Girardi told the Los Angeles Times that the cruise included "an extensive professional program." A staff attorney for the California State Bar's Professional Competency Unit, Randall Difuntorum, said that in 1997 the bar disciplined an attorney who had kept his client's award for an unusually long time -- six weeks -- before releasing it. "He got a real bad deal. Under California State Bar Rule 4-100, an attorney has to release his client's money "promptly," as soon as the client asks for it. The company used the chromium to prevent rust from corroding its water-cooling system. Because the arbitration that eventually decided the case was closed to the public, it's unclear what sort of proof plaintiffs attorneys offered to support their claims. "I wrote Girardi a letter, asking for a statement of his accounting of the case," said Gonzales. It was up to the arbitrators, Lack told his clients in a July 24, 1996, letter. Tenner, a retired Los Angeles Superior Court judge, officiated at Girardi's second wedding, in September 1993. While cautioning that he did not know the full details of the complex Hinkley case, John Sprankling, a professor of legal ethics at McGeorge School of Law in Sacramento, commented, "I don't understand the rationale for a six-month delay.". Had this occurred in public court, judicial rules would have forced the judges to recuse themselves from the case due to a conflict of interest. The former judges who heard the case were all employed by an Irvine arbitration company called JAMS/Endispute -- one of the biggest such firms in the West. But Schoettler said no one he knew attended a lecture. "It's upsetting to the extent that it's a resource used by institutional litigants. When the studio released "Erin Brockovich" last month, Lack and Masry started fielding calls from potential clients around the country who had seen their names roll by in the film's credits, under a "Special Thanks" heading. Indeed, what happened next provides a rare glimpse into the sometimes cloak-and-dagger world of nine-figure lawsuits. In the PG&E arbitration, Girardi, Masry and Lack expected to settle the case against the utility for $400 million, according to a July 2, 1996, letter to their clients. When he found out, he said, the attorneys changed the venue. Dorothea Montoya received $60,000; Christine Mace got $50,000; Lynn Tindell $50,000; Tiffany Oliver got $60,000. "We didn't even get to talk to Erin and she's the one who got us mixed up in this thing," said Smith. "We screwed up," by not cleaning the area sooner, PG&E spokesman Gregg Pruett acknowledged in a local paper at the time. "It didn't make sense why my husband, who's had 17 tumors removed from his throat, got only $80,000," said Smith. JAMS boasts about 300 arbitrators, including some of the more prominent retired judges in California. She believes that if that had happened, PG&E's executives might have gone to jail "for murder, for lying, for destroying the lives of thousands of people," she said. "I told them it was against the law to keep this stuff from me." (The pair are currently in the midst of a divorce.) Since the official accounting of the money is secret, there's no way to ascertain how much money was distributed to Hinkley residents short of a survey of all 650 clients in the case. Still, many of them were delighted to hear of the settlement's general terms, figuring that a third-of-a-billion dollars would benefit them to the tune of a half-a-million each, minus their attorney's fees. That's when judge and jury awarded 38 former workers $785 million -- more than $20 million each. This prompted Masry to sue Dolan again in August 1998. The formula for disbursing the money has been kept secret, as has the entire transcript of the arbitration proceeding. Since no law governs procedures in these closed-door cases, pretty much anything goes -- even things that would not be allowed in court. A few weeks later, the company agreed. "Obviously, there is something broken with our system," said Robin Lossing of Citizens Against Lawsuit Abuse. Goertzen says the relationship is only professional. ", In a short interview in which almost all his replies were shouted, attorney Lack would not comment on the arbitrators in the Hinkley case. Another jurist, Appellate Court Justice Miriam Vogel, was quoted in the Los Angeles Times decrying "the growth of private judging particularly when financially strapped litigants are forced by public judges into accepting private judges, referees, arbitrators, or mediators who may charge large sums for their services." Because of her fighting spirit, Erin has become the champion of countless women and men. Erin Brockovich (2000) Starring Julia Roberts, Albert Finney, Aaron Eckhart based on Erin Brockovich-Ellis and her research that resulted in a 333 million dollar settlement with Pacific Gas & Electric Co. Reel Face: Real Face: This show is best described as “Extreme Make-Over Home Edition” on steroids. While the real Erin Brockovich basks in the glow of the film’s successful reception, giving interviews and appearing on Oprah, the bitter citizens of Hinkley California have allegedly hired new attorneys and are preparing to file a spate of lawsuits against Erin’s firm. Then, Girardi learned that PG&E's outside counsel, Haight, Brown