John Simmons is an American attorney and chairman of Simmons Hanly Conroy, the largest mass tort law firm in the United States. Simmons and his firm are known for recovering the most--$5 billion--in jury verdicts and settlements for clients, particularly in asbestos and mesothelioma lawsuits.
Video John Simmons (attorney)
Simmons Hanley Conroy LLC
History
John Simmons started the Simmons Law Firm in 1999 with seven employees.
By 2014, Simmons had five offices across the United States. The firm gained a reputation for specializing in "mass tort litigation, namely asbestos, dangerous drugs and medical devices, intellectual property infringement, environmental litigation, consumer protection and contingent fee commercial litigation."
Merger
Before becoming Simmons Hanley Conroy LLC, the law firm was known as Simmons, Browder, Gianaris, Angelides & Barnerd LLC. In July 2014, the firm merged with Hanly, Conroy, Bierstein, Sheridan, Fisher & Hayes LLP, a New York law firm. Both firms worked together for over ten years as co-counsel partners in products liability cases. The two firms worked on several high-profile cases, including the famous cases involving OxyContin pain medication, Chantix anti-smoking medication, Yaz birth control, and Toyota "unintended acceleration lawsuits."
Prior to the merger, Simmons' law firm had 60 lawyers and 150 support employees on staff. After the merger, Simmons served as chairman of the new firm.
Donations for referrals
The Simmons Mesothelioma Foundation has given money to several universities for research but also to get lucrative referrals to mesothelioma patients. The Simmons Firm received at least 26 such referrals in exchange for its donations.
Maps John Simmons (attorney)
Controversies
Connections former New York Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver
Former New York Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver was convicted on corruption charges. A doctor named Robert Taub sent patients to the law firm that Silver worked at. In exchange, Silver--as the Speaker of the state assembly--gave Taub a half million in research grants.
John Simmons gave money to Dr. Robert Taub's clinic. Over a course of four years, Simmons' law firm represented 26 patients referred by Dr. Taub. Simmons' law firm made millions more dollars on referrals from Dr. Taub than it gave to Dr. Taub's clinic. The total dollar amount of the fees that Taub gives to Simmons is estimated at over $10 million.
During Silver's trial, the former head of Simmons' law firm, Gregg Kirkland, testified that claims for mesothelioma usually settle for an average of one million dollars. The Simmons law firm collects 40 percent of that.
John Simmons' foundation, the Simmons Mesothelioma Foundation, gave $2.5 million to Columbia University, where Dr. Taub worked. The donation stipulated that the money had to go to Taub's clinic and "provided for discussion of termination [of the grant money from Simmons] if he [Taub] left [Columbia University]." Prosecutors put Simmons on the witness list for Sheldon Silver's trial, but in the end never called him as a witness.
Silver's conviction was overturned by The United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in Manhattan on July 13, 2017.[1]
Campaign contributions
On December 22, 2014, the Wall Street Journal published an editorial calling Illinois Governor Pat Quinn "America's worst governor." At that time, Quinn was approaching his final days in office. During his final month in office, Quinn signed SB 2221, a law that eliminated a ten-year statute of repose for people exposed to asbestos.
The law had the effect of expanding the pool of people that trial lawyers could sue on behalf of. The law also added new types of parties that could be sued in asbestos cases such as "supervising architects, design engineers and public school boards."
The editorial stated that "Madison County [Illinois]...is notorious for its jackpot verdicts in civil trials, making it a nationwide destination for civil cases." In 2013, the Illinois Trial Lawyers Association PAC (political action committee) gave $422,000 in campaign contributions. Most of the money went to Democratic candidates and incumbents.
Since 2003, John Simmons, along with his partners and his employees, has given $2,600,993 to Democratic candidates for national office. These campaign contributions average approximately $4,000 per week. The majority of the support has gone to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC). In 2014, Simmons and his team allocated more to the DSCC than to all other candidates and committees. Beginning in 2003, they contributed $570,250 to the DSCC alone. Additionally, they donated $179,180 to the Democratic National Committee. In the 2014 election, Simmons and his partners also contributed $62,500 to congressional candidate Ann Callis, who was the former chief judge of the Madison County court in which they practice; however, she lost her bid for office.
In a two-year period around 2013-2014, Simmons personally contributed $489,000 to Democratic politicians in Illinois.
Among that $489,000 was:
- $40,000 to the Illinois Trial Lawyers Association PAC
- $21,100 to the Illinois Democratic Party
- $21,100 to the Illinois Democratic Party's "Democratic Majority committee"
- $10,500 to Democratic Illinois Speaker of the House Michael Madigan
- $10,000 to the St. Clair County Democratic party
- $7,500 to the Madison County Democratic party
- $6,000 to Democratic Illinois state House Rep. Kate Cloonen
- $4,500 to Democratic Illinois state House Rep. Jenny Burke
- $4,000 to Democratic Illinois state House candidate Bill Kilquist
- $3,000 to Democratic Illinois state House Rep. Deborah Conroy
- $2,500 to Democratic Illinois state House Rep. Mike Zalewski
Ford Motor Company's appeal regarding a Madison County asbestos case will be heard by a court with two new justices that the plaintiffs' bar, which includes Simmons, attempted to keep off the bench. The Fair Courts Now campaign, mostly funded by local asbestos firms, failed to prevent Republican candidates James "Randy" Moore and John Barberis from becoming elected. The campaign was assembled about four weeks prior to the election resulting in $1,077,500 raised in contributions. Most of the campaign contributions came from local asbestos law firms, including $250,000 from the Simmons Firm in Alton, $235,000 from Gori Julian in Edwardsville, and $250,000 from Maune Raichle in St. Louis.
References
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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