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Hulsey has maintained a special interest in handling cases brought under the Racketeer Influenced Corrupt Organizations Act (Civil RICO). He tried the largest civil RICO class action in the country to verdict (Bonilla v. Volvo, $123,5000,000) and has maintained a special interest in negotiation, settlement and trial of civil cases brought under the Racketeer Influenced Corrupt Organizations Act. He also specializes in the litigation of toxic and environmental tort cases.
Cherie K. Durand has spent the last seventeen years as a trial lawyer litigating cases initially involving the defense of medical malpractice, but with more specific emphasis on plaintiff personal injury and products liability. Her career has included special focus upon health care fraud, Civil RICO, tobacco litigation and other commercial litigation. She also focuses on trying cases in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, in bringing cases in the United States on behalf of foreign plaintiffs and in obtaining juridiction in the United States for United States citizens injured abroad.
As a team, Paul Hulsey and Cherie Durand have been handling and trying major complex litigation cases for the last ten years. Together they have 50 years of courtroom experience and over seventy civil jury trials. Their areas of joint participation and specialty involve cases brought under the RICO Act, Health Care Fraud, Consumer Fraud and Products Liability.
Presently, among other cases, they are lead counsel of record in a racketeering class action in Puerto Rico involving health care fraud. Mr. Hulsey and Ms. Durand are lead counsel in a multi-party case arising from the crash of a Mitsubishi MU-2 aircraft, a product defect case involving multiple injured plaintiffs, and a death resulting from a school bus rollover in Arkansas.
Over the years, Mr. Hulsey and Ms. Durand have successfully handled the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico case against the Tobacco Industry which was settled for $2.3 billion. They tried the first class action in the United States involving medical monitoring for smoking-related issues, In Re: Tobacco Litigation (Medical Monitoring), C.A. No. 00-C-6000, Circuit Court of Ohio County, West Virginia.
Iin September 2002, Hulsey and Durand successfully tried to verdict In Re: Mass Consolidation, the West Virginia consolidation for trial of over 8,000 cases against more than 200 defendants.
Hulsey acted as lead trial counsel for all consolidated plaintiffs in this historic West Virginia toxic tort case. Hulsey and Durand tried the case to verdict against Union Carbide after all remaining Defendants had settled. They obtained a verdict finding Union Carbide liable for injuries suffered by people working at Union Carbide as a result of uncontained asbestos exposure as well as the first ever verdict finding Union Carbide liable for its asbestos fibre (Calidria), it mined and sold from its California mine. In addition, the jury returned a verdict for punitive damages, finding that each plaintiff for which damages are proven will have those damages multiplied by three.
The team of Hulsey and Durand is experienced in trying difficult and challenging cases to successful resolution. In 2000, they successfully tried and won the largest personal injury verdict in Puerto Rico, $10,000,000, in Rivera v. Pepsi Cola of Puerto Rico. All but one of seven passengers in a Toyota that collided head on in the wrong lane with a Pepsi Cola semi truck after attempting to pass in a no-passing zone were killed. Hulsey and Durand represented the sole survivor as well as the family of some of the innocent victims in this case.The driver of the Toyota was found at autopsy to have cocaine in his blood.
Dividing the courtroom responsibilities as they always do, Cherie Durand handled the cocaine and behavioral experts, including Dr. Frederic Rieders, a top forensic toxicologist who also testified in the O. J. Simpson trial. Hulsey handled the engineering accident reconstruction testimony. Through their combined efforts they won the liability portion of the trial with the jury finding the Pepsi driver who was in his own lane within the speed limit 50 percent at fault along with the Toyota driver. Their innocent clients then could recover the entire verdict against Pepsi.
In the damages phase of the trial, tried four months later to a different jury, Cherie Durand and Paul Hulsey won a combined verdict exceeding ten million dollars. This stands as the largest personal injury verdict in Puerto Rico.
Both Mr. Hulsey and Ms. Durand have specific experience and maintain a special emphasis on cases involving the civil Racketeer Influenced Corrupt Organization Act (RICO), Ms. Durand has particular experience in the area of health care fraud. Together, again, they combined their trial skills to successfully resolve the civil RICO case, FAC v. COSVI.
In FAC v. COSVI, our clients maintained that Cooperativa de Seguros de Vida, the fiscal intermediary charged with, among other things, implementing Medicare reimbursements for Puerto Rico, was engaged in a racketeering scheme demanding kickbacks and receiving bribes in return for giving certain claims special consideration and handling for payment. FAC refused to pay a kickback and subsequently the claims they submitted for their clients were never even processed, much less paid.
Mr. Hulsey took charge of proving the civil RICO allegations and Ms. Durand handled the complicated aspects of the Medicare reimbursement and damages.
Hulsey and Durand successfully settled the case for an amount in excess of seven figures during trial, as well as future considerations valued in excess of $12 million.
The Hulsey Durand trial team, supported by their associates and trial paralegals, handle each case as if it is the only one they have. Their combined careers and experience have been dedicated to providing the highest level of expertise, ethics and proficiency in order to represent their clients in the most professional manner possible. This continues today.
When traditional approaches fail, when compromise falls short of resolution, when litigation becomes necessary to protect valuable rights, Hulsey Law Group, with its experienced trial team and support staff, believes there is no matter too complex, no distance too far, no litigant too powerful to escape being brought to justice. Our record of standing up to anyone in the name of justice for our clients speaks for itself.
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