Judge Orders Masry Firm and Others to Turn Over Data, Says Beverly Hills City Attorney

Business Wire,  July 18, 2003  

• E-mail
• Print
• Link

Business Editors

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 18, 2003

Masry & Vititoe and Texas Law Firm Baron & Budd Admit They Lack

Studies to Support Claims of Health Issues At Beverly Hills High

School, According to City Attorney Laurence Wiener

Saying attorney Ed Masry and his co-counsel from Texas may be held in contempt of court if they don't produce information subpoenaed by the City of Beverly Hills, Superior Court Judge Valerie Baker has given the law firms of Masry & Vititoe and Baron & Budd until Tuesday, July 22, to provide environmental and health testing data regarding their allegation of health issues at Beverly Hills High School, according to Beverly Hills City Attorney Laurence Wiener.

Also in court yesterday, an attorney for the Masry and Baron firms admitted his clients have not commissioned studies to support their claim of abnormally-high cancer rates among Beverly Hills High School alumni, Wiener said. "If the firms have never commissioned epidemiological or population studies of Beverly Hills High School alumni, how can they possibly support claims that cancer rates among Beverly Hills High graduates are higher than in the general population," Wiener asked.

"Since Mr. Masry made his allegations in February, we have been asking for his evidence so we can put the public's mind at ease," said Beverly Hills Mayor Tom Levyn. "We're pleased Judge Baker agreed that it's critical to release this data to the public."

The hearing yesterday (Thursday, July 17) in a Los Angeles County Superior Courtroom in Santa Monica stemmed from subpoenas the City of Beverly Hills issued in June, demanding data from air testing and other studies their firms claim to have ordered. Masry and Baron & Budd defied the City's subpoenas and directed consultants and laboratories to withhold information on which they are basing their allegations, according to Wiener.

One of those laboratories, Columbia Laboratories, turned over its data in court yesterday, joining a second lab firm, Zymax. Judge Baker ordered another Masry consultant, Bernard Endres, to produce his data by July 22 or face a contempt-of-court hearing, according to Wiener.

The Beverly Hills City Council issued the subpoenas to ensure that the community has complete information concerning the conditions at Beverly Hills High School. The City and the Beverly Hills Unified School District have already tested the air in and around the high school and have provided the full results and supporting data to the community.

"All our studies have indicated that Beverly Hills High School is safe," Mayor Levyn said. "Now we'll be able to evaluate the information that Mr. Masry is using to base his allegations."

In addition to the subpoenas issued to the Masry firm and Baron & Budd, subpoenas were issued to Venoco Oil Company, the owner and operator of the oil well adjacent to Beverly Hills High School, as well as to Sempra, which operates a facility for air conditioning several buildings in Century City. Venoco and Sempra have produced documents in response to those subpoenas.

COPYRIGHT 2003 Business Wire
COPYRIGHT 2008 Gale, Cengage Learning