"Tort lawyers often use the threat of jackpot verdicts to extort settlements from business targets.
But when does a shakedown become criminal extortion?
Last week the federal government charged Timothy Litzenburg for allegedly crossing that legal line.
Mr. Litzenburg, 37, made a name for himself at the Miller Firm in Virginia, where he was part of a team suing Bayer on behalf of a groundskeeper who said the weed killer Roundup caused his cancer.
Trial lawyers profit by taking a hefty chunk of a settlement or damages.
But when Mr. Litzenburg opened his own law firm last year, he allegedly had a different business model in mind.
...Instead of agreeing to Mr. Litzenburg’s alleged offer, the company called federal prosecutors.
Mr. Litzenburg did not respond to our request for comment, but his lawyer told the press last week that his client isn’t guilty and that the charging document may contain inaccuracies.
Mr. Litzenburg will get his day in court, but the entire Roundup litigation is a stickup.
The Environmental Protection Agency and international regulators have conducted extensive research and concluded that glyphosate, the active ingredient in Roundup, isn’t carcinogenic.
That evidence hasn’t stopped three juries from imposing more than $2.4 billion in penalties.
...Mr. Litzenburg may have figured he could get away with his alleged extortion because he’s seen first-hand the damage that junk-science litigation can do regardless of the truth."
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