Current News

Kevin McClain, CCDI and Regional Director Neeta McClintock in the News
From the Madison/St. Clair Record

Lakin files class action against mortgage lender over pre-recorded messages

10/22/2007 3:56 PM
By Ann Knef

A local mortgage loan company is the target of a new class action lawsuit claiming it violated the Telephone Consumer Protection Act for using automated telephone dialing equipment to deliver pre-recorded promotional messages to residences.

The Lakin Law Firm of Wood River filed the complaint against Amerifirst, Inc. (dba American Freedom Mortgage, American Freedom Home Lending, American National Brokerage) on Oct. 18 in St. Clair County Circuit Court. Amerifirst has an office at 1309 West Highway 50 in O'Fallon.

Plaintiff Marilyn Margulis seeks to represent a class of "at least 39 other" call recipients.

"On or about May 10, 2007, using an automatic telephone dialing system, Defendant called Plaitiff's telephone number which was assigned to a residential telephone service and delivered a message containing a pre-recorded voice message," the complaint states.

Lakin's co-counsel includes Phillip A. Bock of Diab & Bock in Chicago and Brian J. Wanca of Anderson & Wanca in Rolling Meadows, Ill.

Plaintiff's counsel is experienced in handling claims brought under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, the suit says.

"Defendant knew or should have known that it delivered a prerecorded message to Plaintiff advertising the commercial availability of any property, goods, or services and did not have the prior express consent of Plaintiff to make such telephone contact and that no established business relationship existed with Plaintiff," the complaint states.

The suit asserts that state court jurisdiction is appropriate because individual claims are worth less than $75,000.

According to the complaint, Amerifirst failed to correctly determine the legal restrictions on the use of prerecorded message to residential phone subscribers.

The two-count suit also claims the class has been damaged by invasion of privacy.

"Defendant's pre-recorded telephone call invaded Plaintiff's right of privacy to be left alone and maintain her seclusion in her residence," the complaint states.

Carol G. Moore, CLI in the News

DuPont Must Pay $55 Million for Cleanup of Waste Site
By Thom Weidlich

Oct. 15 (Bloomberg) -- DuPont Co. must pay $55.5 million to remove potentially hazardous substances near a waste pile created by a West Virginia zinc-smelting facility, a jury said, opening the door to a possible punitive damage award against the company.

The verdict today in Clarksburg, West Virginia, followed an Oct. 1 finding by the state court jury that DuPont, the third- largest U.S. chemical maker, negligently created the 60-acre pile including arsenic, lead and cadmium in the town of Spelter. The jury said Oct. 10 that DuPont must pay for medical monitoring of about 8,000 residents. Today, in the third phase of the trial, it ordered the company to remove waste from homes and businesses.

"We must do a thorough remediation of these homes, as thorough as we can, so that we can prevent further exposure," Kirk Brown, an environmental expert for the residents, told the jury of 10 women and one man during the trial. DuPont spokesman Tim Ireland said the company will "continue to present evidence in this case," declining further comment.

DuPont's loss means the trial will move tomorrow to a fourth phase on potential punitive damages. In the first phase, the jury said that, while other companies affiliated with the plant contributed to the pollution, Wilmington, Delaware-based DuPont is liable for 100 percent of the damage. In the second phase, the jury ordered it to pay for medical monitoring.

"The result that we see here is a model that should be used by environmental lawyers all over America to gain control over renegade corporations," plaintiffs' lawyer Mike Papantonio said, referring to allowing juries to use state law to address environmental damage.

Seven Hours

The panel deliberated for seven hours before reaching today's verdict.

The trial's third phase, on property remediation, started Oct. 11. The plan calls for homes to be emptied and cleaned, especially attics, and for new air-conditioning ducts to be installed, Brown said. Soil also will be replaced at homes nearest the waste pile. The process would take about two weeks for each home. Residents would have to be put up in a hotel.

Brown estimated the cost for cleaning the entire area -- with 2,159 houses, 457 trailer homes and 205 businesses -- at $62.9 million. The cost to DuPont under the $55.5 million verdict comes to an average of about $19,700 per structure.

"None of these numbers have been challenged by DuPont," plaintiffs' lawyer Farrest J. Taylor told the jurors in his opening statement, referring to a breakdown of the total money figure. "DuPont says no remediation is necessary."

