Exposing Corporate Misconduct

Ford cited for holding key evidence - 05/26/04: "Ford cited for holding key evidence
Judges warn company about failure to provide court papers"

Numerous lives have been ruined by polluters that place profits over people. In the coming months we will publish accounts concerning how the civil justice system exposed corporate polluter misconduct. We invite you to post information you beleive will be helpful to our readers.

Industry Knowledge concerning the dangers of asbestos dates back to the late 1800's. The coverup which has resulted in the deaths of more than 500 million Americans will be featured in the upcoming video presentation that will be posted on this website in the near future. Until then, you can find a short video account in the legal section of the video case evaluation at http://www.mesothelioma.org and a time line at the web site of the Environmental Working Group at http://www.ewg.org/reports/asbestos/facts/fact1.php

"A former senior firearms industry executive said in an affidavit filed in court in San Diego yesterday that gun manufacturers had long known that some of their dealers corruptly sold guns to criminals but pressured one another into remaining silent for fear of legal liability. It is the first time a senior official in the gun industry has broken ranks to challenge practices in the business.
The affidavit, by Robert A. Ricker, a former chief lobbyist and executive director of the American Shooting Sports Council, then the main gun industry trade organization, was filed in California Superior Court in support of claims by 12 California cities and counties suing the gun makers and their wholesalers and retail dealers."
New York Times, 02/04/03, Gun Industry Ex-Official Describes Bond of Silence,by FOX BUTTERFIELD

"In light of the current controversy surrounding breast implants, one wonders when all industries will recognize their obligation to voluntarily disclose risks from the use of their products. All too often in the choice between the physical health of consumers and the financial well-being of business, concealment is chosen over disclosure, sales over safety, and money over morality. Who are these persons who knowingly and secretly decide to put the buying public at risk solely for the purpose of making profits and who believe that illness and death of consumers is an appropriate cost of their own prosperity!
As the following facts disclose, despite some rising pretenders, the tobacco industry may be the king of concealment and disinformation."

Opinion of the Honorable Lee Sarokin in Haines v. Ligget Group, Feb, 6, 1992.

Ten Years Later

In our view, this case involves conduct that is more reprehensible than that in any of the cases that we have discussed," Judge Walter Edmonds said in a decision released Wednesday. "We believe that our original decision was correct."
Thursday, June 10, 2004 -The Oregonian, ASHBEL S. GREEN -

"In one Michigan lawsuit arising from an accident that left a toddler with brain damage, Kent County Circuit Judge Dennis Kolenda ruled the automaker’s conduct was an “outrageous fraud” and directed a verdict for the plaintiffs.
“For over two years, Ford has concealed very significant documents and information, and, worse, had blatantly lied about these documents and about the information in them,”
By Jeff Plungis / Detroit News Washington Bureau http://www.detnews.com/2004/autosinsider/0405/26/a01-164587.htm

”Under your direction, your company has in fact continued to allow women, tens of thousands of them, to wear this device--a deadly depth charge in their wombs ready to explode at any time . . . . The only conceivable reasons you have not recalled this product are that it would hurt your balance sheet and alert women who have already been harmed that you may liable for their injuries . . . . If this were a case in equity, I would order your company to make an effort to locate each and every woman who still wears this device and recall your product. But this court does not have the power to do so. I must therefore resort to moral persuasion and a personal appeal to each of you. . . . Please, in the name of humanity, lift your eyes above the bottom line . . . . Please, gentlemen, give consideration to tracing down the victims and sparing them the agony that will surely be theirs.”

As reported by Richard B. Sobol in his book, Bending the Law: The Story of the Dalkon Shield Bankruptcy (1991),