ThePopTort

Criminal Justice Breakdowns Lead to Civil Justice Hope

The Amanda Bynes case notwithstanding, harassment by arresting police officers really isn’t something to joke about.  

A genuine excessive force lawsuit has just been filed against the Seattle Police Department, the city and three police officers by a (then) 18-year-old named Abdellah, who says that when he was arrested, “excessive force in the field spilled over to intimidation while Abdellah was handcuffed in the holding cell, with Officer Powell first giving him the middle finger, then threatening to throw a punch.”  This is after “the department decided not to press criminal charges against Officer Powell, with an expert citing a conviction was unlikely because of a botched internal investigation.”

Meanwhile, in Alaska, the city of Anchorage,

[H]as agreed to pay $60,000 to settle a lawsuit brought by a man who claims Anchorage Police Department officers harassed and then assaulted him during a September 2010 altercation downtown. The city has also agreed, as part of the settlement, to provide training for all APD patrol officers in “verbal communication and de-escalation” and to certify to a federal judge the training is complete by the end of this year.

Hope that works.  But here’s what’s worse.  If you happen to end up in this kind of situation and need medical care, good luck.  In Mississippi earlier this week, “The former wife of an inmate who died after collapsing at the Harrison County jail in 2011 has filed a lawsuit alleging he failed to receive adequate medical care, should not have been incarcerated and should have already been released.”  Specifically,

A hearing was not held to confirm he was indigent or to discuss payment arrangements or community service, the lawsuit said. The suit claims Staten was to be released May 8, 2011, the day he became ill, but the jail had scheduled his release for May 13.

The complaint accuses D'Iberville officials, Police Chief Wayne Payne and Sheriff Melvin Brisolara of conspiring to deprive people of constitutional rights to raise money for the city by jailing indigent people over unpaid fines.

And in Minnesota,

The Minnesota Department of Corrections has agreed to a $400,000 settlement in a federal lawsuit over the death of a 27-year-old St. Paul man.

Xavius Scullark-Johnson suffered at least seven seizures in his prison cell through the night of June 28, 2010, and into the next morning at the Rush City prison. Nurses and correctional officers didn't provide medical care for eight hours, and a nurse turned away an ambulance, the lawsuit said. Scullark-Johnson died June 30, 2010.

"Defendants' deliberate indifference to Mr. Scullark-Johnson's serious medical needs caused his death," said the lawsuit, which named Corrections Department officers and nurses, along with Corizon Inc., a private company based in Tennessee that the state contracts with for medical services, and one of the firm's doctors.

The Corizon part of the lawsuit is ongoing.

It is the largest settlement the Corrections Department has paid in a medical-negligence lawsuit in the past eight years, according to the department. The state defendants deny liability, the settlement agreement said.

Of course, it shouldn’t be any wonder that medical care might be wanting for the U.S. prison population, with “about 5 percent of the world's population” and “nearly one-quarter of the entire world's inmates.”  Medical care for the non-incarcerated is dangerous enough.

There Will Be Oil, and Oil, and Oil

When did oil misfortunes become so popular? Not that this topic hasn’t always been timeless and dramatic. (Like, it’s not every 1927 Upton Sinclair novel - the one called Oil! - so easily lends itself to being turned into an Oscar-winning film 80 years later.  And it’s not every environmental catastrophe - the one created by oil - that’s devastating enough to lure Mos Def, Lenny Kravitz, the Preservation Hall Band, Trombone Shorty, and Tim Robbins simultaneously into the studio! See below.)

