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A paralegal has been sentenced to prison for conspiring to sell his law firm's confidential trial plan in a tobacco lawsuit to opposing lawyers for a tobacco company. The paralegal, Said Ferraj, who worked for the firm of Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe, pleaded guilty to conspiracy and other charges in federal court in September. He was sentenced Wednesday to two and a half years in prison.
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Two men have admitted to trying to sell the plaintiffs' secret trial strategy plans to tobacco industry lawyers in a high-stakes case against cigarette makers, federal prosecutors said on Thursday.
Said Farraj, 28, a former paralegal at the New York office of Orrick, Harrington & Sutcliffe, and his brother Yeazid, 25, pleaded guilty to the scheme in separate appearances in federal court the past week, they said.
The older Farraj, set for sentencing on Feb. 1, faces up to five years in prison on a conspiracy charge, five years for computer fraud and 10 years for interstate transportation of stolen goods. His brother, to be sentenced on Jan. 18, faces up to five years for conspiracy.
Orrick, Harrington is one of several law firms that represented the Manville Personal Injury Settlement Trust, which paid out over $1 billion in claims by asbestos workers suffering cancer and other serious injuries from inhalation of asbestos fibers.
A trust representing asbestos workers seeking reimbursement for past claims by sick employees and settlement awards for smokers exposed to asbestos has dropped its lawsuit against the tobacco industry, officials said Friday.
"The plaintiffs apparently realized that it didn't make sense to continue pursuing a lawsuit that had no legal or factual merit," Daniel Donahue, senior vice president for R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company, said in a news release.
The lawsuit was brought by asbestos workers who wanted the tobacco industry to share the cost of treating patients with cigarette-related illnesses.
A federal judge declared a mistrial in the case on Jan. 25 in New York. At that time, the plaintiffs indicated they would retry the case, but, according to the news release, the trust fund has given up its right to file the lawsuit again in the future.
"We don't think there's a legal basis for these claims, so we have no reason to settle," Bernick said. The tobacco industry also believes that settlements "only tend to breed more litigation," he added.
Still, some observers believe a Brooklyn jury could change some tobacco defendants' minds about settling.
The case "is important because Judge Weinstein has made it clear he wants to do something big," said Richard Daynard, a Northeastern University law professor who has worked with attorneys suing tobacco companies. "If the case is successful, it will give him more to work with in terms of a global settlement."
According to court papers, Orrick, Herrington had compiled its trial plan containing strategy, deposition excerpts, and summaries and references to anticipated court exhibits. The plan, which was at least 400 pages when printed, was maintained on the firm's computer system in New York.
The court documents said an unidentified Orrick, Herrington lawyer told an FBI agent that he had been contacted by an attorney representing the tobacco defendants who received an unsolicited e-mail message offering to sell the plan.
The message was sent from an e-mail address that included the nickname FlyGuy. It went to the defence lawyer in Atlanta, as well as other defence lawyers in Missouri, New York, New Jersey and North Carolina.
The message contained an 80-page excerpt of the plan, which the plaintiffs' lawyers estimated was worth about $5,000 worth of attorney work.