Frederick Martin Baron (1947 – October 30, 2008) was a trial lawyer best known for representing plaintiffs claiming toxic and chemical exposure. He has also been an active figure in politics as a fund-raiser for the Democratic Party.
Biography
Legal career
Baron was one of the founders of Baron & Budd, P.C., a Dallas, Texas law firm and a former president of the Association of Trial Lawyers of America. Fred Baron sold his interest in Baron & Budd and retired from the firm in December 2002. His former firm has become one of the largest firms in the country representing victims of toxic and chemical exposure particularly claims of asbestos exposure. As a young lawyer in 1975, Baron became a pioneer in the application of strict liability causes of action in asbestos litigation using the then-recently adopted Restatement Second of Torts Section 402a. He represented workers and widows of deceased workers at Pittsburg Corning's Tyler, Texas plant. Fred Baron inspired a generation of lawyers to continue to represent asbestos workers and persons with asbestos exposure, which continues to be one of the leading causes of occupational injury in the United States.
One academic estimated that Baron & Budd, along with Ness Motley, was one of two firms responsible for half of the hundreds of thousands of asbestos litigation claimants in the country.
Baron convinced the United States Supreme Court to de-certify nationwide asbestos class action settlements involving future claims of people who are not yet ill, but who may later develop asbestos-related illnesses. The decertification addressed the problem that asbestos-related illnesses like mesothelioma (a fatal cancer of the lining of the lung), have a latency period of 20–40 years from the date of exposure.
Political career
Baron has been an active figure in politics as a prominent fund-raiser for the Democratic Party and fellow trial lawyer, Sen. John Edwards. Baron was the finance chair of Edwards' 2004 presidential campaign before co-chairing the Kerry Victory '04 committee, a joint effort of the Democratic National Committee and the Presidential campaign of John Kerry. Baron gave $1.7 million to the Texas Democratic Trust in the last two years and is also heavily involved in Edwards's 2008 presidential campaign, moving to North Carolina to head up fundraising, and renting Edwards his Hawker 800 private jet.. In total, the Edwards campaign paid Baron nearly 1.1 million dollars for this service .
Baron has joked about the prominence he and other trial lawyers have in the Democratic Party. In a July 2002 speech, he noted a Wall Street Journal editorial that said that "the plaintiffs bar is all but running the Senate." Baron pointed to the editorial and said, "Now I really, strongly disagree with that. Particularly the 'all but.'"
Baron indicated on August 8, 2008, that he had given monetary assistance to the woman John Edwards had an affair with, Rielle Hunter. He claims he paid her directly, not using campaign money.
Asbestos litigation tactics
Main article: Baron & Budd asbestos memoBaron & Budd have been criticized by attorneys for both plaintiffs and defendants for their role in asbestos litigation in aggressively seeking payment for plaintiffs who have suffered no injury; as a result, many defendants have been bankrupted and seriously injured plaintiffs have been unable to recover.
The Baron & Budd asbestos memo is alleged to have been a subornation of perjury and a cover-up. It is cited by United States civil justice reformers and politicians as an example of ethical problems in the plaintiffs' bar and asbestos litigation. Baron and some academics argue that the memo was the act of a single paralegal, and that it was within the bounds of "zealous representation." However, the Dallas Observer conducted an investigation of the memo, and found that "a number of former Baron & Budd employees say that the information and techniques contained in the memo are widely used, even taught to employees" and that the "memo was not truly an aberration, but a written example of how the product-identification staff works at Baron & Budd."
In 2002, Baron left Baron & Budd along with his wife, Lisa Blue. Baron sued his former firm for breach of contract; Baron & Budd counterclaimed alleging that Baron and Blue breached contractual, fiduciary and legal obligations to the firm by failing to receive prior consent from Baron & Budd for plans to form a new firm.
Baron lived in the Preston Hollow neighborhood of north Dallas.
Awards and honors
- Fred Baron has been honored as a lawyer who helped shape Texas law during the 20th century in Legal Legends: A Century of Texas Law and Lawyering .
