TORT REFORM
Law firms advertising asbestos, mesothelioma suits engaging in ‘double-dipping’
Multimillion-dollar awards in asbestos-related and mesothelioma cases are attracting unethical attorneys who prey on unsuspecting litigants, Darren McKinney, director of communications at the American Tort Reform Association, told SE Texas Record.
“Offhand, ATRA is not aware of any law firms specializing in asbestos claims that we’d call ‘reputable’ insofar as virtually all of them engage in ‘double-dipping’ — filing both lawsuits and administrative claims with asbestos bankruptcy trusts — and coaching clients to tell differing exposure stories so as to maximize their profits even if it means a given trust is unjustly and prematurely depleted, leaving future claimants with nothing,” McKinney said.
While asbestos litigation numbers are hard to find because there is no national registry for asbestos-related claims, a report by KCIC, a consulting firm that specializes in helping companies manage product liability, indicates these cases are on the decline.
There were 4,465 asbestos-related filings in 2015, a 7 percent decline from the 4,820 in 2014, the report, titled “Asbestos Litigation 2015 Year in Review,” showed.
Even though the drop is slight, it is enough to attract bottom-feeders in the legal community who often place open-ended advertisements to recruit potential litigators, McKinney said. If no individual representing a class of plaintiffs is included in the advertisement, it should be a warning sign to prospective litigants, he added.
The same month the report was released, former New York Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver was convicted in federal court of seven corruption charges, including his handling of asbestos litigation.
The Mesothelioma Center’s Asbestos.com offers tips on how to find an attorney to represent an asbestos-related case. — Joana Suleiman
TAXES
IRS adds two-factor authentication a year after breach
With the help of the U.S. Digital Service, the Internal Revenue Service re-launched Get Transcript, the online service that gave the public access to their tax returns. Except now, users must go through a multi-layered verification process to gain access to the feature online.
A year after hackers stole personal information from 610,000 taxpayers and used that data to get inside IRS networks, the agency created a framework that meets standards from the Office of Management and Budget and the National Institute of Standards and Technology.
“Criminals are becoming increasingly sophisticated and continue to gather vast amounts of personal information as the result of data breaches at sources outside the U.S.,” Commissioner John Koskinen said June 7.
“In the face of that threat, we must provide the strongest possible authentication processes, while trying to enhance the ability of taxpayers to legitimately access their data and user IRS services online. We recognize that enhanced security will increase the challenge for taxpayers accessing our online services.”
Previous Get Transcript users will have to re-register, and returning users must receive a new security code via text each time they visit the web application. — Joana Suleiman
EDUCATION
Study: Charter schools see success in Boston
According to a study published in the Journal of Labor Economics, attending a charter school in Boston helps students do better in math and reading as well as on Advanced Placement exams and the SAT. Charter students were also more likely to enroll at a two-year college within six months of high school graduation.
Attending a charter school made students more likely to take an Advanced Placement exam. Charter schools successfully helped students perform better on the science, calculus and United States history exams.
The study looked at students who applied to six Boston charter schools between 2002-09, comparing results of students who enrolled in charter schools and those who would have but were not offered admission due to space constraints. The U.S. Department of Education reviewed the study and gave it their highest possible rating for study design, suggesting the findings are highly credible.
Charter schools are publicly funded and do not charge tuition. They have more independence and flexibility than traditional public schools and must be open to all students. The study was authored by Joshua Angrist (MIT), Sarah Cohodes (Harvard), Susan Dynarski (University of Michigan), Parag Pathak (MIT) and Christopher Walters (University of California, Berkeley). — Jason Russell
