Free Republic

Former President Donald Trump can be sued by injured Capitol Police officers and Democratic lawmakers over the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, the Justice Department said Thursday in a federal court case testing Trump’s legal vulnerability and the limits of executive power. The department wrote that although a president enjoys broad legal latitude to communicate to the public on matters of concern, “no part of a President’s official responsibilities includes the incitement of imminent private violence. By definition, such conduct plainly falls outside the President’s constitutional and statutory duties.” *** The Justice Department wrote that it also...

Dozens of drivers have filed tort claims seeking money from the state of Indiana after their cars were damaged while driving on a 15-mile, pothole-afflicted section of Interstate 69. The problematic stretch of highway extends between mile markers 219 in Pendleton and 234 in Daleville, The Star Press reported. Forty claimants are pursuing damages for repairs to brake calipers and rotors; rims and wheels; tires; improper wheel alignment; suspension way bars and other vehicle parts.

As bad as Florida's reputation has been over the last decade and a half as a lawsuit-happy state, a new report says we've "risen" to a new low: "Enough shade has been cast on the Sunshine State to rank it as the nation's worst Judicial Hellhole," says the American Tort Reform Association (ATRA) in its latest report. The Florida Supreme Court, all on its own, was ranked fourth in ATR reports for the past two years -- for the torrent of liability-expanding decisions it issued, many over vigorous dissents. But for 2017-2018, we're No. 1 overall for the first time...

Look at the search for talcum powder ovarian lawsuit. Daytime TV watchers are being solicited to sue over ovarian cancer caused by talcum powder use. How will the plaintiffs prove they are owed compensation? Did they keep their receipts? The only ones to benefit will be attorneys.

The looney Left is after Rush Limbaugh again. They have a maniacal fixation with trying to destroy him because they don’t like what he says. The Left has always believed that freedom of speech applies only to them. Over the past sixty years the media has coddled and supported the Left by encouraging the belief that they are not subject to the rules and laws the rest of us have to live under. This delusion could be brought to a dead stop with one simple move. A recent case in point involves a group of ten Leftist loons who have...

Schools have begun ripping out swings and slides from playgrounds because they can no longer afford huge compensation payouts when children suffer minor cuts and grazes. The claims have become so common that even school trips to the seaside are being canceled in case pupils injure themselves while paddling in the sea and their parents then sue. Education authorities face big bills even if a child is hurt while defying school rules by climbing walls or trees. Lawyers all over the country are fueling the problem by offering parents no-win no-fee deals. Some firms have even set up telephone hotlines...

Editor’s Note: Details of the WFB’s Democracy Alliance exposé can be found here. The millionaire trial lawyer who helped keep John Edwards’ affair and lovechild with Rielle Hunter under wraps was also a member of the Democracy Alliance, a secretive liberal cash clearinghouse. Lisa Blue, a millionaire Texas trial lawyer with extensive ties to Washington lobbyists and the Obama administration, joined the group with her husband, the late Fred Baron, according to documents obtained by the Washington Free Beacon. The Barons were drawn to the group by the prospect of pushing the party farther to the left. “This is the...

Seesaws: A Vanishing Part of America By Bob Dorigo Jones Can you remember the last time you saw a seesaw? I’m talking about an old fashioned teeter-totter – the kind without springs. If you are under the age of thirty, it’s very possible that you’ve never seen one. Although they were once a staple of playgrounds around the country, the lawsuit explosion in America prompted school officials and park superintendents to start removing them in the 1970s and 1980s. Philip Howard, a prominent attorney and the author of the bestselling book, The Death of Common Sense, wrote this about...

<p>It's one of the simple, most wonderful pleasures of life: zooming down a snow-covered hill just fast enough for a touch of fear to quicken your pulse. Maybe it's a solo run. Maybe you're clinging to a loved one as you tear down the hill tandem. Surely, sledding is one of those things that makes it worth toughing it out and living in New Jersey when sunnier climes often beckon.</p>

Lawyer not given a Mother's Day hat sues claimed gender discriminationA lawyer has successfully sued the Oakland A's because he wasn't given a breast cancer awareness cap on Mother's Day. The Oakland A's have reached a $510,000 settlement with a male attorney suing them because he wasn't given a commemorative cap being handed out to women at an A's game on Mother's Day 2004. Attorney Alfred G. Rava initiated a class-action lawsuit against the A's because, as a biological male, he was not given a plaid sun hat being handed out to the first 7,500 ladies arriving at the Mother's...

The California Supreme Court ruled that Lisa Torti of Northridge may be held liable for injuries to a woman she pulled out of a vehicle following a Halloween night crash in 2004. Combined with previous rulings holding that individuals may be held liable for not helping in such situations, persons finding themselves at accident sites are faced with a legal dilemma. If no assistance is rendered, the passerby may be sued for damages occurring from his neglect to intervene. If assistance is rendered, the intervener may be sued for any damages caused by the intervention. The Court ruled that the...

