July 20, 2010    We at ECrisis wish no ill to any. But when it comes to the deeply discredited Bobby Kennedy, Jr. and his highly publicized  “help”  and “support” for Ecuadoreans, we hope that at last, hero worship of acclaimed environmental scam artists ends at last in Ecuador for all times. No one who actually watches CNN News has not observed the rudderless Kennedy on TV in a seemingly never ending string of cringe-making moments. Kennedy almost seems as if he is on drugs, whether prescriptive or not.

Although Joe ` I love Chavez for his money’ Kennedy’s brother Bobby’s law firm is currently suing a recycling facility for “bad odors,” we are quite aware that while Rafael Correa is doing all he can to bankrupt Alvaro Noboa, he would welcome Bobby and his dead-body chasing crew of environmental class action lawyers in a second, as he has welcomed parallel scamsters such as fraudster Steven Donziger and the son of Alejandro Ponce to attack Chevron Texaco on no grounds whatsoever…except greed while lying to us all that they exist only to “help the poor.”  And still we ask the defining question of Bobby: did he once ever defend his pal, his chum Noboa from the perils of Correa? Did he lift one finger in protecting his chum, even as godfather  titles fly around. Or is Bobby, mirroring every Ecuadorean today, afraid to stand with his friends when their needs are most dire, revealing just how utterly deprived and selfish these environmental champions remain? While we have no respect for Noboa because he selects idiots and narcissists for his friends, Kennedy being a prime example, we cannot but wonder when in time persons grasp the utter futility of adoring, revering and worshipping false celebrities such as Bobby Kennedy who return no favors and run away when the going gets tough, revealing that they were never friends to begin with.

Ecuador is not alone with fraud cases based on fake science based on selfish greed. No indeed. The USA has seen the unleashing of environmental class action suits to defraud the public based on the British Petrooleum-Barack Obama approved, USA regulation and common sense avoiding oil drilling experience in the Gulf of Mexico under a U.S. federal leasehold. Although Obama is doing all he can to avoid revealing his involvement with BP’s cost and safety cutting contracts, his personal involvement- like Correa’s in support for class action lawyers cannot be ignored. In both cases, history will not be good to either man.

Here is an update on Noboa’s fair weather, shallow and very selfish chum, Kennedy [currently chasing class action customers against BP]:

Miller Time: How To Decimate a Kennedy

Posted 07/20/2010 Human Events

Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., an environmental lawyer who blames President Bush for the BP oil spill, filed for divorce from his second wife, Mary Richardson Kennedy, the mother of his four youngest children. Days after the divorce filing, Mary was arrested and charged with DWI. She will be in court on Thursday July 22 on the charges. Also, leading up to the split, police responded to several domestic incidents at the Kennedys’ home in tony Bedford, New York.

Kennedy, a longtime environmental activist, has been vocal in blaming the BP oil spill on “Big Oil” (capitalization, his) and the Bush administration. Five days before police were called to his house for a domestic incident, Kennedy wrote a column in Huffington Post entitled “Sex, Lies and Oil Spills.” Kennedy praised the “impressive response” of the Obama administration to BP’s spill.  He wrote that the “real culprit in this villainy is a negligent industry, the festering ethics of the Bush Administration and poor oversight by an agency corrupted by eight years of grotesque subservience to Big Oil.”

Kennedy claims to be speaking from a position of activist, however he is apparently trying to profit from the businesses affected be the oil spill. While filing for divorce and family drama, his personal website appears to have an advertisement for his law firm Kennedy & Madonna. “I have assembled a team of the top law firms in the country whose combined experience, knowledge and proven success are available to assist you if you have been impacted by the BP oil spill,” Kennedy posted on the site.

When called for comment, Kennedy’s law firm partner Kevin Madonna tells HUMAN EVENTS that “we are not charging anybody for work” related to the oil spill and “at this point, everything is pro bono”. 

As far as Kennedy’s appearance of profiting by posting what seems to be an advertisement on his environmental activist website, Madonna told HUMAN EVETNS: “I know what you are trying to get at and it’s really disingenuous.” Asked if the Kennedy & Madonna law firm was signing clients on a contingency basis, to be paid if the victims were awarded restitution funds, Madonna responded “no one is taking money from the victims.”  He conceded, however, that “of course people have to be paid for their work.”

Meanwhile on May 10, the Bedford Police went to the Kennedy home in response to a 911 call from Mary Kennedy. At the scene, Mary told the officers that her husband Robert was "verbally abusive to herself and her children." According to the police report, however, officers describe Mary as "visibly intoxicated" and having "great difficulty collecting her thoughts and articulating her reasons for calling." The Bedford Police determined that no one in the household was in danger. No charges were filed.

The Kennedy family home where the police have responded at least twice this year to 911 calls is also the subject of a book and website called “The Kennedy Green House.”  Mary Richardson Kennedy‘s book on “greening up” her home was published in April and described as “the story of the family’s journey to health, wellness, and a better lifestyle.”

