And Now For Something Completely Different

This is the beginning of an Associated Press story that appeared late Friday (and is linked to below):

LOS ANGELES — A man who prosecutors say was paid about $2.6 million to be a professional plaintiff — and who helped a prestigious New York law firm get lucrative class-action lawsuits — pleaded guilty Thursday to obstruction of justice and two other charges.

After reaching a plea deal, Seymour Lazar, 80, of Palm Springs, appeared before U.S. District Judge John Walter. Lazar also pleaded guilty to one count each of subscribing to a false tax return and making a false declaration to the court.

I'm not sure how common this practice is, but I suspect it is too common. We're going to dig into it, at least as it relates to Illinois. There are some repeat plaintiffs who have been named in some Illinois newspapers, most notably the Madison County Record.

It seems a series of questions like this should be asked of plaintiffs and of the plaintiffs' attorneys:

Have you ever been a plaintiff in another class action suit?

What was the outcome? And if you recovered anything, how much?

Have you ever been represented by this law firm? If so, in what kind of litigation?

Have you ever been paid to be a plaintiff? If so, by whom?When and how did you become aware of the potential wrong-doing against you?

How were you notified?

A similar list of questions should be asked of plaintiffs' attorneys, with one addition:

Have you ever paid a plaintiff?

Maybe these questions are already being asked; maybe it varies from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. We'll try to learn the answer.

Full Associated Press Article here.

-- Ed Murnane
Illinois Civil Justice League
October 22, 2007