NU Online News Service, June 3, 2:18 p.m.EDT

DALLAS–Public sector entities are seeing more lawsuitsover issues such as school violence, police brutality and globalwarming as the financial crisis deepens and plaintiffs look fordeep pockets, experts advised.

Their comments came yesterday during the Public Risk ManagementAssociation's annual conference in Dallas at a session titled"National Trends and Emerging Claims Issues in the PublicSector."

Nancy Zaharewicz, senior vice president, claims, MunichReinsurance America Inc., in Princeton, N.J., and David C.Matthiessen, vice president, claims specialist, also with MunichRe, spoke to an overflowing room about a number of litigationtrends and exposures that public risk managers need to be awareof.

They identified the top emerging claims exposures to publicentities as:

? School violence and cyber-bullying

? Failure to educate

? Wrongful conviction

? Police excessive force, Tasers

? Global warming

Other significant exposures for public entities were:

? Employment practices liability

? Dangerous conditions on public property

The percentage of awards of $1 million or more, they said, rosein the Mid-Atlantic region, from 11 percent in 2003-04 to 14percent in 2005-06; in the Midwest, the number dropped from 16percent to 15 percent in the same time period; in the North CentralU.S., it went up from 9 percent to 10 percent; and in theNortheast, it shot up from 19 percent to 28 percent, according toJury Verdict Research.

An emerging cause for litigation, they noted, is cyber-bullying.In a survey, they said it was found that 42 percent of childrenhave been bullied while online; 35 percent have been threatenedonline; and 21 percent have received mean or threatening e-mails orother messages.

Headline cases they recounted include a 13-year-old girl inMissouri who committed suicide in October 2006 after beingcyber-bullied by an adult neighbor; a 17-year-old girl in Kentuckywho committed suicide after being cyber-bullied; and a 14-year-oldboy in Vermont who killed himself after being cyber-bullied andphysically bullied throughout middle school.

Mr. Matthiessen said that a growing problem is use of Taserelectroshock weapons, which he said are being sold at gatheringsakin to Tupperware parties, with 168,000 Tasers sold to consumerssince 1994. He added that citizen models are tightly controlled,with background checks being required of buyers.

He also mentioned that Taser cartridges can be traced to owners.They are not classified as firearms, because they use compressedgas to launch probes and they can be legally carried, concealed oropenly and without a permit in 43 states.

Examples of police excessive force cases with Tasers, he said,include the Heston v. City of Salinas (Calif.) case, inwhich a 40-year-old man was shot 25 times within 74 seconds with aTaser and died the next day. The victim was said to have beenintoxicated by methadone. The city, he said, claimed it had neverbeen provided information from Taser warning that multiple shockswere a potential danger.

The jury award was 85 percent against Heston and 15 percentagainst Taser International, he said. The city was not foundguilty.

A topic that is "heating up," Ms. Zaharewicz said, and needs tobe on the radar screen is global warming. She noted that states andlandowners are pursuing lawsuits against greenhouse gas emitters.She said a U.S. Supreme Court ruling in 2007, in which states suedthe Environmental Protection Agency, opened the door for claimsarising out of property damage caused by global warming.

In this litigation, she said the EPA was challenged overregulation of greenhouse gasses. Because of the decision, shecontinued, the defendants are going to be "hard pressed to arguethat the risks of these gasses are not known."

She said that some have called the confluence of legal activitythe "litigation trifecta." The first of the trifecta is the"never-ending asbestos tort litigation," she said. The second isthe national tobacco settlement, and the third, she noted, ispurported to be global warming. If so, she said, the cost for allof the U.S. torts could exceed $1.2 trillion.

She added that global warming cases are just beginning. Thefirst was filed by a flooded Alaskan fishing village, suingelectric and coal mining companies in the state, alleging theymisled the public about effects of global warming. The village, shesaid, is seeking $400 million to relocate.

Examples that were cited of large jury verdicts against publicentities throughout the U.S. in 2007-2008 include:

? Intentional torts, sexual abuse–"The Clergy Cases," $660million–California.

? Fraud, international torts–$338 million–California.

? Whistleblower–$222 million–California.

? Fire, wrongful death–$59 million–Chicago.

? Negligence–(Arch Bishop Coleman F. Carroll High School), $55.8million–Florida.

? Dangerous conditions on public property–$50million–California.

? Labor law, construction–(New York City, MTA), $44.7million.

? Sexual abuse–(Catholic diocese of Wilmington), $41million–Delaware.

? Premises liability–(Camden County)–New Jersey.