Archive for August 2008

Where’s The Merit?

Aug 29th, 2008 | By Dan Pero | Category: Judicial Elections, Pennsylvania, State Battlegrounds

Our friends over at JudgesonMerit recently posted a letter on their website responding to a Wall Street Journal editorial criticizing “merit” selection that the Journal decided not to run.  It’s worth examining because it reveals the weak foundations supporting this scheme to deprive citizens of their right to vote for state judges.
The letter begins by […]



Battleground Missouri

Aug 28th, 2008 | By Dan Pero | Category: Judicial Elections, Justice at Stake, Missouri

Gavel Grab – the blog of the George Soros-funded outfit Justice at Stake – and other proponents of letting judicial Star Chamber’s choose judges are keeping close tabs on Missouri these days.  Just last week, the state’s judicial selection commission sent a slate of three candidates to Gov. Matt Blunt to fill a state Supreme […]



No Merit for Virginia

Aug 27th, 2008 | By Dan Pero | Category: Judicial Elections, Justice at Stake, Virginia

An editorial from the Roanoke Times calls for reforming Virginia’s judicial selection process that makes the process “free of political influence” – but then promotes the one system that ensures that powerful special interest groups will control who sits on the bench.
Right now, Virginia judges are chosen by the General Assembly.  When the Assembly can’t […]



More Loony Lawsuits

Aug 26th, 2008 | By Dan Pero | Category: Tort Reform, Trial Lawyers

You drink five margaritas; hop on a train in an alcohol-induced stupor; then jump off and wrench your ankle after figuring out you’re on the wrong train.  What do you do?  You sue!  Overlawyered.com has the story.



The Scruggs Saga (Cont’d)

Aug 26th, 2008 | By Dan Pero | Category: Mississippi, Tort Reform, Trial Lawyers

Fortune magazine’s Roger Parloff takes an in-depth look at the campaign by Mississippi tort king Dickie Scruggs to destroy State Farm with a barrage of Hurricane Katrina-related lawsuits and efforts by State Farm to fight back against Scruggs’ underhanded tactics.   (Hat tip: Y’All Politics)
“State Farm now alleges that Scruggs manufactured portions of his case against […]



Who’s Really Afraid of Public Opinion?

Aug 25th, 2008 | By Dan Pero | Category: Judicial Elections, Michigan

A story in the Lansing State Journal leads off with the usual gnashing of teeth about the rise in campaign spending for state judicial races.  After attacking me, a flak for the Michigan trial lawyers association claims that rule-of-law judges can’t win through public opinion, so business groups need to buy their seats.
Funny, but wasn’t […]



No Merit

Aug 25th, 2008 | By Dan Pero | Category: Judicial Elections, Justice at Stake

In a follow-up on its August 14 editorial, the Wall Street Journal  brings out more guns against the plan by the American Bar Association and other George Soros-funded groups like Justice at Stake to end state judicial elections and allow lawyer-dominated panels to decide who sits on the bench.
Far from taking “politics” out of the […]



Interesting Advice from Buffet

Aug 25th, 2008 | By Dan Pero | Category: Tort Reform, Trial Lawyers

On Friday, I came across some interesting investment advice from Warren Buffet. In an interview on CNBC, the billionaire investor (and Obama supporter) recommended that those who gave money to John Edward’s presidential campaign should bring a class action suit against the trial-lawyer-cum-presidential-candidate-cum-all-around-cad for campaigning under false pretenses:
“I mean, [Edwards] knew that, in effect, he […]



Grisham Redux

Aug 25th, 2008 | By Dan Pero | Category: Judicial Elections, Tennessee

Stephen Vaden turns John Grisham upside down in a terrific piece in yesterday’s Nashville Tennessean.  In Grisham’s latest novel of tort lawyer hero worship, a Mississippi chemical company helps elect a pro-business justice to the state’s Supreme Court with the expectation he’ll overturn a jury verdict against them.  But as Vaden skillfully points out:
… [in] […]



Will Legal Reform Suvive In Ohio?

Aug 22nd, 2008 | By Dan Pero | Category: Judicial Elections, Ohio, Tort Reform, Trial Lawyers

David Owsiany at the Buckeye Institute Blog has an interesting post on efforts by the trial bar to rollback key provisions of recently enacted reform legislation. A recent 5-2 decision by the Ohio Supreme Court upheld reasonable limits on runaway pain and suffering awards.   But two of the justices in the majority are up for […]