(The Associated Press circulated the following story by Meg Kinnard on July 9.)
COLUMBIA, S.C. — The South Carolina Supreme Court on Monday reprimanded a Louisiana-based lawyer who set up an office in South Carolina following a deadly train derailment and described himself as a “neighborhood attorney” in local advertisements.
Douglas M. Schmidt, a lawyer for more than 300 people who claim they were injured after a Norfolk Southern train derailed and released chlorine in January 2005, was reprimanded for breaking several attorney conduct rules.
Nine people died and hundreds were injured when the train veered off the main track, ruptured a railroad tanker carrying chlorine and released a poisonous cloud over the tiny mill town. Nearly 5,400 people living within a mile of the wreck were evacuated.
According to the court’s order, Schmidt’s letters to Graniteville residents said he had “expertise” in these cases, which is against court rules, and did not say that he mostly practiced law in Louisiana.
On June 16, 2005, Schmidt also wrote his clients, stating that he was picking up an average of 25 clients a day, when he was really adding much less, the order says.
Schmidt said his mistakes following South Carolina’s rules were not intentional.
“You never want to do anything that is not appropriate, and in certain times, things … slip through the cracks,” he said. “It’s a slap on the wrist, and it was deserved.”
Schmidt also did not file a copy of one of the letters with the Commission on Lawyer Conduct, pay a required filing fee before the deadline or provide the commission with a list of residents to whom the letter was sent, according to the order.
Last month, a federal judge approved a settlement that would pay thousands of dollars to hundreds of people injured in the derailment. The agreement will give people who sought medical attention within three months of the derailment anywhere from $10,000 up to several hundred thousand dollars, depending on a number of factors including the severity of their injuries, how close they lived to the derailment or why they were exposed to the gas.
Schmidt said his clients were not taking part in the class-action settlement. He said he hopes many of his clients’ cases with be settled in the next two months.