Judge Toole’s recent guilty plea opens a new chapter in the epic story of corruption in Luzerne County. It also stands as the first hard evidence of a rumored case-fixing scheme in our county courts. If the rest of those rumors are true, we will see many local lawyers join Toole and his criminal friends in jail.
As a lawyer who takes his profession seriously, I have nothing to say in defense of these criminals. The county, the bar and the nation will be better when they are in prison. Good riddance. But as this chapter unfolds, I’d like to ask the people of Luzerne County to keep some things in mind.
The corrupt judges and lawyers who participated in this scheme didn’t just steal from the insurance companies. They stole from all of us, particularly those of us who may have to ask a court to intervene on our behalf in the future.
As a plaintiff’s lawyer, who helps people who have been hurt by someone else’s negligence, fired from a job for unlawful reasons or otherwise stepped upon by powerful and callous corporations, I know that it’s not easy for plaintiffs to get a fair hearing. Insurance companies and big corporations spend billions of dollars to turn potential jurors against plaintiffs. They call it “tort reform”. When it is successful, jurors see plaintiffs as liars and malingerers who are trying to use the court to get rich quick.
“Tort reform” is a lie. My clients want justice – nothing less, nothing more. I am sure that was true also of the plaintiffs who unwittingly benefited from the insurance scheme by unknowingly choosing a crooked lawyer to represent them.
The cowardly lawyers who fixed cases chose to cheat rather than to honestly and forcefully advocate their clients’ interests. Maybe they were too greedy to pass up the opportunity, too lazy to do the work, or just didn’t believe they had the skills to win their cases fair and square. I don’t know. I do know that they brought disgrace upon themselves, their unwitting and innocent clients, and the profession they represent. They also did the insurance companies and big corporations who advocate “tort reform” a huge favor by painting all lawyers and their clients as liars and cheats. They harmed every one of us.
There are many good lawyers in Luzerne County, lawyers who will not cheat because cheating is wrong – and who do not have to cheat because they are smart, talented and willing to work hard for their clients. Our legal system only works when good people are willing to stand up and speak the truth to the powerful. Thanks to the criminals in our midst, that system is reeling right now. But it will survive – if we stop tolerating dishonesty and do not lose faith.