Free Republic

A federal judge in Manhattan dismissed most of a lawsuit against Milberg LLP, brought by former clients who accused the law firm of paying them millions of dollars to serve as lead plaintiffs in class actions. The plaintiffs sought to recover their attorneys' fees. U.S. District Judge Loretta A. Preska dismissed the plaintiffs' racketeering claims as time-barred, but kept alive a breach of fiduciary duty charge. Melvyn Weiss, David Bershad, William Lerach and Steven Schulman, four ex-partners of the law firm, pleaded guilty to paying kickbacks to clients in order to induce them to file suits. Prosecutors said the fraud...

New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo recently has been going after allegedly crooked investment consultants for bribing their way into doing business with the state's giant pension fund. However, Cuomo has stated that he won't be subjecting class action firms (from which he has reportedly received large campaign contributions) to similar scrutiny for similar behavior. When properly motivated, I believe class action lawsuits provide necessary checks and balances in our financial system. But given how widely they're misused, I've also urged the Department of Justice to look into potential abuses. As it exists today, the marketing of class action legal...

A New York state judge has joined a notorious plaintiff class action law firm that was indicted on federal racketeering charges and seen several of its former name partners sent to jail after their felony convictions. The judge, Herman Cahn, joined Milberg LLP only months after issuing a ruling that was favorable to the indicted law firm and its jailed standard bearer Mel Weiss.