James Robert Moriarty
Encyclopedia
James R. Moriarty is an American
lawyer
noted for mass torts against major corporations, including Tenet Healthcare Corporation, Shell Chemicals
, DuPont
, and Prudential Securities
. His legal cases have been described in the books Serpent on the Rock by Kurt Eichenwald
, Money-Driven Medicine
: The Real Reason Health Care Costs So Much by Maggie Mahar, and Coronary by Stephen Klaidman
. He is a senior partner
in the law firm of Moriarty Leyendecker.
, shortly after his twin brother Robert James Moriarty
, who was born the previous day. He dropped out of high school
in January 1965 to enlist in the United States Marine Corps
.
with Platoon 212 in May 1965, received meritorious promotion to Private First Class
. He then attended multiple "A" schools at Naval Air Technical Training Command Memphis, receiving meritorious promotion to Lance Corporal
.
He was offered his choice of assignment and served three tours in the Vietnam War
. He was awarded two single mission Air Medals for heroic achievement while serving as a door gunner
in a Marine Observation Squadron 2 (VMO-2) helicopter gunship squadron located at Marble Mountain
in South Vietnam
. He was released from active duty
as a Sergeant
in January 1969.
and Juris Doctor
degrees from the University of Houston
. He was admitted to the State Bar of Texas
in 1976 and the Colorado Bar Association in 2006.
Moriarty served as Special Assistant to the former Mayor of Houston, Bill White
, throughout White’s term in office. Among other duties, Moriarty assisted the city’s attorneys on a pro bono basis, on one occasion helping the city enforce billboard laws designed to avoid “visual blight” in the city of Houston. White and Moriarty met while raising money for Bill Clinton's 1992 presidential campaign
.
, DuPont
, and
Hoechst Celanese on behalf of approximately 100 homeowners in a subdivision in La Porte, TX, alleging that the plumbing system in the subdivision had failed, causing property damage and mental anguish. The homeowners sought damages for negligence, fraud, and violations of the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act (DTPA). He and his partner won a $3.4 million verdict in the summer of 1988.
along with Daryl Bristow and Stephen Hackerman, among others. The investigation found that PSI had defrauded investors of close to $8 billion, the largest fraud found by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in United States history to that point.
Kurt Eichenwald
discussed the case at length in his book on the limited partnership
scandal at Prudential, Serpent on the Rock.
Bristow brought in Moriarty because of his previous experience managing large numbers of clients in other mass action lawsuits. Hackerman later worked with Moriarty on the NME case in 1994. Moriarty created a computer program that allowed the lawyers to write individualized letters to the 5,800 clients they were managing. He is also credited for suggesting each plaintiff file an individual complaint to state regulators, the SEC, and the National Association of Securities Dealers – a scheme that Eichenwald suggests alerted the SEC to the magnitude of the Prudential fraud.
Prudential attempted to get the case settled for five cents on every dollar the plaintiffs had invested, a proposal Moriarty derided as ridiculous. The settlements for Bristow, Hackerman, and Moriarty’s clients ultimately recouped the plaintiffs’ lost investments entirely:
After their case was concluded, Moriarty remained involved with the National Association of Securities Dealers working with the SEC to investigate PSI’s suspected fraud. When Nancy Smith, a New Mexico
securities regulator, asked him for advice on creating a questionnaire for the investors in PSI, he recommended her to a polling expert from Rice University
. When Smith informed him that she could not afford the estimated cost of $5,000-$10,000 for utilizing those resources, Moriarty paid for it himself from his fees from the PSI case.
’s book Coronary.
The lawsuit was settled on July 30, 1997. The New York Times
reported a $100 million settlement for all plaintiffs involved in two lawsuits filed in Conroe, TX and Fort Worth, TX. Moriarty was unable to disclose the exact settlement their clients received, but The Times reported that 620 cases were filed in Conroe and settled for $85 million, and approximately 60 cases were settled in Fort Worth for $13 million; also that Moriarty represented "over 600" of the plaintiffs.
National Medical Enterprises changed its name to Tenet Healthcare Corporation in March 1995.
