-Caveat Lector- from: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPcap/1999-01/05/028r-010599-idx.html After Tobacco Success, Lawyers Pick Gun Fight Same Tactics Aimed at Firearms Industry By David Segal Washington Post Staff Writer Tuesday, January 5, 1999; Page A01 For the past four years, a team of about 60 law firms from across the country has rented a suite of offices in downtown New Orleans and made it headquarters for the unprecedented legal assault against the tobacco industry. Last week the offices got a make-over for the launch of a new fight -- this time against the gun industry. Cigarette files are being warehoused. Deploying the same tactics it brought to the tobacco wars, the legal collective known as the Castano Group is re-aiming its sights, hoping to earn millions in fees by suing gunmakers on behalf of cities around the nation. The Castano Group is the brainchild of Wendell Gauthier, a mass-injury lawyer who made the first of several fortunes representing victims of hotel fires and plane crashes. In 1994, he persuaded a group of 60 firms to contribute $100,000 each to fund a war room to coordinate lawsuits against the tobacco industry. The suits were based on the then-novel theory that the cigarette companies should pay for the cost incurred by smokers to treat their addiction. Gauthier is now asking the same and other firms to chip in another $100,000 for the gun litigation. About 40 firms have accepted so far, and others are expected to join soon, said John Coale, a District lawyer who is part of the group. The money will cover the cost of depositions and research, as well as a staff of paralegals and time logged by lawyers at Gauthier's firm. Gun manufacturers, meanwhile, are on the verge of hiring corporate defense firms capable of fending off a carefully orchestrated legal attack on a national scale. Among the leading candidates for the job are several firms, including Washington's Covington & Burling, that have toiled for tobacco companies. In sum, it could be deja sue all over again. The virtually inevitable brawl over the gun business will likely feature many of the same combatants and strategies that took center stage in the epic confrontation over tobacco. "It's uncanny," said Stanley Chesley, a Cincinnati lawyer who is part of the Castano Group, "but we just keep running into the same people in this business." In October, New Orleans became the first city to file suit against gunmakers, demanding re dress for the cost of responding to shootings and alleging that companies such as Glock Inc. and Smith & Wesson Corp. failed to install safety devices that would prevent children and unauthorized users from firing guns. Lawyers from the Castano Group, which takes its name from an early tobacco plaintiff, are handling the case on behalf of the city. Chicago followed with its own suit in November, offering other liability theories, and more cities are expected to file soon. A variety of private actions are in the works, too. For critics of the cigarette settlement, the tobacco lawyers' new onslaught fulfills an unhappy prophecy. Well before cigarette makers agreed in November to pay more than $200 billion over 25 years to settle a host of suits brought by attorneys general, Wall Street analysts and others predicted that the money ultimately would fund new lunges at other industries. The Castano team has yet to profit from the tobacco litigation, because it was not party to the actions by the attorneys general and its private class actions are still pending. Still, Castano lawyers such as Coale expect a tobacco payday and are unabashed about what they'll do with the money. "People kept saying that we would go after the alcohol or fast-food industries next," Coale said. "But we'd never do that. We enjoy liquor and meat too much." Meanwhile, several lawyers who scored big in the suits filed by the attorneys general are eyeing the gun issue. For instance, Robert Kerrigan's eight-person firm in Pensacola, Fla., pocketed $200 million for its work on the tobacco settlement, part of a record-setting $3.4 billion in fees shared by a handful of Florida law firms. He and his partners now are considering whether to sue gunmakers, alleging that products such as assault weapons and Saturday night specials have no legitimate use. "I know the business community considers us a bunch of vultures who just got done with one corpse and are looking for another," Kerrigan said. "But the truth is that tobacco had to pay in no small measure because of what we did." Whether the gun litigation turns out to be the next legal gold rush is an open question. Gunmakers aren't nearly as wealthy as the cigarette makers, taking in about $3 billion to $4 billion a year, a fraction of the big tobacco companies' yearly revenue. And Bob Ricker of the American Shooting Sports Council, a trade association for gunmakers, vowed that his members won't be intimidated into an out-of-court settlement, regardless of how many cities line up against them. Ricker also said the swarm of tobacco plaintiffs' lawyers suggests that the suits against the industry are frivolous, the work of an opportunistic gang of legal predators. "We'll be able to show that what these lawyers are actually after is money," he said, a contention certain to become part of the gun manufacturers' defense. Handgun-control advocates contend that the Castano lawyers were the logical choice to assail gunmakers. After all, they say, these lawyers have the requisite expertise, as well as a history of camaraderie in a similar war. "I think it's a natural move on the part of these firms, because they have a great deal of experience dealing with a well-financed industry that has operated in secret for years, markets a lethal product and makes decisions which increase the risk of serious harm to the American people," said Dennis Henigan, legal director of the Center to Prevent Handgun Violence. Though gunmakers traditionally have fought product liability suits independently, they're now awakening to the seriousness of their predicament and discussing a more unified approach. That includes discussions with a number of established defense firms. For veteran corporate lawyers such as Keith Teel of Covington & Burling, who has worked for all four major tobacco firms, gun companies look as if they could be the Next Big Client. "We, like a lot of firms, would be interested in getting involved with it," Teel said. For now, plaintiffs' lawyers are meeting mayors across the country and offering them what could be an irresistible deal: allowing lawyers to sue gunmakers in the name of their city. The towns could end up with millions in settlement dollars without having to spend any money. And the mayors could get a political boost from electorates fed up with gun violence. Castano lawyers say cities such as Tampa, Newark and Baltimore are interested. Coale said he will approach D.C. Mayor Anthony A. Williams as soon as his administration settles in. "We're going to get as many cities as we can and sue under any product-liability theory that happens to fit that jurisdiction," Coale said. © Copyright 1999 The Washington Post Company DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion and informational exchange list. Proselyzting propagandic screeds are not allowed. Substance—not soapboxing! 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