MIAMI (Legal Newsline) – A memo from Miami-Dade County shows that the nation’s prominent plaintiffs firms are competing with and aligning to each other in the hopes of grabbing the most important clients – local governments.
A list of the nine bids for a contract to sue companies like 3M and DuPont over chemicals known as PFAS included firms like Cohen Milstein, The Lanier Law Firm, Napoli Shkolnik and the winner, Levin Papantonio.
Texas’ Baron & Budd was bested in a sort-of tiebreaker when Levin Papantonio agreed to reduce its tiered contingency fee to include a cap of 20%.
“When considering the contingency fee arrangement offered by the Levin Team as well the experience of the Levin Team in litigating these types of complex environmental contamination cases—specifically, PFAS cases—I believe the Levin Team will give the County the best representation in this matter,” County Attorney Abigail Price-Williams wrote on July 8.
The Miami-Dade Board of County Commissioners approved the Levin pick unanimously. The Pensacola firm is teaming with Taft Stettinius of Ohio, which employs Robert Bilott. He was portrayed by Mark Ruffalo in the film “Dark Waters” last year.
The movie chronicled PFAS in the groundwater surrounding a DuPont plant in West Virginia that led to litigation. It infuriated West Virginia lawmakers and DuPont – “The film’s previews depict wholly imagined events. Claims that our company tried to hide conclusive scientific findings are inaccurate,” the company said.
PFAS are chemicals that were used in firefighting foam, non-stick cookware and waterproof clothing, among other products, and are in the bloodstreams of nearly every American. Whether they cause health problems at their current levels is yet to be decided, but it is still a favorite cause of Democrats in state leadership and Congress alike.
The firms Douglas & London, Kelley Drye and SL Environmental Group make up the rest of the Levin team. The firms have already scored state clients like North Carolina, New Hampshire and New Jersey.
The rest of the applicants were:
-Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll PLLC; Susman Godfrey LLP; Levin Sedran & Berman LLP; and Earth & Water Law LLC;
-Grant & Eisenhofter P.A. and Klausner, Kaufman, Jensen & Levinson;
-The Lanier Law Firm P.C.; Watts Guerra LLP; Fears Nachawati Law Firm; Edelson P.C.; Miner Barnhill & Galland PC; and Kelley Uustal;
-Baron & Budd, P.C.; Cossich, Sumich, Parsiola & Taylor, LLC; and Young & Partners, LLP;
-Morgan & Morgan and Weitz & Luxenberg, P.C.;
-Allen J. Law Group;
-Motley Rice LLC; and
-Napoli Shkolnik, PLLC and The Ferraro Law Firm, P.A.;
A year before the decision, Paul Napoli, of Napoli Shkolnik in Illinois and New York, and Ferraro Law, of Miami gave a combined $22,000 to a PAC called Our Democracy. It supports Miami-Dade Commissioner Daniella Levine Cava, who is running for mayor of Miami this year. She was part of the unanimous vote to hire Levin Papantonio's team.
Once filed, the county’s PFAS case will likely head to a multidistrict litigation in South Carolina which was created more than 18 months ago. The judge overseeing it has yet to set a briefing schedule for motions to dismiss.
State leaders in places like New Hampshire, New Jersey and Michigan pass their own maximum contaminant levels well below a federal advisory then hire private lawyers on contingency fees to sue companies like DuPont and 3M.
In Congress, Democrats last year tried to push through a measure that would have expanded liability to countless businesses but were turned back by Senate Republicans.
Scoring government clients is a shorter road to a jackpot than signing up hundreds of individuals. Kelley Drye nabbed the first big government client, filing four lawsuits for New Jersey last April.