New Law Proposed to Study Burn Pit Toxic Exposures

The “Helping Veterans Exposed to Toxic Chemicals Act” (H.R. 2510) has been offered in Congress to create Centers of Excellence to care for service members exposed to burn pits, the open air fires sued to dispose of waste in the war zones of Iraq and Afghanistan.  Actions have been brought against KBR and Halliburton - military contractors who operated burn pits.  - 
GWC  
New Law Proposed to Study Burn Pit Toxic Exposures:

Congressman Tim Bishop (D-NY) and Congresswoman Diana DeGette (D-CO) were joined by representatives from veteran advocacy groups, physicians, and family members of veterans today to announce new bipartisan legislation to address the health crisis among Iraq and Afghanistan veterans who were exposed to open-air burn pits and other airborne hazards during their service overseas. Original cosponsors of the legislation also include Congressmen Walter Jones (R-NC) and Jim Cooper (D-TN)....

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OTHERWISE: Another preemption loss in the Supreme Court for consumers injured by generic drugs (CL&P Blog)

OTHERWISE: Another preemption loss in the Supreme Court for consumers injured by generic drugs (CL&P Blog):



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Let Shooting Victims Sue - NYTimes.com

Getty image

Let Shooting Victims Sue - NYTimes.com:
by Robert M. Morgenthau  (Manhattan District Attorney 1975 - 2009)

Decades ago, the tobacco industry hired doctors to plug the health benefits of cigarettes, and the auto industry claimed that seat belts were an unnecessary extravagance. The results were an epidemic of deaths, followed by civil law suits, followed by industry reform.

Today, smoking is down and cars are safer. In part, we have the market to thank. When these industries acted irresponsibly, basic principles of civil liability placed the costs of illness and accident where they belonged. Once their bottom line was affected, even the most myopic executives had to take notice.

I believe that with rights come responsibilities. By immunizing the gun industry from basic principles of legal liability, Congress kept the rights and repealed the responsibilities.

The Second Amendment right to bear arms is an important right. But the contours of that right must not extend to those who look away as their guns enter the hands of criminals and the mentally unstable. Congress should immediately repeal the 2005 gun immunity law, and let free-market incentives encourage responsible behavior by the gun industry.

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The Obligatory Nutshell Version of Veterans Benefits - The Faculty Lounge:

The Faculty Lounge: The Obligatory Nutshell Version of Veterans Benefits:
by Jasmes Ridgway
There are three elements that determine whether disability benefits are granted:  (1) current disability, (2) in-service disease or injury, and (3) nexus.  These elements are similar — but not the same as — the issues in many tort claims:  (1) injury, (2) violation of a duty by the defendant, and (3) proximate cause.  However, there is no issue of duty.  The veteran is simply trying to prove that his or her current problem is related to something that happened while he or she was in service.  Many veterans misunderstand and think that all their disabilities are subject to compensation regardless of whether they are “service connected,” but this is not the case.  (“Service connection” is a term of art, and it is incredibly common to hear claims for disability compensation referred to as claims for “service connection” for a condition.)



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TortsProf Blog: Catastrophic Payments and Medical Malpractice

TortsProf Blog: Catastrophic Payments and Medical Malpractice:

by Christopher J. Robinette, Widener Law School

Terry Baynes of Reuters has written an article about the recent study by a group of physicians at John Hopkins finding that large med mal awards do not contribute significantly to healthcare costs. The article quotes the lead author of the study, Dr. Marty Makary, and me on the issue. My comments appear somewhat more skeptical of the med mal tort system than I actually am (through no fault of Ms. Baynes), and that caused me to reflect further on the significance of the study. 
The study (pdf) finds that catastrophic judgments (of over $1M) constitute approximately .05% of national healthcare costs (as measured in 2010). I believe the inferences and recommendations that Dr. Makary and his colleagues draw from this are generally correct. First, they determine that catastrophic payouts are not a major driver of health care costs. Second, at least in interviews, Dr. Makary argues that defensive medicine due to the vague standard of care is a bigger expense than catastrophic payouts. Third, acknowledging the study does not include costs of defensive medicine, the authors conclude that the financial savings due to malpractice reform may be minimal compared to other drivers of health care costs. Fourth, at least in interviews, Dr. Makary argues that malpractice reform should not be focused on caps, but on the standard of care.

