Judge raises issue of fraud in suit over wrestler's death
By DAN MARGOLIES
The Kansas City Star
A Missouri judge has found evidence that a prominent local law firm
may have committed fraud in a case stemming from the 1999 death of
professional wrestler Owen Hart.
In an order issued Friday, Circuit Judge Douglas E. Long Jr. ruled
that there was "overwhelming evidence" that Hart's family "and/or
its counsel" -- the law firm of Robb & Robb -- "engaged in
fraud, collusion and/or tortious conduct" in connection with a
settlement that was reached with one of the defendants.
The unusually harsh language, partially directed at one of the most
successful personal-injury law firms in Kansas City, is the latest
flare-up in a highly contentious case stemming from Hart's
accidental death at Kemper Arena in May 1999.
Gary Robb denied any wrongdoing on the part of the firm or his
client.
Although World Wrestling Entertainment Inc. -- formerly known as
the World Wrestling Federation -- agreed in November 2000 to pay
Hart's family $18 million to settle the lawsuit, the case has
dragged on as the WWE sought reimbursement from some of the other
original defendants.
At issue is the Hart family's dismissal from the case of defendant
Lewmar Inc., which made the trigger-latch shackle whose premature
release led to Hart's fall and death.
The 34-year-old wrestler, one of the WWE's biggest stars,
plunged from the rafters of Kemper Arena on May 23, 1999, when the
quick release on his harness opened as he was being lowered into
the ring.
The judge's order allows the WWE to sue Lewmar for reimbursement of
some or all of the settlement amount. The case has been set for
trial in September.
Reached Tuesday, Robb & Robb attorney Gary Robb defended the
Hart family's dismissal of Lewmar from the case, saying the family
believed that the WWE was solely responsible for the
accident.
"Bear in mind that the decision to settle solely belongs to the
client, and we support that decision...," Robb said. "Mrs. Hart
felt that Lewmar wasn't at fault even 1 percent."
Hart's family filed suit against 13 defendants -- including the
WWE, the city of Kansas City and Lewmar -- 13 weeks after Hart's
death. The 118-page lawsuit alleged that the stunt was dangerous
and poorly planned, and that the harness system was defective. The
lawsuit sought unspecified damages in the tens of millions of
dollars.
About seven months before it settled with the WWE, the Hart family
settled with Lewmar and dismissed it from the case. The settlement
with Lewmar called for a mutual release of claims but no payment of
money by Lewmar, although the WWE noted that Lewmar had nearly $50
million in liability insurance coverage.
That settlement prompted the WWE to cry foul, saying in court
filings it arose under "highly suspicious circumstances" that
raised questions about whether the settlement with Lewmar was
reached in good faith.
The WWE's protest stemmed from its concern that the settlement
would bar the WWE from seeking reimbursement from Lewmar. Missouri
law prevents a defendant from seeking reimbursement from a
co-defendant if the co-defendant reaches a good-faith settlement
with the plaintiffs.
Long's order followed an evidentiary hearing in mid-December on
that issue. After finding that "significant evidence existed at the
time of the settlement tending to establish liability on the part
of Lewmar," Long concluded that a jury "more likely than not" would
have apportioned to Lewmar "a significant amount of fault for Owen
Hart's death."
Long's four-page order went on to say that "substantial evidence
exists" that "plaintiffs' counsel was motivated by a desire to
prevent facts concerning Lewmar's liability for this accident from
coming to light in an effort to construct a punitive damages claim
against WWE."
In theory at least, a punitive damage award against the WWE could
have exceeded $50 million.
Robb said neither he nor the Hart family were parties to the
December hearing, "so we don't know what evidence was or wasn't
presented."
But he said that even if Lewmar had $1 billion in insurance
coverage, Hart's widow, Martha Hart, "wasn't going to take a nickel
because she believed the WWE was solely responsible."
"I think the evidence that Mrs. Hart relied on to support her
decision was more than sufficient, and that's the bottom line,"
Robb said.
Attorneys for the WWE reacted strongly to Long's order.
Jerry McDevitt, one of the attorneys, said the order contained
"some of the strongest statements I've ever seen in my 22 years of
practice about the manner in which this case was handled."
Another WWE attorney, Craig O'Dear, said: "Our objective is to hold
accountable all the entities responsible for the accident. We have
believed from day one that Lewmar bears a far greater degree of
responsibility for this accident than does the WWE. This ruling
simply opens up the door for the case against Lewmar to
proceed."
Kansas City attorney Paul Wickens, who represents Lewmar, declined
to comment. Officials of Lewmar, which is based in England, could
not be reached.
The city of Kansas City, which owns Kemper Arena, was dismissed
from the case as part of the WWE's settlement with the Hart family.
The city did not pay any money.
Long's ruling comes after two earlier legal squabbles in the
case.
In the first, the WWE and other defendants accused Robb & Robb
of trying to steer the case to a Jackson County judge of its own
choosing. (Jackson County cases are supposed to be assigned
randomly.) That matter was resolved when the Missouri Supreme Court
stepped in and assigned the case to Long, a judge from Waynesville,
Mo.
Then the defendants protested a side agreement that Robb & Robb
asked Hart's 10 siblings to sign. The agreement called for the
siblings to share in any damages recovered by their parents in
return for the siblings' agreement to cooperate with the plaintiffs
-- Hart's widow, two minor children and the parents -- and not to
cooperate with the defendants.
Because Missouri's wrongful death statute did not allow the
siblings to be parties in the case, the WWE claimed in court
documents that the agreement amounted to witness tampering. That's
because the siblings could have been crucial witnesses as to the
question of how many more years Hart had planned to wrestle -- a
crucial issue bearing on the amount of lost earnings.
Robb & Robb later rescinded the agreement with Hart's
siblings.
The latest brouhaha, unlike the others, concerns the underlying
issues of the case, namely whether and which defendants' negligence
contributed to Hart's death.
In court documents, the WWE maintains that deposition testimony
shows that Lewmar knew its trigger-latch shackle was used for
purposes other than its intended use as marine equipment, but did
little to prevent its misuse. In fact, the WWE says that Lewmar and
its distributors knowingly provided the shackles to the stunt
industry for years.
Robb & Robb is one of Kansas City's most successful plaintiffs'
firms, having won numerous multimillion-dollar judgments or
settlements in the years since it was founded in 1984. The firm is
essentially a two-person operation consisting of the
husband-and-wife team of Gary and Anita Robb.
Among the multimillion judgments obtained by the Robbs was a $350
million jury verdict in 1995 -- at the time thought to be one of
the biggest product liability verdicts in U.S. history -- against
helicopter maker Turbomeca SA of France. An appeals court later
reduced the verdict to $30 million.
More recently, the Robbs have represented the family of former
Missouri Gov. Mel Carnahan, who was killed in an October 2000 plane
crash along with his son, Randy Carnahan, and a top aide, Chris
Sifford. The Cessna 335 piloted by Randy Carnahan crashed while the
governor was campaigning against then-U.S. Sen. John
Ashcroft.
Last summer, Cessna Aircraft Co. and its holding company paid $1.6
million to settle the Carnahan family's wrongful death lawsuit. One
other defendant remains in the case.
