Pro Bono Lawyer Jameika Williams Saves Homeless Man from Jail

December 28th, 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 Jameika Williams Mangum of The Mangum Law Firm in Chicago… 

Attorney Jameika Williams: “You don’t have to do pro bono work—but I think pro bono is extremely important.”

It might sound like a small case, but in David Liberty’s world, the stakes were high. The 51-year-old homeless man was accused of assaulting another homeless man, and without a lawyer to defend him, he would likely do 30 days in the notorious Cook County Jail.  

Attorney Jameika Williams Magnum

“He asked me if I had ever been in the Cook County jail,” says young attorney Jameika Williams Mangum. “I told I had not and he said ‘well, you don’t want to go there, because I have been there before and it isn’t a place you want to be`.”

The center of Liberty’s world was his truck. He did odd jobs and worked as a painter sometimes. If he went to jail, he would almost certainly lose the truck and everything in it.

“He was very worried about that—he wanted to know what would happen to his truck,” says Mangum.

So you see, to David Liberty, this case was huge.

Chicago lawyers are expected to work out a deal with clients who have a limited ability to pay, but Mangum knew from the beginning that this was definitely a pro bono case—even if it meant hours of preparation and going to trial, she had no intention of sending him a bill.

Mangum runs a general law practice, and Liberty is definitely not any lawyer’s dream client. “You can`t call him on the telephone, or send him a letter in the mail because he basically lives on the street,” says Mangum. “All our meetings took place at the courthouse and I would write notes down for him.”

And although justice is supposed to be blind, the reality is appearance counts when you go before a judge or jury.

“I immediately let the court know this man cannot afford to buy a suit and tie,” says Mangum.

“He would come to court and he had not changed his clothes in weeks,” says Mangum. “So I explained the situation to the prosecutor and asked him to let the judge and everyone else know why he looked the way he did.”

In the end, Liberty’s charge was negotiated down to disorderly conduct. No jail time, and no fine.

“You don’t have to do pro bono work—but I think pro bono is extremely important and I am involved in another right now,” says Mangum. “In these economic times, people can not always afford to pay a lawyer $300, $400 or $500 an hour. They have real issues and real problems and there are not very many places where they can get help.”

“It is unfortunate that people with limited means end up serving jail time for a crime they didn’t commit or serve time when it could have been avoided if they had proper representation,” she says. 

 Jamieka Williams Mangum is a native of Los Angeles who recently opened a law office in Chicago and is proving herself to be a force to be reckoned with. She recently won an eyebrow-raising not guilty verdict for a man accused of knowingly bringing a gun on board an aircraft. Mangum argued he had simply forgotten it in his bag.

WTF?! Asbestos Under “Throw Rugs” at Pearson School in CT?

December 24th, 2010. By AbiK

No, I’m not being alarmist here, but I’m wondering what’s going on at Pearson Middle School in Winsted, CT. We just reported an update on the asbestos situation at the school in our weekly Asbestos News Roundup—seems that earlier this month, the consultants who’ve been involved with the air quality studies in the school—ie, the folks who are conducting tests for asbestos in the air and advising on the toxicity (or not) of the situation, Mystic Air Quality Consultants, Inc. of Groton—sent a letter to town officials. Apparently the recommendation in the letter, as reported by rep-am.com, was that:

“…all floor tile and mastics in the entire school, totaling 68,000 square feet, be removed and replaced. The floor tiles have exceeded their life expectancy and have failed in a number of locations. Two classrooms have been sealed off until the asbestos can be abated and throw rugs have been used to cover damaged tiles in a number of areas, which is not an acceptable method of abatement, the consultant said.”

Ok, sounds kinda bad, no? Seriously, if you’re a parent of a child attending Pearson Middle School, well, you’d be a tad bit concerned, right? So where is the outrage? Where is the public outcry? There isn’t much evidence of any online. But in all fairness, there isn’t much online about the situation period.

A visit to the Winchester Public Schools website, with a search for the keyword “asbestos” yields nothing. You’d think with the above statements coming from the air quality inspectors Read the rest of this entry »

Asbestos News Roundup: 12.24.10

December 24th, 2010. By LucyC

A roundup of recent asbestos-related news and information that you should be aware of. An ongoing list of asbestos hot spots from the Asbestos News Roundup archive appears on our asbestos map.

Asbestos Lawsuits

St Clair County, IL: Recently widowed Claudia Gail Shreve has filed an asbestos complaint on behalf of her late husband Kenneth L. Shreve. The suit names 68 companies as defendants.

In her complaint, Mrs. Shreve alleges the defendant companies caused her recently deceased husband to develop lung cancer after his exposure to asbestos-containing products throughout his career.

According to the complaint, Kenneth Shreve worked as a member of the Plumbers Local 653 and worked as a pipefitter at Shell Oil, as a pipefitter at Hartford Refinery from 1988 until 1994 and as a pipefitter at Exxon-Shell from 2000 until 2002.

As a result of his asbestos-related disease, Mr. Shreve incurred medical costs and suffered great physical pain and mental anguish, his widow alleges. Further, Mr. Shreve became prevented from pursuing his normal course of employment and, as a result, lost large sums of money that would have accrued to him. And, because of Mr. Shreve’s asbestos-related illness and subsequent death, his family members have been deprived of their companionship, society and services, according to the complaints.