Taylor said the project would take 2-1/2 years to complete.

'Intensive Process'

"It'll be an intensive process, yes, more than has been done elsewhere, but I think there's plenty of evidence that it's needed," Brown testified.

"Essentially, we want to remove, to the greatest extent possible, the soil and the dust -- get it out of there," Brown testified. "And anything we can't remove, we'll seal."

DuPont bought the site of the 100-foot waste pile in 1899 for a gunpowder plant, according to court records. Residents said zinc operations since 1910 produced water pollution and dust that subjected them to more risk of neurological diseases and cancer.

"If you decide for remediation, that remediation should be overseen by the court, like medical monitoring," DuPont lawyer Jeffrey Hall told the jury in his opening statement for the trial's third phase.

DuPont lawyer David Thomas told jurors the company has been cleaning the site, capping it with a liner and seeding topsoil.

DuPont shares rose 31 cents to $49.37 in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. Dow Chemical Co. is the largest U.S. chemical maker, followed by Exxon Mobil Corp.

The case is Perrine v. E.I. Du Pont de Nemours & Co., CA04- C-296-2, Circuit Court of Harrison County, West Virginia (Clarksburg).

To contact the reporter on this story: Thom Weidlich in state court in Clarksburg, West Virginia, at tweidlich@bloomberg.net .

AP
Punitive Phase Begins in DuPont Lawsuit
Tuesday October 16, 3:37 pm ET
By Vicki Smith, Associated Press Writer
Punitive Phase Begins in DuPont Class-Action Lawsuit

CLARKSBURG, W.Va. (AP) -- For decades DuPont deliberately misled people in and around the
small town of Spelter about threats that a high-polluting zinc smelting plant posed to
their health, lawyers argued Tuesday in Harrison County Circuit Court.

In the final phase of a liability and medical monitoring trial, plaintiff attorney Mike
Papantonio said the chemical giant showed "wanton, reckless disregard" for the safety of
its neighbors, who should now be awarded punitive damages.

"We're not talking about something that might hurt you," he argued. "We're talking about
something they know will hurt you."

DuPont's own documents prove it knew, since 1980 if not earlier, that it had a problem but
chose to do nothing. The plan, he argued, was to delay a cleanup for as long as possible to
save money.

But DuPont attorney Dave Thomas said jurors have punished DuPont enough during earlier
phases of the trial, and the company's conduct does not warrant more.

"It's one thing to conclude DuPont is responsible for these damages. It's another to
determine they should pay punitive damages," Thomas said. "DuPont does not deserve to be
punished here."

Thomas argued DuPont did the right thing by working with state regulators after 2001 to
demolish factory buildings and clean up a 115-acre waste pile by covering it with a plastic
cap and fresh soil.

"These kinds of activities should be encouraged, not punished," Thomas said. He pointed out
that DuPont operated the plant for less than 25 percent of its 90-year history yet is
responsible for 100 of the damage awards and other costs.

"DuPont stepped up and took responsibility for the cost of remediating this site," he said.
"... DuPont didn't skip town."

Ten residents of Spelter filed the class-action lawsuit against DuPont in 2004. On Monday,
the Harrison County jury decided the Delaware-based chemical giant should pay about $55.5
million for property cleanup. That figure includes nearly $27.7 million for houses, $2.8
million for mobile homes, slightly more than $1 million for commercial property and $18.4
million for managing the cleanup. The soil remediation cost was set at nearly $5.7 million.

Papantonio said Monday's award is "not even a blip on their screen." He urged jurors to
send a message to DuPont that its disregard for human safety will not be tolerated. He also
recommended the award be sizable, noting DuPont makes $300 million a month in profits.

Spelter residents won the first phase of their case Oct. 1, when jurors found DuPont liable
for and negligent in creating the waste site. The 11-member jury also found that DuPont
created a public and private nuisance and that its pollution trespassed onto private
property.

In the second phase of the lawsuit, the jury required DuPont to provide medical monitoring
for 40 years for about 7,000 people who were exposed to arsenic, cadmium and lead
contamination from the former smelter site. The medical monitoring is to include voluntary
testing for lung, skin, stomach, bladder and kidney cancer, as well as for kidney function,
cognitive problems and lead poisoning. Lead is not a carcinogen but can cause such problems
as spontaneous abortions, low birth weight, memory and learning problems, fragile bones and
cardiovascular disease.

