Federal judge calls out Jim Hood on "slash and burn" litigation, "an abuse of the legal process"

Judge Jack Weinstein, Senior U.S. District Judge in New York, handed Mississippi Attorney General a legal defeat yesterday, accompanied with a side of smack down.

In his decision, Judge Weinstein granted Eli Lilly & Company's motion for summary judgment except on one issue still before the Second Circuit Court of Appeals; and denied Hood's own motion for summary judgment. Judge Weinstein said the fines and damages sought by Hood are unConstitutional under the Eighth Amendment as applied through the Fourteenth Amendment and called it

"grossly disproportionate to both the injury Mississippi has suffered and the seriousness of Lilly's allged misconduct."

Judge Weinstein wrote,

"the State's claims could result in serious harm or bankruptcy for this defendant and the pharmaceutical industry generally....For the legal system to be used for this slash-and-burn-style of litigation would arguably constitute an abuse of the legal process....courts cannot be used as an engine of an industry's destruction."

Y'all Politics noted:

Eli Lilly has paid massive criminal penalties and settled with the federal government and most states. It seems that what Judge Weinstein is saying is that even considering all of that, Mississippi's suit (seeking BILLIONS in damages) is way over the line.

LegalNewsline.com broke the story and noted that the lead law firm representing Mississippi is connected to $75,000 contributed to Hood. Kenneth Bailey, the firm's principle partner, has also come under fire in Pennsylvania for making "repeated and significant contributions" during "the precise time period in which" similar no-bid contingency-fee contracts were "negotiated and executed."

Joey Langston (Hood's largest campaign contributor) and Timothy Balducci (also a major contributor to Hood) formerly worked this case for Hood before they were removed due to their guilty pleas in the Scruggs Scandal.

This is at least the second federal judge this year to call into question Hood's tactics or motives. Back in May, US District Court Judge Jed Rakoff noted:

The Court in not unaware of disturbing allegations that state entities not unlike MissPERS [the Mississippi state retirement system], and law firms not unlike Bernstein Litowitz, have engaged in “pay-for-play” arrangements, by which such an entity will not even consider hiring such a law firm unless the law firm has contributed to the campaign fund of the relevant state elected official, such as the attorney general.

Lawsuits as usual for Jim Hood and his campaign contributors.