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

DALLAS–Public sector entities are seeing more lawsuits over issues such as school violence, police brutality and global warming as the financial crisis deepens and plaintiffs look for deep pockets, experts advised.

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

Nancy Zaharewicz, senior vice president, claims, Munich Reinsurance America Inc., in Princeton, N.J., and David C. Matthiessen, vice president, claims specialist, also with Munich Re, spoke to an overflowing room about a number of litigation trends and exposures that public risk managers need to be aware of.

They identified the top emerging claims exposures to public entities 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, rose in the Mid-Atlantic region, from 11 percent in 2003-04 to 14 percent in 2005-06; in the Midwest, the number dropped from 16 percent to 15 percent in the same time period; in the North Central U.S., it went up from 9 percent to 10 percent; and in the Northeast, it shot up from 19 percent to 28 percent, according to Jury Verdict Research.

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

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

Mr. Matthiessen said that a growing problem is use of Taser electroshock weapons, which he said are being sold at gatherings akin to Tupperware parties, with 168,000 Tasers sold to consumers since 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 compressed gas to launch probes and they can be legally carried, concealed or openly 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, in which a 40-year-old man was shot 25 times within 74 seconds with a Taser and died the next day. The victim was said to have been intoxicated by methadone. The city, he said, claimed it had never been provided information from Taser warning that multiple shocks were a potential danger.

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

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

In this litigation, she said the EPA was challenged over regulation of greenhouse gasses. Because of the decision, she continued, the defendants are going to be "hard pressed to argue that the risks of these gasses are not known."

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

She added that global warming cases are just beginning. The first was filed by a flooded Alaskan fishing village, suing electric and coal mining companies in the state, alleging they misled the public about effects of global warming. The village, she said, is seeking $400 million to relocate.

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

? Intentional torts, sexual abuse–"The Clergy Cases," $660 million–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), $55.8 million–Florida.

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

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

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

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

Special Reports /

Public Entities May Face A Rise In Suits, Experts Warn

Related Stories

Recommended For You