Source of profits for litigation investors? Image via Wikipedia

An online poker magnate and a publicly traded London firm that specializes in financing corporate litigation are among the investors who have joined the long-running lawsuit against Chevron Corp. over pollution in the Ecuadorian jungle. Their involvement could signal they think a lucrative settlement is at hand, or merely reflect a high-risk gamble on a lawsuit that has thus far consumed more than $7 million in plaintiff expenses to little avail.

The investments are detailed in documents filed in U.S. court in connection with the case. Those documents offer a detailed look inside the workings of a modern, multinational mass-tort lawsuit, including $10,000-a-month public-relations specialists, hundreds of thousands of dollars in air travel and a multi-pronged strategy to apply pressure to Chevron to induce it to settle. One diagram the plaintiffs shared with investors shows the oil company at the center of a ring of  “pressure” points including pension funds, state attorneys general, and the Obama administration’s former climate czar, Carol Browner. continue »

Dennis in happier times. Image via Wikipedia

Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) has sued the catering companies that supply food to a Congressional cafeteria for $150,000, saying they allowed an olive pit to interfere with his enjoyment of life. The lawsuit claims he bought a sandwich wrap in April 2008 that was “unwholesome and unfit for human consumption” — common enough for cafeteria food — but in this case it also contained an upitted olive that caused unspecified dental damage. continue »

Prelude to a litigation explosion. Image via Wikipedia

If stock charts were equal to eyewitness testimony, St. Joe Corp. would have an open-and-shut case against BP, Transocean and Halliburton over the Deepwater Horizon catastrophe. And with a $1 billion loss in market value that could plausibly be tied to the oil spill, St. Joe might have the largest private claim in the Gulf.

The challenge is getting St. Joe’s claim in front of a jury, instead of the elephantine multi-district litigation brewing in federal court in New Orleans.

To accomplish that, the Florida land developer hired a Dallas attorney with a pit-bull reputation, William Brewer of Bickel & Brewer. He’s pursuing an unconventional, high-risk strategy of putting maximum pressure on a seeming bit player in the drama, Halliburton, instead of going against the more obvious target, well owner BP. continue »

If it's good enough for student lenders... Image via Wikipedia

The oddly passive headline on the New York Times Page One story today (“A Path Is Sought For States To Escape Their Debt Burdens“) obscures a very active behind-the-scenes battle in Washington. On one side are representatives of the municipal bond community, who fret about being second in line behind unionized employees when states have to choose between paying debt interest or their ballooning retirement-benefit bills. On the other side are union reps, who have fought hard to win legislation in all 50 states granting them special protection from raids on their retirement funds.

According to this GAO report, nine states including Illinois and New York, even provide constitutional guarantees of vested benefits. Congress could monkey with that scheme through bankruptcy law, however, something it has done repeatedly to protect the interest of other special creditors including student lenders and landlords. continue »

This video demonstrates the future of advertising on the web. No, it’s not a mass-market product, but a heartbreakingly beautiful 100-foot yacht. If advertisers can draw in viewers to get the message about a can of Crisco the way they lure you in to this video documentary about the yacht named Chrisco, they’ll succeed in making the web pay. Note how the filmmakers illustrate both how a modern, carbon-fiber yacht is constructed and how these beasts perform under sail. Beautiful.