Milwaukee attorney Robert Habush has had an exceptional career lasting 53 years. His firm, Habush Habush & Rottier, represents persons injured or survivors of those killed by auto and vehicular crashes, defective products, medical malpractice and work-site injuries. For more than seven decades, they have recovered more money for Wisconsin residents than any other personal injury firm. Habush was lead lawyer in Wisconsin’s lawsuit against Big Tobacco, recovering $6 billion for Wisconsin taxpayers; he also recovered $99,250,000 in a jury verdict for three widows whose husbands were killed in the Miller Park crane disaster in 1999. Habush’s peers honored him by naming the Wisconsin Association for Justice Trial Lawyer of the Year Award after him. A book published by the American Bar Association, Courtroom Avenger, chronicles his amazing career.
Off the Cuff sat down with Habush to discuss his career as perhaps Wisconsin’s most accomplished plaintiff trial attorney.
What has been the role of plaintiff trial lawyers in making the state and the country safer and healthier?
I, and my firm, like some other lawyers across the country, have taken on companies, big tobacco, big pharma, and a host of other producers of dangerous and defective products to trial and beat them. As a result, products are now safer. We have taken health care providers who commit malpractice to court and beat them and as a result the health providers are better policing their own.
What really motivates a lawyer, like you, and lawyers in your firm, beyond monetary compensation, to take on these various “wrong doers,” from drunk drivers to very large and powerful corporations?
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I can only speak for myself and my firm, Habush Habush & Rottier. We have a mission to right the wrongs inflicted upon people by bad drivers, large corporations and health care providers who fail to exercise ordinary care. We provide a level playing field for the average person against the powerful and wealthy. Although most cases settle, our reputation for winning in court allows us to get the very best recovery for our clients. We are motivated to seek justice and, if it’s necessary, have the experience to take the case before a jury.
I am afraid some of the younger lawyers in other firms are only interested in quick settlements. Because they are not experienced enough to go to trial, they are not in a real sense “trial lawyers”; they are “settling lawyers.” That may sound OK, but as a result, insurance companies can get away with inadequate payments to claimants that they represent.
Can you briefly explain a couple of your cases that had a significant impact on “Social Good?”
Although we have handled hundreds of cases over the years that had great impact on “social good,” two that I handled stick out:
Actually, it was a series of cases against manufacturers of child car seats. The car seats failed to incorporate upper body restraints—were like lap belts without shoulder belts. Children in crashes flexed over the bars in front of them and received spinal and intestinal injuries. Our success in these cases resulted in the companies redesigning the seats to incorporate upper body straps that prevented these injuries from occurring.
The second case, which I believe had widespread impact on “social good,” was the jury verdict I obtained in the Miller Park crane case. It sent a strong message to managers of work sites that playing fast and loose with safety would cost them in dollars and prestige.
The term “tort reform” has been talked about for the past 30 years or more and has become a very highly charged political term at both the state and national level. How do you see the term “tort reform” and what is its rationale?
First, it’s misnamed. It should be called “tort deform.” Torts describe a body of law that allows injured and survivors of those killed by wrongdoers to recover damages for suffering and economic loss. “Tort reform” is a body of legislation that is designed to curtail the rights of injured or killed persons to get fair compensation for their injuries or loss of life. It puts caps on pain, suffering and disability awards, which a jury could award. It caps amounts spouses or parents can recover for loss of society and companionship for injuries or deaths to their spouses and children. It has as its rationale, first, a distrust of the jury system; second, a protection of the wrongdoers so they don’t have to pay justifiable amounts of money to their victims; third, a rational decision by Republican legislators and governors to protect their contributions to their re-election efforts from the business community and medical societies; fourth, it causes plaintiff attorneys who typically support Democrats to have less money to contribute.
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How has Gov. Walker’s support for “tort reform” affected the lives of the average citizens in Wisconsin?
Gov. Walker never saw a “tort reform” bill he didn’t love. As governor, he piled on additional restrictions on injured or killed citizens—eight separate bills. As examples:
He signed a bill that reversed Product Liability Law that was favorable to injured or killed consumers, and made it more difficult to recover fair compensation for those injured or killed by defective products.
He signed a bill to limit the amount of punitive [punishment] damages a jury could award to even the most egregious negligent parties whose conduct was intentional and outrageous.
He signed into law a statute that eliminated an earlier piece of legislation called Truth in Auto. It had benefited all citizens who drive automobiles.
If the Republicans and Gov. Walker could, they would amend the U.S. Constitution that allows jury trial in civil cases (not criminal cases) that are provided for in the Seventh Amendment to the Bill of Rights.
Marquette Law School will host a conversation with Habush at Eckstein Hall at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 14.
