After Nevada, the state of Rhode Island has the highest level of underemployment, reports THE WALL STREET JOURNAL. Its shrewd politicos might put together a compelling class action lawsuit, analogous to the decade-running former lead paint public nuisance one. A major lawsuit lifts all boats. Or it used to.
Hotels, restaurants, parking garages, local law firms, local and regional media, and even the tiny deli in the lobby of the state courthouse prospered. Law students at Roger Williams had access to an edge by observing the trial. Top national lawyers like Don Scott did their performance art. Brown University hovered in the background, its elite brandname getting attention.
The reality, though, is that this might not happen. Even before the U.S. Supreme Court tossed the huge class action employment suit "Dukes v. Wal-Mart," THE ECONOMIST flagged the passing of the golden age of that kind of suit. Plaintiff lawyers were going to have a more difficult time justifying membership in the class. One of the iconic players in that niche Dickie Scruggs is in prison. Reformer Ralph Nader who woke up America to its rights is nowhere man. PROVIDENCE JOURNAL reporter Peter Lord who covered all the lead paint litigation from the get-go is dead. Liberalism could be tipping into socialism, which prevents the need for such litigation.
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