosen ones, selected to keep the streak alive, to bring home the scalps of the piteous Mississippi lawyers.
Trial lawyers know that a lawyer who has never lost a case has never tried a case. Undeterred by the myth of invincibility of the tobacco industry these dreamers were able to use the industry's incredible arrogance on itself to bring it to its knees. In short, the truth got out, and the rest is history.
If you are a law student or a young lawyer thinking about trying cases for a living, read this book. This is how its done and how you can sleep at night.
Superb Story With Little Heroes And Lots Of Lying Everywhere.......1999-09-14
What an interesting recording how Lawyers violate their own standards of conduct just to win. The book shows how documents about Tobacco were stolen and then how the person who stole them was paid $1.8 million by the very Lawyers he helped to win billions for in fees. Yet, I wondered what those same Lawyers would have the same tactics used against them, how they would feel. But the cause was to show that smoking Cigarettes is evil and not good for our health, yet we already knew this and making the companies admit it was a victory. So in the end whenever someone is being sued and if we applaud those breaking ethics and the laws in pursuit for justice, then we encourage bad behavior. In the end when we celebrate this kind of action how far can murder, threats of murder and destruction's of families will be justified in pursuit of justice? Billions have been made, billions have been won, but by whom and for whom? No one should be proud of their actions as described in the book and if they are they can wonder later what will happen when others use the same tactics are them. What is tragic is Society knew shortly after the Native Americans gave Tobacco to Columbus that it was deadly, but people wanted it, and used it, so the governments created Sin Taxes to help discourage it. It did not work back then and it will not work now. People will be free to do what they want and nothing will stop it. At the same time, no one should begin to smoke or smoke but how do you stop it. The book is a great read. I recommend it highly but read it without smoking if you can!
Book Description
Agent Orange on Trial is a riveting legal drama with all the suspense of a courtroom thriller. One of the Vietnam War's farthest reaching legacies was the Agent Orange case. In this unprecedented personal injury class action, veterans charge that a valuable herbicide, indiscriminately sprayed on the luxuriant Vietnam jungle a generation ago, has now caused cancers, birth defects, and other devastating health problems. Peter Schuck brilliantly recounts the gigantic confrontation between two million ex-soldiers, the chemical industry, and the federal government. From the first stirrings of the lawyers in 1978 to the court plan in 1985 for distributing a record $200 million settlement, the case, which is now on appeal, has extended the frontiers of our legal system in all directions.
In a book that is as much about innovative ways to look at the law as it is about the social problems arising from modern science, Schuck restages a sprawling, complex drama. The players include dedicated but quarrelsome veterans, a crusading litigator, class action organizers, flamboyant trial lawyers, astute court negotiators, and two federal judges with strikingly different judicial styles. High idealism, self-promotion, Byzantine legal strategies, and judicial creativity combine in a fascinating portrait of a human struggle for justice through law.
The Agent Orange case is the most perplexing and revealing example until now of a new legal genre: the mass toxic tort. Such cases, because of their scale, cost, geographical and temporal dispersion, and causal uncertainty, present extraordinarily difficult challenges to our legal system. They demand new approaches to procedure, evidence, and the definition of substantive legal rights and obligations, as well as new roles for judges, juries, and regulatory agencies. Schuck argues that our legal system must be redesigned if it is to deal effectively with the increasing number of chemical disasters such as the Bhopal accident, ionizing radiation, asbestos, DES, and seepage of toxic wastes. He imaginatively reveals the clash between our desire for simple justice and the technical demands of a complex legal system.
This is a book for all Americans interested in their environment, their legal system, their history, and their future.
Book Description
Analyzes the costs and compensation paid for asbestos personal-injury claims and discussess such issues as the current state of asbestos litigation in the United States, the costs of compensation, the effects if litigation in the businesses, and theevolving character of litigation.
Book Description
In a landmark report by the U.S. Surgeon General in 1964, the government warned its citizens of the adverse effects of smoking on their health and took a series of steps to discourage smoking. These steps stemmed from "ordinary politics" -that is, actions taken or authorized by legislatures. 1994 heralded a new era in tobacco politics: of "adversarial legalism," wherein state attorneys general sued leading cigarette manufacturers for the harm they had done to public health. These law-suits culminated in the Master Settlement Agreement (MSA) that directed an estimated $250 billion to state governments over the next 25 years and imposed new marketing and advertising restrictions.