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Gun Makers Shun Responsibility for Sales, Suits Show - NYTimes.com

George W. Bush signing the 2005 law that granted immunity to gunmakers

I have long argued for a theory of product liability called product stewardship.  It holds that manufacturers have a duty to follow their products, see how they are actually being used, the adverse and beneficial effects, and make safety changes as warranted by the evidence.  It was developed in response to the Vioxx cases which demonstrated the pharmaceutical industry's cavalier experimentation with the health of the consumers of their drugs.  
The idea is apt for gun makers who spun safety locks and the like.  Unfortunately those who call the shots in Congress have virtually closed the door on such actions via the 2005  Protection of Lawful Commerce in Firearms Act.  John Culhane and Jean Eggen have been sounding the alarm on that for years. - GWC: Gun Makers Shun Responsibility for Sales, Suits Show - NYTimes.com:

"The Glock executive testified that he would keep doing business with a gun dealer who had been indicted on a charge of violating firearms laws because “This is still America” and “You’re still innocent until proven guilty.”"
The president of Sturm, Ruger was not interested in knowing how often the police traced guns back to the company’s distributors, saying it “wouldn’t show us anything.”
And a top executive for Taurus International said his company made no attempt to learn if dealers who sell its products were involved in gun trafficking on the black market. “I don’t even know what a gun trafficker is,” he said.

The world’s firearms manufacturers have been largely silent in the debate over gun violence. But their voices emerge from thousands of pages of depositions in a series of liability lawsuits a decade ago, before Congress passed a law shielding them from such suits in 2005, and the only time many of them were forced to answer such questions.

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Full Text: Progress in China's Human Rights in 2012 (5) - CHINA - Globaltimes.cn

Everything said in this new official report is true.  But the infrastructure - the agencies and institutions - charged with enforcing and realizing the commitments lag far behind the laws, which remain skeletal, enforced by institutionally weak, under-financed, and inexperienced courts. - GWC
Full Text: Progress in China's Human Rights in 2012 (5) - CHINA - Globaltimes.cn:

China continues to improve its legal system that protects human rights. Establishing a socialist legal system with Chinese characteristics and protecting human rights in accordance with the law are the important foundation for China's human rights development. Thanks to unremitting efforts over the years, by the end of 2010 a multi-level socialist legal system with specific Chinese characteristics had been established. This system is based on the realities of China, adapts to the needs of reform and opening up and the socialist modernization drive, epitomizes the will of the Communist Party of China and the Chinese people, centers around the Constitution, takes as its mainstay the Constitution-related laws, civil and commercial laws, administrative laws, economic laws, social laws, criminal laws, and litigation and non-litigation procedural laws of different categories, and comprises administrative and local regulations. By the end of 2012 China had enacted 243 active laws, including the current Constitution, 721 administrative regulations and 9,200 local regulations, which are complete in range and cover all relations in the society. Basic and major laws of each category have been formulated and supported with corresponding administrative regulations and local regulations, forming a legal system that is internally scientific, well-coordinated and unified.

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OTHERWISE: Oyez Project Supreme Court Archive finishes job begun by Peter Irons

OTHERWISE: Oyez Project Supreme Court Archive finishes job begun by Peter Irons:

NPR reports that Chicago Kent's Oyez project has provided the great service of completing its archives of Supreme Court oral arguments going back to 1955.

As of just a few weeks ago, all of the archived historical audio — which dates back to 1955 — has been digitized, and almost all of those cases can now be heard and explored at an online archive called the Oyez Project.

Oyez Project founder and director Jerry Goldman tells NPR the digital recordings archive began in the early 1990s from a simple idea: to give the public access to unabridged Supreme Court recordings.

Peter Irons

But the account leaves out the groundbreaking work of historian and lawyer Peter Irons whose 1993 May It Please the Court presented the audio tapes of arguments before the court in twenty two landmark cases.  Irons had permission to listen to the tapes but not to copy them, reportedly annoying Justice William Rehnquist.  It was a tiny act of civil disobedience for Irons who was a draft resister who had spent time in federal prison for his defiance of the draft....

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OTHERWISE: A step forward for immigrants facing deportation

OTHERWISE: A step forward for immigrants facing deportation:

We deport hundreds of thousands each year -  a consequence that for many is far more severe than that provided by our criminal laws.  Fifty years ago the Supreme Court in Gideon v. Wainwright mandated counsel for those who are charged with a crime and cannot afford a lawyer.  Today there is wide recognition that there is a crisis of representation due to the unavailability of counsel for huge numbers of aliens facing removal from the country.

A step forward has now been crafted in an important ruling by a federal judge in California’s Central District - a place where the pastures of plenty are often harvested by immigrants.  Though the numbers affected are small, the remedial innovation  is important.  

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Oil Spill Compensation - U.S. and China

These are the powerpoint slides  prepared for my May 2013 trip to China.  The focus is on on the frustrations of Chinese aquaculturists who were stymied by the courts there and so resorted to suing Conoco Phillips in Houston where its world headquarters are located.  The reference point is, of course, the BP Gulf Oil Spill comepsnaiton scheme.  Developed under the Oil Pollutions Act, the matter was largely resolved through a class action settlement managed by Judge Carl Barbier, U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Louisiana. -  GWC
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