budd p.c. industry law founded 1977 1977 headquarters 3102 oak lawn venue suite 1100 dallas texas u.s. number of locations 5 area served main office in dallas texas . other offices in austin texas ; los angeles california ; miami florida ; and baton rouge louisiana key people russell budd president and managing shareholder services mesothelioma and asbestos water contamination online scams qui tam false claims act chinese drywall dangerous drugs and medical devices commercial litigation fcpa whistleblower securities fraud number of employees 260 website baron & budd baron & budd p.c. is one of the largest plaintiffs law firms in the united states . the firm focuses on individuals municipalities and entities harmed by environmental toxins fraud or disregard for safety 1 and remains active in cases involving pharmaceutical litigation financial fraud chinese drywall and california proposition 65 . contents 1 history 2 mesothelioma 3 asbestos 4 asbestos fraud 5 water contamination 6 chinese drywall 7 external links 8 references history edit baron & budd began its practice in 1977 . the firm s first major case involved a lead smelter adjacent to one of dallas largest public housing projects . baron & budd represented more than 200 families in a lawsuit that eventually closed the smelter and provided sizable damage awards for court supervised trusts that benefitted 445 children . mesothelioma edit baron & budd was one of the first law firms in the us to successfully try a mesothelioma case . 2 asbestos edit when a halliburton subsidiary filed for bankruptcy reorganization in the late 90s baron & budd stepped in to protect the rights of the firm s asbestos victims . 3 russell budd the firm s managing shareholder negotiated with halliburton and became the chief architect in establishing a trust fund that would protect current and future asbestos victims throughout the united states . the agreement reached between halliburton and baron & budd created the largest asbestos trust fund of its kind anywhere in the world . asbestos fraud edit see also baron & budd asbestos memo baron and budd attorneys gave written instructions to clients on what to say during depositions . the firm produced a document titled preparing for your deposition . the document was released into the public from the united states bankruptcy court for the western district of north carolina as trial exhibit gst 1270 in the garlock sealing technologies chapter 11 bankruptcy case . 4 in the bankruptcy case of garlock sealing technologies garlock hired lester brickman a law professor and expert on asbestos lawsuits and the use of mass screenings . 5 brickman proposed that plaintiff law firms had created an entrepreneurial model approach to asbestos litigation . he testified that the model spurred hundreds of thousands of claims that were manufactured for money according to a federal judge . in the garlock case brickman testified via a written statement that baron and budd targeted garlock for litigation because other asbestos manufacturers were already bankrupt . brickman s testimony also asserted that baron and budd s attorneys suppressed evidence of their clients exposure to other non earlock asbestos products . he wrote the evidence presented in part iv indicates that clients recoveries are maximized by plaintiffs falsely denying exposures to the products of the bankrupts in responding to discovery failing to dislose prior trust claim filings as well as the intention to file trust claims as soon as the tort suit is concluded even in jurisdictions where providing this information is mandated by courts case management orders and standard interrogatories . 5 regarding the garlock case specifically brickman testified that baron and budd used the litigation screening process to generate tens of thousands of nonmalignant suits . the baron & budd script memo described infra 27 instructed clients to lie about their exposure to the products of bankrupts and implanted false memories with regard to the products to which plaintiffs claimed exposure . 5 in january 2014 the judge overseeing the garlock bankruptcy case reduced garlock s liability for asbestos exposure from 1.4 billion to 125 million . the judge accused plaintiffs and their attorneys of coming up with the higher 1.4 billion number based on manipulation of exposure evidence . according to forbes in a pattern long known to defense attorneys plaintiff lawyers coach their clients to remember working with only products made by the company they are suing then file claims with bankruptcy trusts alleging other exposures . 6 case documents in the garlock case were originally sealed by the bankruptcy judge . however the legal news journal legal newsline appealed and a judge overruled meaning that the case documents had to be released to the public . 