– I know a lot of people still have strong doubts about claims that corporations have become so powerful in America that they are deeply influencing how this country is run. Here’s an article about how one company is using its financial clout and connections to protect its interests – to the detriment of the American people.
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The following article is by the lawyers representing the families of four American contractors who worked for Blackwater and were killed in Fallujah. After Blackwater refused to share information about why they were killed, the families were told they would have to sue Blackwater to find out. Now Blackwater is trying to sue them for $10 million to keep them quiet.
Raleigh, NC — The families of four American security contractors who were burned, beaten, dragged through the streets of Fallujah and their decapitated bodies hung from a bridge over the Euphrates River on March 31, 2004, are reaching out to the American public to help protect themselves against the very company their loved ones were serving when killed, Blackwater Security Consulting. After Blackwater lost a series of appeals all the away to the U.S. Supreme Court, Blackwater has now changed its tactics and is suing the dead men’s estates for $10 million to silence the families and keep them out of court.
Following these gruesome deaths which were broadcast on worldwide television, the surviving family members looked to Blackwater for answers as to how and why their loved ones died. Blackwater not only refused to give the grieving families any information, but also callously stated that they would need to sue Blackwater to get it. Left with no alternative, in January 2005, the families filed suit against Blackwater, which is owned by the wealthy and politically-connected Erik Prince.
Blackwater quickly adapted its battlefield tactics to the courtroom. It initially hired Fred F. Fielding, who is currently counsel to the President of the United States. It then hired Joseph E. Schmitz as its in-house counsel, who was formerly the Inspector General at the Pentagon. More recently, Blackwater employed Kenneth Starr, famed prosecutor in the Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky scandal, to oppose the families. To add additional muscle, Blackwater hired Cofer Black, who was the Director of the CIA Counter- Terrorist Center.
After filing its suit against the dead men’s estates, Blackwater demanded that its claim and the families’ existing lawsuit be handled in a private arbitration. By suing the families in arbitration, Blackwater has attempted to move the examination of their wrongful conduct outside of the eye of the public and away from a jury. This comes at the same time when Congress is investigating Blackwater.
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This story is outrageous, and everyone’s heart goes out to the families. But Callahan and Miles (the guys who wrote the story) are trying to take you to the cleaners. These guys are California personal injury lawyers who took the case on a contingency–the families aren’t paying lawyer bills! Even if they were, it says right in the fine print of this story (and in the court documents themselves) that the claims are against the lawyer running the estates and against the estates–the families aren’t even parties to the case!! These are mega-rich lawyers, who brag on their website about one case alone where they won almost a BILLION dollars (http://www.callahan-law.com/victories.php?select=26). They are just trying to get you to give them money out of sympathy for the poor families and/or hatred of Bush and his cronies. Here’s what I propose: If you check out the facts (not blogs!) on this and you believe the families are paying lawyer bills, donate your heart out. BUT, if you see that these two yayhoos are just trying to line their pockets and get MORE rich off your nickel, do this: make a donation so the families know you support ’em, but make it only a penny. Enough one cent donations, and these ambulance chasers will get the message that they are no better than Blackwater.
If we want the truth, it will have to come through those Congressional hearings, not ambulance chasers whose overriding goal is to get cash money, not to uncover the real story of what happened.
I take comments like this seriously. After reading this, I thought perhaps I haven’t read enough on this story and I’m missing a major aspect of it. I went out and Googled “Callahan Blackwater” to see what I’d turn up.
Try it yourself. Story after story after story spun like the one I reported. And I didn’t find hard hitting editorials denouncing Callahan as an ambulance chaser just trying to enrich himself.
So I’ve come to the conclusion that this comment is itself an attempted hatchet job. An effort to sow confusion and doubt. Even the WSJ (http://blogs.wsj.com/law/2007/02/09/socal-trial-lawyer-behind-congressional-hearings-on-iraq-abuse/) which isn’t know for its liberal tendencies spun it far different than the comment writer.
Furthermore, I found another blogger who’d reported this story as I had and he had EXACTLY the same comment tagged onto his post.
So, apparently we’ve got one shill on overdrive trying to turn the tide of iindignation and revulsion that this story engenders against Blackwater. It would be interesting to look into the financial underpinnings of our commentator to see where they lead