When he cross-examines a defense witness in any civil trial, says plaintiffs' attorney Geoffrey N. Fieger, he shows no mercy: "I'm condescending, cynical and short with them. They're against me and they've got to go down. This is war."

It's not in his personality to offer false civility to an opponent in trial, says Mr. Fieger, a partner at Southfield, Mich.'s Fieger, Fieger, Schwartz & Kenney P.C. He believes that acting in such a manner at trial would spell defeat: "Juries can smell when you're phony."

This take-no-prisoners approach has served Mr. Fieger well. For years, he has been the most successful plaintiffs' lawyer in Michigan.

In the 20 years that he has been practicing law, Mr. Fieger has taken 75 civil cases to jury verdict. He has won 70 of them, each for $1 million or more. He had a slow year in 1998--he stopped trying cases to run, unsuccessfully, for governor of Michigan. But he bounced back this year, with six million-dollar verdicts already, including a $21 million employment discrimination verdict against Chrysler Corp., a $25 million wrongful-death verdict against the producers of "The Jenny Jones Show" and a $30 million personal injury verdict against Ryder Truck. He has had at least 200 settlements of $1 million or more as well.

Mr. Fieger has also handled high-profile criminal matters, most notably as lead defense counsel for right-to-die activist Dr. Jack Kevorkian, winning acquittals or dismissals on various assisted suicide or other charges. Dr. Kevorkian went to jail only after Mr. Fieger ceased representing him.

The Jenny Jones civil trial followed the murder of Scott Amedure, who had appeared on a 1995 taping of an episode devoted to secret crushes. Before a live audience, Mr. Amedure described his crush on another man, Jonathan Schmitz. Mr. Schmitz learned only when he was on stage that the person with a secret crush on him was a man, as he listened to Mr. Amedure describe his sexual fantasies before both him and a live audience. Three days later, Mr. Schmitz killed Mr. Amedure. He has since been convicted of the murder.

Mr. Fieger was brought into the case after Mr. Amedure's parents filed a wrongful-death action against Mr. Schmitz. He immediately changed the plea and added as defendants the owners and distributors of the show, including Warner Bros., Telepictures and "The Jenny Jones Show."

To Mr. Fieger, the case was a typical negligence action. "The show was a mechanism for producing ratings. People were duped. They were lied to...for the purpose of manipulating them and embarrassing them as a means of entertainment." Furthermore, he adds, Mr. Schmitz had a history of severe emotional illness: "The show knew the risk of the harm, but they ignored it and denied responsibility."

Attempting to prove this was an uphill battle. "The primary obstacles were the disinformation created by the press and by Warner Bros.," Mr. Fieger says. "The media didn't understand the extent of the liability of the TV show," belittled the action and poisoned the jury pool. The "disinformation" made the lawsuit seem frivolous, he adds.

Warner Bros. filed motions to dismiss, but these were denied. The appellate court found, Mr. Fieger notes, "that third parties can be held responsible if there is a special relationship."

Two mock trials, however, revealed another possible obstacle--anti-gay prejudice. The defense could tap into prejudices against gays, he believes: "We knew that that's where Warner Bros. had to go--that Scott Amedure was guilty" of his own death.

"When you're dealing with the issue of prejudice," Mr. Fieger says, "you have to confront it."

He did this in jury selection, by questioning prospective jurors about their attitudes towards gays. "No one will admit right out that they are prejudiced," he says, but the questions help change their behavior as jurors: "You've got to make them suppress it or hide it."

In his opening statement, Mr. Fieger began establishing his theme that "The Jenny Jones Show" was responsible for Scott Amedure's murder: "The show created a scenario. They picked the victim. They deceived him. They picked the murderer and deceived him. They did everything but pull the trigger."

Mr. Schmitz was a loose cannon waiting to be set off; he had psychological and substance abuse problems and had attempted suicide previously, Mr. Fieger told the jury. But, the show "had no screening process," and as a result, Mr. Fieger charged, the show "humiliated a man who was mentally ill."

Mr. Fieger sets up the overall theme in advance, but does not plan the precise words and order of points: "I work very intuitively. I'm trying to give an overall impression. At some point in my becoming an attorney, I found a very, very fluid artistic process. I paint a picture for the jury."

He presents the strongest supporting witnesses first. One of these witnesses, sociology professor Maryaltani Karpos, testified that she had called the show a year before the murder and warned that the emotions released in ambush shows were likely to end in violence. But, Ms. Karpos testified, personnel at the show laughed off her concern. Another, James Huysman, "had started a company called AfterCare that was treating former talk show guests," Mr. Fieger says. "I knew he had offered his services and ['The Jenny Jones Show'] had refused."

Mr. Huysman testified that given Mr. Schmitz's previous suicide attempts and his psychiatric history, any reasonable screening procedure would have eliminated him as a guest.

"The whole point of these witnesses is to let the jury understand the issue of liability," says Mr. Fieger. "You must convince the jury that you are right. And not just that you are right, but that they are very bad people. It's a very simple equation."

He did not hold a mock examination with the witnesses before putting them on the stand. "I never prepare the witnesses in advance," Mr. Fieger says. "That ruins the spontaneity. It's phony and it never works." As he's questioning them, he says, "it's all spontaneous. You go with the flow."

His examination of these witnesses proved compelling, but the most dramatic moments came in his examinations of the witnesses from the defense. He called Jenny Jones, the producers of her show and others from Warners Bros. as adverse witnesses in his part of the case.

Before trial, Mr. Fieger had taken the depositions of these Warner Bros. employees. But in depositions, he says, "I'm not that aggressive. I don't want to tip the people off as to what my tack will be. I just let them talk."

He does not overprepare for cross-examinations. He knows his case, but he does not develop a list of questions to ask his adverse witnesses, he says: "I never, ever use an outline, especially in cross-examination. You have to be fluid. You have to hear what they're saying."

In his cross-examination of adverse witnesses, he jumps from topic to topic. "I'll never go in chronological order. I'll never telegraph my punches," he says. He doesn't want the witness guessing where he's going.

His attitude is condescending and cynical: "I'm there to beat the shit out of them." All the questions are leading, he says: "I don't even care about the answer. In the way I ask the question, the answers are going to be obvious."

As he examined Ms. Jones at the trial, the questions were abrupt and aggressive. He charged that she embarrassed her guests to produce ratings, asked if she knew that Mr. Schmitz had bipolar disorder and had attempted suicide, and asked why she didn't write a note of condolence to the Amedure family after Scott was killed.

He also called the producer and executive producer of the show, accusing them of having purposely deceived Mr. Schmitz in order to get him to go on the show. Mr. Fieger showed particular disrespect to Executive Producer Ed Glavin. During cross, Mr. Fieger asked Mr. Glavin to describe a sexual fantasy involving Mr. Glavin's own wife. Mr. Fieger noted Mr. Glavin's refusal and compared it to the likely embarrassment of the guests on "The Jenny Jones Show."

The scorched-earth approach clearly worked. On May 7, a Pontiac, Mich., jury awarded $25 million--$5 million for Scott Amedure's pain and suffering and $10 million each to his parents, Patricia Graves and Frank Amedure Sr. Post-trial motions are pending.

Return to Articles & Interviews page