New Punitives Ruling Means New Battles
April 01, 2003
The Supreme Court's April 7 ruling on punitive damages, greeted with relief and enthusiasm by corporate defendants, opens new battlegrounds in litigation seeking those awards. The ruling significantly expanded the High Court's prior attempts to guide lower courts and lawyers on when punitive damages awards may run afoul of the Constitution. <i>State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co. v. Campbell</i>, No. 01-1289.
Case Notes
April 01, 2003
Highlights of the latest intellectual property cases from around the country.
Daubert: 10 Years Later
April 01, 2003
<i>This is the second of a two-part article. Part one appeared in last month's issue.</i> The first part of this two-part article explored the development of the standards for admission of expert testimony under <i>Daubert</i>, and discussed strategies and tactics for dealing with them. The conclusion addresses tactics for use while deposing an expert, briefing a <i>Daubert</i> motion, and conducting a hearing on the motion.
Practice Tip: Maximizing Jury Questionnaires to Your Client's Advantage
April 01, 2003
In the weeks before trial of a product liability case, you will presumably begin to focus more significantly on jury selection, perhaps the most important stage of any jury trial. One way to maximize the <i>voir dire</i> process is to use juror questionnaires — a series of written questions that are given to the prospective jury panel and answered in writing by each prospective juror prior to voir dire.
Mass Tort Medicine Men
April 01, 2003
Mass tort litigation provides ample opportunity for filing spurious claims. Last November, a Philadelphia federal judge sharply criticized two small New York plaintiffs' firms for allegedly having submitted dubious claims to a fen-phen diet pill settlement trust. U.S. District Judge Harvey Bartle III of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania found that 78 claimants did not, in fact, show evidence of heart valve damage, notwithstanding diagnoses to that effect by two physicians retained by the firms. One of those physicians had been paid $725,000 to interpret 725 echocardiograms, while the other was getting a contingent $1500 bonus for each diagnosed claim that was paid by the trust, the judge found.
Online
April 01, 2003
Attorneys litigating suits involving everything from vaccines to the safety of the air on jetliners, or those who simply need scientific information about research and policies, can visit <i>www.national-academies.org</i>, the Web site for the National Academies of Science and Engineering, the Institute of Medicine and the National Research Council. Areas covered on the site include: biology, chemistry, engineering, environmental issues, behavioral and social science, education, health and medicine, and business and economics.
Mississippi Adopts 'Tort Reform'
April 01, 2003
Tort reform continues to be a controversial topic. California has placed a cap on damages. At press time, New York was considering similar legislation. Doctors in several states have conducted "strikes" to protest the amount of their malpractice premiums and to urge tort reform in their states. This article describes recent legislation in Mississippi — in order to alert readers to the trend and illustrate one state's efforts to deal with the problem of astronomic verdicts by sympathetic juries.
Coping with Poor Corporate Hygiene in the Early Stage
April 01, 2003
Part 2 of 2. Last month, Dan Mahoney and Jim Thorton discussed the costs of "poor corporate hygiene" in early stage companies to include the overzealous use of options (and how it affects the cap table), as well as the pitfalls of short-sighted legal structuring. The lack of attention to these issues can often render an early stage company unfundable in the next round. This month, Dan and Jim discuss the potential benefits, but more importantly the likely costs, of short-sighted corporate partnering, bad licensing and how ineffective boards can negatively impact early stage companies.
Congress vs. 'Defensive Medicine'
April 01, 2003
Due to the rising cost of "defensive medicine," the U.S. House of Representatives recently passed legislation to limit or ban punitive damages in product liability lawsuits over injuries allegedly caused by FDA-approved products. 2003 H.R. 5. The HEALTH "Help Efficient, Accessible, Low-Cost Timely Healthcare" Act of 2003 was introduced in the House on February 5. This bill passed in the House on March 13 and is currently on the calendar of the Senate.