In her second edition, Martha Derthick introduces new evidence from 5 years of experience under the MSA to show that the states were more interested in raising revenue than in improving tobacco control, that the enrichment of wealthy tort lawyers violated the legal profession's ethics, and that the agreement, ironically, spawned the rise of small, upstart cigarette manufacturers able to undersell the major companies. In this clearly written, fast-paced case study, Derthick concludes that the tobacco lawsuits not only produced flawed public policy that flouted the American system of checks and balances, but has done little to improve or better safeguard public health.
Customer Reviews:
Good Public Policy Book!.......2007-10-10
This book was one of two books that were required readings in my Public Policy course at Rutgers University. It is a great book to read to understand how public policy has changed through time from Legislation to Litigation. Check it out if you are interested in learning about Public Policy.
Interesting To Say The Least.......2003-11-20
I am a college student and was forced to read this book for one of my Political Science classes. I must give Ms. Derthick credit. She wrote a piece that was very informative and gave you an inside look at what politics is really about. It takes you from the careful court systems, to protective government agencies, to individuals begging for compensation. It was a thick read, very slow for most of my classmates to get through. I believe she was flawed in her view of litigation over legislation. She made it clear that we should pursue legislation over litigation, though when it came to legislation, it seemed like she had a "How dare they do that" attitude. All I have to say is that if you are a student that is required to read this book, hold on because you are in for a ride. I also hope you have a lot of free time because it will take you a little while to read and digest all the information this book has to offer.
Provoking Look at Public Policy and the Tobacco Industry.......2003-09-05
"In "Up in Smoke," Martha A. Derthick, former professor of government at the University of Virginia and author or coauthor of several studies of the U.S. policy process, describes and analyzes the events leading to the historic 1998 tobacco settlement with the states. She concludes that these developments continue an unfortunate movement away from representative democratic negotiation toward a process of "adversarial legalism" that relegates democratic politics to the sidelines of public policy."
"For those readers sincerely interested in reducing smoking and its attendant health risks, "Up in Smoke" presents a decidedly mixed bag. Although smoking continues to decline among Americans, the states now have a large vested interest in seeing that the sale of cigarettes continues unabated. If such continuation occurs, they can count on substantial payments from the industry for at least the next two decades. Also, many states are now increasing dramatically their excise taxes on cigarettes. The revenue stream from this unhealthy habit has become important to state finances. Obviously, the states will be reluctant to ban smoking entirely."
"Thus, those aspiring to a smoke-free society are now considerably more limited in their alternatives for achieving their goal. Local governments may continue to enact highly restrictive legislation, and there is the slim possibility that national government litigation may result in heavier penalties on smoking. Lawsuits by private plaintiffs also remain a viable, though limited, option. The most serious problem posed by the MSA (master settlement agreement of 1997) for antismoking activists, however, is that it has created a powerful political constituency that reaps substantial rewards from the tobacco industry. There is little reason to believe that state legislatures will stand idly by and allow either their courts or their local governments to threaten their revenue."
-From "The Independent Review," Winter 2003
Fascinating Image of American Politics.......2002-03-06
Derthick's story of the tobacco wars is the real deal of American politics, not the civics you learned in high school. Unlike some writers, Derthick doesn't moralize about tobacco. Some looking for fevered preaching may be put off by her detachment and even skepticism about the anti-tobacco movement. Careful readers, however, will find all the creepy details about tobacco companies they have come to expect. Derthick is objective, and the tobacco executives are, objectively, creepy. The best part about this book, though, is that Derthick has a deep understanding about American politics, and the reader will take away sharp images of how policy is made--from trial lawyers to crusading agencies, from university faculty and health professionals to the muddle in Congress. It's all here, in one timely and highly readable book.
Don't buy this book.......2001-10-26
This book may mislead some gullible readers, but it must anger anyone familiar with struggles against Big Tobacco.
I awarded two stars for Dr. Derthick's central idea. I could not award any more stars due to Dr. Derthick's flawed execution in writing this book.
Her central idea is that litigation does not work as well as legislation in designing policies and making decisions. Most readers, I believe, will grant the author that much. Lawsuits are designed for some evils of democracies but are not well designed to make policy or to regulate society.
A good book on the pitfalls of litigating even when legislatures, executives, and bureaucracies have largely failed would be a Godsend, I thought. I still think that. The trouble is, this is not a good book.
