The Rocky Mountain News has launched a 3-part series on the plight of the workers who formerly worked to assemble the nation’s nuclear arsenal. Many of those individuals now have significant health problems, and the government has lied, concealed, and dissembled in a drive to avoid paying any form of compensation.

During the Clinton administration, the Republican Congress joined with the President to create a system for compensating the workers, but to no avail. As the years past, the agencies in question and the present administration have put more and more roadblocks in the way of these people getting any kind of medical or financial help. No matter your feelings regarding the Cold War, the plight of these workers will pull at your heart strings. And the actions of the government will, and should, exasperate you.

Read the rest of Denial by Design: US Government Avoids Compensation to Ill Workers

Nothing feels quite like being proven right.

Some time ago, I blogged about a defunct Colorado effort to limit the amount of money a plaintiff’s attorney could charge. I suggested that this was the future of “Tort Reformers,” reducing access to attorneys by attempting to lower the amount of money they earned, rather then the past effort to convince people that injuries and lives could only be worth set amounts.

Well, guess I’m right.

Now comes Oregon Republicans with a horrible ballot initiative, that they have tried to claim will “Protect Citizens from Excessive Attorney’s Fees.” Never mind the fact that the limit proposed is far, far, far below the industry wide norm. Never mind that nothing in the initiative would prevent defense attorneys defending corporations, or otherwise representing the people that can afford to pay high hourly rates upfront, from charging any amount they want an hour.

Read the rest of Oregon Aims to Limit Attorney Fees

The Fourth of July is coming, along with all the traditions that make the holiday so immediately memorable, especially to children. There are barbecues, gatherings of friends and family, and of course, fireworks. I love fireworks as much as the next guy, probably a little more, but I’m not ignorant of the risk involved.

On Sunday, the Denver Police Department found a huge cache of what they are referring to as a “recreational explosives” in Denver. They found an entire garage full of fireworks, describing it as equivalent in danger to having a meth lab next door.

Read the rest of When Fireworks Don’t Work

With the election looming around the corner, we should glance over the controversial issue we will inevitably be seeing on the ballots in November - a national health insurance program. Is it a good idea?

Advocates in favor of the nationwide program say it could save approximately $150 billion on paperwork alone. Because of the administrative complexities in our current system, over 25% of every health care dollar goes to marketing, billing, utilization review, and other forms of waste. A single-payer system could reduce administrative costs greatly.

Read the rest of Is Universal Health Care Really the Best Medicine?

The Supreme Court issued a decision, reducing the punitive damages Exxon would have to pay as a consequence of their continued employment of a known drunkard who caused the catastrophic Exxon Valdez oil spill. Thus ends a long and storied battle over responsibility for a massive oil spill.

In 1994, a jury awarded punitive damages of $5 billion, which was then reduced to $2.5 billion. Now, the Supreme Court has further reduced the punitive award to $500 million, stating that in these situations (which are admittedly limited), the ratio of compensatory damages to punitive damages must be 1 to 1.

The Court based their decision on a perceived need for consistency, stating that punitive damages are sometimes high and sometimes low, and similar facts do not necessitate a similar award. I have a hard time arguing with that; one of the underlying theories of the Common Law is that it should be consistent and built on precedent. But I feel that the Court missed the forest for the trees, so to speak.

Read the rest of Justice Delayed and Justice Denied

Flooding and no insurance coverage is about to become much more common in the Mississippi Gulf Coast. State Farm announced that it will not be renewing homeowners policies to those living within 1,000 feet of the beach and those between 1,000 and 2,500 feet will not be getting wind coverage renewed. Mike Chaney, the Mississippi Insurance Commissioner, is confident that people will be able to get coverage and states that rates may even decrease.

However, I am wondering, will it really decrease the rates. And will everyone be able to get covered? The real question is whether any other insurance companies will follow suit. If they do, basic economics tells us that the rates will go up. The less companies offering insurance to homeowners in that area, the less supply. People are unlikely to move at any significant number away from the area so demand will not substantially change. This will drive up the price. Also, if less companies are offering the insurance, the more risk they are taking on to pay out, so naturally the price would increase that homeowners pay for insurance. The fear of flooding without insurance coverage is well deserved for homeowners after Katrina, and with the recent developments up north in the Midwest.

Read the rest of Record Breaking Flooding and No Insurance Coverage?

Tort Reformers have a problem. They can push through laws that limit damages by harping on the “litigation lottery,” but inevitably, people will start to realize that what those laws do is essentially declare “You, an individual citizen, cannot possibly be harmed more then this amount.” This statement doesn’t sit well with most people, since Americans tend to recoil from legislative fiat. So now, the tort reformers have another tact they’re trying: the tort system needs to be reformed because plaintiff’s attorneys are making too much money.

Comes now a Colorado ballot initiative, aimed at severely limiting attorney’s fees. The initiative would have set a schedule for contingency fees, reducing from the standard 30%, down to 20% and then to 10% as the amount of the jury award rises. It also would have set a severe limit on overall contingencies, essentially allowing the percentage to plummet with no bottom in certain circumstances.

Read the rest of Tort Reformers Have a Problem

Bystanders do nothing after a hit-and-run. A minute and a half clip showing the horrific hit-and-run of Angel Torres that aired on news programs and was attached to online articles has raised a lot of talk of society’s loss of morality.

There are elements that are not known about the aftermath of the hit and run. Did someone try to identify the cars that fled after hitting Torres? Did someone try to go for help? Did people wait around to give statements to the police that might help find the driver that hit Torres? These are things that a short clip cannot show.

Read the rest of Hit-and-Run Shocks Nation Part Two: What Would You Do?

Bystanders do nothing after a hit-and-run. I’m sure you have all heard this headline as it dominated radio and news stations. A minute and a half clip showing the horrific hit-and-run of Angel Torres that aired on news programs and was attached to online articles has raised a lot of talk of society’s loss of morality. Angel Torres was walking across a two lane road after buying milk when a Toyota and a Honda chasing it crossed the center line and hit him. The clip caught by a surveillance camera also caught bystanders gawking and cars stopping for a second but then driving on. In the clip, no one comes to Torres’ aid or appears to do anything to help.

Read the rest of Hit-and-Run Shocks Nation

At least, if we go by the oft-quoted definition of insanity: doing the same thing over and over again, expecting a different response:

The government may house disaster victims in trailers this hurricane season as a last resort, despite promises never to use them again because of high levels of formaldehyde found in trailers used after Hurricane Katrina.

Read the rest of FEMA is Insane!