The Trial Practice Tips Weblog

Asbestos Lawsuits in Madison County

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch writes about venue in Madison County asbestos cases in "Illinois Supreme Court has yet to weigh in on venue for asbestos suits," part of a series of articles about asbestos. There's a second article about the so-called "Lipke rule." A few of my own comments about the series are in this post from Notes from the (Legal) Underground.

John Edwards, Trial Lawyer

In honor of the Kerry-Edwards ticket, I'm posting a link to a January article from the New York Times: "In Trial Work, Edwards Left a Trademark," by Adam Liptak and Michael Moss--

In 1985, a 31-year-old North Carolina lawyer named John Edwards stood before a jury and channeled the words of an unborn baby girl.

Referring to an hour-by-hour record of a fetal heartbeat monitor, Mr. Edwards told the jury: "She said at 3, `I'm fine.' She said at 4, `I'm having a little trouble, but I'm doing O.K.' Five, she said, `I'm having problems.' At 5:30, she said, `I need out.' "

But the obstetrician, he argued in an artful blend of science and passion, failed to heed the call. By waiting 90 more minutes to perform a breech delivery, rather than immediately performing a Caesarean section, Mr. Edwards said, the doctor permanently damaged the girl's brain.

The article gives the outcome of the trial and recounts some of the highlights of Edwards' career as a lawyer.

A US Supreme Court Review

From the New York Times: "The Year Rehnquist May Have Lost His Court," by Linda Greenhouse.

After arguing that "it is possible that the 2003-04 term may go down in history as the one when Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist lost his court," the article reviews this year's key Supreme Court decisions in these categories: Detainees, Politics, Criminal Law, Privacy, Discrimination, Federalism and Regulation, Speech and Religion, and Jurisdiction.

The Politics of the Illinois Supreme Court

Here's an update on the Supreme Court race: "Tort reform is key issue in race," by Kevin McDermott, St. Louis Post-Dispatch.