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Public Justice (formerly Trial
Lawyers for Public Justice) opened its doors 25 years ago to pursue an inspiring
vision -- building the
trial lawyers' public
interest law firm. We
have done that and more. Over the past quarter century, no public interest law
firm in the country has been involved in a broader range of high-impact,
cutting-edge litigation. So we've become Public Justice to pursue an expanded,
inspiring vision -- building
America's public
interest law firm.
Public Justice is the
principal project of the Public Justice Foundation, a non-profit
membership organization.
We are supported by – and can
call on – a nationwide network of over 3,500 attorneys and others,
including trial lawyers, appellate lawyers, consumer advocates, constitutional
litigators, employment lawyers, environmental attorneys, civil rights lawyers,
class action specialists, law professors and law students. Public Justice and the Public Justice Foundation
are headquartered in Washington, D.C., and have a West Coast Office in Oakland,
California. Lawyers for Abused Female Prisoners in Michigan Named Trial Lawyers of the Year Determined Pursuit of Justice in Neal v. Michigan Department of Corrections Earns National Honor
The legal team that won a landmark verdict for female Michigan prisoners who suffered years of sexual abuse and retaliation were named winners of the Public Justice 2008 Trial Lawyers of the Year Award at a Philadelphia gala on July 15. Michigan attorneys Deborah LaBelle, Richard Soble, Patricia A. Streeter and Shannon L. Dunn of Ann Arbor; Molly Reno of Whitmore Lake; Michael Pitt, Peggy Goldberg Pitt, and Cary S. McGehee of RoyalOak; and Ronald J. Reosti and Ralph Sirlin of Pleasant Ridge, captured the nationally prestigious honor, which recognizes lawyers who made extraordinary contributions to the public interest by trying or settling a precedent-setting case. FULL STORY
Renowned Attorney Chosen to Lead Public Justice Foundation for 2008-09
Gerson H. Smoger – a Dallas and Oakland attorney renowned for representing people around the country who live near hazardous waste sites – has been elected president of the Public Justice Foundation, the Washington-based nationalorganization of public interest lawyers and advocates. Smoger was unanimously elected July 14 at the Foundation’s annual meeting in Philadelphia. He will lead the 3,000-member group for the next year, succeeding Sandra H. Robinson, a prominent Washington, D.C. attorney. FULL STORY Public Justice Prevails in Case Against Computer Giant
High Court in New Mexico Upholds “Fundamental”
Access to Justice for Consumers
The state’s high court unanimously held in Fiser v. Dell that the company deprived its customers of fair redress and relief by imposing a ban on group claims and insisting on individual claims “when the cost of bringing a single claim is greater than the damages alleged.” In Fiser, the plaintiffs alleged that Dell misrepresented the amount of memory in its computers and violated the state’s consumer protection laws. They each claimed $10-$20 in damages for the misrepresentations. FULL STORY Public Justice to Bestow Access to Justice Award
A Birmingham lawyer who
mounted a crusade against a system that favored corporate interests over
the victims of hazardous chemical exposure has been named winner of
Public Justice Foundation’s Access to Justice
Award. Robert Palmer and his Alabama Legal Reform Foundation tirelessly fought to change Alabama’s statute of limitations on toxic tort complaints – a limit that required victims to file a complaint within two years of their last exposure to the offending chemical, meaning that those who did not have any symptoms or diagnosis until after two years had passed were out of luck.
In two editorials, the New York Times urged justice for Jack Cline, one of Palmer’s clients, who sued the makers and suppliers of benzene, a carcinogenic chemical that he was exposed to for years on the job. Cline had acute myelogenous leukemia, which is linked to benzene exposure, but his case was thrown out of court because he was not diagnosed with the disease until well after the two-year statute of limitations had expired. FULL STORY National Media Highlight Public Justice Case in Reports About Egregious Treatment of Immigration Detainees Castaneda Case Featured on CBS's "60 Minutes" and in Sunday Edition of The Washington Post
Watch the "60 Minutes" segment "Detention in America." Read the Washington Post articles from their Series: "Careless Detention:" includes links to Castaneda's e- mails and his congressional testimony Public Justice filed the federal lawsuit last fall, shortly after Castaneda testified about his tragic circumstances before a House subcommittee. Although the United States recently admitted medical negligence, eight other charges remain and Public Justice intends to see that Castaneda’s family has their day in court. The lawsuit names the United States, federal and California state officials, and one private physician in California. FULL STORY
"Justice and the Role of Class
Actions" Video Now Available
Second Former Coach Sues Florida School for Retaliation
A second female former coach at Florida Gulf Coast University has joined a federal retaliation lawsuit filed against the school by Public Justice, the national public interest law firm. Holly Vaughn, who designed the FGCU women’s golf program and built it into Division II tournament-winner, charges that, like former head volleyball coach Jaye Flood, she was subjected to threats and intimidation from school officials because she spoke out about gender inequities in the university’s athletic program. “The students I coached—my players—deserve so much better than they are getting and my fight is, foremost, for them,” said Holly Vaughn. “I joined this lawsuit to stand up for what’s right and fair for the student-athletes who put their hard work and good faith into FGCU’s athletic program. It’s not too much to ask that the university treat its female coaches and student-athletes with the respect they deserve.” FULL STORY Public Justice Files Two Lawsuits Over CSI Toys Containing Asbestos
