BRIAN DICKERSON: We haven't heard the last from Fieger
June 23, 2004

BY BRIAN DICKERSON
FREE PRESS COLUMNIST

People have called Geoffrey Fieger a lot of bad names, but no one has ever accused him of being a recluse.

So when you do what I do for a living and Fieger fails to return your phone call, you tend to worry that:

1. Nobody, including people you owe money, will ever return your calls again, or,

2. Fieger is dead.

But other people did return my phone calls Tuesday, and when I inquired about Fieger's health, his colleagues assured me he was in his usual place, explaining to yet another female talk show host how yet another less-capable lawyer was mucking up yet another high-profile case.

So there must be some other reason that Fieger isn't champing at the bit to discuss the latest setback in his lawsuit against the producers of the now-defunct "Jenny Jones Show."

Oops! There goes another one

The legal saga that began five years ago when an Oakland County jury awarded the family of murdered talk show guest Scott Amedure $25 million came to an apparent end this week when the U.S. Supreme Court declined to review the case.

The high court's decision leaves standing a state appellate ruling that the lawsuit never should have gone to trial in the first place -- and all but guarantees that neither Fieger nor his clients will ever see a penny of the eye-popping judgment.

The "Jenny Jones" judgment is the second of three eight-figure jury awards that were widely expected not to survive appellate scrutiny after Fieger notched them in the late 1990s.

A $15-million malpractice judgment against Beaumont Hospital in Troy was erased in 1999 by Michigan Court of Appeals judges, who said Fieger's courtroom tactics had reduced the trial to a farce. And state Supreme Court justices are expected to rule by July on DaimlerChrysler's appeal of a $20-million award to a female employee who sued the automaker for sexual harassment.

Resolution of the DaimlerChrysler appeal could render moot a separate lawsuit in which Fieger has asked federal judges to disqualify five of the Michigan Supreme Court's seven sitting justices from hearing future appeals involving his clients.

Waiting in the Green Room

But even if the Chrysler award is reduced or thrown out -- as many lawyers familiar with the case expect it to be -- claims that Fieger has collected his last multimillion judgment in Michigan are almost certainly overstated.

Tammy Reiss, one of two full-time appellate lawyers in Fieger's Southfield law firm, says the firm's clients continue to prevail in two to three times as many appeals as they lose.

In the last few months, she notes, appellate judges have upheld two $6-million judgments awarded to Fieger clients. The City of Detroit has already paid one of the judgments, assessed after a police officer struck and killed a pedestrian on Jefferson Avenue. The second, awarded to the parents of a 2-year-old who drowned in an uncovered septic tank, is being appealed to the state Supreme Court.

It'll take many such wins to erase the sting of this week's $25-million loss, especially if Fieger's $20-million judgment against Chrysler does a similar disappearing act.

But like everything else about him, rumors of Fieger's demise are greatly exaggerated. And whatever happens in Michigan, it's only a matter of time until Michael Jackson goes on trial.

Lights! Camera! And hold Mr. Fieger's calls, please.

BRIAN DICKERSON'S column appears in the Free Press on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. He can be reached at 248-351-3697 or dicker@freepress.com.