Greedy Trial Lawyer
Big Tobacco Lawyers Were Big Enablers
Category: The Latest Baddest
The recent tobacco ruling by a Federal Judge recognizing the criminal enterprise that we call Big Tobacco for what it is contains some strong words about lawyers. For a change, the words are directed toward the corporate and defense attorneys and not those on the plaintiffs' side who have fought mightily for the victims of smoking and the health of our nation.
Thanks to Canuckflack.com who highlights the judge's "indictment" of the enablers in the legal profession.
Tobacco PR and [Corporate] Lawyers: Deceitful Birds of a Feather?
Hey folks! If the Federal Court of Appeals feels this strongly about members of the bar acting unethically in pursuit of billable hours from the tobacco companies, what in the world must they think of the behaviour of advertising, marketing and public relations firms?" ... Finally, a word must be said about the role of lawyers in this fifty-year history of deceiving smokers, potential smokers, and the American public about the hazards of smoking and second hand smoke, and the addictiveness of nicotine. At every stage, lawyers played an absolutely central role in the creation and perpetuation of the Enterprise and the implementation of its fraudulent schemes.
They devised and coordinated both national and international strategy; they directed scientists as to what research they should and should not undertake; they vetted scientific research papers and reports as well as public relations materials to ensure that the interests of the Enterprise would be protected; they identified "friendly" scientific witnesses, subsidized them with grants from the Center for Tobacco Research and the Center for Indoor Air Research, paid them enormous fees, and often hid the relationship between those witnesses and the industry; and they devised and carried out document destruction policies and took shelter behind baseless assertions of the attorney client privilege.
What a sad and disquieting chapter in the history of an honorable and often courageous profession. ..." (Judgement, Page 4 (pg 34 of .pdf))
Requiring the lawyer-enablers to smoke two packs a day for the rest of their lives might be an appropriate sanction.
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