Public Interest Cases
Introduction
With over 60 lawyers in five offices, Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein, LLP has a comprehensive, diversified nationwide civil litigation practice that is unique among law firms in the United States that represent only plaintiffs.
A long-standing and essential part of our practice has been litigation to advance civil and human rights, to uphold the interests of working families and the poor, and to obtain compensation for victims or families of victims of genocide and other violations of international law. We support organizations and initiatives by the legal community that promote increased access to justice and legal services by all members of our society.
Lieff Cabraser is particularly proud of the following cases in which we believe we have met this standard.
- September 11th Victim Compensation Fund
Lieff Cabraser represented pro bono seven victims and their decedents in hearings before the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund. The Fund was established by Congress as an alternative to traditional state and federal court remedies. Its aim was to compensate individuals who were physically injured or who lost their loved ones during the terrorist activities of September 11, 2001 in New York, Washington, D.C., and Shanksville, Pennsylvania. We were proud to obtain compensatory awards totaling over $5 million from the Fund for victims of the terrorist attacks.
Lieff Cabraser's clients included: the family of an employee at Marsh & McLennan who was working on the 93rd Floor of Tower One of the World Trade Center when the first plane struck; the husband of a passenger on Flight 93 that crashed in Shanksville; a New York City firefighter who spent more than three months at the World Trade Center site tagging body parts and who suffered extreme pulmonary injuries; a volunteer NYC firefighter who assisted and directed victims at Ground Zero to ambulances before he, himself, was enveloped in the debris from the First Tower's collapse; a hotel worker at the downtown Marriott who was injured after staying in the building to warn his co-workers of the danger; an injured passerby; and an undocumented Brazilian worker who escaped just before the tower in which he worked fell.
Partners, associates and paralegals from Lieff Cabraser’s New York office worked with medical and economic experts to prepare comprehensive briefings establishing their clients' presence at the disaster site and their injuries, as well as the financial impact of the disaster on their lives.
In hearings before Special Master Kenneth Feinberg, Lieff Cabraser was repeatedly praised on the record for the excellence of its representation. Lieff Cabraser represented clients independently and through the auspices of Trial Lawyers Care, a non-profit corporation set up by volunteer trial lawyers and the Association of Trial Lawyers of America to provide free legal services to the victims of the 9/11 attacks.
- Human Rights Amicus Brief
In February 2004, Lieff Cabraser, with co-counsel, filed an amicus curiae brief in the case Sosa v. Alvarez-Machain on behalf of the World Jewish Congress ("WJC") and the American Jewish Committee ("AJC") in a case addressing whether foreign victims of human rights abuses can file suit in U.S. courts under the Alien Tort Statute.
Lieff Cabraser served as Lead Counsel in several of the world-wide class action lawsuits that were prosecuted and favorably resolved on behalf of Holocaust victims and survivors. The Alien Tort Statute functioned as a jurisdictional basis for these cases filed in U.S. courts against Swiss, German and Austrian banks, insurers, manufacturers, and other institutions accused of converting Holocaust victim assets and participating in Nazi slave and forced labor programs.
The World Jewish Congress and the American Jewish Committee, concerned that all victims of human rights abuse have every avenue of redress available to them, filed the brief to preserve the rights of victims under the Alien Tort Statute. Supported by many multinational corporations, the Bush Administration urged the Supreme Court to deny the rights of noncitizens to sue for human rights violations in U.S. federal courts.
In July 2004, the Supreme Court rejected the Bush Administration’s position and held that Alien Tort Statute would be available in the future to victims of genocide, slave labor, and other clear violations of international human rights to file suit in U.S. federal courts. Sosa v. Alvarez-Machain, 542 U.S. ___, 159 L. Ed. 2d 718, 741, 124 S. Ct. 2739 (2004).
Lieff Cabraser also filed an amicus curiae brief in the case of Benitez v. Mata on behalf of The Lawyers Committee for Human Rights (now known as Human Rights First), Human Rights Watch, and Amnesty International USA. Benitez came to the United States from Cuba as part of the Mariel boatlift.
Along with other Mariel Cubans, Benitez was categorized upon arrival in the United States as an "inadmissible" alien, meaning that he was not legally viewed as having "entered" the United States, even though he made his home here. Later, because of his criminal record, Benitez was ordered deported to Cuba. Cuba does not accept deportees from the United States, leaving Benitez and others like him facing indefinite detention by U.S. authorities even after they had served any legitimate prison sentences.
The human rights groups argued that the government's policy of indefinitely detaining aliens without permitting them a meaningful opportunity to challenge their detention in court violates international law, and that the governing federal statute, which does not expressly authorize indefinite detention, should be construed so as to comply with the international standard. The Benitez case was consolidated with Clark v. Martinez, 543 U.S. ___, 125 S. Ct. 716, 160 L. Ed. 2d 734 (2005).
In January 2005, in an opinion authored by Justice Scalia, the Supreme Court decided, 7-2, that an "inadmissible" alien is entitled to the same protections as an "admissible" alien, and must be conditionally released after a 6-month period if removal to another country is not reasonably foreseeable. This opinion recognizes that the artificial distinction between "admissible" and "inadmissible" aliens must not be used to deprive individuals of basic protections under U.S. law.
