Posts Tagged ‘ Lawyers ’
National Class Action Pursues Separation Pay for Discharged Gays
November 30th, 2010. By BrendaC
LawyersandSettlements.com has a new column that looks at a side of lawyers you don’t hear too much about—the side that gives back…pays it forward..and shares the love. We’ve found quite a number of attorneys who log non-billable hours helping others—simply because they believe it’s the right thing to do. Their stories are inspiring, and hey, who knew lawyers were so…good? If you’ve got a story to share about an attorney who’s doing the right thing, let us know—we’d love to let others know, too. Today, we talk with Attorney Joshua Block of the ACLU…
Attorney Joshua Block: “…even if you believe that DADT was necessary…it doesn’t provide a reason to cut someone’s separation pay in half.”
It’s like pouring salt on the wound, say critics of the government policy of cutting separation pay in half for men and women discharged from the US military under the controversial ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ (DADT) rule.
Former US Air Force Staff Sargeant Richard Colllins
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has just filed a national class action claiming the practice violates the rights of the former service members under the equal protection and right to substantive due process components of the Fifth Amendment.
“A little over a year ago, a former member of the US Air Force, who had been honorably discharged under DADT, came to us and said his separation pay had been cut in half and wanted to know if we could help,” says ACLU attorney Joshua Block.
Since the administration is on record opposing discrimination against gays in the military, Block and the ACLU thought this would be easy to reconcile, but after a year of letters and telephone calls, nothing has changed for former US Air Force Staff-Sergeant, Richard Collins.
“We finally sent a demand letter saying we hope you fix this policy, but if you don’t, we have no choice but to bring this litigation,” says Block.
During his nine-year career, according to the documents filed by the ACLU, Collins had been an exemplary member of the armed forces. He was awarded a good conduct medal, served in Kosovo and was promoted quickly through the ranks.
Collins was honorably discharged in 2006 after two civilians who worked at his base reported seeing him kissing a boyfriend in a car stopped at red light. Collins was off duty, dressed in civilian clothes and more than 10 miles from his base in Arizona.
And Collins is not alone in being short-changed on separation pay. The amount of money owed to military personnel kicked out for being homosexual is “not insignificant,” says Block. “And the policy is offensive.”
“It is rubbing salt in the wound,” says Block. “These people are kicked out of the military through no fault of their own and then on top of that their separation pay is cut in half.”
The argument against gays in the military has historically been that it affects troop morale says Block. “So even if you believe that DADT was necessary for unit cohesion, it doesn’t provide a reason to cut someone’s separation pay in half,” he adds.
The class covers anyone who was honorably discharged over the last six years—with at least six years of service, and had their pay cut in half.
Although how many ex-military personnel might qualify as members of the class is unknown, it’s estimated there may be as many as 500 potential class members.
The suit asks that former service members be paid the money owed to them with interest, both pre- and post-judgment, and that the attorney fees also be paid.
The claims court cannot provide injunctive relief to plaintiffs says Block. “That’s beyond the scope of claims court; however, hopefully a judgment in our favor would stop the practice once and for all.”
Joshua Block is a staff attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union in New York City working on the ACLU Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender and AIDS Project.
Attorney Ted Frank: Modern Day Robin Hood Fights for the Class
November 16th, 2010. By BrendaC
This new column at LawyersandSettlements.com looks at a side of lawyers you don’t hear too much about—the side that gives back…pays it forward..and shares the love. We’ve found quite a number of attorneys who log non-billable hours helping others—simply because they believe it’s the right thing to do. Their stories are inspiring, and hey, who knew lawyers were so…good? If you’ve got a story to share about an attorney who’s doing the right thing, let us know—we’d love to let others know, too. Today, we talk with Ted Frank, founder and president of the Center for Class Action Fairness…
Attorney Ted Frank: “I don’t like injustice.”
You can think of attorney Ted Frank as the new Robin Hood of the litigation system. “I just don’t like injustice,” says Frank in a matter-of-a-fact kind of way late on a Friday afternoon speaking from his office in Washington, D.C. “Many class action settlements are negotiated for the benefit of the attorneys rather than the consumers they are representing.”
Attorney Ted Frank has appeared on Fox News
And when that happens, Ted Frank and the Center for Class Action Fairness, which he founded two years ago, will step in and as he says “balance the scales on behalf of class members.”
Consider a California class action against Honda in which it was successfully argued that the car maker had overstated the per-gallon mileage achieved by its hybrids. The un-named members of the class, as agreed by Honda and the class action lawyers, would get a $500 coupon good toward the purchase of another Honda.
The class members would receive no money—instead they got a coupon which Frank describes as essentially a marketing device. “There was nothing stopping Honda from raising the price the car, the coupon was only good for six months and it applied to only Honda’s less popular vehicles,” explains Frank. “And before you could even use the coupon you had to agree to watch a 30 minute video about Honda fuel efficiency.”
Meanwhile says Frank “the attorneys would get $4 million.”
The judge in the case threw out the settlement as a result of the intervention by the Centre for Class Action Fairness. The parties were forced to go back and come up with a deal that better serves the class members.
