It’s not exactly “California casual” attire. But the T-shirt plaintiff’s lawyer Chris Andreas wore to a videotaped deposition in an Ohio asbestos case hasn’t offended everyone as much as a judge in Ohio who, after reviewing the tape, said “such a lack of respect is shocking.”
Ninth Circuit Judge Carlos Bea, who saw this photo of Andreas in his T-shirt, was a bit more understanding.
“Chris is young. He’s got a sense of humor, and he likes to get people’s goat,” said Bea, who was a San Francisco Superior Court judge before his 2003 appointment to the Ninth Circuit*.
In an as yet unpublished letter to The Wall Street Journal that was also sent to The Recorder, Bea vigorously defended Andreas’ reputation and questioned claims in a Jan. 22 Journal editorial that Andreas was guilty of ripping off asbestos bankruptcy trusts using a practice known as “double dipping.”
In his letter, Bea took issue with the assertion that there’s something improper about filing claims for one client in more than one asbestos trust. “I’m afraid this betrays ignorance as to how mesothelioma is caused,” wrote the federal judge.
Plaintiffs and defendants generally agree that mesothelioma is caused by cumulative exposures, and plaintiffs are supposed to identify each one of them, Bea said. “Far from being unprofessional conduct, it would be malpractice for an attorney not to file claims against defendants who constituted possible sources of asbestos ingestion by the stricken plaintiff, rather than merely shoot for one.”
After seeing Andreas’ reputation come under public attack, the Ninth Circuit judge told Legal Pad he felt a sense of duty to vouch for the embattled plaintiff’s lawyer. “I used to be a trial lawyer, and I always thought, ‘Gee, if somebody takes a bite out of me, I’d hope somebody would come to my aid,” Bea said.
Bea offered a much different description of Andreas than the one put forward by Judge Harry Hanna of the Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court in Ohio. In a ruling issued Jan. 19, Hanna disqualified Andreas and the Brayton Purcell law firm from appearing again in the local court.
But Bea’s letter portrayed Andreas as “a model of professionalism” based on his experience as a trial court judge. “My impression of Mr. Andreas was that he was vigorous, well-prepared, fair and open in his trial tactics. He performed well, and well within any ethical rules,” Bea wrote. “He also procured some very good results for his clients.”
On Thursday, a nonprofit group that advocates for trimming down litigation in the California courts called on the State Bar to investigate Andreas and the Brayton firm for the alleged “double dipping.”
Bea, however, said further penalties are unlikely. Noting that Ohio court censured Andreas but didn’t hit him with a fine, Bea said “that’s a pretty good indication whatever [Andreas] did may have miffed the judge, but he didn’t miff the opposing attorneys enough that would get them to ask for dollars.”
*[Corrected: This post originally said Bea was nominated to the federal bench in 1991; he was, but that nomination died in committee.]
-- Matthew Hirsch
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Posted by: lawyers source | February 09, 2009 at 11:18 PM