henry@GARP.MIT.EDU (Henry Mensch) (04/13/90)
excerpted from a new york times article: PHILADELPHIA -- Hyatt Legal Services Inc. provides more legal advice to more Americans than any other law firm. But if the company's behavior in a recent AIDS discrimination case is any indication, Hyatt's own legal judgment isn't always so sound. In an opinion issued here earlier in April, federal District Judge Raymond J. Broderick ruled that Hyatt, a pioneer in low-cost legal clinics, had illegally removed the head of its Philadelphia office, Clarence B. Cain, after learning he had AIDS. ... "It's going to be any day now," he told his lawyer, Richard Silverberg of Philadelphia. Two top Hyatt officials, both lawyers, were responsible for dismissing Cain. Joel Z. Hyatt, the firm's founder, concurred. So did his firm's outside counsel, Andrew C. Meyer of Duvin, Cahn & Barnard in Cleveland. Cain was offered an entry-level position at half the pay or a $12,000 severance package. The Hyatt firm eventually sweetened its terms, but never to Cain's satisfaction. Then it spent much of the five-day trial attacking him. Broderick hit the firm with a $157,000 judgment, a sum it would have taken Cain three years to make. Hyatt has opted not to appeal his ruling. "In retrospect, Hyatt Legal Services may have mishandled this matter, and we are sorry that it happened," the firm said in a statement. # Henry Mensch / <henry@garp.mit.edu> / E40-379 MIT, Cambridge, MA # <hmensch@uk.ac.nsfnet-relay> / <henry@tts.lth.se> / <mensch@munnari.oz.au>