Pirate. Thats right. I am, we are. Do you have a better suggestion? In context, given how it is, do you have a better course than what I and we do? If so, please share your thoughts. https://youtube/watch?v=yp4Ou7SLL0I For … companies especially, a number of which Lerach sued repeatedly, dealing with Milberg became predictable – like paying a toll to cross the Bay Bridge, says San Francisco defense attorney Doug Schwab. They called it getting Lerached. (Time Warner, FORTUNEs parent, and AOL, its soon-to-be merger partner, have both been sued by Milberg Weiss. Time Warner settled a 1991 suit for $5.5 million, while AOL paid $35 million to settle a 1997 suit.) Invariably thered be a little tussling, perhaps a year or two of discovery, and then settlement talks would ensue. And if the defendants werent ready to pony up, Lerach would start bullying them. He had a standard lecture about the stark realities of doing business with Milberg Weiss. These cases are like shoeboxes in my shoe store, and Ive got hundreds of them, hed explain. I dont need to settle this case; Ill be glad to go to trial. Ill just take another shoebox off my shelf. Nine out of ten cases settled--some without any discovery. The companies had insurance that picked up most of the tab. For Milberg the risk of contingency litigation was minimized. It became an incestuous relationship between the plaintiffs and defendants, says a prominent California defense attorney. It made a lot of lawyers on both sides of the bar--including me--wealthy. But it made you want to take a shower every time you settled one of these cases and left the room. A pretty good Milberg case might bring a $10 million settlement, with the firm bagging the lions share of a $3 million fee, plus expenses. You have enough of those, says a former Milberg partner, you have a very, very profitable law firm. By the mid-1990s, Milberg had become very profitable indeed. In 1995, for instance, Milberg Weiss made $112 million. It employed around 100 lawyers--an enormous number for a firm that depended on contingency fees--half of whom were in San Diego. The rewards, however, were heavily concentrated at the top, with Lerach and Mel Weiss getting more than $15 million each. The firms finances were a closely guarded secret, shared only with the executive committee. Its important to note that Lerach didnt always win. Sometimes his complaints were dismissed, and there were even a few occasions when he voluntarily dropped a suit after being persuaded he had no case. In retrospect, though, there was one loss Lerach suffered that would matter more than all the others put together: the Nucorp Energy case. The case was tried in 1988. Alleging that a bankruptcy filing by the company was the result of corporate fraud, Lerach filed a $200 million class-action suit, targeting Nucorp, its bankers, investment bankers, accountants--even a big minority shareholder. Although Nucorps directors settled for $41 million, several of the secondary defendants refused to go along. Lerach decided to try the case personally, and boasted it would produce the biggest jury award in the history of securities litigation. After a six-month trial the deliberating jurors asked for a calculator, presumably to calculate damages. Lerach insisted that they be provided with one that had space for a nine-figure sum. When the jurors instead found for the defendants, Lerach was stunned. In interviews, both Lerach and Mel Weiss play this angle to the hilt. I represent people who have been defrauded, declares Lerach. I sue companies that deserve to be sued. Adds Weiss: This is a unique operation weve built here. The victims of America have never been served this well.
Posted on: Fri, 23 Jan 2015 07:44:45 +0000
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