Personal Injury Roundup No. 25 (2/20/09)

I am considering suing the snow if it returns.  Is spring coming?  Is snow judgment-proof?

Anyway: This week in torts...

Reform, Legislation, Policy

• Eric Turkewitz, as usual, is the go-to source for information about sketchy client solicitation after the Buffalo plane crash [NY Personal Injury Attorney Blog]
• Restatement (Third) of Torts symposium takes on, well, everything [TortsProf]
• Video of David Michaels's lecture at WNEC Law [WNEC Law]
• Walter Olson on CPSIA [Overlawyered]

New Lawsuits

• Suit filed to force detergent manufacturers to disclose ingredients [LA Times]
• Lawsuit alleges lead levels covered up in DC water system, challenging study done by GWU professor (whose contract required approval by water system) [GW Hatchet, MSNBC]

Trials, Settlements & Other Ends

• $2.3 million for person who fell, intoxicated, in front of a subway [Overlawyered, Tort Deform]
• $8 million in post-Engle case [TortsProf]
• Vicki Iseman drops suit against NYT; NYT says it didn't imply an affair or unethical behavior [Politico]

Appeals

• Truth a defense to defamation claim?  Apparently not always.  [Citizen Media Law Project]
• Possibility of recusal for Justice Roberts in Levine? [Writ]
• NJ Supreme Court hear sex abuse case implicating discovery rule [NJ.com]

Damages

• What drives damage caps? [SSRN]

Miscellaneous

• Criminal trial against WR Grace begins [NYT, 2006 TortsProf guest posts]
• Roundtable discussion on FASB rules about contingencies, including pending litigation [Drug & Device Law Blog]
• Potential liability in chimp attack? [A Connecticut Law Blog]

--BC