Mar. 15, 2006 - 18:16 MST

AS I HOPED

Now and then a federal judge shows some good common sense and cites the backup from the law. An article in today's Rocky Mountain News points up that there is justice after all. By Karen Abbott of that paper. Italics and bolds mine. In full:

LAWYERS PROHIBITED FROM QUESTIONING JUROR WHO DEPARTED

"A federal judge has refused to let lawyers for operators of the former Rocky Flats nuclear weapons plant question a juror who left in distress after two days of deliberations in the recent class-action lawsuit against them."

"Colorado U.S. District Judge John Kane issued an order Monday, saying the lawyers for Dow Chemical Co., Rockwell International Corp. and the plaintiffs had discussed the issue after the juror left on Jan. 25. The attorneys agreed that the remaining 10 jurors could return a valid verdict if they voted at least 8 - 2 on either side in answering the numerous questions on the verdict form."

"After the defendants lost the case, their lawyers alleged that some jurors may have bullied others about their votes. That accusation, Kane said in his ruling, "reveals a fundamental cynicism regarding the jury process and a willingness to impugn the character of the remaining jurors utterly belied by the circumstances of this case."

"The judge said THE LAW PROHIBITS interviews with jurors about their mental processes during deliberations. Jurors can be questioned only about whether external influences, such as newspaper articles, were brought to their attention during the deliberations, he said."

"David Bernick of Chicago, lead trial attorney for Dow and Rockwell, said the defendants will appeal Kane's ruling."

"It is unfortunate that we cannot have a process that's designed to find out the real facts concerning whether this jury deliberated in accordance with the court's instructions," Bernick said. "We asked to have th e court conduct an inquiry at the time that (the juror) was discharged. That request was turned down, and now what the court has found is that there's not going to be any inquiry after the fact either."

"The jury's verdict, announced Feb. 14 after a four-month trial and 18 days of delliberations, awarded almost $354 million to owners of about 12,000 parcels of land east of the former Rocky Flats nuclear weapons plant."

"The jury decided that Dow and Rockwell sloppily handled radioactive plutonium at the plant, allowing the substance to pollute the neighbors' property and interfering with their use and enjoyment of what they owned."

"Dow and Rockwell contended that they safely and properly handled the plutonium during the four decades of the weapons factory's operation and that only minuscule amounts -- too small to harm anyone -- ever escaped from the plant."

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

It appears from the article that the defendant lawyers are calling the judge a bald face liar. The judge said, "the lawyers for Dow Chemical Co., Rockwell International Corp. and the plaintiffs had discussed the issue after the juror left on Jan 25. The attorneys agreed that the remaining 10 jurors could return a valid verdict if they voted at least 8 - 2 on either side in answering the numerous questions on the verdict form."

After the fact, and having no success the head defense attorney said, "We asked to have the court conduct an inquiry at the time that (the juror) was discharged."

Then what gets my nanny, and has in the past, is the interminable time wasted by appeal after appeal after appeal by the sides with money at risk, year after year, while the claimants age year by year and many times benefit not at all, their heirs do if any money is disbursed.

It is about like I looked at it, "Jurors can be questioned only about whether external influences, such as newspaper articles, were brought to their attention during their deliberations."

And in my ken, when I sat on a jury we were warned against reading about the case I sat on in the newspapers or watching TV news covering it.

The property to the east of Rocky Flats is mostly downhill toward the Platte River drainage, anything loose on the Flats would naturally tend to head downhill, whether dust or groundwater, thus degrading the plaintiffs properties.

And if as the defendant lawyers maintained that the corporations handled dangerous materials adequately and safely --- then why are so many people who worked at the Flats ailing from exposure to harmful material that if it had been handled safely then no one would be the worse off.

Seems to me that OSHA came into being because companies and corporations were ignoring safety rules and lying to their employees about the hazards of what they were working with. But with the cold war going the panic was 9-11 like. Make a factory and build bombs, rush, hurry, scamper like mad - - the Russians are coming !

Judge Kane has done AS I HOPED . . . . . . . . . . .

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