Insurance Should Be a Company's First Line of Defense Against the Wave of Public Nuisance Claims

When plaintiff attorneys and State Attorneys General obtained nearly half a trillion dollars in settlement asserting that tobacco companies had created a public nuisance, public nuisance became a popular new litigation weapon. For example, public nuisance claims have been brought against companies for their alleged contribution to global warming. Whatever the merit of such claims—indeed many public nuisance claims have been defeated—defendant companies should consider what insurance assets they have to aid their defense against even groundless nuisance claims, and, if necessary, to indemnify them against any judgment or settlement. It is helpful that courts nationwide favor liberal insurance language interpretations to protect insureds against, among other things, changes in tort law enlarging potential liability exposure.     

Revolving Roles in Drug-Related Crime: The Cost of Chronic Drug Users as Victims and Perpetrators

Numerous studies have established a strong connection between the use of illicit drugs and the commission of other illegal activities, including both predatory and property crimes. No study, however, has examined the cost of crimes associated with drug users both as victims and as perpetrators. In the present study, recent data were analyzed from a targeted sample of chronic drug users (CDUs) and a matched sample of non-drug users (NDUs) in Miami-Dade County, Florida, to estimate the incremental cost of crime associated with CDU. Two separate models were employed to estimate (1) the probability of being a victim or a perpetrator of crime and (2) the cost of crime for both situations. The cost measures were transformed to reduce the influence of extreme outliers, and a smearing technique was used to compare the cost of crime for CDUs relative to NDUs. The findings illustrate that criminal activity among CDUs is circular, extensive, and costly. Implications for law enforcement, criminal justice policy, and substance abuse treatment are discussed.