Thursday, September 6, 2007
MULTI-DISTRICT LITIGATION HEARING:
The first Status Conference for the newly formed MDL was held yesterday
before United States District Court Judge Thomas Thrash in Atlanta.
The first agenda item was MDL leadership appointments. Two proposed
leadership slates were filed with the Judge and a hearing was held. After
considering all candidates, all of whom quite frankly were very qualified,
our David Karnas was appointed by Judge Thrash to the Executive Committee,
which oversees the management of the MDL from the Plaintiffs' side. Roger
W. Orlando was appointed specifically by Judge Thrash to the Steering
Committee, which through various sub-committees, tackles day-to-day
litigation issues such as discovery, experts, documents, finance, and all
other aspects of moving the case forward.
Having absolutely been honored by such recognition from Judge Thrash for our
accomplishments and expertise, we nonetheless are deciding whether we wish
to file Motions with the Court declining these appointments.
This may at first blush seem counterintuitive in this litigation, but for
various legal reasons, we will be making this decision over the next
approximately thirty days. Apart from some philosophical differences in
case management issues, there is a concern that certain elements of the MDL
leadership may be seeking personal gain over client best interest
considerations. In short, we fear some elements may wish to extend
litigation rather than seek the most expedient and fair manner of resolution
if ConAgra participates in good faith toward this mutually obtainable goal.
That is, what's best for you is a speedy resolution of your claim for a fair
sum of compensation, not protracted litigation in order to bill time to the
case.
Underlying this belief (which may or may not be true - though is our honest
concern) is the fact the ConAgra has offered simply to look at each group's "case inventory" (we ARE talking about people - hence the quotes!) and
discuss settlement. On top of this fact, we have offered the fruits of our
labor to these other groups - our matrix and cost-shared (costs shared with
ConAgra!!!) settlement vehicle through R&G Medical without any meaningful interest by them.
Contrast, for example, your attorneys' choices over that of protracted
litigation. As you know from prior updates, we have spent a significant
amount of time toward the goal of creating a workable settlement matrix and
working on each of your individual cases through R&G Medical Consultants in
order to present your case for settlement. We have never let our "litigation guard" down in any respect and can try any of your cases if
called upon to do so (SEE: next heading below for proof). In contrast, an
MDL leader yesterday informed the Judge that they have "twenty lawyers
combing through 500,000 pages of documents." Rest assured, we are prepared
to try your case if ConAgra's good faith settlement intentions disappear.
That is, we already have the information necessary to prove ConAgra's
liability, and more so, for what periods of time and in detail how
salmonella bacteria potentially caused your illness. Anything further at
this stage is superfluous.
Finally, while twenty other lawyers read documents, your two have expanded
the infection time table (the "epi curve") beyond that of any other lawyer
group and have performed the most work (traveled the farthest) toward
settlement. We believe the goal of a fair and expedient means to compromise
or settle your case is shared by our clients - - you.
UPCOMING TRIALS:
Mr. Orlando and Mr. Karnas were further honored in the previous week, but
outside the confines of the MDL process.
Another team of lawyers with offices in Birmingham and Dallas and with some
potential 300 peanut butter infection cases, have asked us to join their
trial team for three upcoming trials. Steps were taken yesterday to seek
admission pro hac vice (or for those cases only by special permission from
the Trial Court Judge in a jurisdiction where we otherwise are not admitted
to practice law) for Mr. Orlando and for Mr. Karnas in Dallas County, Texas.
The first of these trials is scheduled to start shortly after the first of
the year - and we will be there and we will be ready to bring our expertise
to bear if ConAgra chooses to proceed forward against us.
SETTLEMENT:
Mr. Orlando leaves Georgia this Sunday morning for Arizona. There he will
join Mr. Karnas in Phoenix and attempt to settle those cases reflected in
the previous update of August 31st during the mediation scheduled to begin
Monday, September 10, 2007. We have had a team of paralegals and an
associate attorney from Bellovin & Karnas organizing all non-permanent
injury cases [excludes death, bowel surgery, reactive arthritis cases and
lengthy hospitalization cases] into the categories formulated last week in
Richmond. Once placed, your cases are further reviewed, individually, to
rate the severity of injury suffered, along with liability qualifications,
to be presented at mediation.
Much more work needs to be done prior to Monday's upcoming mediation.
CONCLUSION:
Although lawyers appointed during the MDL hearing to leadership positions
are very well-qualified and talented in this field, we maintain some
reservations about the outcome of this first Status Conference. Our faith
in Judge Thrash, however, remains and is well placed. He is a solid and
experienced jurist. Our other concerns are noted above.
As always, we invite your questions by email or telephone [toll free:
1-866-373-1800; or roger@OrlandoFirm.com]. However, please DO NOT contact
us at this time concerning "how much?" "do I qualify?" or "when?" on your
individual cases. We do not have these answers yet.
Thank you all very much!
Roger W. Orlando
THE ORLANDO FIRM, P.C.
315 W. Ponce de Leon Avenue
Suite 400, Decatur Court
Decatur, Georgia 30030
~~~~~~~
Telephone: (404) 373-1800
Facsimile: (404) 373-6999
Toll Free: 1(866) 373-1800
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