RI Attorney General Lynch & Wall Street - Lead Paint Trial

"Is Patrick Lynch an attorney," I asked my source.  Then I realized what a stupid question that was.  Of course Lynch is an attorney.  After all, he is the Attorney General (AG) of the state of Rhode Island (RI).  What threw me into putting such a dumb question out there was my shock that any one trained in law would have uttered the remarks that Lynch allegedly had. 

According to coverage by Peter Lord in THE PROVIDENCE JOURNAL and Eric Tucker of the Associated Press, Lynch had allegedly made public comments  before, during and after the RI lead paint trial that could have been prejudicial.  Those alleged comments violated Rule 3.6 of the RI Rules of Professional Conduct.  As a result, Judge Michael Silverstein, who presided over the RI lead paint trial, ruled Lynch in contempt and fined him $5000.  Lynch is appealing the fine to the RI Supreme Court so he had not yet made any payment. 

This had all transpired from October until immediately after the verdict when Lynch spoke with the media.  Until last Friday, the court documents had been sealed.  Now they are available to the public.

Of course, the legal aspect of Lynch's alleged inappropriate remarks made in public -- e.g. Lynch described the defendants as "those who would spin and twist the facts -- is significant.  But just as significant is any possible influence these or any other comments Lynch might have made might have had on the financial markets.  When the verdict came out in favor of the state, the defendants' stocks took a major hit.  Those stocks recovered some after Judge Silverstein ruled against any punitive damage. 

Now, one of the defendants, Sherwin-Williams, has filed a motion, reports Lord in THE PROVIDENCE JOURNAL, to require Lynch to disclose any comments he may have made to "the financial market" after the trial.  The lead attorney for Sherwin-Williams Paul Michael Pohl explains that this request is justified by the flood of demands for information about the trial from those with a financial interest such as security analysts and shareholders. 

Pohl is right on there.  Through email and phone calls, I have received hundreds of pleas from Wall Street types for detailed data about the trial or where they could get it.  That's why I decided to make documents, ranging from jury instructions to the state's abatement proposal, available through this blog.

If Lynch did make statements to the financial community and if those statements can be shown to have affected the perception of the value of the defendants' stock, that could be the beginning of the end of this whole saga of RI lead paint trial I & II.  The credibility of any attorney, never mind the point person for this public nuisance suit, who could be so out-of-order would plummet.  In addition, a negative message would be blasted to other AGs in other states who were considering filing their own public-nuisance suits.  That message would be: Who wants this trouble!

Comments

[Raymond Morris]

I don't know if this is the right address for RI Attorney General Lynch...IF not could please foward it to him Please

Hi
My name is Raymond Morris....I own a house in Providence with no drive way....it been like this for years.....However we did rent parking in a near by lot. The lot that we rented was sold to buld low income housing. For the last year or so we have all been getting over night parking tickets.... Now the problem begins. My youngest son recently has had his car botted. He went to the court to explane why so many tickets......To be truth full the judge didn't want to here about it. He alone has about 7500.00 dollars with tickets and fines.
The judge order him to pay $2500.00 Now and $2500.00 in thirty days.. My son is a good boy and just starting out in life...This is his first car he bought....now it got towed away becauce he don't have the money to pay.
He went to court @11:00 AM on 2/2/07.....and they only gave him till 1:00 PM to come up with the money.
To make it more tougher now someone called the city and now there is no parking even during the day....the new signs say no parking ant time.
I am a tax payer and I pay my bills to the city ..... they take my money and it seem like no one cares.
I have called my concail man and he is trying to help me but he said he cant do nothing.....He is also trying to look for parking with no luck as of now......He said I sould go down two block from my house to see if any parking is opened.....My area is not all that safe. People come up to me when I go to the store next to my house and ask me if I need any drugs ....and other things.
Now my son is with out his car and needs it to look for a new job....He is trying to get his taxes sooner so he can put some money down and see if he can get his car back.
The local police know about this as well some of them work with us ....others dont care.
Now the people in my house all want to move out because of this problem....
Can you help me or tell me what I can do ...or who to call....PLEASE
If you need to speak to my son I can give you his number and mine as well...
His name is Mathieu his number is 401-241-4871
My name is Raymond my number is 401-258-0522 The only thing for me is it is hard for me to answer my phone while I work Betewen 7:00 AM 4:15 PM. However I do have voice mail.
My e mail is Ray9755m@aol.com
PLEASE HELP US IF YOU CAN.
Thank you very much .
Raymond L. Morris


Someone need to find a way to help...Zoneing board or traffic division.....there has to be another answer to this problem.

I am writing to all the tv news station and anyone I can to look for help.

Or I am foursed to sell my house and to move out of Providence....I lived here all my life.