Monday, September 30, 2002

Daubert at work Judge throws out lawsuit alleging cell phones cause brain tumors - A federal judge in Baltimore has dismissed an $800 million lawsuit filed by a Maryland doctor who claims cell phones caused his brain tumor. . . U.S. District Judge Catherine Blake ruled that the evidence submitted by Dr. Christopher Newman was not enough to warrant a trial. (AP report) 6:51:59 PM     "Just how moderate is Jennifer Granholm?" This is the title of Tom Bray's most recent Detroit News column, focusing on Granholm's support for slavery reparations.  I liked his comment: "We don't hear the activists demanding reparations for the social chaos caused by welfare." An excellent point: "Reparations would be terrible for another reason: Like all taxes, it would undermine America's wealth creation system, which is the only real mechanism for providing the poor and downtrodden with a meaningful grip on the ladder of economic success." Recall also Kuro5hin's call for "reparations for the descendants of women".  4:03:25 PM     Pushing for tort reform Jennifer Hickey writes on current tort crisis and tort reform issues in "Law, Disorder in the Tort System", in today's Insight on the News.  An excerpt: "According to an April 2002 report by the President's Council of Economic Advisers (CEA), annual direct costs are estimated at nearly $180 billion, or 1.8 percent of gross domestic product (GDP), distinguishing the U.S. tort-liability system as the most expensive in the world. Direct costs include awards for economic and noneconomic damages, administration, claimants' attorney fees and the costs of defense. In real terms, the cost amounts to nearly $650 for every citizen of the United States, a recent Joint Economic Committee report states. The figure is more troubling considering that only 20 cents of each dollar actually go to claimants for real economic damages, such as lost wages or medical expenses." It seems artificial to focus on economic damages as the only "real" damages.  Although pain and suffering, disfigurement, and attendant emotional distress are more pliable because they are not tied to specific dollar amounts, they are nonetheless "real" and deserving of consideration.  This paragraph would be more meaningful if it gave an idea of how much of each dollar goes to the claimants, regardless of whether for "real" economic damages or some other damages.  The figures that I have seen range from about 30 to 35 cents.  Of course, these comments never include the cost of accidents (to use the phrase from Prof. Calabresi's book), the sometimes hidden but still actual costs of uncompensated injuries and damages caused by others. 8:09:58 AM     The migration of political money Many criticize the McCain-Feingold law on First Amendment grounds.  Mickey Kaus finds a potential loophole in the law's exemption for charitable organizations.  (See entry for Friday, September 27.)  So far, I have not seen much mention of what I think is the largest effect this legislation will have -- the wholesale transfer of money-based power from the Democratic and Republican National Committees to the state parties.  (One exception is a brief mention in the article in the Columbia Journalism Review, called "Follow the Money - Untangling Campaign Finance Gets Harder", to which Kaus points.) The law prohibits the unlimited contributions to the national organizations previously allowed, and which are invariably described by the press using the knee-jerk sobriquet "soft money".  But it does nothing to prevent the very same contributions to the state party organizations, or for that matter to local parties.  In five years, if this part of the law is upheld, we will see a massive shift of power (following the money) from the national to the state party organizations.  Will that be a move in the right direction? 8:08:52 AM

© Copyright 2002 Franco Castalone. Last update: 10/1/2002; 7:48:15 AM.