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Tuesday, June 05, 2007

Ind. Law - "Attorney picks up where AG leaves off"

Columnist John Ketzenberger of the Indianapolis Star writes today:

Attorney Irwin Levin has another class-action lawsuit brought under the state's deceptive-consumer-sales statute.

Levin has the business because Attorney General Steve Carter's office chose not to pursue a claim against computer-maker Dell on behalf of the state's consumers.

Levin, who has gone to bat many times for consumers, sees a winnable case where Carter's office didn't. These kinds of judgment calls happen all the time. But Indiana's consumer-protection law is considered among the nation's weakest. New York and California, for instance, are considered much more consumer-friendly. * * *

Levin is not too proud to note his case is ripped right from the brief Cuomo filed in New York on behalf of the Empire State's residents. After Girolami failed to persuade Carter's office to take the case, another attorney recommended Levin. It's not the first time he has gotten a case the state refused.

Is Carter doing enough to protect the state's consumers?

Carter sued Walgreen in 2005, alleging the pharmacy altered prescriptions to boost Medicaid payments. And Indiana has joined some other states' consumer cases.

Carter contends his office does the best it can with the law it has to work with. But the only recent change to Indiana's consumer-protection law was to increase the penalty for violations to $5,000 each. Carter got that done in the General Assembly.

We won't know what kind of a consumer-protection crusader Carter could be until he pushes a tougher law.

Until then, it's up to Levin -- who is following the lead of New York's attorney general.

Emphasis added. See this May 27th ILB entry titled "Is It OK for Lawyers to Copy Complaints?"

Posted by Marcia Oddi on June 5, 2007 09:29 AM
Posted to Indiana Law