Comments on: Open for Business: Roberts Court Delivers Another Victory for Business in a Major Torts Ruling

By: deeply worried

deeply worried — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 02:48:35 +0000

You should be my speechwriter, Patty C! Often I am intoxicated with my own prose and it tends to fly off into rodomontade and rank fustian!

I thought the Augean Stable cite very apt, myself! I read Bulfinch and other such, when I was a kid and love to throw out classical references. I refuse to allow the virtues of a quasi-Victorian education lapse even in this age of Segway scooters and dual-core microprocessors!

By: Patty C

Patty C — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 00:41:43 +0000

I do love your Aegean Stable reference although I might have tweaked it just a smidge.

By: deeply worried

deeply worried — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 22:07:55 +0000

I actually used the “Low Tar Goes to the High Court” thread to alert the community to the new ruling. A bit of a stretch I admit…

I had forgotten about the other thread!!

By: “Blanket Immunity” for Makers of Medical Devices « Sua Sponte

“Blanket Immunity” for Makers of Medical Devices « Sua Sponte — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 21:53:40 +0000

[...] nonsensical situation.” (Via NYT.) Professor Turley has blogged about the same decision here. You can read the SCOTUS opinion [...]

By: Patty C

Patty C — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 21:12:09 +0000

There WAS another thread here – thought I was losin’ it!

http://jonathanturley.org/2007/12/05/supreme-court-hears-important-product-liability-case/

By: deeply worried

deeply worried — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 20:06:09 +0000

Oh, I should mention that in the sea of under-regulation, the Bush Administration does admittedly have one agency that is zealously pursuing its mandate with gusto and indeed avidity.

The Office of Labor Management Standards.

Headed by the illustrious Don Todd, the agency racked up an amazing set of convictions for industry malfeasance.

The industry? Organized labor.

A bio of Don Todd, says it all:

http://www.sptimes.com/2007/12/16/Opinion/He_s_not_exactly_a_un.shtml

I recall Secretary Chao recently bragging about her OLMS conviction rates and being applauded for a job well done.

The pleased audience? CPAC.

The Augean Stables have nothing on this Administration.

By: deeply worried

deeply worried — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 18:22:07 +0000

I posted yesterday on this ruling in another thread, but it bears repeating that were the system not rigged, I think I might agree with the majority in Riegel v. Medtronic. Federal pre-emption of state tort law is not necessarily a bad thing, IF THE SYSTEM IS NOT RIGGED.

However, during the Bush Administration, the system is very much biased and the regulatory agencies have all been in default of their responsibilities. FDA PMA decisions in this era are highly suspect, but how, if you are a sitting Justice, do you take that into account in deciding a broad principle? You can’t say that the current PMA in question was suspect for partisan reasons. So you sign on hoping that someday the FDA will be returned to its proper role and function (and funding).

In the current era, were the regulatory agencies acting as judges in courts of law, their manifold conflicts of interest would force them to recuse themselves in almost every case brought before them. But the Justices on the high court have to act as if the agencies were not corrupted and not totally in thrall to the very sectors that they are supposed to regulate.

Plus, as Professor Turley points out, the current Court is highly solicitous of business interests and also antagonistic toward what it considers the undue expansion of standing for tort granted by the post-war Courts. Their instincts are to trim and trim and trim and I see no end to it for quite a while.