But a quick perusal of the news this week makes clear that misfortunes (to put it mildly) created by “oil” are all the rage, these days. Here’s our highlight reel:

On Thursday, the U.S. Justice Department “reached a $1.4 billion settlement ... with Transocean Ltd., the owner of the drilling rig that sank after an explosion killed 11 workers and spawned the massive 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.” Notes the Associated Press, “BP PLC, which leased the rig from Transocean, already has agreed to pay a record $4.5 billion in penalties and plead guilty to manslaughter and other criminal charges related to the spill. The deal with BP doesn't resolve the federal government's civil claims against the London-based oil company.” And, “Last month, U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier in New Orleans gave final approval to a class-action settlement agreement between BP and a team of private plaintiffs' attorneys. BP estimates it will pay about $7.8 billion to resolve these claims, but the settlement isn't capped. Barbier also is set to preside over a trial designed to identify the causes of BP's deadly well blowout and assign percentages of fault to the companies involved. The first phase of the trial is scheduled to start Feb. 25.”

Also yesterday, “The House Sustainable Energy and Environment Coalition called on the Interior Department and the Coast Guard to jointly investigate the New Year's Eve grounding of the Shell drilling vessel Kulluk on a remote Gulf of Alaska island, and a previous incident connected to Arctic offshore drilling operations in 2012.”  Writes AP,

"The recent grounding of Shell's Kulluk oil rig amplifies the risks of drilling in the Arctic," they said in a joint statement. "This is the latest in a series of alarming blunders, including the near-grounding of another of Shell's Arctic drilling rigs, the 47-year-old Noble Discoverer, in Dutch Harbor and the failure of its blowout containment dome, the Arctic Challenger, in lake-like conditions."

And speaking of the Associated Press, the newswire just got hold of a Department of Transportation report to Congress (set to be released next week), which finds that 16 pipeline spills “caused by flooding and riverbed erosion dumped 2.4 million gallons of crude oil and other hazardous liquids into U.S. waterways over the past two decades. … Of the 2.4 million gallons of oil, gasoline, propane and other hazardous liquids released, less than 300,000 gallons was recovered,” threatening drinking water supplies.

The massive August 6 Chevron refinery fire in Richmond California (San Francisco’s East Bay) may have been made worse by company firefighters who may have punctured a pipe – a “40-year-old pipe had already been weakened by the heavy sulfur content of the crude oil being pumped through it.” Meanwhile, reports the New York Times, many area residents are furious about,

Chevron’s choice of metal to replace a 5-foot-long, 8-inch carbon-steel pipe that became corroded and sprang a leak in August. The resulting fire sent plumes of black smoke into the air, spewing emissions of sulfur dioxide, as the authorities warned Richmond residents to stay indoors. Thousands went to emergency rooms with various health complaints. Chevron says it will compensate residents with valid claims for medical and property expenses, although it has not said how many of the 23,700 claims it has received will qualify.

And there are more problems in the Gulf of Mexico.  Check out this incredible story:

An oil company admitted Thursday that coffee filters were used to doctor water samples and cover up the fact that it was dumping oil and grease into the Gulf of Mexico on its platform 175 miles south of New Orleans.

W&T Offshore pleaded guilty to a felony and a misdemeanor and agreed to pay $700,000 in fines and $300,000 for community service. W&T, which is based in Texas, announced last month that it would plead guilty to tampering with water samples from its Ewing Banks Block 910 platform and illegally discharging into the Gulf. The guilty plea also included additional details about the company’s crimes.

Those details included the fact that W&T’s contractors used coffee filters to clean the water samples before submitting them to regulators. Also, the company admitted that when they spilled some oil in November 2009, they not only failed to report it to the Coast Guard, but sprayed the oil into the Gulf and then hired a company that worked for three days to clean the platform to make it look like there never was a spill.

Inspectors from the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement still found oil staining on the platform deck and visible sheen in the water, all of which W&T failed to report as required.