Some of the book is merely disappointing: arguments and assumptions too flimsy to be specious; half-clever tactics that will fool few who do not want to be fooled; and so on. However, what about wretched students whose teacher is so reckless as to assign the book? How many of them will see the fallacies? This, then, is a dangerous book when it is not merely disappointing.
Let me reveal just two tricks.
Trick #1: Ersatz Equilibration
Professor Derthick facilely "levels the playing field" by supplying -- usually at the end of a long paragraph of anti-smokers' complaints about Big Tobacco's stifling of reforms -- some allegedly compensating political advantage that the anti-smokers enjoyed. I could supply examples, but I shall spare ... busy patrons. This trick should not deceive a deft reader any more than noting that Burt Lancaster's soldiers downed a Japanese plane in "From Here to Eternity" made the U. S. less disadvantaged after Pearl Harbor. [If the author would protest that comparison, I would remind her that tobacco kills more Americans in a month than died at Pearl Harbor on 12-7-41.]
Still, I worry that beginning students or gullible citizens may not see that Derthick has downplayed all of the bogus research, mendacity, and propaganda that Big Tobacco has used to prevent legislative initiatives from succeeding.
If readers know that normal politics has been subverted by tobacco companies, they may welcome the courts as a way to save fellow citizens from cancer or at least to make tobacco companies devote some of their profits to helping those whom they have victimized.
Trick #2: Ideals and Reals
The good professor presumes that no one would deny that the Constitution favors legislation over litigation. I deny that. Indeed, I do not see how one could construe the separation of powers a la Montesquieu and the Constitution of 1787 -- and state constitutions -- other than to say, as Marshall claimed in Marbury v. Madison, that courts interpret and apply legislated policies to specific cases. The Constitution, I had long believed, assigned different sorts of policy-making to different spheres. Dr. Derthick's truism is false unless one circumscribes policy-making in a manner utterly at odds with political experience.
However, even if the Constitution conferred some priority on legislative policy-making, and even if we overlook the domination of at least some policy-making by executives and extra-legislative forces, anti-smokers would nonetheless have an argument that Congress had defaulted over the decades.
The author not only soft-peddles the legislative history of smoking but hypes the crusade-like mentality of the anti-tobacco forces. This lovely decontextualization makes anti-tobacco activists look truly fanatical unless the reader is independently aware of the perfidy and propaganda and profits that have characterized at least fifty years of Big Tobacco's purported or proven role as purveyor of cancer. [Of course, the author does note that smokers chose to smoke. Great point! And women who used Dalkon Shield chose to have it inserted! And alcoholics chose to take that first drink!]
If we compare Congress as an anticipated ideal with the real world politicking in Congress, we should not be surprised when the ideal bests the real. To steal from John Hart Ely: the good news is that the good doctor's trick "works;" the bad news is that everyone should see it as a cheap trick.
I believe that there are serious words to be written and said about the use of litigation to make policy but the author evidently decided not to write about or even to learn about the uses of litigation. I hope someone will write that serious work.
Average customer rating:
- Excellently written, but read with caution.
- Biased, unbalanced, conservative...complete garbage
- anti-Southern bigotry notwithstanding, a thorough attack
- A Highly Relevant Expose
- Clear and Direct
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The Rule of Lawyers: How the New Litigation Elite Threatens America's Rule of Law
Walter K. Olson
Manufacturer: Truman Talley Books
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Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 0312280858 |
Book Description
Big-ticket litigation is a way of life in this country. But something new is afoot--something typified by the $246 billion tobacco settlement, and by courtroom assaults that have followed against industries ranging from HMOs to gunmakers, from lead paint manufacturers to "factory farms." Each massive class-action suit seeks to invent new law, to ban or tax or regulate something that elected lawmakers had chosen to leave alone. And each time the new process works as intended, the new litigation elite reaps billions in fees--which they invest in fresh rounds of suits, as well as political contributions. The Rule of Lawyers asks: Who picks these lawyers, and who can fire them? Who protects the public's interest when settlements are negotiated behind closed doors? Where are our elected lawmakers in all this?The answers may determine whether we slip from the rule of law to the rule of lawyers. AUTHORBIO: WALTER K. OLSON is the author of The Litigation Explosion (1991). A senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, Olson has written on law and lawyers for the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, City Journal, and others. He lives and works in Chappaqua, NY.