In her 10-count complaint, Claudia Shreve is seeking economic damages of more than $200,000, a judgment of more than $150,000, compensatory damages of more than $100,000 and unspecified punitive and exemplary damages. She also seeks punitive damages in an amount sufficient to punish the defending companies and to deter them from repeating their actions. (madisonrecord.com)

St Clair County, IL: Harold Webster, brother to recently deceased Gerald Webster, has filed a Read the rest of this entry »

Ticked Off at your Neighbor’s Holiday Decorations? this guy is…

December 22nd, 2010. By LucyC

Share the joy—spread the love—it’s Christmas! But please don’t upset your neighbors in the process. Sounds like good advice right? But where do you draw the line in the snow—or in this case—the lights—the hundreds of feet of lights, oh yes and the singing Santa?

While some of us prefer to plod on quietly, gingerly displaying sparkly balls and badly wrapped presents in the hope that we can just get through the season without too much upset to our normal routines, some folks take the opposite approach—decking the halls with anything and everything that glows, winks, spins, warbles and sings— you know—Santa’s landing pad coming to a lawn near you…

Well, Jill Patella, who lives in Union Beach, NJ, is a bona fide Christmas enthusiast. And from the sounds of it, she has all the gear with which to deck those halls, and apparently the toilet (she displays three trees and a special bathroom with a decorated toilet in case Santa drank too much milk at the last place).

And, she is the proud owner of one 6 foot singing Santa who can really belt it out, according to her neighbor across the street, Mark Dittman. “It’s just all day and night,” Mark Dittman told NBC New York, which is actually running a story on the situation. Dittman, who lives across the street from Patella, says his living room feels like Santa’s workshop (obviously not a unionized workshop).

Not surprisingly, Patella thinks her neighbor is the embodiment of Scrooge. “Get in the Christmas spirit, find some Christmas spirit,” Patella told NBC New York.

To top it off, her singing Santa was given to her by her husband—the last gift he gave her before he died. So, it has special sentimental value.

“He reminds us of good memories,” Patella said. Terrific. That’ll make negotiations easier.

As you might expect, experts in these types of situations have been called in. The police. And they’ve cited Patella for her singing Santa—so it’s official, he really is too loud.

But Patella’s going to court to fight it, stating that Santa is not moving. At least until Christmas is over. “I’ll fight for my Santa. I have the right,” she said. And she’s found herself a lawyer who is looking into the matter. Umm. “I don’t know what this about. I don’t think this about a Santa Claus sitting on the front porch,” Patella said. No? Does this happen at any other time of the year?

As for Dittman, he feels badly that the situation has escalated to this level. “We’ve asked her numerous times to turn it down, so we had no choice but to call the police on the matter,” he said. And in the Christmas spirit, he has offered to pay Patella’s ticket. One condition though—Santa must be silenced.

With any luck this whole thing could be over by Easter. If all else fails, maybe Dittman could find an angel that sings “Silent Night.”

In any event, here’s to Peace on Earth and good will towards men, and neighbors.

Merry Christmas one and all!

BPA on Cash: Reason to Give Your Daughter The Credit Card

December 21st, 2010. By Hunter West

It’s enough to make you want to give your daughter the credit card.

“Here…please…TAKE it…don’t spend your cash.”

That’s because a recent study has found that Bisphenol A (BPA) can now be found on paper money.

Not that your dollar bills are manufactured with BPA. But researchers are suggesting that the BPA found on some cash register receipts is rubbing off onto paper money.

There is some debate as to whether, or not this is really harmful, however…

For example, Kathryn St. John, a BPA specialist with the American Chemistry Council noted in comments to CNN earlier this month that BPA levels in some thermal papers are low, and research shows that it’s safe.

“To the limited extent BPA is absorbed through the skin, it is converted to a biologically inactive metabolite that is rapidly eliminated from the body,” St. John said.

“Biomonitoring data from the US Centers for Disease Control shows that consumer exposure to BPA, which would include any exposure from receipts, is extremely low. Typical exposure from all sources is about 1,000 times below safe intake levels set by government bodies in Europe and the US In comparison, the trace levels of BPA claimed to be present in dollar bills are insignificant.”

But critics aren’t so sure—and lately they’ve been getting some vindication from the likes of the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which issued a statement earlier this year admitting that recent studies “provide reason for some concern about the potential effects of BPA on the brain, behavior, and prostate gland of fetuses, infants and children.”

Ericka Schreder, a staff Scientist with the Washington Toxics Coalition (WTC) and author of the report “On The Money: BPA on Dollar Bills and Receipts” that was also published by Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families, noted that it only takes ten seconds for BPA to transfer to skin from a cash receipt.

In other words, the time it takes for you to accept the receipt and either jam it in your pocket or, like most people, fold it up and stuff it into your wallet or purse. You now have BPA on your hands.

What’s more, if that receipt is stuffed in along with your paper money, you now have BPA on your money, too.

“Levels on dollar bills were lower than on receipts, but the fact that our currency is contaminated with a hormone-disrupting chemical illustrates how our current chemical law is failing us,” Schreder says. “Even the most careful consumer can’t avoid BPA when it’s so pervasive that it even contaminates money.”

BPA has been linked to everything from cancer, to early puberty. The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences at the National Institutes of Health previously noted that 93 percent of urine samples from individuals over the age of six years exhibit detectable levels of BPA.

While research linking BPA to specific health problems remains inconclusive, most agree that an update to the 1976 Toxic Substances Control Act is long overdue.

Schreder says the Act needs to be replaced with a new chemical law requiring companies to “provide health information on chemicals they produce and ensure chemicals that can cause cancer, infertility, and other health problems can’t be used in everyday products.”

Bottom line? There is BPA on a lot of cash receipts. Now there is BPA on cash. While the jury is still out on just how harmful BPA is (if it is at all), a precaution might be to park the cash and use the plastic more.

That includes your teenage daughter. Let’s just hope you can afford it…