- Swiss Banks Holocaust Victims Litigation
Lieff Cabraser took a leading role in prosecuting claims by Holocaust survivors against banks, private manufacturers and other corporations that enslaved and/or retained or looted the assets of Jews and other minority groups persecuted by the Nazi Regime during the Second World War era. In the Swiss Banks case, we served as Settlement Class Counsel for Holocaust survivors and their families who alleged that the Swiss banks had blocked their efforts to reclaim money that they deposited in the banks or that the Nazis had looted and stored in the banks.
On July 26, 2000, U.S. District Court Judge Edward R. Korman gave final approval to a $1.25 billion accord to settle the claims. In September 2002, Lieff Cabraser donated its attorneys' fee award in the Swiss Banks case, in the amount of $1.5 million, to endow a clinical chair in Human Rights at Columbia University Law School, to train future lawyers to help victims of human rights abuses.
Discussing the litigation, Lieff Cabraser Of Counsel attorney Morris Ratner explained, "The Swiss Banks matter is an example of the type of case that we at the firm care about, and of our pro bono efforts. We are fortunate to have the resources and proud to dedicate our time to prosecute cases that are in the public interest, serve compelling moral interests, and seek to vindicate the most fundamental human rights of Americans and people around the world."
- German Industry Holocaust Settlement
Lieff Cabraser brought litigation against German corporations for their use of slave and forced labor during the Nazi era, and against German (and other) banks and financial institutions for "aryanizing" the property of victims of Nazi persecution. We served as one of the leading participants in the negotiations for the creation of a 10 billion Deutschemark (US $4.5 billion) German Foundation announced at the end of 1999. The settlement resolved all Nazi-era claims against German entities, including all Holocaust-era banking, insurance, and slave labor claims.
Commenting on the work of Lieff Cabraser and co-counsel in the case, U.S. District Court Judge William G. Bassler stated on November 13, 2002:
"Up until this litigation, as far as I can tell, perhaps with some minor exceptions, the claims of slave and forced labor fell on deaf ears. You can say what you want to say about class actions and about attorneys, but the fact of the matter is, there was no attention paid to this very, very large group of people by Germany, or by German industry until these cases were filed... What has been accomplished here with the efforts of the plaintiffs’ attorneys and defense counsel is quite incredible...I want to thank counsel for the assistance in bringing us to where we are today. Cases don't get settled just by litigants. It can only be settled by competent, patient attorneys."
- California Students With Disabilities Class Action
In Chapman v. California Department of Education, Lieff Cabraser with co-counsel, Disabilities Rights Advocates, a non-profit organization that works on behalf of the disabled, brought suit against the California Department of Education in 2001 claiming that the California High School Exit Exam denied students with disabilities the opportunity to pass the exam and obtain a diploma with reasonable accommodations.
Plaintiffs alleged that the Exit Exam discriminated against students with disabilities in multiple ways, and as designed and implemented it was inevitable that great numbers of such students would fail no matter how intelligent or hard working they might be. For example, students with severe dyslexia or similar learning disabilities were not permitted reasonable accommodations, such as word processors with spell checking programs or readers, to assist them on the exam.
In February 2002, the trial court directed the Department of Education to permit students to take the Exit Exam with appropriate accommodations. In September 2002, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals issued a mixed ruling that granted in part and denied in part the trial court’s order. The same month, the California Department of Education revealed that more than 90% percent of the disabled students, or 26,393 students, that took the March 2002 California High School Exit Exam did not pass the test. Subsequently, the Department of Education postponed making passing the test a requirement for graduation from 2004, as originally scheduled, until 2006.
- California Gun Dealer and Distributors Litigation
With co-counsel, Lieff Cabraser represents Los Angeles, San Francisco and 10 other cities and counties in California in litigation aimed at reducing gun violence in the state.
The cases charge that the gun dealers, distributors and manufacturers contribute to a public nuisance and violate California law by selling guns without ensuring safe sales practices to prevent sales by retailers to straw purchasers and gun traffickers. In April 2003, the Court allowed the cases against the dealers and distributors to proceed to trial. The Court, however, dismissed the manufacturer-defendants from the suit, a ruling that has been appealed by the municipalities.
In August 2003, the cities and counties entered into an unprecedented settlement in which several gun distributors and dealers have agreed to take steps to prevent firearms from being sold to criminals. For example, two of the state's leading gun dealers -- Traders' Sports Inc. in San Leandro and Andrew's Sporting Goods in Southern California -- agreed to adopt as store policy verification of the identity of the actual purchaser of a firearm and to end the sale of firearms at gun shows. In addition, three major gun distributors have agreed to restrictions on sales that go beyond state and federal regulations. Lieff Cabraser served as co-counsel for the California cities and counties. Learn more about the settlement.
About Lieff Cabraser
Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein, LLP is a sixty-plus attorney law firm that has represented plaintiffs nationwide since 1972. We have offices in San Francisco, New York and Nashville. We represent plaintiffs in class and group actions and in individual lawsuits in cases involving substantial losses. For the last seven years, The National Law Journal has selected Lieff Cabraser as one of the top plaintiffs' law firms in the nation.
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