Customer Reviews:
Excellently written, but read with caution........2007-07-26
Walter Olson, as other reviewers have noted, is biased. He is a pro-business conservative who works for pro-business causes. This book, as other reviewers have noted, does not address the corrupt nature of corporations or their lack of accountability to the consumer.
On the other hand, those points have nothing to do with his thesis: that a small elite of plantiff trial lawyers, using government influence and sloppy law, have turned the civil justice system of the United States into a gigantic blackmail machine for their own enrichment. Olson supports this thesis with chapter after devastating chapter showing how nepotism, abuse of class action, junk science, the triumph of emotion over fact, and above all the ability to sue without any grounds whatever without any consequences have destroyed justice in the civil system.
Olsen offers several solutions to these abuses. He proposes instituting European standards for civil suits- that is, the loser pays all the winner's legal costs. He proposes a ban on percentage-of-settlement contingency fees. He proposes massive class action tort reform- under the current system class action lawyers win massive payoffs while their clients, who generally don't even KNOW they're clients, at most get a coupon for a product they no longer want. Most of all, he calls on his readers to be aware of the issues of tort reform in the political arena- an awareness made all the more necessary by the prevalence of trial lawyers in legislative office and the massive campaign donations trial lawyers give to establishment officials.
Don't take everything in this book as gospel, and certainly question Olson's bias. Even after doing so, the simple facts in the book demonstrate beyond doubt that corrupt lawyers not only use the system to their own advantage, but in so doing endanger the freedom of all Americans- particularly the freedom from judicial extortion.
Biased, unbalanced, conservative...complete garbage.......2006-09-10
This book is terrible on multiple levels. Rather than discuss tort litigation with a balanced approach, and then leading to a "tort litigation is bad" conclusion, it starts with the premise that tort litigation is bad and goes downhill from there.
Everything, including facts, discussion, opinion, and analysis, is biased. For example, attorney generals who are true consumer advocate hawks (e.g., Eliot Spitzer) are deemed "hyperactive"; referring to an associate of Ralph Nader as the "chief pot stirrer" who has a "relentlessly accusatory public persona" and is "always on the attack." His bias is also subtle. In one instance, he sings the praises of the American College of Rheumatology (ACR), which found evidence that silicon [...] implants do not expose patients of rheumatic disease. This is a subtle slight of hand because Olson conveniently forgets to point out that the ACR has a vested interest in funding and/or publishing research that leads to this conclusion (there is NO way the ACR would publish a paper leading to the conclusion its practictioners have been partially responsible for the poisoning of thousands of women; it is a peer group made up of practictioners!!!).
Olson demonizes specific targets that suspiciously reflect those of conservatives. The media, trial lawywers, consumer watchdogs, etc., are deemed evil. The media (read: the "liberal" media) perpetuates tort scares, and serves as the unwitting (or witting) accomplices to the plaintiff's bar. Apparently, Olson has never watched Fox "News" or "far and balanced" idiots like O'Reilly. Ralph Nader is also attacked endlessly. Nader made his mark in the 1970's bringing the Pinto class action against Ford. Olson mentions the suit, but fails to look into the deeper issues of corporate responsibility, the fact that individual claimants cannot individually match the resources of Ford in bringing the suit, etc. Consumer advocates are painted as being in the pocket of the plaintiff's bar, needlessly aggressive, unscrupulous, etc. Olson's ideology defies common sense. Does he actually believe Enron was a good thing, or that Consumer Reports is a bad thing? His approach inescapably leads to this illogical conclusion.
What becomes evident are those things that are "good." Corporations are revered, and good for America; their executives would never choose profits over ethics. In Olson's world, there is no such thing as inequality of resources in bringing suit (which the class action suit can help remedy). In his world, medical malpractice damages caps are welcome, but liability premium caps by insurers (to doctors) are not.
