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Nursing Home Litigation


President’s Message


Louise A. Lock I


compel anyone who has not yet watched the HBO documentary “Hot Coffee” to do so. I also encourage each of us to make sure that our clients see this film. Te title


originates from the now infamous “McDonald’s coffee” case from New Mexico. A distorted and grossly inaccurate account of the case was used in the 1990s as the rallying point for the tort reform contingent, including the Chamber of Commerce and the American Tort Reform Association. Te all too familiar “jackpot justice,” “lawsuit lotto” and “lawsuit abuse” vitriol are revisited; the Chamber and its progeny are exposed as the spin doctors they are. Susan Saladoff, a plaintiff ’s attorney for more than 25


years and who worked at Trial Lawyers for Public Justice as well as Shadoan, Michael & Wells, is the film’s director. Te film contains four areas of focus: the public relations campaign against plaintiff ’s lawyers and the civil justice system, caps on damages, judicial elections and mandatory arbitration. Most frightening are the on-the-street interviews with average citizens who seem to have bought into the propaganda that those harmed by another’s wrongful conduct, and their attorneys, are just out for the big score and easy money. Te indispensability and importance of the civil justice system seems to have escaped them along with a clear and accurate understanding of the corporate and business interests that seek to undermine it. Te facts of the McDonald’s coffee case are revealed - the


fact that Stella Liebeck was not driving while drinking coffee, but was at rest, as a passenger, trying to add cream and sugar to her coffee when it spilled; the photos of her third and fourth degree burns; the fact that she simply wanted McDonald’s to pay for her medical expenses and that they refused; the fact that the original 2.9 million verdict represented only 2 days of McDonald’s coffee sales; the list goes on and on.... Te issue of caps on damages is explained in the context


of the real life story of Colin Gourley, now a young teenage boy, who sustained a severe brain injury at birth. Te jury in his case determined that he should receive a sum of money that matched his future care needs as calculated by various experts. Te cap in his state (Nebraska) required the court to significantly reduce that amount. His family is now uncertain what will happen to him when the limited funds run out (other than, of course, state Medicaid’s paying for what the negligent parties were not required to, but should be paying).


Another narrative describes the plight of Jamie Leigh


Jones. She was raped by co-workers while working overseas for Haliburton. Ms. Jones had to fight for 4 years and present her case before Congress, with the assistance of Senator Al Franken, for the ability to access the courts. Why? As a condition of employment, she had been required to sign a mandatory arbitration agreement with Haliburton. Tis film has the ability to educate citizens, and to restore their faith in and respect for the civil justice system which can ensure that those who cause injury are held accountable. Our mission is to protect that system and to do whatever we can to dispel the myths as we fight for our clients. Tis is no small undertaking, but, as we all know, “injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” (Martin Luther King, Jr.) 


Biography Louise A. Lock (Louise A. Lock, PA, Towson, MD) received


her JD from the University of Baltimore School of Law and an LLM in Health Law from the Widener University School of Law. She is a member of the MAJ President’s Club as an Eagle. Ms. Lock was most recently Co-Chair of the Nursing Home Section. She has also served as Chair of the MAJ Publications Committee, Editor-in-Chief of the Trial Reporter journal, Chair of the Membership Directory and Chair of the Membership Communications Committee. In 2007, Ms. Lock was a founder of the MAJ Public Awareness Committee and initiated the Public School Awareness Program (PASP). She also serves on the Editorial Advisory Board of Te Maryland Bar Journal. Her practice focuses in the areas of medical malpractice, nursing home negligence, product liability and serious, personal injury matters.


Trial Reporter / Fall 2011 3


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