Again in conjunction with other firms, in 2003 Moriarty filed new lawsuits against the new Tenet Healthcare Corporation’s Redding Medical Center on behalf of approximately 450 patients who claimed they had received unnecessary heart surgery so that the company could bill insurance companies for the procedures. The company settled with 750 plaintiffs for the sum of $395 million in December 2004.
In addition to its individual settlements with the plaintiffs, Tenet paid $54 million in fines for its conduct at Redding Medical Center. Tenet also paid $900 million in fines and settlements to the U.S. Federal Government for manipulating the Medicare system in connection with its hospital operations. The settlement remains one of the highest settlements under the False Claims Act
, second only to Pfizer
's settlement of $1 billion.
Moriarty’s personal opinions on the major players of NME/Tenet Healthcare are quoted in Money-Driven Medicine:
Moriarty has stated that the International Olympic Committee
(IOC)’s two “serious problems” are first that the organization has “not curbed ticket reselling abuses that enrich profiteers connected to the IOC and National Olympic Committees (NOCs). Second, they are inconsistently policing the use of Olympic trademarks that often are used on fraudulent ticket sites.”
He has also said that the IOC and United States Olympic Committee
(USOC) did not make adequate efforts to shut down ticket sellers illegally operating under the IOC's trade names, which makes it difficult for consumers to determine the difference between legitimate and illegitimate sellers.
Moriarty is currently defending ticket resaler Gene Hammett against Joseph Bunevacz and his son David Bunevacz, whom Hammett claims sold him 17,000 tickets to the Vancouver games that never materialized. Hammett alleges that the Bunevaczs led him to believe that the tickets were coming from several National Olympics Committees and their official ticket agents in Europe.
, a chain of dental clinics that targets children from low-income families. The case centers on the allegation that the Small Smiles clinics have performed unnecessary dental procedures on children in order to bill Medicaid
. Recently, the U.S. Justice Department settled a False Claims Act
against Forba Holding, LLC, the parent firm of Small Smiles, for
Moriarty is pursuing compensation for the children who were allegedly abused by those same dental practices.
He received the Association’s Arnold W. Barden Award for advancing the reputation of the Association for his air show work as well as his contribution as publisher of Popasmoke.
He was the president of the Skyhawk Association from 1998-2000.
He served on the Board of Directors for Annunciation Orthodox School
in Houston.
He presently serves on the Board of Directors of the Marine Corps Heritage Foundation.
He is an official sponsor for professional marathon runner Fee Docherty, who is currently in training to qualify for the 2012 Summer Olympics
.
He has five children.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
lawyer
Lawyer
A lawyer, according to Black's Law Dictionary, is "a person learned in the law; as an attorney, counsel or solicitor; a person who is practicing law." Law is the system of rules of conduct established by the sovereign government of a society to correct wrongs, maintain the stability of political...
noted for mass torts against major corporations, including Tenet Healthcare Corporation, Shell Chemicals
Shell Chemicals
Shell Chemicals is the petrochemicals arm of Royal Dutch Shell. The name "Shell Chemicals" refers to the nearly seventy companies engaged in chemicals businesses for Shell, which together make up one of the largest petrochemical producers in the world....
, DuPont
DuPont
E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company , commonly referred to as DuPont, is an American chemical company that was founded in July 1802 as a gunpowder mill by Eleuthère Irénée du Pont. DuPont was the world's third largest chemical company based on market capitalization and ninth based on revenue in 2009...
, and Prudential Securities
Prudential Securities
Prudential Securities was the financial services arm of the insurer, Prudential Financial. In 2003, Prudential Securities was merged into Wachovia Securities, a division of Wachovia Bank.-History:...
. His legal cases have been described in the books Serpent on the Rock by Kurt Eichenwald
Kurt Eichenwald
Kurt Alexander Eichenwald , an American writer and investigative reporter formerly with The New York Times and later with Condé Nast's business magazine, Portfolio...
, Money-Driven Medicine
Money-Driven Medicine
Money-Driven Medicine is a documentary film that offers a behind the scenes look at the American healthcare system...
