Proud 'Activist' Judge Undeserving of Dendahl's Attack
By Bill Carpenter
Albuquerque Lawyer
Ordinarily, I read the John Dendahl column, have my laugh and go on to substantive news. When I read the June 11th Dendahl column bashing my former law partner, Ed Chavez, I felt compelled to describe the kind of "activism" that you can expect from now Justice Ed Chavez.
As a lawyer, he took on the case of Wanda Perry. When Wanda lost her son due to an unfortunate circumstance at the University Hospital, Wanda recovered a financial settlement with the efforts of another law firm. Then the child's father showed up demanding his share. This was a dad that had never contributed, visited, helped or aided during the child's entire lifetime. Ed Chavez took this on as a pro bono case (for free) establishing new law in New Mexico that deadbeat dads can't show up after a tragedy and get a windfall. This was activism. I suppose Mr. Dendahl would have had him stick to the letter of the law, reward his deadbeat friend, and thereby avoided the label of being an activist.
As chairman of the State Bar Disciplinary Board, Ed was an activist going after those few bad apples that plague every profession.
As a lawyer, Ed Chavez has received the highest recognitions from both plaintiff and corporate defense lawyers. This was because of his activism as a professional and in recognition for integrity, honesty and exceptional skill as a trial lawyer. This is underscored by his appointments as a fellow in the American College of Trial Lawyers (consumers and business lawyers) and the International Academy of Trial Lawyers (again a recognition by lawyers representing interests across the board in America). These lawyers' organizations represent the best of the best, regardless of political affiliation or client base.
In picking his cases to criticize, knowing that a sitting Justice is severely limited from discussing court decisions, Mr. Dendahl does not mention the recent case of Compton v. Lytle in which a convict whose death penalty conviction was converted to life imprisonment was seeking release from prison for "good time." That "activist" Justice Chavez could have read the law and released this former death row inmate. He did not. Was it an activist that ruled that life means life? I suspect that convict does not consider our newest Justice to be a liberal activist.
The partisan nature of the Dendahl attack is underscored by his reference to the asbestos settlements— representing a dark day in American business— where in fact the asbestos manufacturers generated false reports concerning the safety of asbestos to obscure this dreadful product/disease relationship causing decades of delay in recognizing the health risks of a substance that has killed and crippled hundreds of thousands of innocent Americans. Thank goodness for some "activist" doctors and lawyers who finally uncovered the truth and saved countless others from this awful condition.
The reference to the American Tort Reform Association again discredits the Dendahl remarks. This group, bent on attacking and replacing ever Democratic judge and justice in the country, regardless of merit, has no base in New Mexico and no factual basis for any criticism of our state. For example, New Mexico, with the help of the plaintiffs' bar has created one of the more friendly legal environments for our medical doctor counterparts. New Mexico doctors enjoy, sometimes to the detriment of medically injured persons, a mandatory panel screening system as well as limitations on awards of damages. If the right wing "activists" could have their way in America, New Mexico might well be their model in terms of looking after the docs.
And for what purpose does Dendahl engage in this wholly partisan assault? Dendahl does not mention the Republican alternative. The Republican candidate has no credentials and in fact would not have practiced law long enough to be constitutionally qualified to serve on our Supreme Court at the time Justice Chavez was appointed. This Republican promoted by Mr. Dendahl has no credentials, no honors, recognitions, and no recognition of accomplishment by his peers. His greatest claim is that he was fired from a bureaucratic Workers Compensation job and got the Republican nod to take a shot at the big one.
Activist? You bet. Ed Chavez can be counted on to be active, hard working, and fair to all that come before him.
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