Max Kennerly, Esq.

Personal Injury

The Unjust “Sporting Theory Of Justice” In Federal Courts

Over a century ago, in 1906, law professor Roscoe Pound outlined “The Causes of Popular Dissatisfaction with the Administration of Justice” in a speech to the American Bar Association. After conceding “dissatisfaction with the administration of justice is as old as law,” Pound went on to perform a “diagnosis” of the “more than the normal amount of dissatisfaction with the present-day administration of justice in America.” One particularly “potent source of irritation” was “our American exaggerations of the common law contentious procedure,” which produced a bizarre, unjust, and “sporting” sense of justice: It grants new trials because by inability to procure a bill of exceptions a party has lost the chance to play another inning in the game of justice. It creates vested rights …

Personal Injury

Watch “The Bleeding Edge” And Demand Medical Device Safety Reform

Imagine if lights, kitchen equipment, and home electronics didn’t need to be tested for electrical shock and fire hazards, and that no one ever certified that the devices were safe. Would you put them in your home? What about a car that had just one crash test, at low speed, and Congress had passed a special law making it impossible for anyone to sue the car company, so the company couldn’t be held responsible for people’s injuries? Would you put your family in one? Yet, those examples above describe the state of the $156 billion American medical device market. Most medical devices aren’t tested with clinical trials. The medical devices which are tested can pass with a minimal showing, and Congress passed a special law that says …

Personal Injury

The Details Of Judge Curiel’s Trump University Orders

Popehat already explained in general why there’s nothing unusual about Judge Curiel’s rulings in the Trump University case, i.e., that denying summary judgment is the norm. Nonetheless, Kevin Drum recently mused: I think we all know perfectly well that Curiel is just an ordinary judge, and Trump is ranting against him because that’s what Trump does whenever something doesn’t go his way. He whines. Endlessly. Still, I’m kind of curious. It would be interesting if some kind of qualified lawyer type went through the records of these trials and reported back on whether Curiel seems to be conducting things fairly. Maybe he’s not! Maybe he really does hate Trump. Unfortunately, I suppose that would be a lot of work. Oh well. Let’s …