This diary has been moved.
The following report was written by Deirdre Des Jardins of the National Media Corps (a partner of Rapid Response Network) and she asked me to post it for her here.
Please feel free to submit it to your local papers' editors and reporters -- either as a guest column or as background info on Bush nominee Priscilla Owen. (Kindly give credit to Deirdre Des Jardins, National Media Corps, groups@nationalmediacorps.org).
Bush's Judicial Nominees: Priscilla Owen
by Deirdre Des Jardins
National Media Corps
May 23, 2005
5th Circuit Court Nominee Priscilla Owens has no published speeches and or writings. To really understand her "results-oriented" approach to jurisprudence, you need to look at specific cases. Consider the case of Willie Searcy.
Priscilla Owen v. Willie Searcy
When Willie Searcy's stepfather bought a new Ford pickup truck in 1988, he did not expect that five years later a shoulder belt mechanism would fail and leave his fourteen year old stepson a quadriplegic.
Yet that is exactly what happened on a rainy night in 1993 on I-35 in Texas.
Willie's family would later find out that Ford had known of the shoulder belt problem for years, and had ignored warnings from their engineers that it was widespread and could cause serious injury in a collision.
The family had more pressing problems. The hospital bill for Willie was $550,000 for just the first six months. He needed a ventilator to breathe, and would require round-the-clock nursing care for the rest of his life. Though the family had health insurance, they could not afford the medical care necessary to keep Willie alive.
Under U.S. law, Ford Motor Company was responsible for Willie's medical bills.
Ford refused to pay. Instead, their general counsel made a single lowball offer and told the family's attorney that if he did not accept, they would drag the case out until the kid died.
Which is exactly what they did, with the help of Texas Supreme Court Justice Priscilla Owen.
In January of 1995 a Texas jury found the seatbelt failure responsible for Willie's injuries and awarded $30 million for lifetime medical care and $10 million in punitive damages.
Ford called the ruling an "aberration" and appealed all the way to the Texas Supreme Court.
Justice Priscilla Owen was selected by lottery to write the opinion. She took two years to issue a ruling that the case was filed in the wrong city in Texas and would have to be re-tried. The opinion was stunning. The Supreme Court had not agreed to consider the issue of venue when it took the case, nor had either of the lawyers mentioned it in their briefings or arguments.
Willie had struggled courageously with his paralysis, returning to high school and graduating; for years his mother had worked to pay Willie's medical bills and arrange 24 hour care through a patchwork of neighbors, friends, and Medicaid attendants.
Willie's case began all over again in Dallas, but time was against him. Willie was "aged out" of Medicaid when he turned 21; his mother's insurance refused to pay for attendant care.
Willie died in 2001 when his ventilator stopped working in the middle of the night. Five days earlier, a Dallas judge had finally issued a ruling that would have guaranteed payment for his health care.
When Priscilla Owen was later questioned about Willie's death, she showed no regret, saying only "He did not pass away while the case was pending in my court."
Is this the kind of judge we want on the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals?