Posted on 11/18/2002 9:58:51 AM PST by Ragtime Cowgirl
November 7 -- Some election results. The Senate results, as will be surmised, were a spectacular rout for organized trial lawyer interests, which had spent heavily to defend Democratic control of the upper chamber. (Another key litigation lobby ally, Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) (Jul. 7, 2000) did not face serious challenge and won easy re-election.) Of the three extremely wealthy trial attorneys who ran for U.S. House seats in West Virginia and Florida (Oct. 11-13), all lost by margins of 60-40 or worse (Humphreys, Jacobs, Hogan). And all of the nationally publicized state supreme court races seem to have been resolved in a manner favorable to litigation reformers. Mississippi Supreme Court Justice Chuck McRae, widely viewed as symbolizing his court's runaway-litigation faction (Sept. 9-10), lost badly, actually coming in third in a three-way race with 23 percent of the vote. (Antoinette Konz, "Dickinson takes high court position", Hattiesburg American, Nov. 6). Despite a nasty ad campaign against them (Nov. 1-3), Maureen O'Connor and Evelyn Stratton won convincing victories for seats on the Ohio high court, whose balance of power may shift as a result. Judges Robert Young (Michigan) and Harold See (Alabama), who have drawn trial lawyer fire in the past, were both re-elected, albeit narrowly in See's case.
In governor's races, on the other hand, there was little to cheer about, with trial-lawyer-backed candidates pulling out mostly narrow victories in Michigan, Oregon and Tennessee. We never expect much good news to come out of attorney general races, and were unsurprised to see New York's Eliot Spitzer and Connecticut's Richard Blumenthal glide to re-election; we're also expecting the worst from Illinois's incoming Lisa Madigan (Jan. 7). But we note GOP takeovers of the AG's office in Michigan and Florida, as well as retention of the crucial Texas post. (full list at NAAG site)
A footnote: one of the engineers of the great 1998 tobacco heist, Florida Attorney General Bob Butterworth, was term-limited and deigned to run instead for a state senate seat in Broward/Palm Beach, but lost to the Republican candidate (WSVN-TV, Nov. 6). This continues the series of political pratfalls by which key players in the tobacco affair -- the list includes former attorneys general Hubert Humphrey III of Minnesota, Dan Morales of Texas and Scott Harshbarger of Massachusetts, and Minnesota private attorney Michael Ciresi -- have come up short when they tried to run for other offices. (DURABLE LINK)
Was Al Gore's re-re-renovation/DNC PR/media campaign planned before election 2002 when the delusional Dems.' believed that the "Fla. replay of election 2000" would prove Al won? LOL! Hey, media, Al - pick up your messages - America's calling.
The trial lawyers were just trying to get to Bern's Steakhouse for a little supper. Their stomachs are growling since they weren't needed.
Overlawyered.com shines the light on the corrupt lawyers. There's enough mischief going on to keep our press humming 24/7. Who knew? It's the press's job to investigate the lawyers, these major stories (55 companies closed because of mostly bogus asbestos lawsuits...and they think Enron's bad?) and inform the public? How many jobs were lost, stockholders fleeced by these ambulance chasers? Still no "outrage" from the VLWC. The Trial Lawyers are one of the top campaign $$$ donors to the DNC.
"In late October, a Mississippi jury ordered three firms, including oil-services giant Halliburton and manufacturer 3M, to pay six plaintiffs $25 million apiece. ...What made jaws drop was that the plaintiffs weren't even sick their X-rays just showed they stood an increased chance of getting sick. 'Most of these guys have not missed a day of work in their lives,' their lawyer said. ... To unearth new clients for lawyers, screening firms advertise in towns with many aging industrial workers or park X-ray vans near union halls. To get a free X-ray, workers must often sign forms giving law firms 40 percent of any recovery. One solicitation reads: 'Find out if YOU have MILLION DOLLAR LUNGS!'" ("Looking for some million-dollar lungs", U.S. News, Dec. 17).