Take it away, guys:

BP: Slumbering in Alaska

In 2006, there was a 200,000-gallon spill at BP’s Prudhoe Bay Alaska pipeline, the largest ever spill on Alaska's North Slope.  As reported by ProPublica, leading up to the 2006 spill, “[BP] pleaded guilty to a felony conviction in 1999 for illegal dumping at an offshore drilling field [and then] it drew fresh scrutiny to its operations and set off a cascading cycle of attempted -- and seemingly failed -- reforms that continued over the next decade.”  For example, “a 2001 report noted that BP had neglected key equipment needed for emergency shutdown, including safety shutoff valves and gas and fire detectors similar to those that could have helped prevent the fire and explosion on the Deepwater Horizon rig in the Gulf.” 

Among other things going at BP leading up to that spill, as reported by ProPublica, were: a pattern of intimidating workers who raised safety or environmental concerns, and managers shaving maintenance costs with the practice of “run to failure,’ under which aging equipment was used as long as possible. 

This kind of behavior continuted after the spill.  One technician, Stuart Sneed, who was later harassed after raising safety concerns, said, “’They say it’s your duty to come forwardbut then when you do come forward, they screw you. They'll destroy your life.’”  See more here.)

In 2007, BP pled guilty to federal misdemeanor violations of the Clean Water Act and paid $20 million in criminal penalties for the Alaska spill.  Then, in 2009, as AP reported, BP spilled another 13,000 gallons of oil onto the tundra at the Lisburne oil field, also one of the North Slope's largest spills, apparently violating its probation and “the company's probation officer, Mary Frances Barnes, filed a petition to revoke probation in November [2010]. She said BP violated its probation when it failed to take action on warning signs that the Lisburne pipeline was compromised months before it leaked.”

Further, “[W]orker harassment claims continued to be made in Alaska and elsewhere, and more problems with the Alaska pipeline systems also emerged. … Three more accidents rocked the same system of pipelines and gas compressor stations in 2009, including a near explosion that could have destroyed the entire facility. According to a letter that members of Congress sent to BP executives, obtained by ProPublica, the near miss was the result of malfunctioning safety and backup equipment.”

And ProPublica’s investigative team also found that as of Oct. 1, 2010, “[A]t least 148 BP pipelines on Alaska's North Slope received an ‘F-rank’ from the company. According to BP oil workers, that means inspections have determined that more than 80 percent of the pipe wall is corroded and could rupture. Most of those lines carry toxic or flammable substances. Many of the metal walls of the F-ranked pipes are worn to within a few thousandths of an inch of bursting, according to the document, risking an explosion or spills.”

I mean, it goes on and on.  So yesterday, it was reported that BP will pay another $25 million civil penalty for the Alaska spill [which is] the largest per barrel civil penalty assessed, exceeding the statutory maximum because the settlement, resolves claims other than the spill, according to the EPA. The settlement also calls for BP Exploration Alaska Inc. to install a system-wide pipeline integrity management program.

"This penalty should serve as a wake-up call to all pipeline operators that they will be held accountable for the safety of their operations and their compliance with the Clean Water Act, the Clean Air Act and the pipeline safety laws," Assistant U.S. Attorney Ignacia S. Moreno said in a conference call with reporters.

BP admits no liability, and BP Alaska spokesman Steve Rinehart insisted that everything’s changed there since 2006.  So pardon us for doubting that BP ever intends to actually “wake-up.”  (Learn more about BP’s Culture of Corruption here.)

Sprinkles of Civil Justice (With a Post Election Flavor)

So what do the civil courts have in store for us, post mid-term elections?  Looks like a dash of new state hurdles here, a pinch of federal obstruction there.  Let’s take a look at a few smidgens!

First, Oklahoma's new Attorney General-elect, Scott Pruitt, apparently accepted thousands of dollars in campaign donations from poultry industry employees, for which he was heavily criticized – and for good reason.  As soon as he was elected, he announced that he would consider stopping the state’s lawsuit against the poultry industry for causing “widespread pollution” even though the state “has spent millions of dollars arguing the case, and it is awaiting a judge's ruling.”

