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Wednesday, October 07, 2009

Courts - Via Iqbal, the Supreme Court Slams the Door

That is the opinion of law prof Herman Schwarzt in this article published Sept. 30th in The Nation. A quote:

In the few months since the decision in Iqbal came down,it has resulted in the dismissal of 1500 District Court and 100 appellate court cases, many if not most of which would probably have survived; more dismissal motions are pending. Complaints against drug and other companies for multi-organ failure after taking an epilepsy drug, for false marketing and for excessive lead in baby bottle coolers have all been thrown out at the pleading stage, as have many civil rights cases.. Iqbal has also been used to dismiss a First Amendment suit by anti-Bush protesters against the Secret Service, and complaints against Coca-Cola and its Colombian subsidiaries for the murder and torture of trade unionists. In all these cases, the mental element--what defendants knew and when they knew it--is usually crucial, and without going into a defendant's files and oral questioning of knowledgeable people, that cannot be determined.

The Iqbal case is just the latest in a long line of decisions shutting the courthouse doors, few of which have drawn any public attention.

Here is a long list of earlier ILB entries on the May 18th SCOTUS decision in Ashcroft v. Iqbal.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on October 7, 2009 09:33 AM
Posted to Courts in general