Tobacco archives....to be continued.
Dickie Scruggs
Pascagoula native and lawyer Dickie Scruggs has been an outspoken critic of Mississippi tort reform, calling it a "phony issue, a phony crisis."He says doctors should be fighting insurance companies, not trial lawyers.
Scruggs sued asbestos companies in the 1980s and gained fame and more fortune as a lead attorney in the 1990s legal battle that brought Big Tobacco to its knees.
Scruggs has said he expects to earn about $844 million from the tobacco lawsuits.
The movie "The Insider" chronicled how Scruggs and Mississippi Attorney General Mike Moore[Democrat alert!], law school friends from Ole Miss, came up with the idea in the mid-1990s to sue tobacco companies to recoup the cost of health care for people made ill by smoking.
Scruggs, Mississippi's 1997 Citizen of the Year, has donated millions to charities and $25 million to Ole Miss. He travels the country and world in his private jet and yacht and is active, usually behind the scenes, in state and South Mississippi politics and business.
Scruggs, brother-in-law to U.S. Senate Minority Leader Trent Lott, left a Jackson law firm and set up shop in Pascagoula in 1980. Working as counsel or co-counsel for thousands of people, he won $300 million for his clients and $25 million in attorneys' fees on asbestos cases. In 1988, Moore hired Scruggs to represent the state in a suit to recover the cost of removing asbestos from state buildings.
Trenty's "family". Look out. You know the posters here who go into a frenzy whenever Trent Lott's name comes up? They aren't just blowing smoke.
>>Hopefully he's not one of those scumbag tobacco entrepreneurs. <<
What the heck do you mean by that? Perhaps you object to the legal sale of a legal product by a legal entity? What's next for you? Sugar and high-carb foods, which also are dangerous? Did you know that heart disease and stroke (from diet) kill more people than lung cancer and emphysema? I quit, so I know the difference between self-attracting victimhood and responsibility.
(attorney at law)(brother in law)
From Pascagoula, Mississippi, Dickie Scruggs is the southern lawyer who got the current feeding frenzy started (by suing Mississippi), and he now represents 29 states in ongoing tobacco litigation. Being the brother-in-law of Trent Lott, Senate Majority Leader, and college roommate of Mississippi Attorney General Mike Moore didn't hurt his chances any.
Under Scruggs and Moore, the movement became a national pattern. And why not, there were billions of dollars at stake. (Our dollars.) About the same time, Lott introduced Scruggs to his consultant, Dick Morris, who helped with jury selection. When Morris became Bill Clinton's advisor after the 1994 elections, he urged Clinton to take on 'kids' smoking' as a 'cause.' Clinton was reluctant at first, but a 'poll' paid for by Scruggs changed his mind.
Among other lawyers who will share in the spoils of the tobacco wars is Hugh Rodham, brother of Mrs. Clinton.
The exact amount Scruggs will receive from the settlement with the states isn't known, but it could run into the hundreds of millions of dollars. He graciously consented to let a judge decide the amount he would get from the Mississippi case. (The rate one attorney collected from the settlement with the states was $130,000 per hour!) Dickie recently bought a $192,000 Bentley and already owns a Lear jet and a mansion on the beach.
What will he go after next? Better keep close watch on your wallet . . .
People reform is also required.
If I slip and fall in public, my knee jerk reaction is to get up really fast, and hope nobody saw me showing once again,my legendary clutzyness.
Store employees are uniformly instructed to make an incident report, offer medical assistance,and all but televise every minor mishap to protect themselves from legal action. Once,someone saw me in my full clumsy glory, and I was afraid they were going to forcefully seek medical attention for my embarassing and totally self inflicted bruised buttocks.Sheesh!
Al & the Dems just don't seem to want 'get it'....11-5 was a rejection of them & their message!
They are all in deep denial.....guess it is just to painful for them to admit....AMERICA REJECTED CLINTON, GORE, & other RATS!
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