: The Real Reason Health Care Costs So Much by Maggie Mahar, and Coronary by Stephen Klaidman
Stephen Klaidman
Stephen Klaidman is an author of a number of books . He was also a former editor and reporter for The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The International Herald Tribune. He was a senior research fellow at the Kennedy Institute of Ethics and a senior research associate at the Institute for...
. He is a senior partner
Partner (business rank)
A partner in a law firm, accounting firm, consulting firm, or financial firm is a highly ranked position. Originally, these businesses were set up as legal partnerships in which the partners were entitled to a share of the profits of the enterprise. The name has remained even though many of these...
in the law firm of Moriarty Leyendecker.
Early life
Moriarty was born on September 10, 1946 in Schenectady, New YorkSchenectady, New York
Schenectady is a city in Schenectady County, New York, United States, of which it is the county seat. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 66,135...
, shortly after his twin brother Robert James Moriarty
Robert Moriarty
Robert J. Moriarty is a former American Marine F-4B fighter pilot who recorded over 824 missions in combat. At the age of 20, he was the youngest naval aviator in the Vietnam war. He became a Captain in the Marines at the age of 22....
, who was born the previous day. He dropped out of high school
High school
High school is a term used in parts of the English speaking world to describe institutions which provide all or part of secondary education. The term is often incorporated into the name of such institutions....
in January 1965 to enlist in the United States Marine Corps
United States Marine Corps
The United States Marine Corps is a branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for providing power projection from the sea, using the mobility of the United States Navy to deliver combined-arms task forces rapidly. It is one of seven uniformed services of the United States...
.
Military Service
Moriarty completed Marine Corps Recruit Depot (MCRD) San DiegoMarine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego
Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego is a United States Marine Corps military installation in San Diego, California. It lies between San Diego Bay and Interstate 5, adjacent to San Diego International Airport and the former Naval Training Center San Diego...
with Platoon 212 in May 1965, received meritorious promotion to Private First Class
Private First Class
Private First Class is a military rank held by junior enlisted persons.- Singapore :The rank of Private First Class in the Singapore Armed Forces lies between the ranks of Private and Lance-Corporal . It is usually held by conscript soldiers midway through their national service term...
. He then attended multiple "A" schools at Naval Air Technical Training Command Memphis, receiving meritorious promotion to Lance Corporal
Lance Corporal
Lance corporal is a military rank, used by many armed forces worldwide, and also by some police forces and other uniformed organizations. It is below the rank of corporal, and is typically the lowest non-commissioned officer, usually equivalent to the NATO Rank Grade OR-3.- Etymology :The presumed...
.
He was offered his choice of assignment and served three tours in the Vietnam War
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
. He was awarded two single mission Air Medals for heroic achievement while serving as a door gunner
Door gunner
A door gunner is a crewman tasked with firing and maintaining manually directed armament aboard a helicopter. The actual role will vary depending on the task given on a particular mission.- Origins :...
in a Marine Observation Squadron 2 (VMO-2) helicopter gunship squadron located at Marble Mountain
Marble Mountain Air Facility
Marble Mountain Air Facility was an aviation facility used primarily by the United States Marine Corps during the Vietnam War. It was a helicopter facility that was constructed in August 1965 and served as home to Marine Aircraft Group 16, the 5th Special Forces Group and an assortment of other...
in South Vietnam
South Vietnam
South Vietnam was a state which governed southern Vietnam until 1975. It received international recognition in 1950 as the "State of Vietnam" and later as the "Republic of Vietnam" . Its capital was Saigon...
. He was released from active duty
Active duty
Active duty refers to a full-time occupation as part of a military force, as opposed to reserve duty.-Pakistan:The Pakistan Armed Forces are one of the largest active service forces in the world with almost 610,000 full time personnel due to the complex and volatile nature of Pakistan's...
as a Sergeant
Sergeant
Sergeant is a rank used in some form by most militaries, police forces, and other uniformed organizations around the world. Its origins are the Latin serviens, "one who serves", through the French term Sergent....
in January 1969.
