Plaintiff's Powerhouse Building on Hold

Looks like the Mainor Eglet and Vannah Vannah building will have to wait until someone can figure out what to do with the existing home already on the land, which once belonged to Charles P. "Pop" Squires, one of the founders of Las Vegas.

Any chance they'll call it "The Walsh Building?"

(LVRJ; Thanks, Tipster!)

Winner Winner Chicken Dinner!

We receive press releases every once in a while about plaintiff's firms and their huge jury verdicts. Very rarely, however, do we receive tips regarding defense victories.

Perhaps this is because headlines reading "Defense Attorney Rescues Client From $10 Million Frivolous Lawsuit" just aren't as exciting as "Plaintiff Gets $10 Million After Slipping On Banana Peel."

Defense attorneys are a bit like the soccer goalies of our profession. When they do their job well, they pretty much go unrecognized. However, when they screw up, everybody is quick to blame them.

Recently we received a tip regarding a big defense win, and we want to give a little credit to the other side of the bar. The case was Huff v. Corpus, here's what we were able to gather regarding the facts:

Plaintiff had four neck surgeries after a car accident caused by defendant, and claimed he was disabled as a result. Liability was admitted, so the dispute was about causation. Attorney Bob Vannah asked for a total of $9 million during closing - $5 million plus for the disabled husband; $2 million plus for his wife’s consortium claim.

$2 million for loss of consortium? Crikey! Was he a porn star?

So, what did Plaintiff end up with? Nada. Goose egg. Nil. Nuffin. $0.0 Million.

We offer a hardy congratulations to the defense team on the case, led by Thomas Winner over at Atkin Winner & Sherod. Vannah is no spring chicken, so good on ya for the victory, Tom.

Thanks, Tipster!

Medical Mafia Story Hits the National News

Fortune magazine (link available here) has scooped up the medical mafia story. And once again, Vegas looks like the most corrupt legal and medical jurisdiction in the country. Well done boys.

Fortune does an excellent job of laying out all the details of the sordid tale of [allegedly] crooked Vegas doctors and lawyers colluding to pad their pockets/settlements. For those of you that haven't been following the reporting on the trial and now appeal of Noel Gage and Howard Awand [pictured left] (older posts available here), the piece offers a great primer on the [allegedly] criminal scheme.

The piece explains how the [alleged] conspiracy only came to light when medical consultant Howard Awand drove up medical bills for a plaintiff (represented by Bob Vannah) suing a driver who happened to be a U.S. Attorney on government business at the time of the accident. Here's a few of the more interesting pgphs:

Prosecutors charge that a group of top Las Vegas plaintiffs lawyers and doctors,
with the 64-year-old [medical consultant Howard] Awand at its center, conspired
in an audacious fraud. The participants appeared to act independently but
instead colluded. Unwitting accident victims were recruited as plaintiffs and
then persuaded to undergo serious, sometimes needless, surgeries. The
procedures, in turn, helped inflate the size of personal-injury claims. The
result was multimillion-dollar insurance settlements, even for dubious cases,
and lucrative fees for the doctors, the lawyers, and, of course, Howard Awand.

Predictably, Awand's attorney paints the medical consultant as a champion of the people:

What the government paints as "collusion," Harland Braun says, was nothing more
than cooperation among professionals. Because Awand was beating the insurance
industry in court, the government concluded "it must be a conspiracy," says
Braun. "What Awand did is level the playing field."

But don't think the government's case only implicates Gage and Awand (and Vannah on the sidelines). This is Nevada, after all. Why not throw some Nevada District Court judges into the mix along with other members of the bar:

One month after Cynthia Johnson's accident [the plaintiff in the case that broke
open the alleged conspiracy], Howard Awand threw open his sprawling lakefront
home in Big Bear, Calif., to Las Vegas' A-list professionals. Kabins and Vannah,
the doctor and the lawyer in the Johnson case, were there, along with 200 other
top doctors, lawyers, judges, and their spouses and kids. The event, including a
buffet dinner of filet mignon and lobster, was a fundraiser for two Las Vegas
judges who faced reelection; some $30,000 in checks piled up in two crystal
bowls, several partygoers recall.

