FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
CONTACT: PETER BYLSMA
PHONE: 310-795-8532
May 12, 2006
(Los Angeles, CA) – Los Angeles Citizens Against Lawsuit Abuse (CALA) has announced its "Loony Lawsuit" for May. This month's frightening legal frivolity shows how greedy personal injury lawyers often manipulate the law to line their own pockets.
According to an April 2006 article in The National Law Journal, the law firm of Graham & Martin filed a lawsuit aiming to cash in on dubious toxic-warning claims under California's Proposition 65. 170 California apartment building owners as well as the Rental Housing Industry trade association were victimized by the firm, which filed suit for failure to warn tenants and visitors of the dangers of exposure to cigarette smoke and carcinogens from auto exhaust in parking lots.
The goal of the lawsuit was to require apartment buildings to post generic warnings along with a laundry list of potential sources of cancer provided on a Web site, including furniture, paint, construction materials, cleaning supplies, swimming pool chemicals, pest control and landscaping.
This case settled for $540,000 plus attorney fees - that is, until Justice Sills got a hold of it in the state court of appeals. Justice Sills dismissed the plaintiff's claims and overturned the settlement, calling Graham & Martin "bounty hunters" who set up "straw plaintiffs" as a means to collect legal fees.
In his opinion, Justice Sills provided a valuable, step-by-step guide for attorneys who find themselves with time on their hands and mischief on their minds, concluding with the following: "Given the ease with which it was brought, and the absolute lack of any real public benefit from telling people that things like dried paint may be slowly emitting lead molecules or that parking lots are places where there might be auto exhaust, instead of $540,000, this legal work merited an award closer to a $1.98."
"Justice Sills and the state court of appeals should be commended for holding Graham & Martin accountable for actions clearly not aimed at serving the public good," stated Peter Bylsma executive director of Los Angeles CALA. "It's unfortunate, however, that even when frivolous lawsuits are eventually dismissed, it's still at a great cost in time, money and personal grief for those being sued; and it can happen to anyone."
Citizens Against Lawsuit Abuse is a nonprofit, grassroots public education organization dedicated to serving as a watchdog over the legal system and those who would seek to abuse it for undeserved gain. For more information, visit www.losangelescala.org.