Education
He earned Bachelor of Business AdministrationBachelor of Business Administration
The Bachelor of Business Administration is a bachelor's degree in Commerce and business administration. In most universities, the degree is conferred upon a student after four years of full-time study in one or more areas of business concentrations; see below...
and Juris Doctor
Juris Doctor
Juris Doctor is a professional doctorate and first professional graduate degree in law.The degree was first awarded by Harvard University in the United States in the late 19th century and was created as a modern version of the old European doctor of law degree Juris Doctor (see etymology and...
degrees from the University of Houston
University of Houston
The University of Houston is a state research university, and is the flagship institution of the University of Houston System. Founded in 1927, it is Texas's third-largest university with nearly 40,000 students. Its campus spans 667 acres in southeast Houston, and was known as University of...
. He was admitted to the State Bar of Texas
State Bar of Texas
The State Bar of Texas is an agency of the judiciary under the administrative control of the Texas Supreme Court. The Texas Bar is responsible for assisting the Texas Supreme Court in overseeing all attorneys licensed to practice law in Texas...
in 1976 and the Colorado Bar Association in 2006.
Career
Moriarty founded Moriarty & Associates in 1986. Kevin Leyendecker became a partner in 2001, and the name of the firm was changed to Moriarty Leyendecker.Moriarty served as Special Assistant to the former Mayor of Houston, Bill White
Bill White
-Politics:* Bill White – former mayor of the city of Houston and a candidate for the Texas gubernatorial election in 2010...
, throughout White’s term in office. Among other duties, Moriarty assisted the city’s attorneys on a pro bono basis, on one occasion helping the city enforce billboard laws designed to avoid “visual blight” in the city of Houston. White and Moriarty met while raising money for Bill Clinton's 1992 presidential campaign
Bill Clinton presidential campaign, 1992
Bill Clinton's 1992 campaign for President of the United States was a critical turning point for the Democratic Party, which had controlled the White House for only four of the previous twenty-four years. Initially viewed as an unlikely prospect to win his party's nomination, Clinton did so and...
.
Polybutylene
In mid-1987, Moriarty filed a lawsuit against General Homes Corporation, U.S. Brass, Shell ChemicalsShell Chemicals
Shell Chemicals is the petrochemicals arm of Royal Dutch Shell. The name "Shell Chemicals" refers to the nearly seventy companies engaged in chemicals businesses for Shell, which together make up one of the largest petrochemical producers in the world....
, DuPont
DuPont
E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company , commonly referred to as DuPont, is an American chemical company that was founded in July 1802 as a gunpowder mill by Eleuthère Irénée du Pont. DuPont was the world's third largest chemical company based on market capitalization and ninth based on revenue in 2009...
, and
Hoechst Celanese on behalf of approximately 100 homeowners in a subdivision in La Porte, TX, alleging that the plumbing system in the subdivision had failed, causing property damage and mental anguish. The homeowners sought damages for negligence, fraud, and violations of the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act (DTPA). He and his partner won a $3.4 million verdict in the summer of 1988.
Prudential Bache
Moriarty was involved in the largest mass action filed against Prudential SecuritiesPrudential Securities
Prudential Securities was the financial services arm of the insurer, Prudential Financial. In 2003, Prudential Securities was merged into Wachovia Securities, a division of Wachovia Bank.-History:...
along with Daryl Bristow and Stephen Hackerman, among others. The investigation found that PSI had defrauded investors of close to $8 billion, the largest fraud found by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in United States history to that point.
Kurt Eichenwald
Kurt Eichenwald
Kurt Alexander Eichenwald , an American writer and investigative reporter formerly with The New York Times and later with Condé Nast's business magazine, Portfolio...
discussed the case at length in his book on the limited partnership
Limited partnership
A limited partnership is a form of partnership similar to a general partnership, except that in addition to one or more general partners , there are one or more limited partners . It is a partnership in which only one partner is required to be a general partner.The GPs are, in all major respects,...
scandal at Prudential, Serpent on the Rock.