How influential was Awand in Vegas personal injury law:

By 2002, insurance defense lawyers were so concerned they held an unusual
meeting. More than a dozen attorneys for competing insurers met to compare
notes. Some who had subpoenaed Awand described getting threatening calls from
his associates warning that their business would dry up if they didn't back
down, William Turner of Farmers Insurance recalls. The lawyers, he says,
recounted tales of strange behavior or even intimidation. Expert witnesses, for
example, suddenly and inexplicably changed their testimony; some doctors who
refused to cooperate with Awand had been threatened with frivolous malpractice
lawsuits. By meeting's end, the lawyers felt certain they were facing something
bigger and more sinister than garden-variety fraud.

The piece also lays out how pervasive the scheme was to have personal injury plaintiffs have unnecessary surgeries. Mark Kabins (being prosecuted in a separate trial) started taking referrals from Howard Awand and started making $750,000 a month.

By 2000, Kabins's practice had become a factory producing multimillion-dollar
insurance settlements, according to witness statements and interviews. The
volume was so great that Awand himself couldn't keep track. In June 2002 he
wrote to Kabins, asking him to create a list of all the clients he'd sent: "We
are reaching critical mass and both of us are losing money by my failure to keep
up with the referrals" . . . Kabins became so infamous that insurance
investigators coined a term -- a "Kabinsectomy" -- for a needless surgery in Vegas.

[story continued in next post]

Medical Mafia National News (cont): Part 2: Bob Vannah the Charmer

[pt 1 available here]

The Fortune news story about the medical mafia of Vegas centers around the plight of personal injury plaintiff Cynthia Johnson who got caught up in the medical mafia drama when she utilized the services of Bob Vannah, Howard Awand and Mark Kabins for legal and medical aid.

The part of the story that particularly caught our attention is the details about how Bob Vannah reacted to the attention of how he handled Ms. Johnson's case and his [alleged] involvement with the medical mafia:

Cynthia Johnson entered the courtroom on July 21, 2005, for a routine
procedural hearing. Though her case was the only one on the docket, she was
surprised to see the courtroom packed with men in dark suits. Vannah seemed
rattled, she says, and he complained to the judge that government lawyer Ruth
Cohen had "leaked it all over the community that I'm being investigated by her
and her cronies for criminal conduct." At the hearing's conclusion, a newspaper
columnist rushed up to Johnson, asking, "Are you seeking to get compensation for
injuries you don't really have?"

Johnson had no idea what was happening. After the hearing, Vannah screamed,
"Things are not what they're supposed to be," as he rushed across the parking
lot with an associate, she recalls. The bewildering scene made Johnson so uneasy
that she told [Mark] Kabins she would not undergo [the surgery he
recommended].

Even better was how Mr. Vannah treated his personal injury client (who had signed a medical lien with his office) when she came to see him:

He requested that [Johnson] sign a document releasing him from her case. He
claimed -- incorrectly -- that she'd failed to disclose previous visits to a
chiropractor. If she signed, he continued, she'd owe him no attorney fees and
would be responsible only for her medical costs, which had climbed into the many
thousands.

As she resisted, he grew more agitated, screaming that if she didn't sign,
she'd owe him vast sums. He stood, banging the table and yelling that she was
under federal investigation and that "the government had killed people for
lesser things than you're doing right now," she recalls.

Vannah, of course, is completely innocent of all wrong doing. Well, at least he says so:

Vannah denies any impropriety and says he isn't surprised that Johnson's
accident received extra attention from the government, given that a government
employee caused it. Vannah has not lost sleep over the protracted investigation,
he says -- even though he has been subpoenaed by government investigators, has
been able to dodge an ethics complaint by a client over his payments to Awand,
and has been secretly taped boasting "there are five or six judges that will do
anything I want." Still, he notes, prosecutors have not charged him with
anything.

So, to wrap up: Mr. Vannah's not being charged. The prosecution of Noel Gage was thrown out due to the government's refusal to offer immunity to [alleged crooked doctor] Mark Kabins--the immunity issue is now on appeal before the 9th Circuit. Mark Kabins is being prosecuted for his involvement in the medical mafia and performing [allegedly] unnecessary surgeries. And Vegas hasn't had its medical or legal community cleaned up at all.

[Updated Editor's Note: a tip of the cap to the Nevada State Bar for finally getting at least minorly involved in the allegations of corrupt legal representation. They have filed a Complaint against Gage for sharing legal fees with Awand. No word on a complaint against Vannah. They might have wanted to suspend them all from the practice of law for awhile, but they wouldn't want to step on too many toes, would they.]

