This is a self-indulgent personal history masquerading as a popular history of tort (or injury) law. Speiser ( Lawsuit ) begins with discursive analyses of the ``American Dream'' and the television show L.A. Law , concluding, a bit contortedly, that by representing injured plaintiffs in potentially profitable tort cases, the fictional lawyers pursue the American Dream of personal success and societal betterment. What follows is a highly arbitrary and partial account of tort law and its development, with one-third of the book devoted to a relatively unimportant case regarding the 1943 crash of Pan Am's Yankee Clipper , which the author helped litigate. His accounts of some other cases he handled, including Ralph Nader's invasion of privacy suit against General Motors, are more interesting. However, Speiser's story of the rise of tort lawyers ignores many key figures. In his final chapter, Speiser defends tort lawyers against their many critics with a sketchy, fictionalized ``debate'' between Humphrey Bogart, representing the ``Equalizers'' (tort lawyers), and Sydney Greenstreet representing corporate interests, with John Huston moderating. (Apr.)
A long-time aviation accident lawyer, Speiser draws upon many of his own cases to illustrate the American system of tort law, which insurance and business groups want to reform. He refers to negligence attorneys as ``equalizers'' who empower injured clients with the means of obtaining adequate compensation from stronger opponents. By performing these functions, such lawyers attain Speiser's version of the American Dream: personal achievement that benefits the lawyers financially while doing good for their clients. Many of Speiser's themes and highlighted cases were the subject of his earlier book, Lawsuits ( LJ 2/15/81); however, this is not only an update but an enthusiastic blast at tort reformers , whose agendas are best represented by Peter Huber's Liability (BasicBks: HarperCollins, 1988). Best suited for general readers rather than scholars, this book is also recommended for law libraries not owning Speiser's earlier book or Laurence Drivon's more concise The Civil War on Consumer Rights ( LJ 4/1/90) .--Merlin Whiteman, Indianapolis
