CHARLESTON, S.C. (Legal Newsline) – The federal judge tasked with handling an important case in South Carolina took in hundreds of thousands of dollars from lawsuits against the federal government before his appointment by President Barack Obama.
In December 2018, PFAS cases were consolidated before South Carolina federal judge Richard Gergel, who had spent decades representing plaintiffs in personal injury cases at his firm Gergel, Nickles & Solomon in Columbia.
Currently, he’s overseeing the multidistrict litigation over chemicals known as PFAS. He told defendants at an August hearing that they are unlikely to succeed when they eventually file motions to dismiss (the case has gone on for 20 months without those motions) and that because “these guys on the plaintiffs’ side are talented lawyers” and wouldn’t have named these defendants without a reason to think they share in liability for groundwater contamination.
Obama appointed him to the U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina in 2009, where he makes more than $200,000 per year.
He started his own plaintiffs firm in the early 1980s and while in private practice, he found success filing wrongful death lawsuits against the federal government.
For example, a year before he was appointed, Gergel scored a $675,000 wrongful death settlement against the United States over a man who died allegedly because of lax monitoring of his blood coagulation levels at a federally supported medical center.
Gergel’s firm and another firm shared $168,750 from the settlement. The case lasted 18 months and had only 25 docket entries.
One wrongful death case against the United States led to $429,066 for his client, from which Gergel was to take about $107,000.
Another settlement reached about a year before his appointment (and two years after filing the lawsuit), cost the United States $785,000. His fee arrangement with his client was 40%, but it was reduced pursuant to 25% under the Federal Tort Claims Act because the doctor was an employee of a federally supported medical center.
Gergel ended up taking $243,500 from that case, plus $8,433.05 in costs.
His firm and another split $168,750 settlement in a 2004 settlement after six months of litigating. Then, his firm was the only one to take $162,500, plus $40,000 in expenses, in a 2006 settlement concerning a woman’s death during surgery at Moncrief Army Hospital.
Against the private sector, Gergel filed cases like one that alleged a defective ladder caused a man’s fatal fall. Versa Products and other defendants settled for $700,000, with $245,000 going to Gergel’s firm.
His history as a plaintiffs lawyer drew the attention of then-Sen. Jeff Sessions during the confirmation process. Sessions sent Gergel a questionnaire about what kind of judge he'd be.
"I have represented plaintiffs and defendants in a broad range of civil litigation, including extensive work as defense counsel representing the State of South Carolina and the City of Columbia," Gergel wrote in response. "My 30 years of experience as a litigator have taught me that what all parties and counsel desire is a judge who provides a fair and level playing field in which to address claims and defenses."