It’s a privilege to be chairing DRI’s Center for Law and Public Policy at a time when so many challenges are confronting the civil litigation defense bar. The July/August 2003 edition of DRI’s For The Defense magazine includes a special section on The Center’s activities. Please read my introductory comments.
It’s a privilege to be serving as Chair of The Center For Law and Public Policy, the think-tank and advocacy voice of DRI, a 14,000-member voluntary bar organization composed of attorneys who represent the interests of businesses and industries.
On behalf of the DRI Center for Law and Public Policy, I have submitted a letter to the Judicial Conference’s Standing Committee recommending that Fed. R. App. P. 29(a) be amended to eliminate the requirement to obtain the parties’ consent, or the court’s permission, for filing amicus briefs. The Center’s recommendation follows the recent elimination …
Bolstered by climate-change activists and the plaintiffs’ contingency-fee bar, more than two dozen state and local governments around the nation have filed state-court suits seeking damages from fossil fuel energy companies for allegedly causing, or contributing to, global climate change through greenhouse gas (“GHG”) emissions. Masquerading as state-law nuisance and trespass suits, they seek “climate …
ALF & DRI Argue That Climate-Change Damages Suits Belong in Federal, Not State, Courts Read More »
If a federal contractor can establish that it is entitled to “derivative sovereign immunity” when hit with personal injury litigation for carrying out the government’s work, is it immune from suit or merely protected from liability? And if a federal district court denies a motion to dismiss that is based on derivative sovereign immunity, is …
This week I filed on behalf of DRI-The Voice of the Defense Bar, through its Center for Law and Public Policy, an amicus curiae brief urging the Supreme Court to review a question that is fundamental to civil litigation fairness: When a private party sues a federal contractor for alleged tortious conduct in connection with …
I am honored to be joining the DRI Center for Law & Public Policy’s leadership team — Kathy Guilfoyle (Chair), Gardner Duvall and I (Co-Vice Chairs), Steve Puiszis (Immediate Past Chair), Toyja Kelley (DRI Immediate Past President & Officer Liaison), Jill Cranston Rice (Issues & Advocacy Committee Chair), Joseph Hanna (External Policy Allilance Committee Chair), …
Larry Ebner Joins DRI Center for Law and Public Policy Leadership Team Read More »
Under the leadership and with the guidance of Executive Director John Kouris, DRI continues to be the voice of the civil defense bar in the Supreme Court of the United States. Congratulations to Matt Nelson and Zach Chaffee-McClure on becoming Chair and Vice of DRI’s Amicus Committee, which reviews the steady stream of requests that …
DRI-The Voice of the Defense Bar in the U.S. Supreme Court Read More »
Early in law school, one of my esteemed (but perhaps grammatically challenged) professors explained that the key to understanding any case is figuring out “who is suing who, and why?” On January 15, the Justices very well may have been asking themselves that question during the Supreme Court’s hearing in Home Depot USA, Inc. v. Jackson, No. 17-1471. In …
Class actions are big business for the plaintiffs bar. Lawyers have a better chance of pocketing enormous, disproportionate, attorney fee awards if they can litigate, or force settlement of, consumer class actions in plaintiff-friendly state courts. Congress enacted the Class Action Fairness Act (CAFA) in 2005 to help curb state-court class action abuses. One of …
Supreme Court Will Review Unfair Class Action Tactic Read More »