Also, in an article earlier this week, New York Times reports that the new Governor-elect of Wisconsin, Scott Walker, said “he planned to remove all ‘litigation, regulation, excessive cost’ barriers to businesses (declaring Wisconsin, on election night, ‘open for business!’)."  In other words, no accountability for wrongdoing whatsoever!  How attractive!  (Hope you’re paying attention toxic polluters, makers of unsafe children’s products, dangerous commercial truckers and hazardous equipment manufacturers.)

On the federal judiciary front, Ann Woolner writes for Bloomberg, 

Republicans have managed to stall more than a score of President Obama’s nominees to the bench so far, although they number only 41 senators, barely enough to keep a filibuster going.

With six more Republican senators narrowing the gap in January, the minority party in the Senate will have more muscle to use against the president’s choices...

Republicans have been loading the federal bench with as many conservatives as they can, while blocking as many Democratic nominees as possible.

Yes, I said Democratic nominees instead of liberal. The current list of 23 stalled Obama nominees includes 17 approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee without a whiff of controversy or even a no vote against them.

And when it comes to one of the hottest environmental issues today – greenhouse gases - a new study by “DB Climate Change Advisors (DBCCA), a New York-based eco-investment advisory unit of Deutsche Bank Group” concluded that:

The failure of federal cap and trade, the return of Republican control in the U.S. House and California's plans to move forward on that state's greenhouse gas law will probably inspire a new wave of lawsuits moving the climate change battle to the courts,

"It is probably inevitable that people are turning to litigation to fill the void left by the lack of legislation, and it is possible that the threat of court action will in some cases galvanize legislators to take action where before they had simply avoided the issue," DBCCA analysts say in the report, titled "Growth of U.S. Climate Change Litigation: Trends and Consequences."

And finally, the decision as to who will be Alaska's next Senator moves to the courts, with Tea Party trial lawyer Joe Miller now suing to invalidate a lot of Sen. Lisa Murkowski’s write-in ballots. 

Whoa, back up a minute.  Did we say "Tea Party trial lawyer"?  You betcha we did!  Specializing in all kinds of accidents including medical malpractice cases, Mr. Miller writes on his web site:

Have you been injured? If you have suffered serious injury as a result of an accident, you have probably been contacted by an insurance adjustor. Remember, insurance adjustors are in the business of saving insurance companies money, not helping you. Insurance adjustors are very skilled in what they do...

Every day, Insurance Companies convince accident victims that their injuries are insignificant and deserve little compensation. You should always contact an attorney before resolving your case.

Couldn't have said it better ourselves, Joe.

We're All "Mom and Pop" Oil Companies Now!

We found this "Confidential Memo" on Huffington Post.  Check it out!

____________________________________________

CONFIDENTIAL MEMO

To: Oil Industry Executives

From: [Redacted name], Chief Executive Officer
[Redacted name] Oil Company

Date: May 18, 2010

Re: We're all "Mom and Pop" Oil Companies Now!

I know your shareholders have been pretty happy lately. With $6 billion in profits just this first quarter of 2010, I know ours have. (And if you have a compensation package anything like mine, well...) I know you want to scream this from the rafters because in this kind of economy, who's making that kinda dough?!

But SSHHHH! Really. Shhh! This is not the time. We're in a fight to keep that puny $75 million liability cap (I know!) on the books for our oil spills, and guess what? It's all those tiny mom and pop oil companies that are saving us! (Actually, I had no idea about them. Must have missed them at the last Minerals Management Service paintball party. By the way, anyone seen my goggles?)

Anywho, turns out whoever they are, they are having a huge impact protecting us. Just today, our buddy Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-OK) stood up on the Senate floor to block these ridiculous attempts to make us pay people up to $10 billion when we have an accident. Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) did the same marvelous thing last week. Imagine! Who doesn't spill something every once in awhile? The last thing we need are more regulations and more liability. How many times do we have to cry "nanny state, nanny state"? Thankfully, both senators Murkowski and Inhofe could point to all those small independent producers who might never find insurance to cover them if they actually had to pay for the damage they caused. I don't know about that. All I know is, we don't have insurance now and we don't wanna have to buy any. We can manage $75 million just fine on our own and that's what our limit should be! Everyone with me here?