Public Justice's federal complaint, filed in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles, alleges that CBS and Planet Toys were negligent in their quality control measures and that they made consumers believe the toys were appropriate playthings for children when, in fact, the toys contained a hazardous and potentially lethal carcinogen. Because the toys were sold nationwide, the lawsuit is brought on behalf of a nationwide class of consumers who purchased or acquired the toys. FULL STORY Court Denies Federal Officials' Attempt to Evade Responsibility for Medical Neglect that Led to Immigrant's Penile Amputation and Death
A federal court late Tuesday issued a blistering rebuke of federal officials’ motion to dismiss part of a lawsuit Public Justice filed on behalf of a Salvadoran immigrant whose penis was amputated and who eventually died as the result of medical neglect suffered while in detention. Ruling on federal public health officials’ argument that Francisco Castaneda could not assert constitutional claims against them, the U.S. District Court in Los Angeles excoriated the defendants for an “attempt to sidestep responsibility for what appears to be…one of the most, if not the most, egregious Eighth Amendment violations the Court has ever encountered.” The Eighth Amendment entitles detainees and prisoners to adequate medical care and prohibits cruel and unusual punishment. “If [Castaneda’s] evidence holds up, the conduct that he has established on the part of Defendants is beyond cruel and unusual,” the Court wrote. The ruling added that the government’s own records “bespeak of conduct that transcends negligence by miles” and which, if true, “should be taught to every law student as conduct for which the moniker ‘cruel’ is inadequate.” According to the Court, “the care afforded to [Mr. Castaneda] by Defendants can be characterized by one word: nothing.” FULL STORY Public Justice's Threat of Lawsuit Prompts Indiana
High Schools to Reverse Decision Preventing High School Girl from
Playing Baseball
On Feb. 28, after a sex discrimination lawsuit was threatened by Public Justice and HASP, a review committee of the Indiana High School Athletic Association (IHSAA) reversed the decision of its Commissioner and granted Heather’s request for a waiver of a statewide IHSAA rule that prohibits girls from participating in high school baseball if the school offers softball. An accomplished baseball player who recently moved to Indiana from California, Heather has spent nearly half of her life playing baseball. When she was nine years old, she signed up for her local little league team and fell in love with the game. She excelled as she moved up the little league ranks, and was the first girl to be named to her town’s All Star teams in both the 9- to 12-year-old age bracket and the 12- to 14-year-old age bracket. Under the IHSAA rule, Heather was denied even the right to try out for Wabash High’s baseball team solely because of her gender. FULL STORY New Coal Plant Threatens Public Health, Shenandoah National Park Environment, Conservation and Health Groups Take Protective Action Coalition Cites Expired Permit, Unmet Emissions Standards
Wellington Development cannot build a controversial waste coal-fired power plant in southwestern Pennsylvania because its construction permit has expired and does not meet current legal standards designed to ensure the lowest possible emissions of toxic mercury, according to multiple legal challenges filed Wednesday by Public Justice on behalf of the Sierra Club, National Parks Conservation Association, Group Against Smog and Pollution, and Chesapeake Bay Foundation. The waste coal-fired power plant would emit harmful levels of toxic mercury, and according to the National Park Service, would damage air quality at Shenandoah National Park. The coalition seeks to force the plant to update its expired construction permit and meet emissions standards that are protective of public health and the national park. The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection issued a Plan Approval permit in June 2005, authorizing Wellington to construct a 525-megawatt waste coal-fired power plant in Nemacolin (Greene County), Pennsylvania. The plan required Wellington to begin construction within 18 months of the date of approval, meaning late December, 2006. Numerous aerial photographs over the last year show that Wellington has not “commenced construction” of the power plant as defined by the law, prompting Wednesday’s federal court action, alleging that Wellington’s permit is no longer valid. Click here for FULL STORY, complaint, and petition. Public Justice Files Title IX
Retaliation and Defamation Case Against FGCU for Mistreatment of Head
Volleyball Coach
Public Justice filed a
federal lawsuit against
The lawsuit stands on Title IX - the same law that Coach Jaye Flood said the university is flouting - and notes "a continuing series of retaliatory acts" against Flood, the most successful coach in FGCU history and this year's Atlantic Sun Conference "Coach of the Year."
In response to Flood's advocacy of gender equity in the university's athletic department, the complaint charges, the university berated Flood's job performance, placed her on probation and administrative leave, denied her a salary raise and bonus, and announced her contract will not be renewed when it expires this summer. The school also "made defamatory statements intended to damage her professional reputation," the suit says. FULL STORY
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