HBO will be airing an important documentary film about tort reform and its threat to the civil justice system called “Hot Coffee” on Monday, June 27, 2011 at 9pm.  The documentary follows four people, including the infamous McDonald’s Hot coffee lawsuit plaintiff Stella Liebeck, whose lives have been affected by their inability to access the courts, and how caps on damages hurt them.  The film also examines the role of corporations and a complicit media in promoting tort reform.  “Hot Coffee” was a selection of the 2011 Sundance Film Festival.  Watch a trailer of the documentary here, and for a review of the movie, click here.

On Friday, May 20, 2011, Civil Justice held the first attorney training in its new Creditor Abuse Prevention Project (CAPP). Over 30 attorneys attended the full-day training to learn more about bringing creditor abuse claims in Chapter 13 bankruptcy cases.  Attorneys were given the option of taking the training for free if they agreed to take pro bono cases as part of CAPP. The morning session of the training focused on three main areas of creditor abuse in bankruptcy. Laura Margulies, of Laura Margulies & Associates (http://www.law-margulies.com), explained the process for filing proofs of claim in bankruptcy and identified common problems that arise in the claims filed by creditors. She also presented sample objections based on common creditor abuses. Professor Peter Holland of the University of Maryland School of Law Consumer Protection Clinic (http://www.law.umaryland.edu), briefly discussed common debt collection violations...