Of the report of the Judicial Conference Ad Hoc Committee on Asbestos Litigation -- Report of the Judicial Conference Ad Hoc Committee on Asbestos Litigation -- Separate dissenting statement of Judge Thomas F. Hogan to report of the Judicial Conference Ad Hoc Committee on Asbestos Litigation.
Uniquely in the United States, lawyers litigate large cases on behalf of many claimants who could not afford to sue individually. In these class actions, attorneys act typically as risk-taking entrepreneurs, effectively hiring the client rather than acting as the client’s agent. Lawyer-financed, lawyer-controlled, and lawyer-settled, such entrepreneurial litigation invites lawyers to sometimes act more in their own interest than in the interest of their clients. And because class litigation aggregates many claims, defendants object that its massive scale amounts to legalized extortion. Yet, without such devices as the class action and contingent fees, many meritorious claims would never be asserted. John Coffee examines the dilemmas surrounding entrepreneurial litigation in a variety of specific contexts, including derivative actions, securities class actions, merger litigation, and mass tort litigation. His concise history traces how practices developed since the early days of the Republic, exploded at the end of the twentieth century, and then waned as Supreme Court decisions and legislation sharply curtailed the reach of entrepreneurial litigation. In an evenhanded account, Coffee assesses both the strengths and weaknesses of entrepreneurial litigation and proposes a number of reforms to achieve a fairer balance. His goal is to save the class action, not discard it, and to make private enforcement of law more democratically accountable. Taking a global perspective, he also considers the feasibility of exporting a modified form of entrepreneurial litigation to other countries that are today seeking a mechanism for aggregate representation.
Malignant Mesothelioma brings together the most current diagnostic criteria and treatment plans from the world’s leading experts on this rare but devastating cancer. The first edition was a critical and commercial success and this revision builds on that reputation. The editors have brought together the world’s leading experts to fully explore the latest scientific breakthroughs in carcinogenesis, immunotherapy, potential vaccination strategies, and gene therapy. The clinical aspects of the book are equally strong, with thorough discussion of epidemiology, etiology, different clinical presentations, imaging (including interventional pulmonology), treatment of benign disease, strategies for multimodality treatment of malignant disease. Editors: Harvey I. Pass, M.D, Chief, Thoracic Surgery, New York University, New York, NY; Nicholas Vogelzang, M.D, Director, Nevada Cancer Institute, Las Vegas, NV; University of Chicago, Michele Carbone, M.D., Ph.D, Researcher and Director, Thoracic Oncology Program, Cancer Research Center of Hawaii, Honolulu, HI; and Anne S. Tsao, M.D, Department of Thoracic/Head & Neck Medical Oncology, The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX.
This book traces the emergence and transformations of asbestos compensation to explore the wider issue of to what extent legal systems have converged in the era of globalization. Examining the mechanism by which asbestos compensation is delivered in Belgium, England, Italy and the United States, as well as the cultural forces and actors which contribute to its emergence and transformations, the book advances our understanding of how law operates within cultural norms, routines, and institutional relations of capitalist societies. With material gathered from 50 interviews and from primary and secondary sources, the author considers law as a cultural phenomenon, national styles of legal culture and the convergence and divergence of legal cultures, and law as a form of institutionalized power.
