One Hour With Lemuel Srolovic - Constraints

The Litigator for Acreage Brain Cancer Victims Speaks

Nov 2, 2009

This is part three of an interview with Mr. Srolovic. This section centers on the restrictions involved in the case as well as the potential for redress.

As the Lead Investigator for Weitz & Luxenberg, the firm mounting the research and potential lawsuit by residents of Royal Palm Beach, Loxahatchee and the Acreage in Palm Beach County, Florida, Lemuel "Lem" Srolovic wields great authority and power. This is the third part of an interview held on the morning of October 30th, 2009. Mr. Srolovic was kind enough to grant this audience in response to a request from citizens of the area. Weitz & Luxenberg is the firm with which Erin Brockovich is currently associated.

A Toxic Tort case is an attempt to hold a company liable for damages in which it has caused illness or injury to individuals, either willfully or negligently, specifically through environmental contaminants.

Although Pratt and Whitney has maintained a manufacturing plant not far from this area, no direct evidence has been found to date in this matter indicating any wrongdoing on their part or linking them to any cause of harm to these residents.

How Far the Firm Will Go

(Suite101) In other words, will your fight extend to protecting the people who do not pay you for the results, either directly or indirectly, but are affected nonetheless?

(Srolovic) If I can. There is a...it kind of works both ways. A tort lawsuit is a legal tool to provide redress for someone who has already suffered harm. [There is] a substantial collateral effect for those who are not part of the lawsuit. When I worked for the State of New York, I envisioned my role as to prevent harm to people, to understand environmental risks. In practicing law, there is a substantial benefit to people who are not plaintiffs and who have not been directly helped by the case. The lessons learned in the course of a tort suit have a very strong salutary effect for others. I can give an example in...the safety of consumer products. What we have seen is that product liability in this country has made the products safer for everyone. What I think we have seen in the importation of consumer products is that many of these products have not seen a high level of product litigation, and their quality shows that in some respects.

(Suite101) Will you provide the results of your tests to the general public once the cases have been decided, or will the cases themselves make the results public information?

(Srolovic) The answer generally would be yes. When a lawsuit is filed, ...there is an information exchange between the parties in a process called discovery. The information, ...or summaries of it, are not necessarily filed in court. It is available to the public unless it is sealed. Sampling data is not generally sealed. It is [usually] available to the public. That availability is not dependent on a case being completed. We are trending in the courts towards electronic filing and those documents are available immediately.

A Citizen's Prospects

(Suite101) Should there be a large settlement on behalf of the families involved in the situation, what is the likelihood that any of the families will actually see any money?

(Srolovic) I think the chances of the families receiving funds in the event of a substantial settlement are very good actually, One of the things that always motivates me is I try to be practical. Litigation is not an end in and of itself; it is a tool and a means to an end. The end is obtaining redress for people who have been injured by a product. What is the point of it if there are no funds received? That kind of consideration is very much a part of the lawsuits I craft. You can't always know in advance the end of the day, but in my past I have not litigated suits that have...resulted in narrow recovery for people. To distinguish, there is a lot of talk about class action. What do you really get from them? We typically do not bring class actions; we bring mass tort actions where individuals bring a series of lawsuits where each person is an actual plaintiff. If successful you don't receive a coupon.

(Suite101) Should there be successful litigation, will the firm also fight to have clean up completed?

(Srolovic) I can't really answer that question in a vacuum, but typically if we're successful, either directly or indirectly a clean up or restoration or abatement of the underlying problem often goes hand in hand. It's hard to predict how that plays out in any given circumstance. Let me give you a concrete example. This firm recently represented public water suppliers in a whole series of public water litigations. MTBE, a gasoline additive, was a component that is largely out gasoline now . It travels across long distances in underground spills and is very costly to remove. The remedy we obtained was the cost for them to remove the MTBE from their water supplies from the oil companies. Did it result in the clean up? No, but it did provide the money for it.

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