Fraud charges reinstated against Cahill Gordon over asbestos case

International firm Cahill Gordon & Reindel, one of the most profitable in the US, is facing charges of fraud and fraud concealment after a federal appeals court reinstated the charges.

Jorg Hackemann

The charges relate to BASF which the 350-lawyer firm represented on personal injury cases relating to a subsidiary which manufactured asbestos. A putative class action law suit says that the BASF subsidiary and the law firm ‘conspired to prevent thousands of asbestos-injury victims from obtaining fair tort recoveries for their injuries’. The subsidiary was said by the plaintiffs to have ‘manufactured favorable evidence with Cahill’s help’, including discovery and motion documents. 

Integrity of judicial process

The three judges on the appeals panel, reversed a decision by the US District Court in Newark, New Jersey and, in a unanimous ruling, said that New Jersey’s litigation privilege ‘often immunizes lawyer and parties from recrimination based on their statements in judicial proceedings, but the privilege has never applied to shield systemic fraud directed at the integrity of the judicial process’. Source: Business Insurance

Email your news and story ideas to: [email protected]

Top