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Blackwater Sues Former Lawyers for Malpractice
For years, the families of the four Blackwater guards killed in the infamous Fallujah incident have carried on a wrongful death lawsuit against the company. A House oversight committee investigation faulted the company's cost-cutting for leaving the guards vulnerable to the ambush.
But Blackwater, always in need of very good lawyering, says that if it weren't for some lousy (though very expensive) lawyers, they would have easily disposed of the lawsuit already. From Legal Times:
Blackwater Security filed a $30 million malpractice suit against Wiley Rein on Wednesday, alleging that the firm made costly missteps in a wrongful death case brought on behalf of four former Blackwater employees who were killed in Iraq in 2004.
Somewhat awkwardly, one of the lawyers who was on that Wiley, Rein team being sued for incompetence is current White House counsel Fred Fielding. It's nothing personal, I guess.
Blackwater dropped Wiley, Rein back in 2005, opting for another heavy-hitting firm, Greenberg, Traurig. The suit is ongoing.
Wow. They're suing over the fact they have to defend the wrongful death action in state court rather than federal court? And they want thiry million dollars? Talk about yer frivolous lawsuits.
January 28, 2008 1:10 PM | Reply | Permalink
On the plus side, finding decent lawyers might just have become that much more difficult for Blackwater.
January 28, 2008 1:22 PM | Reply | Permalink
meanwhile, the taliban (or as i like to call them, "the original blackwater") looks like they're getting ready for an " '08 comeback special":
"Sometime in mid-December, as the winter winds howled across the snow-dusted hills of Pakistan's inhospitable border regions, 40 men representing Taliban groups all across Pakistan's northwest frontier came together to unify under a single banner and to choose a leader.
The banner was Tehrik-e- Taliban Pakistan, or the Taliban Movement of Pakistan, with a fighting force estimated at up to 40,000. And the leader was Baitullah Mehsud, the man Pakistan accuses of assassinating former prime minister Benazir Bhutto.
The move is an attempt to present a united front against the Pakistani Army, which has been fighting insurgents along the border with Afghanistan."
you know blackwater's like totally jealous
January 28, 2008 1:42 PM | Reply | Permalink
Wasn't Greenberg Traurig the firm Jack Abramoff worked for?
January 28, 2008 1:44 PM | Reply | Permalink
Holy shit, the new firm is Greenberg, Traurig??? Of Bush 2000 vote theft infamy? The firm that hired Scalia's son? The firm that represented Diebold Election Systems, Inc? Is that Greenberg, Traurig connected in any way to the lobbying firm of the same name that had connections to Abramoff?
January 28, 2008 1:54 PM | Reply | Permalink
mh -- good point.
January 28, 2008 1:55 PM | Reply | Permalink
Blackwater feuer's bangs are soooooooo gay.
January 28, 2008 2:07 PM | Reply | Permalink
As I read the Legal Times article, Blackwater lost in Dist. Ct with Wiley Rein, but had already switched to Greenberg Traurig by the time Blackwater appealed to the 4th Cir (and lost).
Blackwater then appealed to the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which also refused to grant the case federal jurisdiction. By that point, Blackwater had turned the case over to Greenberg Traurig.
http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1201169145676
And current counsel is "Barry Nace, of D.C.'s Paulson & Nace" but I'm not sure from the article if Greenberg is still co-counsel on the case, or if they have bailed too, or if they may soon have to bail since they were co-counsel on the failed appeal that is probably a part of the nexus of facts for the case against Wiley.
Wish I liked popcorn.
January 28, 2008 3:44 PM | Reply | Permalink
mh: Ha ha, yeah. "Win or we'll sue you for malpractice."
January 28, 2008 3:46 PM | Reply | Permalink
Mary, I read the article the same way you did. Plus, since the issues apparently were about whether federal jurisdiction existed, there was no reason that the Greenberg Traurig attys couldn't have raised them for the first time on appeal.
Like I said, talk about yer frivolous litigation.
January 28, 2008 5:15 PM | Reply | Permalink
I guess Blackwater's mainly upset they just couldn't shoot them…
January 29, 2008 6:36 AM | Reply | Permalink
How Republican: Afer losing in the public arena, they go after their own.
January 29, 2008 6:28 PM | Reply | Permalink