7 in january 2014 garlock filed racketeer influenced and corrupt organizations act rico lawsuits against four plaintiffs law firms . 7 all four firms employ attorneys who used to work for baron and budd . 8 water contamination edit in 1985 baron & budd filed suit on behalf of more than 1 600 tucson area residents against an aircraft manufacturer the city of tucson and the tucson airport authority over trichloroethylene tce contamination of the community s groundwater . 9 throughout the ensuing 21 year legal battle that baron & budd ultimately won the law firm helped to define arizona law on pollution coverage . the case is widely considered as among the most important in u.s. history involving personal injuries caused by water pollution . in 2003 baron & budd represented the city of santa monica in a landmark mtbe contamination settlement with the major oil companies . mtbe contaminated five of santa monica s 11 wells forcing the city to begin importing water in 1996 for 3 million a year . in 2008 baron & budd played a lead role in negotiations with major oil companies that had contaminated drinking water through the use of mtbe as a gasoline additive . baron & budd s efforts resulted in a landmark settlement requiring the oil companies to pay a substantial cash settlement nearly 1.5 billion to 153 public water providers in 17 states as well as a number of private well owners . 10 in 2010 scott summy the head of baron & budd s water contamination team was one of four attorneys nationwide chosen to serve on the plaintiffs executive committee for the gulf oil spill multi district litigation mdl and as a member of the plaintiffs steering committee psc . 11 in august 2010 environmental attorney and baron & budd shareholder burton leblanc of baton rouge louisiana and baron & budd were retained by the state of louisiana to provide counsel to the state s designated trustees in connection with issues related to the deepwater horizon explosion and the resulting oil spill . 12 chinese drywall edit in 2011 baron & budd along with co counsel represented the first chinese drywall client to be remediated by the chinese sheetrock manufacturer knauf . 13 external links edit website of baron & budd dallas mesothelioma references edit the history of baron & budd baron & budd p.c. wins 9 million http yoursblog.us tag dallas mesothelioma attorneys mesothelioma cancer verdict against dow chemical business wire march 7 2011 . accessed april 7 2011 . jonathan glater the path taken by halliburton to reach a deal in asbestos suits the new york times december 31 2002 . accessed february 15 2007 . baron & budd script memorandum trial exhibit gst 1270 . in the united states bankruptcy court for the western district of north carolina charlotte division . in re garlock sealing technologies llc et al. debtors . case no. 10 bk 31607 . chapter 11 . a b c expert report of lester brickman esq. benjamin n. cardozo school of law in the united states bankruptcy court for the western district of north carolina charlotte division . in re garlock sealing technologies llc et al. debtors . case no. 10 bk 31607 . chapter 11 . fisher daniel 14 november 2014 . judge to open files supporting garlock asbestos fraud claims next week . forbes . retrieved 3 april 2015 . a b o brien john 21 january 2015 . unsealed rico complaints detail fraud allegations against asbestos plaintiffs firms . legal newsline legal journal . retrieved 3 april 2015 . the double dipping legal scam . the wall street journal . 25 december 2014 . retrieved 3 april 2015 . tucson area water contamination victims triumph in arizona appeals court ruling against insurer claims journal october 1 2004 . accessed february 15 2007 . associated press most oil companies in mtbe lawsuits settle msnbc may 9 2008 . accessed april 5 2011 . marilyn tennisen texas attorneys appointed to plaintiff steering committee for bp mdl cases southeast texas record october 13 2011 . accessed april 6 2011 . environmental attorney burton leblanc of baron & budd p.c. hired by louisiana office of coastal protection and restoration msnbc august 13 2010 . accessed april 5 2011 baron & budd enter chinese drywall fray dallas business journal may 5 2009 . accessed april 6 2011 . retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title baron % 26 budd p.c. & oldid 744200976 categories law firms based in dallasasbestos navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages add links this page was last modified on 13 october 2016 at 18 58 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; additional terms may apply . by using this site you agree to the terms of use and 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