Legal News

Bork Settles Slip and Fall Lawsuit

By Jamie Heller

Here at the Law Blog, we only bring you the most important legal news of the day. Which is why today we’re reporting that almost-Supreme Court justice Robert Bork has settled the $1 million lawsuit that he filed against the Yale Club after he fell stepping onto a platform to speak, according to the Associated Press.

How did this come down? Bork was at the club last June to speak at an event sponsored by the New Criterion, a monthly review of the arts and intellectual life. According to the suit, filed in federal court in Manhattan, the club failed to provide steps and a handrail to climb onto the dais. Bork fell backward as he was attempting to climb the dais, striking his leg on the stage and hitting his head on a heat register.

Bork suffered a large hematoma, or swelling of blood, in his lower left leg as a result of the fall and the hematoma eventually burst, according to the lawsuit. The injury required surgery and months of physical therapy, according to the complaint. He claims to have suffered “excruciating pain” as a result of the injury and continues to walk with a limp. Lawyers for the defendant blamed Bork, saying any injuries he sustained were at least partially his fault for not recognizing potential risks, according to the AP.

Here’s a copy of the complaint.

The AP said Bork’s lawyer, Randy Mastro, said terms of the deal are confidential.

Bork (Chicago, Chicago Law) taught at Yale Law School in the 1960s and 70s. He was acting Attorney General under President Nixon and a D.C. Circuit judge from 1982 to 1988. Last year, when we were first writing about this lawsuit, he was a professor at the Ave Maria School of Law in Michigan — but given all that’s gone on there we need to double check that for you. (Web site indicates he’s still there.)

Meanwhile, “to bork” has also become a verb — according to this story, it can be defined as “to destroy a judicial nominee through a concerted attack on his character, background and philosophy.”

Full post as published by Law Blog - WSJ.com on May 09, 2008 (boomark / email).