Perhaps the most infuriating aspect of his ideological approach to "tort reform" is his failure to recognize what tort law does, and that many tort lawyers are ethical and truly care about the well-being of their clients. For example, he fails to discuss that products, although made by responsible individuals and/or corporations, sometimes have defects that when the conditions are right, can lead to truly disasterous results. Instead, he pontificates about how products like the Pinto had a comparatively safe record. This is NOT the point. The point is that the single defect that makes it hideously dangerous should be corrected. If the defect is not fixed (e.g., not cost effective), the ONLY avenue to remedy this problem is to bring suit. In Olson's world, this is a bad thing; a person who is harmed by a corporation that produces a dangerous product should not be able to bring suit against that corporation. Olson fails to realize that the corporation saves money for not correcting the product, while the person harmed may be straddled with debilitating injuries and medical bills. Apparently, in his world, this inequity is a just result; "buyer beware" is the only warranty that should be permitted. Likewise, in his world, a lawyer who brings a suit against the corporation is, by default, greedy and evil. Again, he fails to know (or discuss) that bring suits are VERY expensive, and plaintiff's lawyers take enormous financial risks to bring such suits. It never seems to dawn on Olson that damages plaintiff lawyers receive are offset by costs to bring suit, similar to "net profits" to a company. In Olson's world, such lawyers should be paupers and should take any such risks without any form of compensation. His logic is moronic.
In short, Olson is a tool of the insurance industry and conservative ideology. He only presents a one-sided view of the issues, and does not give the discussion (or the plaintiff's bar) any form of respect. If you would like a meaningful discussion of tort law and litigation, avoid this book, and its author, like the plague.
anti-Southern bigotry notwithstanding, a thorough attack.......2005-05-31
In The Rule of Lawyers, Walter Olson describes how a Southern "Jackpot Belt" from South Carolina to Texas awards ridiculous damages against "foreign corporations." Olson perceives the slick trial lawyers as taking advantage of parochial, bigoted jurors in what others might call the "Bible Belt." Such jurors, whom Olson derides as "the few, the proud, the ill-informed," (p. 245) are ignorant participants in a massive "get-rich-quick" scheme that redistributes corporate wealth to greedy lawyers with political ties.
Of course, Olson does not wittingly insult conservative Southerners. From his vantage at the Manhattan Institute, he charitably acknowledges their "fabled hospitality" (p. 209) while striving to arouse their fervor against lawyers who might pose beneath a "picture of a naked lady" (p. 74). Yet when Olson suggests Midwestern and Southern jurors are particularly susceptible to "junk science" sold by slick lawyers to ignorant, bigoted, rural folks in asbestos, breast-implant, automotive, tobacco, and other litigation, one wonders why they wouldn't take umbrage.
All the expected pellets are fired in this barrage of grapeshot against the plaintiff's bar: the lawyers fly around in private airplanes (much like the corporate executives they sue), they profit tremendously from their trade (much like the corporations they sue), and they lobby politicians (much like the corporations they sue). While seeking a quick buck, the slick lawyers stretch and break the law (much like the corporations they sue). These dastardly characters are not to be trusted (much like...).
As Olson tells it, a couple of corporations may have done a few bad deeds, but Southerners in the "Jackpot Belt" punish the guilty and innocent alike. As he tells it, corporations would never hurt a fly, let alone kill a human being by hiding hidden risks in a dangerous product. When Swiss banks benefit from the Holocaust, Olson turns a blind eye; but if American corporations benefited from the slave-trade, Olson writhes with anger at the greedy lawyers seeking a quick buck for seeking reparations.
Notwithstanding the anti-Southern bigotry which a casual reader might overlook by failing to connect the dots between the chapters, the book inventories all the slurs available against the plaintiff's lawyers. Olson merits a quick glance, in case one failed to realize that slick lawyers earn money by winning lawsuits. For fairness or balance, look elsewhere.
A Highly Relevant Expose.......2004-07-12
Walter Olson's The Rule of Lawyers is a highly relevant book for our ever more litigious society. In a well-written 307 pages, Olson presents a scathing indictment of what he refers to as "the Fourth Branch of Government"- trial lawyers. Olson clearly and persuasively argues in this book against the tort industry- beginning the book with a history of how our nation has allowed open season on a variety of industries- tobacco, car manufacturers, and gun manufacturers (among others) and walks the reader through the various campaigns the litigation elite have waged against Dow Corning, asbestos suppliers, and others. Olson also examines other litigation phenomena such as how TV newsmagazines act as mouthpieces for trial attorneys and how attorneys manipulate our jury system to achieve huge verdicts for their clients. Particularly interesting to me was the chapter entitled "The Jackpot Belt" where Olson analyzes trends in jury awards in states from Texas to Florida (the Jackpot Belt supposedly stretches from Beaumont to Pensacola) where juries have been especially generous in punitive damage awards.
I would recommend this book for anyone from lawyers, to law students or even to the layperson with an interest in this subject. Olson avoids technical, complex language and jargon and the book is highly readable.