A Harrison Circuit Court judge will determine how the plan will be set up. The lawsuit was
filed against DuPont and New York-based T.L. Diamond & Co., which ran the plant from 1975
to 2001, when regulators recommended the site be declared an imminent and substantial
threat to public health.

DuPont has been involved with the property since 1899 when it bought the land for a
gunpowder mill. The company reassumed ownership when the zinc plant closed.

While Diamond is a defendant, the company isn't actively participating in the trial. The
judge in the case ruled previously that DuPont is responsible for Diamond's conduct because
of the 2001 sales agreement.

Perrine v Dupont - Levin Papantonio
The verdict is $196,200,000.00
Plaintiffs win all four phase against Dupont. Clarksburg, WV

Ham radio operators help thwart burglary in Farms

By Kit Bradshaw (Contact)
Monday, September 24, 2007

Three juveniles thought they were pretty smart using amateur radios to communicate with each other as they allegedly talked their way through at least one burglary and possibly more in Jupiter Farms.

Their last transmission, however, was "Code Red, Code Red, Code Red. There are cops everywhere, dude!"

The three were outwitted by local ham radio operators listening to the communications that were enhanced through the Citizens Emergency Response Team Repeater that allows the signal to extend from Boynton Beach to Port St. Lucie from Jupiter Farms.

On Friday night, as a victim of a burglary huddled in her bedroom closet, calling for sheriff's deputies, Albert Moreschi of Jupiter Farms and John Levey of Palm Beach Gardens, among others, were monitoring the radio transmissions from the suspects and feeding information to the deputies.

But they weren't just listening to the burglary as it went down. They were recording the transmissions.

"On Sept. 8 we heard what sounded like men talking about committing a burglary and we were monitoring them on one of the local ham repeaters," said Levey. "As a retired police officer, when I heard it the first time, I knew what it was. We notified law enforcement, but they didn't describe the house well enough to get the exact address.

"On Sept. 21, we hear them doing the same thing, and recognize their voices. So I get out my tape recorder and start taping them. Bert is on the radio when he hears it, and we get on our cell phones, and we're monitoring this. If we heard anything specific, we'd tell the authorities."

According to the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office report, one of the suspects was arrested in the house, one walking down a nearby road and a third, who fled in a car, was arrested near the Publix in Jupiter Farms.

"We have them on two different burglaries," said PBSO Lt. David Kronsperger, "and suspect they were in other houses as well."

Levey's work didn't end when the suspects were arrested.

"After I didn't hear any more on the radio, I then went to the Sheriff's Office substation in Jupiter Farms, and there was a deputy there, with one of the suspects," Levey said. "I identified myself as a former police officer and a ham radio operator and said to the deputy 'by the way, if you just caught three guys, we've been recording their transmissions.'"

The Sheriff's Office is now in possession of the ham radio transmission tapes.

The three suspects also could face other charges by the Federal Communications Commission for operating an amateur radio without a license, according to Moreschi.

"What is interesting is that we don't know where these kids got the ham radios," said Moreschi. " They came right over the CERT repeater and that has a special tone, and you have to have a special tone to key it up. So it's a little more sophisticated than walkie talkies."

Both ham radio operators, plus another in Port St. Lucie who declined to be identified, were modest about their role in the events.

"Hey, it just another community service by a ham radio operator," said Levey.

Waste-site lawsuit against DuPont enters second phase

Associated Press
Posted Tuesday, October 2, 2007 at 10:58 am

CLARKSBURG, W.Va. - People who lived around a DuPont industrial site and massive waste pile face a higher than normal risk of disease and should get free routine health screenings, lawyers suing the chemical maker argued today.

In opening statements of the second phase of a class-action lawsuit over a former zinc-smelting plant in Spelter, plaintiffs lawyers argued that thousands of people who inhaled and ingested arsenic, cadmium and lead are now entitled to medical monitoring.

DuPont provided its employees such care during the three years it took to destroy the factory buildings and clean up the site, attorney Virginia Buchanan said. But residents in and around Spelter were exposed to the toxins much longer, some for decades during the plant's 90-year history, she said.

