Lawyers Giving Back Archive

Toyota Defect Lawsuit led Attorney to help Man behind Bars

December 7th, 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 Robert Hilliard of Hilliard, Munoz & Gonzales…

Attorney Robert Hilliard: “…I started to understand what had happened, I asked ‘what about the guy in jail?'”

Texas attorney Robert Hilliard went to Minnesota to sue Toyota in a products liability case but ended up fighting to free a man wrongfully convicted of vehicular homicide. It was a strange turn of events, but as Hilliard explains he believed it was something he just had to do.

“When I got to Minneapolis and I started to understand what had happened, I asked ‘what about the guy in jail?’”, says Hilliard.

The man in jail was Koua Fong Lee, a 38-year-old immigrant from Thailand who had been sent to prison after his Toyota Camry slammed into an Oldsmobile at 90 miles an hour and killed three people in 2006. From the beginning Fong had insisted his foot was not on the accelerator, but no one believed him.

Then last January, after Lee had spent more than two years in prison, it was revealed that Toyota was indeed having problems with the accelerator system in some of its vehicles.

Although Hilliard was there to sue Toyota on behalf of a family whose loved ones had been killed in the accident, he began to believe it was Koua Fong Lee who needed the help of a top lawyer.

Hilliard quickly arranged a meeting with the young criminal attorney who was representing Lee. A new trial had been ordered because of the Toyota revelations.

As Hilliard says, he isn’t a criminal lawyer. However he has an established and very successful civil practice in Corpus Christi. He offered to bring the full weight of the firm, experts, money, time, staff—to defend Lee. Hilliard would foot the bill for everything and anything. His services would all be pro bono.

“Of course, I ended up not being able to continue my representation of the other family,” says Hilliard.

Hilliard went to meet Lee where he was being held in prison. “He walked out and sat down at the table. I saw what a powerfully quiet fellow he was and how sincere he was.”

Part way through the trial, the prosecution offered to free Lee immediately if he would plead guilty. Lee refused. He’d take his chances rather than admit to a crime he did not commit.

On the last day of the trial, as the judge began to read her opinion, Hilliard knew Lee would be released. “It was a very poignant moment,” recalls Hilliard. “I had my hand on his arm and once I got the sense of where she was going I wrote Koua a note that said ‘you are free, you are free’.”

“It is not like I woke up one morning and thought I have to find someone to help,” says Hilliard. “I mean, I have been a criminal lawyer for all of four days in my whole career. But I thought the right thing to do was to help this guy get out of jail.” 

Robert Hilliard is a personal injury lawyer from the firm of Hilliard, Munoz & Gonzales. He was recently honored for his work on the Lee case by the Innocence Project of Minnesota and was a recipient of the organization’s “Never Forgotten Award”. Among other things, Hilliard is representing a large commercial fishing company in its fight against BP in the Deepwater Horizon oil spill litigation.

Tags: Lawyers Giving Back
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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.

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.

Tags: ACLU, Don't ask Don't tell, Gays in the Military, Joshua Block, Lawyers, Lawyers Giving Back, Lawyers Sharing the Love, Richard Collins
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Attorneys Want to Give Back More and More at Equal Justice Works

November 23rd, 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 David Stern, Executive Director for Equal Justice Works…

Attorney David Stern: “[We] were able to keep more than 1,000 families in their homes.”

There are thousands of Americans who can’t afford the high cost of justice. But since 1986, Equal Justice Works has worked to ensure that everyone has access to legal representation by engaging young lawyers through a variety of programs and putting some of America’s best legal talent where it is needed most.

“I think the reason we have been so successful is the impact our programs have on communities and individuals,” says Executive Director David Stern, who has been working with Equal Justice for 18 years. “Just looking at the foreclosure crisis, from August 2009 to September 2010, our AmeriCorps Fellows were able to keep more than 1,000 families in their homes.”

Although graduating lawyers can easily step into large firms and starting salaries of $150,000 a year, there is a growing interest in working in the public justice system. “The personal and professional satisfaction of doing public service in the legal field is well known,” says Stern. “They’re having a more direct impact, they’re trying cases earlier in their career; they’re doing work that young attorneys in large firms have to wait a long time to do.”

In fact, there is so much interest in doing public service work that Equal Justice Works has more applicants for fellowships every year than the organization can supply. “For 2010 fellowship positions we had a record number of applicants, which led to the problem of finding funding for applicants and sadly not being able to fund every project that was applied for,” says Stern.