But we really need to watch out for Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ). He's not buying the whole mom and pop thing. He told NPR:

Well, you know, at some point there are a lot of smaller companies than BP, but they're not mom and pop companies as we would think of a mom and pop store on Main Street. Several of these independent operators are, you know, $40 billion in net worth. And lastly, the question begs the issue as a public policy, just because we want smaller operators to be able to operate, if they create the same risk would we simply say that the liability should now become that of the public and of all of the Gulf State residents, and of the federal government, because they're smaller?

Better watch out for this guy.

Anyway, none of this oil spill is anyone's fault except the Sierra Club. I heard it on Rush Limbaugh today. That's because "they've been driving oil producers off the land to 'way, way, way offshore.'" (Although I have to admit I am a bit confused by that. I thought those irrational enviros dislike drilling on land too, and support energy alternative that are so terrifying that an oil company might not be able to own them. The sun, the wind - it's chilling!)

Here's another idea. Let's say they're part of that Obama-Pelosi-Reid "secular-socialist machine" that Newt Gingrich says "represents as great a threat to America as Nazi Germany or the Soviet Union once did." Talk about good messaging! And add to that list all the groups that just signed onto this letter, urging Congress to lift that cap and suggesting - actually saying - that "there should be no liability cap at all [because] they allow companies like BP to avoid bearing responsibility for the full cost of damage it inflicts." Just like Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid says! Pay for our negligence? Are they nuts?

Senator Bill Nelson (D-FL) said today that he's gong to make us cry uncle. How do you make a mom and pop cry uncle? Weird. I don't think that's gonna happen. Beside, we may not have adequate safety systems in our oil rigs, but we do have back up plans where it really counts. Start siphoning off some of those mega-profits. November's just around the corner.

What do Retiring Justice Stevens, Senator Patrick Leahy and Sarah Palin Have in Common?

What a question, right?  The Blog of the Legal Times had an interesting piece about Senate Judiciary Chair Pat Leahy (D-VT)’s comments on a couple TV news shows his week.  They concern some of the extremist (far right) decisions coming from the current Supreme Court that he finds not only objectionable (as did Justice Stevens), but also outright activist.

While we would add a few more to that list (e.g., here, here), one case he raised was the court’s love song to Exxon, when it acceded to Exxon’s demand that the $5 billion Exxon Valdez punitive damage award, which the company fought for 14 years, be cut to one-tenth of the jury’s verdict.   

Now, we were surprised as anyone to see Tina Fey’s doppelganger Sarah Palin agreeing with Leahy and Justice Steven by denouncing this decision at the time (see video below), especially given her general lack of awareness of the U.S. Supreme Court (although her decision to “go rouge” on this must have, on second thought, been a little too mavericky even for her).  But the footage kinda speaks for itself, don’t you think?

In any event, let's hope lots more people start paying attention to this decision.  

Sarah Palin “Going Rogue” On the Exxon Valdez Case

We were as surprised as anyone when Sarah Palin actually denounced the really bad 2008 U.S. Supreme Court decision that slashed the Exxon Valdez oil spill verdict, saying 30,000 victims could only get one-tenth of the jury’s award.  She said it was a “huge disappointment,” that she didn’t think was “right” or “fair.”  Sure, Palin’s a civil justice hypocrite, but hey, we’re not proud.  We’ll take it.  Ah, but like so many who were once sucked in by the charms of Sarah Palin, guess we spoke too soon.

Not that we’ve actually read it or anything, but in her uber-popular new book “Going Rogue,” Palin now apparently says the “U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of the people,” even calling it a “victory” for Alaskans.  Not only that, she claims to have played a pivotal role in achieving that “victory.”