and Bonesteel of Santa Monica, had hired private investigators to snoop into his bank records and private affairs, as well as those of his clients. The real-life ErinBrockovich has moved onto the national stage as a consumer advocate and now curates a crowd-sourced map of reported cancer clusters. But, hey, that’s Hollywood. Over time, Erin realized that she could use her notoriety to spread positive messages of personal empowerment and to encourage others to stand up and make a difference. He talked to 81 of the plaintiffs and found they received, on average, $152,000. When the money did come, some residents tried to complain about what they felt were unfair amounts, but they were put off. Some wanted to contest the awards, but were discouraged. A luxury yacht floated on azure waters; tuxedoed butlers balanced silver trays of free champagne; young bikini-clad ladies frolicked on the sun-splashed deck, according to retired Judge Schoettler, who was a guest. Julia Roberts stars in this legal drama based on the story of a woman who helped win the largest settlement ever paid in a direct-action lawsuit. So, on the advice of Girardi and the other attorneys, the residents agreed to voluntary arbitration. Around the same time, another, unrelated, case against the firm alleged similar spying practices by Haight, Brown; it also detailed the Ortiz-Girardi snooping. The amounts varied. "We were told if we appealed the settlement, we'd get less money," said Ron Gonzales. The fraternization between the private judges and the plaintiffs' lawyers led California Supreme Court Chief Justice Ronald George to begin a study of the business of arbitration. Another criticism is that the arbitrators and their clients and attorneys often work together regularly. The whole film was about uncovering PG&E’s unethical practices and its effect on the community. The for-profit arbitration business is booming, especially in California, he added. "It's a big fabrication," said Walker. The attorneys were besieged with over 100 phone calls from clients, lenders and creditors regarding the unreleased settlement awards. The judges heard some of the appeals in Lack's office, a two-hour drive from Hinkley. They pay monthly retainer fees or get volume discounts. "Why are you being stupid?" The station pumped natural gas through an artery of pipes stretching from the Texas Panhandle to the San Francisco Bay Area; the system served PG&E customers in much of the state's Central Valley. Reproduction of material from any Salon pages without written permission is strictly prohibited. What comments they did make in the case are included below. The bulk of Erin Brockovich is about the class-action lawsuit she and the lawyer, Ed Masry (Albert Finney), bring against Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) for … "In each and every article, it clearly depicts that people who have exposures have chronic nosebleeds, kidney problems and colon problems," she said during an interview. But the film tells only half of it -- and the half it doesn't tell isn't pretty. In his defense, Girardi claimed that the minors' higher fee had been approved by arbitrator Trotter, and therefore was permissible. That question echoes from many of the 650 plaintiffs in the case that became Anderson vs. PG&E. The film turned an unknown legal researcher into a 20th century icon by showcasing how her dogged persistence was the impelling force behind the largest medical settlement lawsuit in history. But then the clients were billed an extra $10 million for expenses, which weren't detailed. Steven Soderbergh directed the film and Julia Roberts earned the highest salary ever paid to a female movie star at the time. Plaintiffs relied on the attorneys' letters for details of the case. People needed their money to pay off debts; others wanted to buy new cars and appliances. Their suspicions aroused by the secrecy, many Hinkley residents want to know where the money went. One resident who did appeal was Gonzales. In May 1996, a few months before PG&E settled, Louis Masry started his own company, Sunrise Financial Services, now located in the same building as his dad's law firm. Erin Brockovich is a true American hero who’s icon status and “stick-to-it-iveness” only fuels her determination to expose injustice and lend her voice to those who do not have one. It is a real eye-opener. It's against California law to obtain confidential private records. That's when she started searching for a lawyer. While working for a lawyer, she is puzzled by an old case and decides to do some research of her own. There are no public records of the case. In a newspaper article written at the time, Girardi contended that the money had been held up on appeal; the attorney did not respond to repeated requests to be interviewed. In the wake of the PG&E litigation, for example, there is no public record of whether an enormous, publicly held utility did or did not poison a town. (Ironically, in view of later events, he became a private arbitrator and landed a paying part in the movie playing his former self, a sitting judge.) Around the same time, Brockovich was arranging to sell her "true story" to Hollywood for about $100,000, according to Brockovich.
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