Clear and Direct.......2004-02-13
Walter Olsen has done a fine job of analyzing the inherent conflict of interest between the legal profession and Justice and the threat it posses to the ideals of Democracy.
Even those who support our odd system of civil justice will find things to think about.
Book Description
The book "Product Liability Litigation" presents a basic understanding of product liability with instruction on everything from completing paperwork to managing a case and performing investigative research. Topics include Negligence, Warranties, Strict Liability, Defenses and Responses, Particular Product Problems, the Product Liability Lawsuit and Recovery, and The Trial. Case studies help the reader build a full case and familiarize the reader with key case law.
Customer Reviews:
Legal Text Does Not Limit Itself to Socratic Method.......2002-05-07
Mark A. Kinzie, the author, April 2002
Author Comments
PRODUCT LIABILITY LITIGATION was written for law students. The text was designed to provide black-letter law principles of Product Liability through the Restatement Third (1997) and interpretation of these principles through current, issue-specific court opinions. The text differs from traditional approaches to law because it does not simply reprint case law. Instead, the topic is taught through a collection of Restatements, statutes, regulations, law review articles, case studies, and practice materials to give the student the basic parameters of Product Liability. We then expand those parameters through the interpretation given by court opinions, treatises, and law reviews. In each chapter the student is given essential elements, historical development, Restatement principles, a fact synopsis of each case, cites to additional materials, case notes, and case problems. Unique problems with food, component parts, pharmaceuticals, medical devices, used products, handguns, tobacco, and post-sale obligations of manufacturers are considered in Chapter 6. Practical approaches to product liability litigation are considered in Chapter 7. Enjoy.
Average customer rating:
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Practical Global Tort Litigation: United States, Germany and Argentina
Andrew J. McClurg ,
Adem Koyuncu , and
Luis Eduardo Sprovieri
Manufacturer: Carolina Academic Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 1594601925
Release Date: 2007-03-30 |
Product Description
The first entry in the Contextual Approach Series to comparative law, Practical Global Tort Litigation takes readers on a journey through a tort case in the U.S., Germany, and Argentina.
Using a shattering glass food container as the vehicle, the book compares how a prototypical products liability case would be handled in the U.S. common law system and representative civil law nations in Europe and Latin America. The book analyzes from a real world perspective issues such as fact gathering and presentation, expert witnesses, burdens of proof, theories of recovery and defenses, and damages and attorneys' fees.
Average customer rating:
- Exciting at times, dry at others
- How judges work the law
- Very detailed story of the litigation
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Bending the Law: The Story of the Dalkon Shield Bankruptcy
Richard B. Sobol
Manufacturer: University Of Chicago Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 0226767523 |
Book Description
Winner of the American Bar Association's 1992 Silver Gavel Award "in recognition of an outstanding contribution to public understanding of the American system of law and justice."
"Mr. Sobol has produced a readable yet fully researched and detailed study of the operation of the bankruptcy and its effects upon all concerned—the women who were injured, the swarms of lawyers who represented parties in the bankruptcy, and the court which oversaw the bankruptcy in Richmond. . . . This book adds greatly to the current debate about how strong a managerial federal judge our system should have."—Paul D. Rheingold, New York Law Journal
"Bending the Law is polemical and relentless. It is also minutely researched, fluidly written, and persuasive."—Paul Reidinger, ABA Journal
"Bending the Law is a must read for bankruptcy practitioners, and for anyone else concerned about the use of bankruptcy law to deal with mass torts. Although its author is a civil rights lawyer, he details the subtle art of practicing bankruptcy law with a discerning eye, and is a gifted storyteller as well."—Joryn Jenkins, Federal Bar News and Journal
"This is an accessible history of the case by a veteran civil-rights lawyer."—Washington Post Book World
Customer Reviews:
Exciting at times, dry at others.......2006-04-18
Unfortunately, I found it more dry then exciting. It helps to have a working knowledge of bankruptcy cases, but with this case so immense, the cast of characters grew so large and confusing I had to take notes to keep them straight. Probably the best resource out there that deals with the fallout of the Dalkon Shield case, but be forewarned, I emitted a cheer when I was finally through this.
How judges work the law.......2000-08-30
The book is concerned with a number of tortious claims for punitive damages brought against the A H Robins Company for its reckless marketing of a contraceptive device called the Dalkon Shield. As juries across the United states begin to award huge punitive damages against the pharmaceutical company it becomes obvious that the survival of the company depends upon the outcome of the litigation.