Kennedy Green House is the family’s residence in Bedford. It remains unclear who will keep the house in the pending divorce. Mary’s attorney Kerry Lawrence told HUMAN EVENTS that she is still living in the house, but “would not comment on their matrimonial issues.”

Two days after the domestic incident at Kennedy’s house, Robert filed for divorce. The couple has been married for 16 years. Mary Richardson was six months pregnant when she married Robert Kennedy in a civil ceremony on a boat in the Hudson River. A month earlier, Robert went to the Dominican Republic to get a quickie divorce from Emily Black, the mother of his two oldest children.

The day after Robert filed for divorce, Bedford police responded to a 911 hang-up call from the Kennedy residence. At the house, the police witnessed a “verbal argument between the husband and wife.  Robert told police that Mary was intoxicated and "acting irrational."  The police checked on the safety of the household residents, including the couple’s four children, and allowed Robert to leave the home. Afterwards, the police determined the incident warranted “documentation” and filed a “State Domestic Incident Report.”

Two days later on May 15, Mary Kennedy was arrested for DWI outsider her children’s school. When police observed Kennedy drive her Volvo station wagon over a curb at 9pm outside the St. Patrick's School, they pulled her over. The police administered field sobriety tests, which resulted in sufficient grounds for charging her with DWI.

Mary Richardson Kennedy was driven to the police department and processed, which included submitting to a mug shot (see photo). Kennedy agreed to submit to a breathalyzer test, using the “data master” equipment. Her blood-alcohol level was 0.11 percent, according to police records, and she was charged with misdemeanor DWI. (Felony DWI in New York State is based on priors and other factors).  Kennedy was driven home by someone who is “not a family member” (i.e. not her husband, Robert).

At the courthouse on May 28, Mary Richardson Kennedy pled not guilty on the charge of driving while intoxicated. Justice Kevin Quaranta told Kennedy that “this is going to be treated like any other case,” according to the Journal News.  Quaranta ordered Kennedy to surrender her driver’s license and undergo evaluation to determine if she needs treatment for alcohol abuse. Her attorney Kevin Lawrence would not comment on whether or not she will go to alcohol rehab for treatment.

Kennedy is due back at Bedford Town Court on Thursday July 22 for a conference on the DWI charge. Asked if Kennedy would maintain her not guilty plea, Lawrence tells HUMAN EVENTS that he “can’t really comment on what might or might not happen this week.” 

When called for comment on Mary Richardson Kennedy’s case, Lieutenant Jeffery Dickan of the Bedford Police Department affirmed that the “data master” breathalyzer equipment used is modern equipment.

“I’ve never arrested anyone who is ‘guilty’,” joked Lieutenant Dickan. “They’re always announced until they take their plea.”

Dickan said that the Bedford area has long been the residence of the famous and powerful, but he’s “not impressed” by them. “I’ve been doing this for over 27 years. I’m just doing my job,” says the police officer.

Robert Kennedy, son of former U.S. Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy and nephew of President John F. Kennedy, has long held political aspirations. He was reportedly considered for Director of the Environmental Protection Agency in President Obama’s administration.

In 2007, he told  New York Magazine  that with Eliot Spitzer in the governor’s mansion and Chuck Schumer and Hillary Clinton holding the U.S. Senate seats, he felt “pretty much boxed out in New York.”  In 2005, Kennedy considered a run for New York attorney general, but decided his family life was his priority.

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And here we have tales of lawyers listening to paid speaker Kennedy in Atlanta about how to do better class action suits:

06/25/2010 02:48:00 PM EST         

Raw Anger Spills At Conference On BP Gulf Disaster
Posted by

Gregg Lawson       

Change Author:

ATLANTA - Some raw anger at BP spilled out today at HB Litigation Conferences' Oil in the Gulf: Litigation & Insurance Coverage Conference here.

Environmental activist and attorney Robert F. Kennedy Jr. of Kennedy & Madonna LLP in Hurley, N.Y., the keynote speaker, said he visited a Gulf beach in Mobile, Ala., on Wednesday.

"They literally took 9,000 miles of the Gulf States out of the public control and privatized it for their own profit. . .," Kennedy said. "This really is a criminal act."

Kennedy said oil contains toxic chemicals such as benzene and toluene and heavy metals such s lead, arsenic and mercury that can harm swimmers and enter the seafood people eat. He said BP should be prosecuted.

"If a foreign enemy did what they've done to the United States of America, we'd consider it a criminal act," said Kennedy, who urged the United States to kick its $1 billion-a-day dependence on foreign oil by pursuing green energy.

Later, Brent Coon of Brent Coon & Associates in Beaumont, Texas, was more blunt.

"They're a . . . greedy company and they'll always be a . . . greedy company until we put them in jail," said Coon, who was lead attorney for plaintiffs after the March 2005 explosion at BP'S Texas City Refinery in Texas City, Texas, that killed 15 people and injured more than 170 more workers.

