That’s what three clients are alleging in court papers about Bill Lerach’s $10 million settlement in 2004 of a securities case called Yusty v. Tut Systems. Carlos Horacio Yusty, Andres Jaramillo, and Rodrigo Jaramillo say that by the time they got wind of the settlement two years later, all the proceeds had been distributed and Lerach and partner Darren Robbins of Lerach Coughlin had cashed a $2.5 million fee. The trio’s lawyer, Bruce Murphy of Vero Beach, Fla., also says he was done out of a referral fee. The class-action sultan’s (and Robbins’s) response to the charges isn’t known yet. Roger Parloff of Fortune has a full report (Legal Pad, May 13).
Posts Tagged ‘Bill Lerach’
Edwards war chest
Strong fund-raising helps keep the North Carolinian a credible Democratic alternative; AP cites in particular the generosity of the lawyers at Lerach Coughlin (Jim Kuhnhenn, “Clinton reports $24 mil in the bank, trails Obama in primary donations”, AP/DeKalb, Ill., Daily Chronicle, Apr. 16).
Lerach Coughlin partner faces D.C. ethics charges
G. Paul Howes, who’s handled Lerach’s high-profile litigation over losses arising from the Enron collapse, faces serious ethics charges over actions he took during his earlier career as a federal prosecutor. “On Feb. 1, the D.C. Bar Counsel filed eight charges against Howes after a four-year investigation, accusing him of violating bar ethics rules by committing criminal acts, making false statements in court, offering prohibited payments to witnesses, and interfering with the administration of justice.” Ethics proceedings against federal prosecutors are rare; disbarment is among the possible sanctions that could be asked. It doesn’t appear Howes is going to win any popularity contests among his former law enforcement colleagues:
Amy Jeffress, deputy chief of the office’s Organized Crime and Narcotics Trafficking Section[,] referred to Howes — though not by name — during a Jan. 31 debate on the power of prosecutors at American University, Washington College of Law.
“He actually left the office and moved all the way across the country to San Diego to escape his shame and his bad reputation,” Jeffress said, according to a recording of the debate. “He basically became a pariah in our office. His name is a synonym around our office for no-no. You don’t want to do what he did.”
(Brendan Smith, “Former Prosecutor Charged With Misconduct in Gang Cases”, Legal Times, Feb. 15).
February 8 Roundup
- New Jersey Supreme Court won’t touch appellate court reversal of $105M dram-shop verdict against Aramark Corp. Not noted in our earlier coverage: Aramark was held liable as a deep pocket through illegitimate piercing of the corporate veil, adding yet another problem to an appalling series of problems with the trial. [New Jersey Law Journal; earlier on Overlawyered; Point of Law]
- Half-trillion-dollar class certified against Wal-Mart in lawless Ninth Circuit decision. [Point of Law]
- Court papers show direct link to Lerach in Milberg probe. Most entertaining: a letter by Lerach saying “Dr. Cooperman’s reputation and character are impeccable.” Cooperman has since pled guilty to taking kickbacks, and Milberg Weiss now says he has no credibility. [National Law Journal; WSJ Law Blog]
- Slip and fall worth $5.7M [Atlantic City Press]
- Cardiologists doing Brazilians: “Graduating med students aren’t blind; they see established physicians with busy practices dropping out. Looking ahead they see more headaches–more controls and regulations, more scrutiny, more liability, less money.” [TIME via Kevin MD]
- Florida law may allow men to get out of paying fraudulent paternity when DNA shows they’re not the father. [Miami Herald; see also Parker v. Parker; earlier on Overlawyered]
- Editorial: Alabama Supreme Court ruling on illegal multi-billion-dollar punitive damages award in Exxon contract dispute can prove state is no longer tort hell. [Press-Register]
- Update to earlier Overlawyered post: Danny Cuesta pleads guilty, sentenced to fifteen months; Melissa Cuesta, whose claim we covered, arrested for perjury, pleads not guilty. [EmpireStateNews.net via Teacher trash blog]
- Incomes and inequality: what the numbers don’t tell us. [Marginal Revolution]
- India and the drug patent wars. [AEI]
- I (along with John Beisner, Michael Hausfeld, and John Stoia) am speaking on a panel on the Class Action Fairness Act at the National Press Club February 14. [Federalist Society]
Lerach’s slippery affidavit
If ever you wonder while trial lawyers have a bad reputation, there’s no need to invent sinister conspiracies between moderate Supreme Court justices and the Chamber of Commerce. Just take a look at the affidavit of one of the leading lights of the plaintiffs’ class-action bar, Bill Lerach, as he tries to argue to a court that his client cannot fire him. Roger Parloff did, and the results are entertaining; and other journalists could certainly learn a lesson from Parloff’s skepticism and willingness to read between the lines. Earlier: POL Dec. 15 and Dec. 28.
