Legal Ethics
Editorial Urges Prosecutors to ‘Keep Digging Into Tort-Bar Practices’
Posted Jun 18, 2008, 12:50 pm CDT
By Debra Cassens Weiss
An editorial in the Wall Street Journal asserts that Milberg’s agreement to pay a $75 million fine to settle kickback allegations highlights a need for prosecutors to pursue trial lawyers.
“If there's a moral in this week's felony settlement by class-action lawsuit giant Milberg Weiss, it's this: Prosecutors should keep digging into tort-bar practices,” the newspaper says. “The details are even worse than the headlines.”
The editorial notes that William Lerach, one of four former Milberg partners who pleaded guilty to paying kickbacks to lead plaintiffs, has protested that the payments were standard industry practice. It also notes that the law firm admitted paying stockbrokers to refer clients to the firm and asserts that it was recruiting uninjured plaintiffs to bring dubious suits against corporations.
“In short, Milberg was a corrupt enterprise that perpetrated a vast fraud on our system of justice,” the editorial concludes. “The Justice Department has every reason to continue cleaning up a tort bar that Congress refuses to police.”
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