Free Republic

The President, whose efforts to change the tort system have been buoyed by successful passage of a class action reform bill, said that becoming a part of the federal government when he was elected made him a convert to the notion of a national medical liability reform law. "When I first got to Washington, I thought that medical liability reform would best be handled at the state level until I realized what the cost was of the defensive practice of medicine, the cost of settling lawsuits, and the rising costs of premiums do to the federal budget," he said. "If...

Here are some snips: The District government agreed yesterday to pay a total of $425,000 to seven people caught up in a mass arrest at a downtown park in September 2002....The arrests occurred Sept. 27, 2002, during demonstrations against the World Bank and International Monetary Fund.... officers corraled demonstrators and anyone else within the boundaries of the park, on Pennsylvania Avenue NW, and charged them with failing to obey police. The seven plaintiffs were five protesters and two bystanders. Each will receive about $50,000 after paying the legal expenses of the American Civil Liberties Union, the National Lawyers Guild and...

A federal judge yesterday scolded Moorestown school officials for trying to make a disabled senior share valedictory honors with a student who has taken a regular load of courses.The judge ordered the school district to award the title of valedictorian to Blair Hornstine, whose discrimination lawsuit in the dispute was ridiculed by some fellow students and drew national attention.U.S. District Judge Freda Wolfson said school officials violated Hornstine's civil rights by engaging in a "strange and relentless" effort to discredit her achievement. It's a classic case of discrimination, Wolfson said in her Camden courtroom."If forced to share the award, the...