Have you read Stephanie Mencimer's article about the myth of American's lawsuit crisis? I last posted about it on October 8, 2004. At that time, I was alerting readers to the fact that Mencimer herself had replied on this website to a comment about the article by Ted Frank of Overlawyered.
On January 19, 2005, Walter Olson of Overlawyered provided a forum for additional comments about the article by the journalist Stuart Taylor, Jr. According to Olson, Taylor was "outraged by [Mencimer's] attacks on his work . . . and took the time to craft a lengthy, devastating point-by-point rebuttal."
At that time, Olson was also critical of the Washington Monthly for not publishing Taylor's letter quickly enough. Now the Washington Monthly, and Mencimer, have responded to these charges. It seems that Taylor missed the deadline for the January-February issue, and his letter was slated for the March issue--at least, that is, until it showed up at Overlawyered first.
The more interesting part of the story is Mencimer's response to Taylor. It begins, "Taylor has accused me of regurgitating personal-injury lawyer propaganda, a charge that I find not just insulting, but also rather nervy coming from someone who regularly provides a free, high-profile outlet for slanted, industry-financed research designed to bring about changes in the legal system restricting citizens’ rights to sue."
You'll find the rest of Mencimer's response here. If you want to read the pertinent pieces from the beginning in their correct order, do it like this: Mencimer's article, Taylor's criticisms, and Mencimer's response.
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