Bristow brought in Moriarty because of his previous experience managing large numbers of clients in other mass action lawsuits. Hackerman later worked with Moriarty on the NME case in 1994. Moriarty created a computer program that allowed the lawyers to write individualized letters to the 5,800 clients they were managing. He is also credited for suggesting each plaintiff file an individual complaint to state regulators, the SEC, and the National Association of Securities Dealers – a scheme that Eichenwald suggests alerted the SEC to the magnitude of the Prudential fraud.
Prudential attempted to get the case settled for five cents on every dollar the plaintiffs had invested, a proposal Moriarty derided as ridiculous. The settlements for Bristow, Hackerman, and Moriarty’s clients ultimately recouped the plaintiffs’ lost investments entirely:
After their case was concluded, Moriarty remained involved with the National Association of Securities Dealers working with the SEC to investigate PSI’s suspected fraud. When Nancy Smith, a New Mexico
New Mexico
New Mexico is a state located in the southwest and western regions of the United States. New Mexico is also usually considered one of the Mountain States. With a population density of 16 per square mile, New Mexico is the sixth-most sparsely inhabited U.S...
securities regulator, asked him for advice on creating a questionnaire for the investors in PSI, he recommended her to a polling expert from Rice University
Rice University
William Marsh Rice University, commonly referred to as Rice University or Rice, is a private research university located on a heavily wooded campus in Houston, Texas, United States...
. When Smith informed him that she could not afford the estimated cost of $5,000-$10,000 for utilizing those resources, Moriarty paid for it himself from his fees from the PSI case.
National Medical Enterprises/Tenet Healthcare
Moriarty, in conjunction with several other firms, filed a mass tort against National Medical Enterprises in late 1994 behalf of approximately 600 patients who charged that they had been abused in Texas psychiatric hospitals owned by the company in order to defraud insurance companies and the U.S. Federal Government. The case was discussed in depth in Stephen KlaidmanStephen Klaidman
Stephen Klaidman is an author of a number of books . He was also a former editor and reporter for The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The International Herald Tribune. He was a senior research fellow at the Kennedy Institute of Ethics and a senior research associate at the Institute for...
’s book Coronary.
The lawsuit was settled on July 30, 1997. The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
reported a $100 million settlement for all plaintiffs involved in two lawsuits filed in Conroe, TX and Fort Worth, TX. Moriarty was unable to disclose the exact settlement their clients received, but The Times reported that 620 cases were filed in Conroe and settled for $85 million, and approximately 60 cases were settled in Fort Worth for $13 million; also that Moriarty represented "over 600" of the plaintiffs.
National Medical Enterprises changed its name to Tenet Healthcare Corporation in March 1995.
Again in conjunction with other firms, in 2003 Moriarty filed new lawsuits against the new Tenet Healthcare Corporation’s Redding Medical Center on behalf of approximately 450 patients who claimed they had received unnecessary heart surgery so that the company could bill insurance companies for the procedures. The company settled with 750 plaintiffs for the sum of $395 million in December 2004.
In addition to its individual settlements with the plaintiffs, Tenet paid $54 million in fines for its conduct at Redding Medical Center. Tenet also paid $900 million in fines and settlements to the U.S. Federal Government for manipulating the Medicare system in connection with its hospital operations. The settlement remains one of the highest settlements under the False Claims Act
False Claims Act
The False Claims Act is an American federal law that imposes liability on persons and companies who defraud governmental programs. The law includes a "qui tam" provision that allows people who are not affiliated with the government to file actions on behalf of the government...
, second only to Pfizer
Pfizer
Pfizer, Inc. is an American multinational pharmaceutical corporation. The company is based in New York City, New York with its research headquarters in Groton, Connecticut, United States...
's settlement of $1 billion.
