Litigation
Jul. 30, 2002
Justice Group Nominates Irvine Lawyer
An Orange County attorney was among the finalists for Trial Lawyer of Year, which was awarded to three attorneys from the southern United States by the Trial Lawyers for Public Justice.
The annual award is given to trial lawyers who make the greatest contribution to the public interest by trying or settling a precedent-setting case.
Announced July 23 at the organization's 20th anniversary dinner in Atlanta, Ga., the award winners were Isaac K. Byrd Jr. of Byrd & Associates in Jackson, Miss.; Armand G. Derfner of Derfner & Wilborn in Charleston, S.C.; and Alvin O. Chambliss Jr. of Texas Southern University's Thurgood Marshall School of Law in Houston.
In April, the three attorneys negotiated a $513 million settlement in a 27-year class action against the state of Mississippi, alleging that the state unequally funded its historically black universities. Ayers v. Musgrove and State of Mississippi, 4:75CV9-B-D (N.D. Miss., April 2002).
Twenty six attorneys from across the country were up for the award, with Katherine K. Freberg of Irvine's Freberg & Associates the only California finalist.
Freberg negotiated a record-setting $5.2 million settlement, precedent-setting reforms and a public apology from the Roman Catholic Church on behalf of a man who suffered childhood sexual abuse at the hands of a priest. DiMaria v. The Roman Catholic Bishop of Orange, 786901 (Orange Super. Ct., settled Aug. 10, 2001).
The settlement is the largest ever won by an individual priest molestation victim. The pope defrocked the molester, and Los Angeles and Orange county dioceses adopted zero-tolerance policies and agreed to change the way they handle sexual abuse allegations in the future.
"The Trial Lawyers for Public Justice is an incredible group of lawyers who fight for public justice and for consumers who will never know their names and what they do," Freberg says. "To be nominated by this group was an amazing honor."
Founded in 1982, the organization uses a nationwide network of 2,700 trial lawyers to pursue precedent-setting, socially significant litigation. It has offices in Oakland and Washington, D.C.
Christina Landers
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