“’That is the most cockamamie bullsh@t,’” said Dave Oesting of Anchorage, lead plaintiff attorney in the private litigants’ civil case against Exxon and its successor, Exxon Mobil Corp. “’She didn’t have a damn thing to do with it, and she didn’t know what it was about.’”

“It’s a disgrace.  It’s a disgrace to the legal system,” added Riki Ott, a scientist, environmental activist and Prince William Sound fisherman.  “It’s a disgrace to intellectual honesty to call 10 cents on the dollar a win for Alaskans.”

Yeah, didn’t she say that before?

Anchorage Daily News Tells the Truth About Medical Malpractice…Despite Sarah Palin!

Big news out of the “last frontier” state!  

The Anchorage Daily News (Alaska’s largest paper) has taken a negative view of Alaska’s brutal “tort reform” law after 23 years of seemingly endless demands by state lawmakers to strip patients’ rights.

It seems like only yesterday (actually, it was 1986) that insurance giant, Lloyds of London, sent its legal goons to Alaska and threatened state lawmakers that if they didn’t enact severe restrictions on Alaskans' legal rights, Lloyd’s would pull of the state, in essence risking the collapse of Alaska’s economy.  Their threat worked and Alaska enacted its first in a series of “caps” on compensation for injured Alaskans, among other severe so-called “tort reform.”  (See a good explanation of this history in the Center for Justice & Democracy’s report, Shakedown: How the Insurance Industry Exploits A Nation in Times of Crisis.)

Fast forward to 1997…to the surprise of no one who has studied the relationship (or lack thereof) between medical malpractice claims and insurance rates, those 1986 restrictions on patients’ rights failed to have any real effect on premiums.  Unfortunately, this only convinced businesses and the Alaska insurance lobby to clamor even harder for more and deeper restrictions on Alaskans’ rights.  (You can find a summary of Alaska’s laws in Center for Justice & Democracy’s 1999 report, Premium Deceit.)

In 2005, the saga continued.  Still convinced medical malpractice claims were somehow creating a “crisis” in the state, despite the plethora of anti-patient laws already on the books, lawmakers lowered the cap on compensation for injured patients even further! 

So today, we say a well-deserved, and long overdue Eureka!  The Anchorage Daily News has decided enough is enough, calling for a merciful end to almost 25 years of non-stop unfounded attacks on the rights of injured patients. Check out some of what the paper had to say:

In Alaska, we've already got tort reform….

[But] so far, tort reform has not helped drop health care costs for consumers….

A state Department of Labor report last month showed health care costs in Anchorage are on a steady upward trajectory -- they quadrupled between 1982 and 2009.

Health care costs in Missouri, which also capped non-economic damages in 2005, have also continued rising, according to an Aug. 29 article in the Kansas City Star. The same is true of Texas, which enacted "even more stringent tort reforms," the article said.

Supporters of tort reform say it also helps reduce costly "defensive medicine." The notion is that doctors will quit ordering tests, procedures and consultations that are done just to protect themselves from malpractice claims, and not because they have medical benefit.

The Congressional Budget Office says there's not conclusive evidence that doctors are practicing so-called defensive medicine to an extent that would affect health care costs….

The Congressional Budget Office noted that malpractice costs amounted to less than 2 percent of overall health spending in one year studied, 2002. Even a 25 percent to 30 percent reduction in medical malpractice premiums would not significantly affect total health care costs, says the CBO report "Limiting Tort Liability for Medical Malpractice." …

The threat of medical malpractice lawsuits cuts down on health spending in one important way. It puts pressure on medical professionals to avoid common medical errors -- such as transmitting infections that could be avoided through hand-washing -- that drive up costs and even kill people. The Institute of Medicine has estimated that at least 44,000 and maybe as many as 98,000 people die each year from medical mistakes in hospitals….

