I’m about to post a legal complaint I filed in Boulder and wanted to add this info I gathered about my dad, Fred Baron, as a matter of inspiration. I added a relevant lesson for the times.
Fred was born in Cedar Rapids, Iowa in 1947.
He received a bachelor of arts degree from the University of Texas and then attended the University of Texas School of Law, where he was an editor of the law review. While in law school, he spent a summer in Washington, D.C. working for consumer advocate Ralph Nader, and developed a commitment to improving the plight of working men and women in this country.
Upon his graduation from law school in 1971 he took a job with the law firm of Mullinax, Wells, Mauzy & Baab one of the few firms in Texas that represented labor unions and union workers.
Among his early clients were Karen Silkwood, who alerted the public to unsafe practices at a nuclear power plant in Oklahoma, and Herman Yandle, who developed cancer after working with asbestos at a manufacturing plant outside Tyler, Texas.
Fred quickly developed a nationwide reputation for his expertise and skill in representing workers who had developed occupational illnesses. He formed his own law firm, now known as Baron & Budd, in 1977, which specializes in representing victims of occupational disease and industrial pollution.
Fred was a pioneer in uncovering the harm caused to the public by the use of asbestos-containing products, and successfully represented thousands of individuals who had become sick or who had lost loved ones as a result of asbestos exposure.
During his early career, he revolutionized the industry by applying strict liability causes of action in asbestos litigation, and together with Ness Motley, handled nearly half of all the asbestos claims in America. He was successful in convincing the U.S. Supreme Court to de-certify nationwide asbestos class action settlements involving future claims of people who are not yet ill, but who may later develop asbestos-related illnesses by pointing out that many asbestos-related illnesses have a latency period of 20–40 years from the date of exposure.
Other landmark cases include his representation of 1,600 residents of Tucson, Arizona who became sick because of their exposure to groundwater contaminated by the chemical TCE; his advocacy on behalf of several hundred West Dallas children who lived under the shadow of a lead smelter that polluted their neighborhood; and residents of the towns of Apollo and Parks Township, Pennsylvania who were exposed to radioactive emissions in an area near a nuclear plant.
Fred also has been credited for his efforts in challenging abusive class action settlements in which corporations attempted to settle their liability for a fraction of what individuals would otherwise be entitled to recover in the courts.
Fred twice led successful battles in the United States Supreme Court to defeat such settlements, and as a result, future victims of toxic injuries can no longer have their rights compromised by class action settlements in which they have no voice.
In addition to his representation of individual clients, Fred was a tireless public advocate for workers and consumers. Together with Ralph Nader and several other prominent lawyers, he founded Trial Lawyers for Public Justice in 1982, and served as that organization’s president from 1997 through 1998.
Fred was a strong supporter of the consumer group Public Citizen and a founding board member of the American Constitution Society.
In 2000, Fred was elected president of the Association of Trial Lawyers of America (now known as the American Association for Justice), an organization with 60,000 members dedicated to safeguarding victims rights, strengthening the civil justice system, and improving public health and safety.
The awards and honors Fred received during his legal career are too numerous to list in full. In 2006, the National Law Journal named Fred one of the “100 Most Influential Lawyers in the U.S.” On November 3, 2005, he received the “Outstanding Service Award” given by the William Wayne Justice Center for Public Interest Law at the University of Texas School of Law. In June 2000, the legal publication “Texas Lawyer” named him as a lawyer who helped shape Texas law in its series “Legal Legends: A Century of Texas Law and Lawyering.”
Fred was mentor and inspiration to scores of young lawyers who became effective advocates for the less fortunate in their own right.
Fred would be absolutely pissed to know that his son filed a lawsuit against Alden Global Capital pro se, but he would understand that you have to stand up for what you believe in and not be afraid to hold power to account.
But unlike my father, I won’t be able to lead a trial through. I’m prepared to survive through the beginning of pretrial until I find an experienced firm that can lead the way. I do have support and I am confident of the cause.
As my dad’s biggest admirer, here is a relevant generational lesson I picked up on. In my opinion, I think he made a misstep in the end that we can all learn from. He came with good-faith intentions, which was his loyalty to those he cared about in his drive to make the world better, and the type of legal loyalty one might have towards their client, which must be of the highest order, but his work into politics caused him to become loyal to other politicians for the sake of being loyal, a commitment some may say works for them. He believed in loyalty in-and-of itself, which can cause all kinds of problems. He thought loyalty was required to be a good servant, no matter what.
Loyalty must be limited.
This is a type of problem that journalists have with each other that is a cultural problem that harms the institutions. It’s an old culture concept that gets passed on to the new culture and why you may not hear much about my case in Colorado media. I know that the journalists and reporters who work in Colorado have a hard time discussing anything that involves their colleagues and their friends. With Alden, many journalists are encouraged to remain quiet as a method of keeping their job.
This is a major flaw that makes it hard to keep Colorado journalism trustworthy and clean.
Loyalty is one of the best types of qualities to have, and journalists need to have loyalty with each other in order to do good work, but there comes a time when the line is passed and the institution is more important than any individuals who move through it. Standing behind people who are systematically interfering or dismantling democratic processes is untrustworthy and unsustainable in every form and fashion.
Keep in mind those journalists who revolted from The Denver Post many years ago. Keep in mind why they said they left and what could no longer be done there. It was many years ago.