Ten residents suing DuPont over contamination of their communities won the first phase of their case Monday, when jurors found DuPont liable for and negligent in cre ating the 112-acre waste site.

The 11-member jury also found that Delaware-based DuPont created a public and private nuisance and that its pollution trespassed onto private property.

DuPont, which was to present opening statements later Tuesday, has already set aside $15 million to deal with the lawsuit but vowed after Monday's defeat to continue to defend its conduct.

The plaintiffs are proposing a 40-year medical monitoring plan that would offer voluntary testing every two years. A West Virginia University physician expected to testify later Tuesday recommends screenings for lung, skin, stomach, bladder and kidney cancer, as well as for kidney function, cognitive problems and lead poisoning.

To win a DuPont-funded program, the plaintiffs must prove they have had significant exposure to known hazardous substances and are now at higher risk for developing latent disease. The plaintiffs also must prove tests leading to early detection are available and that a medical monitoring program is reasonably necessary.

Regardless of how the medical monitoring phase ends, a third phase of the class-action lawsuit will address property damage claims, while the final phase of the trial will address whether DuPont's conduct merits additional punitive damages

Member in the News - Mark Murnan

West Palm private eye named head of statewide investigators association

Member in the News

Nationally-known Defense Investigators and NALI Members Karen Myers and Ellis Armistead, CLI in the News

No death sentence in prison murder

By Julie Poppen, Rocky Mountain News

April 7, 2007

An inmate convicted of the gruesome murder of his cellmate will spend the rest of his life in prison after a jury Friday couldn't reach unanimous agreement on a death sentence.

William Sablan, 42, will be sentenced to life with no chance of parole on April 18.

It was the first federal death penalty case in Denver since the trial of Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh a decade ago. It also was the first federal death penalty case involving a crime committed in Colorado in decades, said Jeff Dorschner, spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office in Denver.

"Justice is clearly served in this case," said U.S. Attorney Troy Eid. "Mr. Sablan will spend the rest of his life behind bars. He is a menace to society, and I don't say that lightly."

Sablan and his cousin, Rudy Cabrera Sablan, 42, shared a cell with victim Joey Estrella, 33, at the time of the October 1999 killing at a federal prison in Florence.

Prosecutors said Rudy Sablan strangled Estrella with a headphone cord until he was unconscious. William Sablan then cut his throat at least 60 times with a contraband plastic razor, they said.

On a videotape shot by guards after they discovered the killing, William Sablan admitted to the killing, saying he gutted Estrella after Estrella hit him in the face.

William Sablan was asked to stand as the jury's decision was read by Judge Wiley Y. Daniel. William Sablan clasped his hands in front of a gray-toned plaid shirt and showed little emotion.

Members of his defense team embraced and shed some tears. Defense attorney Nathan Chambers thanked jurors for their service.

"This has been a long case and a difficult case for everybody," Chambers said. "We are very happy with the result of a life sentence."

The defense team had argued that William Sablan had trouble controlling his impulses and making rational choices because of a head injury and previous abuse he suffered at the hands of his father.

Prosecutors painted a different picture. They said William Sablan's criminal history began in 1984 and noted that he has convictions for holding a couple at knife point, attacking two men on a golf course and attempting to strangle a shop owner with a telephone cord.

NALI Member Carol Moore in Pensacola Magazine

Click here to download the magazine

NALI members Ellis Armistead and Joe Dickerson have combined their offices in a new downtown Denver location, 999 18th St., Suite 2055, Denver, CO 80202. The telephone number is (303) 825-2373. Their agencies are now part of Minneapolis based Heartland Companies, headed by Paul Jaeb. The company's website is www.heartlandinfo.com

Armistead is in charge of Heartland Investigative Group and Dickerson runs Heartland Dickerson Group, specializing in financial investigations. Armistead is a former National Director of NALI; Dickerson serves as a Regional Director, and Jaeb is the current National Secretary.

Jaeb said, "NALI has played an important role in the growth and development of our company. The association has created many opportunities for Heartland and will continue to play an essential role as we move forward."

Member in the News

Practical Handbook for Professional Investigators, Second Edition

Rory J. McMahon R.J. McMahon & Associates, Inc., Fort Lauderdale, Florida, U

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