Moriarty’s personal opinions on the major players of NME/Tenet Healthcare are quoted in Money-Driven Medicine:
Beijing and Vancouver Olympics Ticket Controversy
Moriarty drew attention to the problem of illegal ticket sales in the 2008 Beijing Olympics after purchasing a reported $12,000 worth of tickets that were never delivered. Moriarty has since heavily stressed the importance of giving the families of Olympic athletes access to affordable tickets.Moriarty has stated that the International Olympic Committee
International Olympic Committee
The International Olympic Committee is an international corporation based in Lausanne, Switzerland, created by Pierre de Coubertin on 23 June 1894 with Demetrios Vikelas as its first president...
(IOC)’s two “serious problems” are first that the organization has “not curbed ticket reselling abuses that enrich profiteers connected to the IOC and National Olympic Committees (NOCs). Second, they are inconsistently policing the use of Olympic trademarks that often are used on fraudulent ticket sites.”
He has also said that the IOC and United States Olympic Committee
United States Olympic Committee
The United States Olympic Committee is a non-profit organization that serves as the National Olympic Committee and National Paralympic Committee for the United States and coordinates the relationship between the United States Anti-Doping Agency and the World Anti-Doping Agency and various...
(USOC) did not make adequate efforts to shut down ticket sellers illegally operating under the IOC's trade names, which makes it difficult for consumers to determine the difference between legitimate and illegitimate sellers.
Moriarty is currently defending ticket resaler Gene Hammett against Joseph Bunevacz and his son David Bunevacz, whom Hammett claims sold him 17,000 tickets to the Vancouver games that never materialized. Hammett alleges that the Bunevaczs led him to believe that the tickets were coming from several National Olympics Committees and their official ticket agents in Europe.
Small Smiles Dental Centers
Moriarty and his partner firms currently represent approximately 500 clients in a case against the Small Smiles Dental CentersSmall Smiles Dental Centers
Small Smiles Dental Centers is a privately owned US chain of dental clinics focused on serving children from low-income families. Small Smiles has 70 centers located in 22 states and Washington, D.C., and says that it serves hundreds of thousands of children annually.In January 2010, it gained...
, a chain of dental clinics that targets children from low-income families. The case centers on the allegation that the Small Smiles clinics have performed unnecessary dental procedures on children in order to bill Medicaid
Medicaid
Medicaid is the United States health program for certain people and families with low incomes and resources. It is a means-tested program that is jointly funded by the state and federal governments, and is managed by the states. People served by Medicaid are U.S. citizens or legal permanent...
. Recently, the U.S. Justice Department settled a False Claims Act
False Claims Act
The False Claims Act is an American federal law that imposes liability on persons and companies who defraud governmental programs. The law includes a "qui tam" provision that allows people who are not affiliated with the government to file actions on behalf of the government...
against Forba Holding, LLC, the parent firm of Small Smiles, for
Moriarty is pursuing compensation for the children who were allegedly abused by those same dental practices.
Associations
Moriarty served on the Board of Directors of the United States Marine Corps Combat Helicopter Association from 1998–2008 and published that organization's quarterly magazine, Popasmoke.He received the Association’s Arnold W. Barden Award for advancing the reputation of the Association for his air show work as well as his contribution as publisher of Popasmoke.
He was the president of the Skyhawk Association from 1998-2000.
He served on the Board of Directors for Annunciation Orthodox School
Annunciation Orthodox School
Annunciation Orthodox School, or AOS, is a private school located in Houston, Texas, United States, established in 1970.Annunciation Orthodox School began as a ministry of Annunciation Greek Orthodox Cathedral. Over the years it has grown from one early childhood class to a school averaging 670...
in Houston.
He presently serves on the Board of Directors of the Marine Corps Heritage Foundation.
Personal life
Moriarty splits his time between Houston, TX and Boulder, CO. He is an avid athlete and frequently competes in races, including 5Ks, marathons, sprints, and half-Ironman triathlons. He completed his first marathon at age 60.He is an official sponsor for professional marathon runner Fee Docherty, who is currently in training to qualify for the 2012 Summer Olympics
2012 Summer Olympics
The 2012 Summer Olympic Games, officially known as the "London 2012 Olympic Games", are scheduled to take place in London, England, United Kingdom from 27 July to 12 August 2012...
.
He has five children.