- Named as one of the nation's top plaintiff's lawyers by Forbes magazine (2001).
- Named one of Dallas' top lawyers by D Magazine (May 2001 and May 2005).
- In 2001, The University of Texas School of Law endowed a chair in his name.
- Past president of the Association of Trial Lawyers of America (ATLA);
- A member of the Board of Governors of ATLA, as Chairman of the Public Affairs Committee on the Board of Governors, and Chairman of its Section on Toxic, Environmental and Pharmaceutical Torts;
- Past president of Trial Lawyers for Public Justice;
- A member of the Board of Directors of The American Constitution Society;
- A member of the American Law Institute, serving on the Products Liability sub-committee;
- Vice-Chairman of the Toxic and Hazardous Substances and Environmental Law Subcommittee for the American Bar Association;
- Member of the American Board of Trial Advocates;
- Life Fellow of the Texas Bar Foundation and Dallas Bar Foundation;
- Former member of the Board of Advisors to the Toxic Law Reporter (B.N.A.);
- Former Trustee for the Civil Justice Foundation;
- Member of the Advisory Board of Texas Citizen Action;
- Director of the Texas Law Review Association;
- Director of the Irving Selikoff Foundation (Charitable Trust);
- Trustee of the Manville Victims Special Trust (Charitable Trust);
- Trustee of the Democratic National Committee;
- On the Texas Advisory Board of the Environmental Defense Fund.
References
- ^ Article about death
- ^ Association of Trial Lawyers of America
- ^ "Outrageous Misconduct: The Asbestos Industry on Trial", Paul Brodeur, 1985, Pantheon Books, NY
- ^ Samuel Issacharoff, ‘‘Shocked’’: Mass Torts and Aggregate Asbestos Litigation After Amchem and Ortiz, 80 Tex. L. Rev. 1925, 1930 (2002).
- ^ a b Amchem Products, Inc. et al., v. George Windsor et al.
- ^ Democratic effort helped by lawyer's $1.7 million, Austin American-Statesman , 12 Nov. 2006
- ^ "2008 Candidates Rely on Private Jets to Get Around". Fox News/Associated Press. 2007-04-27 . http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,268942,00.html . Retrieved 2008-06-03 .
- ^ "John Edwards Expenditure Data" . http://www.fec.gov/DisclosureSearch/MapAppDownload.do?cand_id=P40002347&cand_nm_title=Edwards,%20John&tranType=expendDetail . Retrieved 2008-08-10 .
- ^ John Fund, "Have You Registered to Sue?", Wall Street Journal , 6 Nov. 2002
- ^ Thomas Korosec, "Enough to Make You Sick", Dallas Observer , 26 Sep 2002
- ^ Lester Brickman, "On the Theory Class’s Theories of Asbestos Litigation: The Disconnect Between Scholarship and Reality", 31 Pepperdine L. Rev. 33 (2004).
- ^ Walter Olson, "Thanks for the Memories", Reason (June 1998)
- ^ Additional View of Senator Kyl, Senate Report No. 108-118 at pp. 81-184 (21 Jul. 2003) (reprinting memo in full).
- ^ W. William Hodes, The Professional Duty To Horseshed Witnesses—Zealously, Within The Bounds Of the Law, 30 TEX. TECH L. REV. 1343 (1999). See also Charles Silver, Preliminary Thoughts on the Economics of Witness Preparation, 30 TEX. TECH L. REV. 1383, 1398-1401 (1999)(discussing forces affecting the preparation of witnesses in civil cases, including mass tort lawsuits).
- ^ Julie Lyons, Patrick Williams, Thomas Korosec, and Christine Biederman, "Toxic Justice", 13 Aug. 1998
- ^ Thomas Korosec, "Homefryin' with Fred Baron", Dallas Observer , 29 March 2001
- ^ Julie Lyons, The Control Freak, Dallas Observer, 13 Aug. 1998.
- ^ Brenda
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