Coon said that, as an outdoorsman, he was angry about the plight of the environment. But he also said he was angered by "the fact that people get killed working for BP unnecessarily.

Coon ticked off a long list of violations discovered by OSHA investigations on land and Mining and Mineral Services investigations at sea, and the resulting fines. He showed internal BP memos, e-mails, surveys and deposition testimony he said supported his position.

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Oil in the Gulf: Litigation & Insurance Coverage
Date: June 24-25, 2010
Location: The Ritz-Carlton, Atlanta

Audio, video recordings and handbooks are available for our conferences! Individually priced and packaged, each captures the information and insights delivered by our faculty. Hear from experts, gain new perspectives, and learn proven techniques. For more information, click here, call 484-324-2755, or email allison.emery@litigationconferences.com to reserve your copy today!

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Keynote Address by
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Conference Topics: Theories of liability, D&O liability, relevant precedent; coverage claims; business interruption; economic loss; unique state law issues; personal injury lawsuits, economic loss claims and property damage litigation; environmental impairment; calculating damages; case management and consolidation; community impact and government involvement; reinsurance implications; policy exclusions . . .

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___

And then comes the NEW YORK TIMES on this cottage industry of crisis-chasers even as some rumor that Obama’s US Congress have gifted class action trial lawyers with tax exemptions:

June 16, 2010,

It’s Raining Lawyers in the Gulf
By JOHN COLLINS RUDOLF
Turn on a radio or television in Louisiana these days, and out comes a gusher of news and commentary on BP’s unstoppable oil leak in the gulf. Even commercial breaks are no escape from the oil onslaught.

In New Orleans, for instance, the Lakers-Celtics N.B.A. finals game last week repeatedly featured a law firm’s ad urging viewers to visit bigspill.com or to call 1-800-BIG-SPILL if they had been harmed by the slick. Similar pitches flood the radio waves.

Some lawyers are taking a lower-budget approach. For the past month, Spencer Aronfeld, a Miami lawyer, has posted a half-dozen YouTube videos chronicling his travels through the gulf to view the oil’s devastation – and presumably to sign up a few clients.

In the first video in the series, shot in the New Orleans airport, Mr. Aronfeld describes a “very emotional experience” he had while flying over the oil spill from Miami.

“We’ve rented a car, we’re going to drive down the coast, we’re going to roll up our sleeves, take our briefcases out, and find out how we can help people who depend on this environment, and to hold those people responsible who have caused this horrible, horrible disaster,” he says. In another, viewable above, he visits a Vietnamese shrimper thwarted by the spill who is hoping for alternative employment.

That lawyers are homing in on what is shaping up into one of the worst environmental disasters in the nation’s history should surprise no one. Tens of billions of dollars are at stake, and with the much-vilified oil giant BP as a defendant, lawyers sense a major opportunity. One commentator quoted in The Globe and Mail newspaper recently described the BP blowout as “the trial lawyers’ Full Employment Act.”

Wringing damages from BP, however, will not be a quick or straightforward process. As our colleague John Schwartz wrote last week in The Times, the hundreds of class-action lawsuits being filed against BP will doubtlessly be consolidated into just a handful of cases. Then a venue for the trial or trials will be chosen. These actions alone are likely to take months; trials and appeals might easily consume a decade or more. After the Exxon Valdez disaster, plaintiffs waited 15 years for a final resolution, with some going to their graves without ever seeing a dime.

Plaintiffs may take some solace in the fact that they can choose from a bountiful selection of litigators. Some firms already in the fray are big names, like the Cochran Firm, founded by O.J. Simpson’s former defense lawyer Johnnie Cochran (now deceased), as well as Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s environmental law firm Kennedy & Madonna, based in New York. Others filing suits include veterans of successful mass-tort actions against major corporate interests.

For the world at large, this legal circus remains mostly a sideshow to the larger drama of efforts to protect the coast and cap the well. But when BP finally stops the gusher – August looks good, some say, but it could take until autumn – the legal battle will take center stage. Expect a long, sticky fight.
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Even as no one can defend the harm caused by the aberrant BP and Obama oil drill deal, it is also indefensible to cause harm to other companies which apply full safety practices, For Ecuador, the BP oil disaster and what Ecuador claims is an oil disaster caused by Chevron in the Oriente are two entirely different matters and both are managed quite differently. The two matters are as different as day is from night. However, what is striking is the outpouring of slimey class action trial lawyers chasing the big bucks while pretending to “help the little people.” Their manipulative help which only helps themselves is not help: it is gaming people’s needs while actually helping nothing. How is that special Kennedy friendship- so revered- working out to help Noboa from Correa’s state thefts? Oh wait- we forgot….Trudie and the UN delivered a few huge plastic water catching barrels in Sucumbios.

-Pedro Camargo for ECrisis