Oh, and there's one final lesson to learn for you Plaintiff's attorneys out there. If you're suspected of criminal conduct in your practice, don't yell at a client until she's in tears:

Johnson left Vannah's office in tears that day, without signing the
document. She had several chilling realizations. Her lawyer appeared to be under
investigation, though she had no idea for what. He was panicking. And he'd just
threatened her. She needed help from someone she could trust.

The next day, Johnson called every local attorney she could think of -- and
almost no one called back. Her case had become radioactive. Sleepless,
depressed, and not knowing what else to do, she finally found a lawyer who
steered her to Ruth Cohen, the government lawyer on the other side, who
immediately called her back. Within days, Johnson was sitting down with the
FBI.

Craig Kenny v. Vannah & Vannah (Round Two continues)--voting ends 7/15 at 5 pm

In the second match up of round two of the best billboard/television law firm tournament, WWL presents: Craig Kenny v. Vannah & Vannah.

In his first round match, Mr. Kenny stepped into the role of people's favorite, stomping all over Adam Kutner with 79% of the vote (background on Kenny and first round results found here). Meanwhile, Vannah & Vannah shut down the haters and pulled in 72% of the vote (background on V&V and first round results found here). Voting ends on July 15 at 5 p.m.

Vannah & Vannah v. Rob Graham (Round One of our Billboard/Television law firm poll)

In this Round One match up of our Billboard/Television law firm poll, WWL pits Vannah & Vannah against Rob Graham. (Voting will be open until 5 p.m. on Fri., 6/26).

Let's meet the contenders [Editor's note: neither Robert Vannah, nor Robert Graham, takes an exciting picture, so I have included pictures of my current crush, Twilight star Robert Pattison to provide a pleasant reading atmosphere]:

Vannah & Vannah

Vannah & Vannah isn't just a heavyweight player, it's the gorilla that just can't be killed. The insurance companies would love to see the firm fall and the insurance defense firms hate V&V with a passion. And those of you who follow ethics investigations know that Vannah & Vannah was on the periphery [or at the center if you ask some people] of the Noel Gage medical mafia trial. (RJ) The U.S. Attorneys couldn't convict Gage in federal court and so we'll never know if the allegations of Vannah medical witness testimony fixing are true.

But put all the allegations aside because V&V is a media monster. They may not have billboards left and right as your drive down the freeway, but the RJ and LV Sun is full of Vannah verdicts, many of which have million dollar price tags. (V&V news). You can't beat free press, and free press reporting how much money you won is even better.

Rob Graham
Graham may be the first actual television star attorney we have in this tournament. He has "appeared or consulted on numerous television news or documentaries” as a legal expert, including several episodes of America's Most Wanted. And we here at WWL can't get enough America's Most Wanted. Those reenactments are awesome.

Most recently, Mr. Graham was a technical advisor to an documentary on MSNBC regarding a large-scale fraud that impacted many elderly and business clients. Top that off with his firm’s marketing that they have represented celebrity clients like Tony Orlando, Sharon Stone, Robert Forbuss, Test Your Reflex, Gail and Harvey Allen, and Boys Town of Nevada. (Rob Graham & Assoc. website). Take it all together and Graham may just be a media heavyweight who's been hiding in the shadows.

Judging the Judges about their knowledge of the law

Shockingly, the Review-Journal reports that some lawyers believe judges favor local counsel who participate in "pay to play". (Review-Journal). Not familiar with that system? Just ask Plaintiff's super-attorney Robert Vannah about it--he has "five or six judges that will do anything [he] want[s]". Other attorneys see prejudice by jurists on the basis of religion/gender/ethnicity. (Review-Journal)

Meanwhile, some attorneys simply think the judges don't know or don't care about the law and procedure argued before them. (Review-Journal). Here are some highlights from the article:

• Several lawyers commented in the evaluation that Judge Lisa Kent often was reluctant to take a position on cases. Judge Kent responded "It's a misconception that I don't know family law because I've practiced it my whole career." She said "I think I do a good job for children and families in Clark County."


• A staggering 84 percent of respondents questioned how District Judge Elizabeth Halverson exercises the law, far and away the poorest rating of any jurist evaluated. [oh but her attorney is sure that's just because they're engaging in a "beauty contest". Why is this woman still on the bench? She is a national (and repetitive) black eye for Nevada law.]


• 59 percent of attorneys said Judge Jesse Walsh was less than adequate in applying the law. She replied "I think my numbers reflect improvement." Her retention ratings have increased from 31 percent in 2004 to 34 percent in 2006 to 41 percent this year.


