Daily Dose of Lawsuit Abuse

Happy Friday, Project Lawsuit Abuse readers! Today you can take it easy because we’re rounding up the news for you. Our readers and Sick of Lawsuits supporters are sounding off on the latest lawsuit abuse news. Click through to see what they’re saying and join the conversation.

• Lawsuit Watchdog Group Thinks ‘Judicial Hellhole’ Title is Justified
McLean County was put on a “judicial hellhole” watch list by a watchdog group last year and the Illinois Lawsuit Abuse Watch group says a recent case proves that true. Travis Akin says a McLean County jury delivered a $90 million asbestos exposure settlement recently. But, Akin says the plaintiff never worked for the companies involved in the suit. WJBC.com

• Stanford Withdraws $7.2B Lawsuit Against Government
By now, we’re used to strange goings-on coming out of the Allen Stanford camp. So a bit more doesn’t really surprise us. Today’s Stanford head-scratcher: the alleged Ponzi-schemer, currently held pending his trial, dropped a lawsuit seeking $7.2 billion from federal law enforcement a little over a month after he filed it. Click here for the story, from Talking Points Memo. WSJ Law Blog

• Lessons for Albany on Malpractice Limits
“As New York lawmakers strive to complete the state budget by April 1, one of the most contentious battles involves whether to include a cap on medical malpractice payments that Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo has proposed with the support of the state’s hospital industry. The measure would limit damages paid by doctors and hospitals for pain and suffering to $250,000, a ceiling that hospitals predict would reduce their insurance premiums by one-fourth and give them the savings necessary to blunt the pain of the sharp cuts in Medicaid spending that Mr. Cuomo has also proposed. New York Times