BOTTOM LINE: Alaska's experience and that of other states suggest tort reform isn't going to do much to cure costly flaws in the American medical system.

Now, as a semi-gratuitous post script…we have no idea whether Sarah Palin will take the Daily News’s recent analysis to heart the next time she’s talking about medical malpractice on Facebook (or for that matter, whether she even reads her home state’s largest newspaper).  But eternal optimists that we are, we’re keeping our fingers crossed!

Sarah Palin Facebooks About Medical Malpractice—My Kid Sister Responds

So we heard that former VP candidate/Alaska governor Sarah Palin had been “Facebooking” about health care again.  We’re no technophobes, but we thought it might be smart to get some help from a more experienced social networker to respond.  So we recruited my kid sister, Jennifer—and I may be biased, but I think she did an excellent job.  (Way to go, Jen!)

What’s up, F. Gov.?

Caught ur latest status update on FB today.  Noticed u were H8-ing on people who file lawsuits again.  LOL!  I never get tired of hearing u say stuff like that—then threatening to file a lawsuit yourself against the press or something…LOL!!!

BTW, couldn’t help but notice that u had a few things to say about medical malpractice—seems like ur stressing that docs may be ordering bogus tests because they’re afraid of being sued or whatever.  Well u can chill, cause I Googled it, and every government agency that has taken a look at that whole issue, from the GAO to the CBO, has called it a bad AFool’s joke.  And as for those freakishly high numbers u were citing from “Kessler and McClellan” or whoever…I Factcheck.org’em, and I mean, their stuff just got TOTALLY debunked, like years ago!  Like even worse than that whole crazy “death panel” thing (no offense).

u also said that thing about AK having certain “caps” (or something) aimed at preventing lawsuits and how that helps keep malpractice insurance rates down(?).  Well, I was totally confused (and a little bored), but I Googled it anyway.  Turns out, there’s no link between keeping injured patients out of court and med mal insurance rates going up or down.  Like for example, it’s true that AK makes it hard for injured people to sue and that med mal insurance rates haven’t budged in the state for the past 5 years.  But it’s also true that the state of R.I. does NOT have AK-type lawsuit restrictions, and their med mal insurance rates didn’t budge either.

It’s a little confusing, I know, but do u at least sort of follow?  It’s like, it may rain the same day u go aerial wolf hunting or something, but it may also rain when u decide to stay home and write weird things on FB—but neither the rain, nor FB, has anything to do with wolf hunting (or the rain, or whatever).

Anyway, PIR so gotta’ go (my folks r so nosy).  I told them I was trying to help Sarah Palin understand health care policy, but of course, they didn’t believe me :( Oh well…TTYS.

Jen

Hypocrisy Alert: Resigning Sarah Palin Denounces Lawsuits as Her Attorney Threatens to Sue

As partisans and pundits frantically attempt to decipher why soon-to-be-former Governor Sarah Palin quit, we’ve decided to join the fray just long enough to issue the following hypocrisy alert.

According to Palin, the filing of so-called “frivolous lawsuits” against her was a driving force behind her decision to resign on July 3.  “It doesn’t cost the critics anything to file frivolous lawsuits,” Palin bemoaned, in what she dubbed “this land of litigation.” (Check out this video at about 2:37). 

But according to Palin (and her attorney) there’s nothing “frivolous” when it comes to suing major news organizations who, she claims, “defame” her.  In fact, she’s ready to sue, sue, sue! 

Well…as loyal readers of ThePopTort know well, we take special delight in calling out hypocrites who trash the civil justice system, just as long as their ability to file lawsuits remains in tact  (here, here, here), so if you’re like us, you’re probably eating a celebratory cookie about now.

Regardless…radio personality, blogger, and named target of Palin’s most recent lawsuit threat, Shannyn Moore (who was clearly listening), shot back at the outgoing governor: “Sarah Palin, if you have a problem with me, then sue me.”

Brace yourselves…this should be good.