• 48 percent of respondents said Judge Stefanie Miley was less than adequate in applying the law (the sixth lowest score of any judge in any court surveyed). Some attorneys noted "She appears to be only mildly interested in her job and more interested in furthering her own career." Miley said she has confidence in her ability and aspires to be on the Nevada Supreme Court.

Who's at the top for applying the law? Well, Family Court Judge Gloria Sanchez of course (who also has a 97% retention rating). And, as it should be, the Chief Justice of the Nevada Supreme Court Mark Gibbons. Congratulations to Justice Gibbons and Judge Sanchez for reminding us gossipy bloggers that the bench is also filled with the keenest legal minds.

Vannah: "has five or six judges that will do anything" he wants

The hero of Plaintiff's attorneys across the Vegas Valley, Robert Vannah, was taped explaining that his firm uses judicial campaign donations to further their cases.

Las Vegas Now reports:

"Most of those guys go out there -- a good night on the campaign trail is $5,000. $35,000 for, obviously they just drool," he said. . .

". . . There's five or six judges that will do anything I want. They don't do it for Howard [Awand], so it's for me. I mean, we've got some great friends over there."

But, like any good attorney, Vannah is able to find the gray between contribution and bribe, suggesting:

"Obviously, you understand. I mean, if you control whether they get re-elected or not, when it comes time. I never talked to them and say, 'Hey listen, I want to meet you in the backroom and this is the deal.' That doesn't happen. We go to court. We go there honestly. We're there, but they know who we are and when it comes down to it, I just say to the judge, ‘This is a big deal to me. This is not ticky tacky. This is a big motion and this is really important.' There's a couple of different ways, but by and large, that's the message," he said.

Well how about that. He doesn't bribe the judge. He just "honestly" lets the judge know that his/her biggest contributor wants to win the motion being argued in front of the judge.

Not convinced it's not a corrupt practice? Well, let Mr. Vannah further persuade:

We're not corrupt. We're not corrupt. I mean, we are not corrupt. That's just
not happening . . .

The last quote comes from Vannah's condemnation of how Howard Awand was shooting his mouth off about having judges that will do anything he wants. Um . . . yes, that's the same [allegedly] corrupt to the core Howard Awand who was [allegedly] cheating legal clients out of money with Noel Gage [and um . . . yes, he's complaining that Awand is using the words that he uses above about having judges in their pocket for "important" motions].

Vannah has been long rumored to be on the corruption chopping block if the U.S. Attorneys obtain a conviction against Noel Gage. If the Gage trial tanks I wonder if this town will ever clear up the [alleged] practices of the Plaintiff's Bar.

Govt.'s Closing Argument in Gage Trial: new Plaintiff's attorneys to be indicted?

The Review-Journal has an interesting editorial today discussing the government's summation in the criminal trial of Noel Gage:

Mine was the best seat in the courtroom during closing arguments in Noel Gage's conspiracy and fraud trial Tuesday. Perched next to attorneys Robert Eglet (pictured left) and Robert Vannah (two targets in the investigation), I observed their reactions to having their names bandied about by a federal prosecutor who was quite aware of their presence.
. . .

It's no secret Vannah (pictured left)and Eglet are near the top of the government's list of potential grand jury targets, although the first to be indicted was Awand. He's scheduled for trial in the fall, but even defense attorneys were speculating he'll try to plea bargain if Gage is convicted on charges of conspiracy, mail fraud and wire fraud. (I think the best Gage can hope for is a hung jury.)
. . .

The conspiracy, as outlined by prosecutors Steve Myhre and Schiess, was that Awand, a medical consultant, referred personal injury cases to certain agreeable attorneys, and in exchange, he received kickbacks out of the settlements, although the clients didn't know that. Awand's boys also included a crew of doctors, who would work cases in the courtroom, providing false testimony to help drive up the costs to the insurance companies, the prosecutors said.

"The lifeblood of this network is referrals," Myhre argued. "If doctors
are sending you patients, you are not going to sue them."

More Plaintiff's attorneys going down for corrupt practices? Say it ain't so, Mr. Vannah; Mr. Eglet! I guess we'll have to see what happens to Gage to find out whether Vegas attorneys are untouchable.


It's sad, isn't it that no one in state government was willing to take on these practices? One need not look further than the general inaction of our state government to show the necessity of federal intervention.