University professor George Nation, is advocating that manufacturers of guns be required to bear financial liability for the harm suffered by persons who have been injured by the criminals using their products. “It’s simple,” Nation said. “If we put the gun makers out of business we will largely put an end to crime.” The professor brushed off arguments implying that his logic would hold food manufacturers liable for the ills of obesity. “If they think to dissuade me by such logic, they’re mistaken,” Nation said. “As far as I’m concerned, food manufacturers should be held liable for obesity. In an...

The Best Global Warming Videos on the Internet Some people have asked me for copies of, or links to videos that provide an alternative view to Gore’s “consensus” on anthropogenic (i.e., man caused) global warming (AGW). A few of these videos have been broadcast in the United States (e.g., Glenn Beck, John Stossel), but most have not and probably will not be seen. Fortunately, we have the Internet to make these available. Part I: Documentaries is available herePart II: Lectures is available herePart III: Debates is available here Part IV: Short Videos Cheap Sensationalism in Gore’s Slide Show (8:14)This is...

Most Republicans viewed Barney Frank's recent hearing on subprime mortgages as ...typical Democratic corporation-bashing... The House Financial Services chief is surely grinning that so few picked up on his bigger purpose: bestowing a big, wet smooch on the trial bar. Democrats devoted their first months in the majority to paying back unions... Now it's time for the other huge campaign bankrollers. Since 1994, ...lawyers have thrown a half-billion dollars at getting lawsuit-friendly Democrats back in the majority. They've also taken ...their own to Washington. Of the 30 House seats Dems won in 2006, 14 were claimed by former attorneys... Democrats...

Advocates for more judicial accountability are supporting ballot initiatives in a handful of states that are designed to rein in judges. Initiatives would subject judges to lawsuits or recall because of their decisions, impose term limits on judges, and require appellate judges to be elected from districts in which they would be required to live. Longtime term-limits advocate John Andrews is behind the Colorado effort to restrict appellate and Supreme Court judges to 10-year terms. Andrews, former president of the Colorado Senate, began his push for term limits about 20 years ago, obtaining limits for lawmakers and the governor. But...

While Texas plaintiffs lawyers have been leaving in droves from nursing-home and medical-malpractice litigation in the wake of tort reform, San Antonio’s Glenn Cunningham is still doing it—albeit with a radically different business model and a much thinner wallet. Before the 2003 changes in state law, Cunningham would round up seven or eight experts, take 15 to 20 depositions and easily spend $85,000 to $100,000 to work up a case. Apparently, the effort persuaded defendants they had problems on the facts and the law, because he often settled for $1 million to $3 million. But with new restrictions on medical-malpractice...

The father of a disabled woman who died last year is entitled to half her estate even though he had little contact with her during her life, a state judge ruled yesterday. Ruben Martinez of Staten Island will receive about $400,000 of the $1.1 million remaining in a trust established for the care of his daughter, Jennifer Rogiers, who was born with severe disabilities caused by spinal cord injury suffered during her breech birth in 1983. The girl's mother, Rosa Rogiers of Weehawken, also received $400,000 and an additional $300,000 to compensate her for the years of care she provided...

By MIKE KELLY VICTOR MANUEL CABALLERO says he only wanted a decent job when he sneaked across the border from Mexico five years ago. Thanks to a ruling last week by the state Supreme Court, he has achieved a special American status even though he still lives here illegally: He can collect damages for being hurt in an auto accident. We hear much these days about illegal immigrants -- how desperate they are for good jobs here, how many risk their lives to slip across the border, how so many now hope to pursue their lives in America with some...

Senate Democrats on Monday blocked the latest Republican attempts to limit damages for pain and suffering in medical malpractice lawsuits. Republicans offered two versions of the bill, one applying to all malpractice cases and the other limited to obstetrics and gynecology, an area with high malpractice insurance costs. Both bills failed to garner the 60 votes necessary in the 100-member Senate to advance to a full debate. The vote was 48-42 on the broader bill and 49-44 on the obstetrics and gynecology bill, largely along party lines. President George W. Bush and his Republican allies have been trying to pass...

The lawsuits the shop owners have received by mail or hand delivery in the past two weeks contain virtually identical claims that their businesses are not hospitable to disabled people. In a letter accompanying the lawsuits, Pinnock offers each owner the option of settling by correcting the problems and paying him $10,500. The owners are outraged, and some say they'll fight back. “He's picked the wrong person to mess with,” said Mike McKany, owner of Alpine Liquor. McKany and others are banding together to figure out how to deal with the lawsuits. The Alpine Chamber of Commerce is holding a...