At this stage enter the figure of federal District Judge Robert Merhige - someone who would be called a strong judge by any standards. Merhige manages the consolidation of outstanding cases before him in his court in Richmond, Virginia and, when the A H Robins Company seeks protection behind Chapter 11 bankruptcy, also manages the bankruptcy.
The book is a real eye-opener as to what happens when a strong judge takes a certain view of a case. Merhige is determined to achieve a particular outcome and the combined efforts of the best plaintiffs' tort lawyers in the US are unable to prevent him having his way. Merhige has a hide like that of a rhinoceros - his skill and ingenuity enable his controversial actions, which many thought outrageous, to survive all attempts to box him into a corner or get his decisions overturned on appeal.
His opponents claimed that Merhige should have declined to hear the case on the grounds that he had a clear conflict of interest. The president of AH Robins Company was his near neighbour and the company was the largest employer in Richmond, VA - Merhige's home town. If the Robins Company went out of business there would have been mass unemployment in Richmond. Merhige, however, denied all claims of bias and blandly argued that every action he took was in the interest of the plaintiffs.
The book provides a fascinating look at how the workings of corporate interests and the legal system combined to override the rights of victims. It's a book to make a feminist's blood boil!
Very detailed story of the litigation.......1999-07-07
I enjoyed Sobol's presentation of the litigation story. He presented a thorough and well documented accountof the tragedy that was the Dalkon Shield.
Product Description
In todays litigation environment manufacturers must systematically manage their product liability risks. This requires that product managers and corporate decision-makers take as much interest in managing the companys product liability as they do in their initiatives to increase shareholder value. They simply cannot sit back and criticize the system while relying on past practices and antiquated legal principles. Thats a recipe for disaster. Corporate executives must understand that shareholder value means little if the company is forced into bankruptcy by product litigation. Society today demands more from manufacturers than it did just a few decades ago. A systematic approach to managing product liability risks, therefore, begins with an appreciation of the legal principles under which products are judged, and an acceptance of the fact that the rules will continue to change to meet consumer expectations. Corporate managers cannot be surprised by the civil justice system. They must understand the system and design and distribute products that conform to its requirements. In this book the authors provide corporate managers with a comprehensive look at current and developing trends in product liability law and offers practical suggestions on how to minimize the risks of litigation as product liability law continues to expand. Co-authored by David H. Canter, Partner, Harrington Foxx Dubrow & Canter Llp, and J. Wilson McCallister, this book provides unique insight into the exposure of a corporation to product liability litigation and offers the benefit of the authors' experience to managing this risk. This book offers unique insights from in-house to outside counsel, producing advice that is workable from both sides of the practice. J. Wilson McCallister was with Deere & Company in its law department for 25 years. As Associate General Counsel, he managed Deere's product litigation, early dispute resolution program and special litigation throughout the United States. David Canter, a senior partner at the Los Angeles firm of Harrington, Foxx, Dubrow & Canter has defended corporations in products liability litigation for 40 years. He has defended corporations in litigation in 17 state and federal courts and thus has gained wide nationwide experience. Chapters include: 1.) Product Liability: The Legal Context and Trends 2.) A Systematic Approach to Managing Product Liability Exposure and Litigation 3.) A First Step: Designing to Reduce Product Accidents and Injuries 4.) The Importance of Proper Selection and Use of Expert Witnesses 5.) Striving To Be the Best Pays Off 6.) The Effective Use of Legal Counsel 7.) Early Claims Resolution Makes Sense: A Strategy 8.) Alternate Dispute Resolution is Cost Effective: A Strategy 9.) Document Retention Policy: How to Stay Out of Trouble with the Courts and Juries 10.) The Trial: Its Non-Controllable Risks and Possible Wins and Losses
Customer Reviews:
Excellent Resource.......2006-04-04
I found this book to be an excellent resource for both lawyer and non-lawyer. For the lawyer immersed in product liability risk management, it provides a useful refresher and a concise collection of information needed in our practice. But it also provides information of use to non-lawyers who play a role in product risk management. In particular, there are several "checklists" of information critical to risk management from the perspective of distributors, procurement personnel, and others. I have shared those lists with persons within my company who can benefit from having the list at hand. I have seen no other book on the subject that has such broad application to the every-day activities of those involved in product liability risk management.
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