Over the last decade the organization’s budget has grown from roughly $1.5 million to $8 million and the number of postgraduate fellowships has grown from roughly 20 to more than 100.

“We just recently held our Conference & Career Fair which attracted more law students than ever before,” Stern adds. “We had a record number of 1,300 attend the conference and career fair in October to have the chance to learn more about public interest law and to speak with public interest law employers from across the country—and that tells you a lot about how much interest there is.”

Starting salary in the world of public service world for lawyers is about $40,000 a year. Aware that many young lawyers graduate with large debts, Stern points out that there is a way for lawyers to go where their heart leads them and still manage to dispose of their student loans. “The good news for these graduates is that there is a recent law, the College Cost Reduction and Access Act (CCRAA), that allows people to pay back their debts as a percentage of income,” says Stern. “The less you make, the less you pay.”

“And the real kicker is that if a graduate stays in public service for 10 years, their federal loans are forgiven. That’s like winning the lottery,” says Stern.

David Stern is the Executive Director for Equal Justice Works. He is a graduate of the Georgetown University Law Center (1985). Prior to joining Equal Justice Works in 1992, Stern worked for a public interest law firm that represented whistleblowers in government and private industry as well as individuals in sex, race, sexual orientation or age discrimination cases.

Tags: David Stern, Equal Justice Works, Lawyers Giving Back
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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.”

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.

Tags: Center for Class Action Fairness, Lawyers, Lawyers Giving Back, Ted Frank
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Eckenrode Maupin: Serving up Dinner at Ronald McDonald House

November 3rd, 2010. By BrendaC

This new LawyersandSettlements.com column 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 John Fischesser of Eckenrode Maupin…

Attorney John Fischesser: “It’s important for us to give back”

These are difficult times for many people in the US–and because of that, lawyers and support staff at one medium-sized law firm in St. Louis are more committed than ever to using their extra time to help out wherever they can. “It’s just the culture that exists here,” says attorney John Fischesser of Eckenrode Maupin, “everyone in our office has been blessed with a job, an education, and it’s important for us to give back to people who find themselves in situations that are out of their control.” 

The firm does not mandate that attorneys and staff do volunteer work. “An email just goes out asking who’s available to help with a particular project and if they can they sign up,” says Fischesser who estimates that the firm donates hundreds of personal hours to everything from picking up litter with the Adopt-a-Highway program to hammering nails for Habitat for Humanity projects to raising money for cancer research. 

At least four times a year, the firm serves dinner at Ronald McDonald House in St. Louis. “There are usually ten of us there. We go out and buy the food—we probably contribute about 150 hours of volunteer time on that project alone each year,” says Fischesser. 

“You get time to interact with the people at the Ronald McDonald House dinners,” says Fischesser. “When you think about what those families are going through, just the fact that they are willing to share their time with us and take time to thank us—it’s really rewarding.” 

The Ronald McDonald house program provides families with a home-away-from-home while their child may be hospitalized at a non-local treatment center. The goal is for families to be able to put complete focus on the needs of the child without having to worry about finding an affordable place to stay, or where they may find their next meal. 

Eckenrode Maupin is a general civil litigation firm that handles both plaintiff and defense work. It defends doctors, nurses and healthcare providers caught in medical malpractice suits. On the plaintiff side, the firm handles everything from non-medical personal injury claims to wills and estates. 

“There are more people than ever who are in need during these difficult economic times,” says Fischesser, “and I think it would be easy for anyone to just focus on their own needs. But I think it’s important to realize that there are lots of people out there who need help—and volunteering is one of the things I enjoy doing with others from our firm.” 

Fischesser also works with the Bar Association of Metropolitan St. Louis (BAMSL) which offers Wills for Heroes. According to Fischesser, “It’s a pro bono wills and estates clinic for police officers, firefighters and others. We hear from Wills for Heroes program coordinators that people who have more dangerous jobs are often reluctant to discuss their own mortality and sometimes don’t do the estate planning they should to ensure their loved ones are taken care of. It’s an ongoing project that BAMSL does once or twice a year.” 

John Fischesser is an attorney with Eckenrode Maupin in St. Louis, Missouri. His work focuses on civil litigation, including representing injured workers in worker’s compensation lawsuits, plaintiffs in personal injury matters, and defending insurance claims. Fischesser has tried over a dozen bench trials and is licensed to practice in Missouri, Illinois, and Louisiana.

Tags: Eckenrode Maupin, John Fischesser, Ronald McDonald House
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