9th Circuit Suspends Top PI Lawyer for Fraudulent Briefs
A federal appeals court has suspended prominent California plaintiffs lawyer Walter Lack for filing fraudulent appeals briefs in litigation against Dole Food Co.
Lack received a six-month suspension from practice before the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and was ordered to pay $250,000 in sanctions the Recorder reports.
Lack is a name partner with Engstrom, Lipscomb & Lack, which sought to enforce a judgment in the United States against Dole Food Co. after Nicaraguan lawyers mistakenly obtained a $489 million judgment against the wrongly named Dole Food Corp. The plaintiffs were farmworkers who had alleged they became ill from pesticides.
A special prosecutor in the case found that Lack’s firm was at least reckless in failing to discover false representations in the appeal stating that the error had been corrected through a document that turned out to be incorrectly translated and identified, according to the 9th Circuit ruling (PDF).
“The court cannot and will not tolerate members of the bar employing the use of known falsehoods to further their objectives, no matter how appealing the underlying cause of their clients may be,” the 9th Circuit said.
According to the Recorder, Lack is known for settling the toxic tort case chronicled in the movie Erin Brockovich.
Another high-profile lawyer who partnered with Lack, Thomas Girardi of Girardi & Keese, received a formal reprimand. He and his law firm were ordered to pay $125,000. He was not involved in drafting the appeal and had not read the briefs before signing them, the court said.
