New York's legislature overwhelmingly passed new laws that stop most insurers from jamming their feet into personal injury settlements seeking repayment of funds they used for medical care. (Plaintiffs were not entitled to receive these monies in verdicts, but that didn't stop insurers from trying to grab it anyway.) The bill awaits Gov. Paterson's signature. This is one bill that I've lobbied for in the past with the New York State Trial Lawyer's Association and hope to blog on in more depth in the future. For now, see Roy Mura's New York State Legislature Passes New Anti-Subrogation Law;

The number and amount of medical malpractice payments is down. Justinian Lane asks, What Medical Malpractice Crisis?

Of course, doctor's still want more immunity from law suits (Walter Olson @ Point of Law);

Perhaps reducing medical errors would be a better idea;

And maybe putting video cameras in the OR would be one way to do that, since this hospital seems to have problems with things like wrong site surgery;

You can find a ton of statistics on personal injury litigation at Ron Miller's blog. Do those stats conform to your notions of what is really happening? Like, for instance, who decides cases more favorably for plaintiffs? Judges or juries?

Blawg Review #237 is up at Christian Metcalfe's property law blog, with its theme of The Putney Debates. No, I won't explain then, he will.

Some other web carnivals to explore that often have legal links: Health Wonk Review; Grand Rounds from the world of medicine; and Cavalcade of Risk from the world of insurance.

Here are 50 great blogs by and for law professors. But precious few seem to be written by actual legal practitioners. Maybe the real world isn't all that important?

Another list of 50...free resources to create your own website;

Lastly, MarineTraffic.com is one really cool site (via Volokh). You can track tankers, cruise ships and the Staten Island Ferry.

Labels: Random Notes