Debunking Susan Saladoff’s “Hot Coffee”
I’ve spoken about this case in talks to law schools across the country for years. The producer of the movie, Carly Hugo, emailed me asking to interview me on the pretense that they wanted to provide “both sides,” but provided a release that made it clear the filmmakers could misquote me at will. When I asked for a modification of the release to ensure that I would be quoted accurately, they suddenly didn’t want to interview me any more and I never heard from them again. I seem to have made a good decision in refusing to give the producers carte blanche: as the New York Times documents, tort-reformer Victor Schwartz was selectively edited to promote the filmmaker’s litigation-lobby bias.
I’ve also previously written about the Jamie Leigh Jones case featured in the movie; and anyone who buys the movie’s claim that Oliver Diaz was unfairly treated should read Walter Olson’s contemporaneous coverage of his criminal trials.
Point of Law
6/27/11
Film Review: Susan Saladoff’s “Hot Coffee” Documentary
Big corporations are buying seats for judges while trial lawyers must sit idly by due to unfair, oppressive campaign finance laws? Is the story truly so bleak for trial lawyers and their own advocacy groups? Not really.
First, Diaz actually won his election thanks to a hefty donation from prominent trial lawyer, Paul Minor (whose well-publicized 2007 conviction for judicial bribery you might recall). Second, famous plaintiff’s attorney Richard Scruggs, referred to certain Mississippi counties as “magic jurisdictions,” which he defined as:
[W]here the judiciary is elected with verdict money. The trial lawyers have established relationships with the judges that are elected. . . .They’ve got large populations of voters who are in on the deal, their getting their [piece] in many cases. And so, its a political force in their jurisdiction, and its almost impossible to get a fair trial if you are a defendant in some of these places. . . . These cases are not won in the courtroom.
For some reason, Saladoff neglected to include that information. And, we thought it was tort reform which was trying to close the courtroom doors?
Abnormal Use
6/27/11
Hot Coffee: Spilling Our Way to the ‘Evils’ of Tort Reform
The rest of the film focuses on the stories of other Americans who were shafted by the tort reform system, either by damage caps they were unaware of, or by mandatory arbitration clauses they were forced to sign.
I legitimately felt bad for these people. Thanks to the stupidity of the American public who voted for tort reform, these innocent people got screwed. Hot Coffee made me want to go out and protest and do community service.
But then I remembered that Saladoff is actually a lawyer — a trial lawyer, to be exact. That seems like a pretty good reason to me to create a “propaganda” film about the “evils” of tort reform.
Above The Law
6/27/11