This is not happening in “smoked filled rooms where attorneys and defendants get together and figure out how to rip off the class,” say Frank. He describes it instead as a warped litigation system where everyone knows what the other side wants. “There is sort of this Kabuki dance where they pretend to be negotiating on behalf the class and instead negotiate for the attorneys and not at all for the class.”
Of course, not every class action lawsuit is settled in such a way as to unreasonably favor the attorneys involved (see our prior post on the “fairness” of Tyson Chicken settlement compared to an Expedia settlement). But, according to Frank, unless the judge keeps a steely eye—or the Center for Class Action Fairness shows up to fight for class members—bad things can, and do, sometimes happen.
The Center is a non-profit public interest law firm. “Our budget is funded through a charitable foundation and generous benefactors. Some are anonymous donors,” says Frank, “and I like it that way—that way when I make a decision I am not worrying about who I might offend.”
“I saw a need, I saw a problem and I wasn’t satisfied with what I saw—and judges are all over the map in terms of the scrutiny they give class actions,” Franks says.
“I am hoping to move the law to better place,” says Frank about what motivates him to tackle a system that allows trial lawyers to help themselves to money that should be going to the members of the class.
Ted Frank is the founder and president of the Center for Class Action Fairness. Before that Frank was a fellow wit the American Enterprise Institute and director of the AEI Legal Center for the Public Interest. He is also a member of the American Law Institute.
Lawyers Beware – Devious Scam Can Cost You Big Time
July 15th, 2010. By AbiK
Seems there’s a new and not-so-little lawyer scam going on. No calling a law firm about a package found on a subway, here. This one’s more devious and it involves some big cash.
According to a report out of wbztv.comin NH, two lawyers were targets of an international internet scam recently. The scammers used internet messages, fake companies and counterfeit checks in order to retain–albeit fraudulently–the lawyers.
Here’s how it worked:
It’s sort of like a Moneygram scam, actually. The lawyers were told that the fake checks were either settlement money or retainer fees. The lawyers were then instructed deposit the “money” and to then wire some money to someone else involved with the case.
The scammers were even doing things like using faux law firm stationery to make it look like it was opposing counsel who had sent the check.
One of the lawyers targeted was fortunate enough to have raised an eyebrow—he did some snooping around and found out that the check was counterfeit. He then contacted the attorney general’s office and state banking officials.
The other lawyer was not so lucky. He went and deposited the check and wired half the amount of it, a whopping $240,000, to a fake client of the company that retained him. Guess what? The $240k was yanked from his account and now it’s bye-bye. His loss. And a big one it is.
According to wbztv.com, Assistant Attorney General Karen Gorham said no arrests are anticipated.
No surprise.
Unfortunately, with scams like these—just as withMoneygram scams—it’s very difficult to track down the perpetrator.
So lawyers beware…
5 Lawyer Quotes we loved from 2009
December 27th, 2009. By AbiK
Memorable, thought-provoking, grounded in principle—and one that capped off an emotional trial in New Orleans and marked a victory long overdue—the following are some quotes from attorneys we interviewed in 2009…(in no particular order)…
1. Ron Goldman, Baum, Hedlund Aristei & Goldman:
“The ultimate objective of every member of the plaintiff’s aviation bar that I know who regularly handles aviation cases, is to reveal the dangers in aircraft and in the aviation system to enhance the safety of aviation,” Goldman says. “That’s our major objective. It’s not just about getting an award for the plaintiffs, it’s about making aviation safer.”
2. Michael Levine: RappaportGlassGreen & Levine: 
“I always tell my clients, just tell it like it is,” says Levine. “I have told my clients two and a half million times that there is no substitute for the truth. The truth never hurts you.”
3. Andrew Stoltmann, Stoltmann Law Offices:
On stockbrokers who pilfer money from their clients…when it comes to arguing his case to recover money, Stoltmann says he goes down his four-letter checklist (aka “SCUM”):
S – was the investment suitable for the client given their age and risk tolerance
C – was the investor’s account churned or repeatedly rolled over in order to earn fees for the broker
U – were the trades and changes in the account unauthorized
M – were the risks and type of investment misrepresented to the client
On the stockbrokers themselves: “How can they sleep at night?” says Stoltmann. “They sleep very nicely in their mansions.”
4. Joseph M. Bruno, the Law Office of Joseph M. Bruno:
On the federal court ruling that the Army Corp of Engineers which built the canal linking New Orleans to the Gulf of Mexico, was to blame for the catastrophic flooding that followed Hurricane Katrina…
“The people of New Orleans are vindicated,” said Bruno before a throng of media representatives. “They (the Army Corps of Engineers) can no longer hide behind an immunity. It is time for the people of this city to be compensated.”
5. Norah Hart, Treuhaft & Zakarin:
On the high percentage of Match.com profiles that were allegedly still shown as “reachable” even though the profiles did not belong to active subscribers…
“A simple analogy is—I sell you a six pack of ginger ale and two of the cans are empty,” says Hart. “If I sold you six cans and you believe that all six are the same, but they are not. Four of them are what you are looking for and two of them are empty—now how do you feel about that?”
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