Lerach v. Wall Street Journal
Via Peter Lattman, Bill Lerach, unhappy with press coverage of an embarrassing defeat in an attempt to blackmail companies with meritless (but highly risky) litigation over Enron, sends the WSJ a nastygram, and the WSJ responds.
Judge to Lerach: pay defendant’s fees
So rare and so useful when it happens: “The federal judge overseeing the Enron shareholders’ class-action lawsuit dismissed a $1 billion claim brought by plaintiffs’ lawyer William Lerach against investment firm Alliance Capital Management. And in an unusual move, Judge Melinda Harmon in Houston ordered that the plaintiffs pay Alliance’s attorney’s fees under Section 11(e) of the Securities Act.” Lerach had sued Alliance because one of its executives, Frank Savage, sat on Enron’s board, but Judge Harmon dismissed the suit, “ruling that the plaintiffs showed no evidence of wrongdoing on either Alliance’s or Savage’s part.” (WSJ Law Blog, Dec. 4; Peter Lattman, “Lerach’s Enron Lawsuit Against AllianceBernstein Is Dismissed”, Wall Street Journal, Dec. 2 (sub)). For Lerach’s side of the matter, see Floyd Norris, “In Unusual Ruling, Law Firm Is Told to Pay Opponent’s Legal Fees in Enron Case”, New York Times, Dec. 2. More: And here’s a (subscriber-only) WSJ editorial: “Loser pays”, Dec. 7.
Hey, look, I’m suing Cisco Systems
Dr. Michael Hébert opens his mail to learn that the law firms of Lerach Coughlin and Levin Papantonio have been representing him in a class action for the past four years, in a shareholder suit against Cisco. One problem he notices is that the opt-out notice arrives in his mailbox two weeks after the expiration of the period allowed for opting out. And he finds other reasons as well not to be overly impressed by the generosity of Messrs. Lerach Coughlin and Levin Papantonio, even if they are willing to contribute their valuable legal services for a mere $15 million in fees plus expenses. (Doctor Hébert’s Medical Gumbo, Nov. 16).
Honorable mention: attorney Curtis Kennedy
Who says we shrink from giving lawyers favorable publicity? From a report earlier this month in the Rocky Mountain News:
The California law firm Lerach Coughlin sought $96 million in legal fees when it engineered a $400 million shareholder class-action settlement with Qwest Communications over alleged securities fraud.
So how much did Denver attorney Curtis Kennedy seek when he prevailed in getting those legal fees slashed to $60 million – thus providing $36 million more for the shareholders?
Only $40,500. That’s the 90 hours Kennedy spent on the case times his hourly rate of $300 times 1.5, according to a federal court filing this week. …
Other attorneys might have tried to get a percentage of the $36 million.
“I just think that would be hypocritical after asking the judge to apply moderation” to the $96 million request by Lerach Coughlin, Kennedy said.
Kennedy was representing the Association of U S West Retirees in the case. (Jeff Smith, “Lawyer asks for $40,500 in legal fees”, Rocky Mountain News, Oct. 12)(via Securities Litigation Watch).
Peacocks in the barnyard
Los Angeles Times reporter Molly Selvin wanted my opinion of class-actioneer Bill Lerach for this profile, so I gave it. Holding up the other end of the discussion are Lerach fans Jamie Court, of Harvey Rosenfield’s outfit, and actor/humorist/ expert-economic-witness-in-Milberg-cases Ben Stein (“Unsettling Days for King of Class Actions”, Jul. 23)(cross-posted at Point of Law).