Sunday, September 27, 2015
Good Ol' Boys Clubs in MDL
Amanda Bronstad at the National Law Journal recently published an article titled Good Ol' Boys Clubs in MDL that includes a list of law firms that I recently identified as firms with the most lawyers appointed to leadership positions in products liability MDLs. Given the title of her piece, I thought readers might also be interested in the gender breakdown of lead lawyers in those multidistrict litigation cases. Of the top fifty lawyers who were appointed most frequently, only 11 of the 50, or approximately 22% were female. The full list of those attorneys is available in Judging Multidistrict Litigation, 90 N.Y.U. L. Rev. 71, 139-40 (2015) (gender breakdowns are mentioned in footnoted 102).
September 27, 2015 in Aggregate Litigation Procedures, Lawyers, Procedure, Products Liability | Permalink | Comments (0)
Wednesday, September 23, 2015
Trust, VW Brand Management, and Emissions Litigation
Harvard Business Review has a an article, What VW Didn't Understand About Trust, by Andrew Wilson. As perhaps occurred in the Toyota Unintended Acceleration Litigation, VW may be motivated to settle somewhat swiftly any civil litigation or regulatory or criminal inquiries and fines, as part of a larger strategy to regain the public's trust and preserve its brand.
September 23, 2015 in Class Actions, Products Liability, Travel, Vehicles | Permalink | Comments (0)
The Economist on VW Share-Price Drop and Emissions-Related Fines
The Economist has posted an article, Why Volkswagen’s share price has fallen so far.
September 23, 2015 in Regulation, Travel, Vehicles | Permalink | Comments (0)
Growing VW Emissions Litigation, and Potential Parallels to the Toyota UAL Litigation
Daniel Fisher at Forbes has posted his article, Toyota Sudden-Acceleration Case Provides An Expensive Lesson For VW.
September 23, 2015 in Class Actions, Procedure, Products Liability, Travel, Vehicles | Permalink | Comments (0)
Monday, September 14, 2015
David Logan on Judges, Juries, and the Politics of Tort Reform
Professor David Logan (Roger Williams) has posted to SSRN his article, Judges, Juries, and the Politics of Tort Reform, 83 U. Cin. L. Rev. 903 (2015). Here's the abstract:
The civil justice system has many repeat players with a deep interest in the civil justice system because they are often the target of personal injury lawsuits, most prominently product manufacturers and physicians, and the companies that insure them. Following a blueprint drafted by leading corporate lawyer Lewis Powell, prior to his appointment to the Supreme Court of the United States, these deep pocket interests have spent four decades and tens of millions of dollars maligning the civil jury and trying, with notable success, to influence legislators, administrators, and judges, both state and federal, under the catchy, but misleading banner of “tort reform.” These campaigns have been amplified by media coverage of the civil justice system that has been unsophisticated, and at times misleading.
This article argues that separation of powers concerns counsel that we should be cautious about constricting the role of the jury, one of our most democratic institutions. Juries provide checks and balances on government; juries are independent; juries bring community values into the judicial system; juries are fair; juries legitimatize the civil justice system; and, juries generally “get it right.”
Instead of draconian reforms like damage caps, the article argues for the primacy of judges when adjustments to the civil justice system are called for. Judges bring legal experience and knowledge not shared by most legislators and administrators; the nature of the judicial process makes judges predictable and their work transparent; judges are far less likely to be “captured” by special interests than legislators and administrators; and state judges have the best perspective of how the civil justice system works and are thus in the best position to implement reforms when necessary.
The article concludes with a survey of various tools, some time-tested and others novel, by which judges can oversee the work of juries, and the civil justice system more generally.
September 14, 2015 in Mass Tort Scholarship, Procedure, Punitive Damages, Trial | Permalink | Comments (0)
Howard Erichson on Judge Jack Weinstein and the Allure of Antiproceduralism
Professor Howard Erichson (Fordham Law and Editor, Mass Tort Litigation Blog) has posted to SSRN his article, Judge Jack Weinstein and the Allure of Antiproceduralism, 64 DePaul L. Rev. 393 (2015). Here's the abstract:
In one sense of the word proceduralist — a person with expertise in procedure — Judge Jack Weinstein is among the leading proceduralists on the federal bench. But in another sense of the word proceduralist — an adherent of proceduralism, or faithfulness to established procedures — he falls at a different end of the spectrum. Looking at four examples of Judge Weinstein’s work in mass litigation, this Article considers what it means to be an antiproceduralist, someone unwilling to let procedural niceties stand in the way of substantive justice. The allure of antiproceduralism is that it eschews technicalities in favor of substantive justice, but technicalities are in the eye of the beholder, and this Article asks what is lost when a judge steers around procedural constraints.
September 14, 2015 in Aggregate Litigation Procedures, Class Actions, Mass Tort Scholarship, Tobacco | Permalink | Comments (0)
Saturday, September 12, 2015
New Voices in Civil Justice Scholarship Workshop
Vanderbilt Law School has issued its call for papers for the 2016 New Voices in Civil Justice Scholarship Workshop. Alexi, Sergio, and I have all attended these in the past and can attest that it's a great way to get feedback from senior scholars in the field. More information is available here.
September 12, 2015 in Conferences | Permalink | Comments (0)