The full court decision is linked above. Well, the plaintiff amended his complaint to allege defamation, but was rebuffed by a ruling that the claim was protected by the absolute privilege for statements made in litigation. The defendants have set up settlement negotiations during May in the hope of resolving the several hundred remaining claims involving Ford Explorer rollover cases. Last term we looked at Congressional efforts to restrict the activities of federally funded poverty attorneys. On February 28, the Supreme Court held 5-4 that Congress had violated the first amendment when it restricted arguments lawyers could make in challenging federal welfare reform legislation.
Juries now determine only about one percent of all civil matters.
Even then, they are often outraged to find their verdicts gutted by tort reform statutes with damages caps or by trial and appellate judges who reduce or throw out their figures. In a classic case of past-posting, the Supremes today decided Semtek Intl. Michigan thinks so. It's Hickman all over again, as the NTSB ekes out troubling information about the failure of sub personnel to update tracking info on a fishing boat they knew was up there. The value of getting stories early is often unappreciated.