Judiciary News

The Supreme Court says a woman can seek lawyers’ fees from the government even though her lawsuit over damage she said was caused by a vaccine was ruled untimely.

More than 10 years ago I wrote two columns documenting that, although the Daubert validation test had supplanted the Frye general-acceptance test in most states as well as federal court, the state of the law had achieved an equilibrium. In the columns I predicted that "there will likely be further movement toward Daubert, [but] the shift will be a gradual one."

Federal courts officials have asked the White House for emergency funding, saying the judiciary does not have the budget flexibility to absorb the large mandatory budget cuts that have caused furloughs in the nation's federal public defender and court offices.

After the issue appeared to be in jeopardy last week, the Senate on Friday approved a business-backed bill that would tighten standards for expert witnesses in lawsuits.

The West Virginia House of Delegates has adopted a resolution that would analyze rules requiring the state Supreme Court to provide reasons for refusing a party’s appeal. The resolution was inspired by the complaints of groups like the American Tort Reform Association, which described West Virginia as the nation’s Number Two “Judicial Hellhole” due to its failure to ensure a right of appeal. The resolution will now go to the Senate Judiciary Committee.

The so-called Missouri plan for choosing judges has become so troublesome that several states are now altering or abandoning it. In Pennsylvania, however, three former Governors are getting on board with an effort to impose it for state appellate and Supreme Court judges.

Although most Supreme Court watchers are focused on the two gay marriage cases to be argued before the Court on Tuesday and Wednesday of this week, for Lawfare readers this may be the week that the Supreme Court finally issues a decision in the landmark Alien Tort Statute case, Kiobel v. Royal Dutch Petroleum.

The House of Delegates has adopted a bill that would set up a review of the state’s appellate court system.

The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled that a homeowner seeking to sue his insurer could not file suit in a state court considered friendly to plaintiffs.

Would you rather have a jury or medical experts judge drug safety?