| James Robert Moriarty | |
|---|---|
| Born | September 10, 1946 Schnectady, New York |
| Alma mater | University of Houston |
| Occupation | Lawyer |
James R. Moriarty (born September 10, 1946) is an American lawyer noted for mass torts against major corporations, including Tenet Healthcare Corporation, Shell Chemicals, DuPont, and Prudential Securities. His legal cases have been described in the books Serpent on the Rock by Kurt Eichenwald, Money-Driven Medicine: The Real Reason Health Care Costs So Much by Maggie Mahar, and Coronary by Stephen Klaidman. He is a senior partner in the law firm of Moriarty Leyendecker.
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Moriarty was born on September 10, 1946 in Schenectady, New York, shortly after his twin brother Robert James Moriarty, who was born the previous day. He dropped out of high school in January 1965 to enlist in the United States Marine Corps.
Moriarty completed Marine Corps Recruit Depot (MCRD) San Diego with Platoon 212 in May 1965, received meritorious promotion to Private First Class. He then attended multiple "A" schools at Naval Air Technical Training Command Memphis, receiving meritorious promotion to Lance Corporal.
He was offered his choice of assignment and served three tours in the Vietnam War. He was awarded two single mission Air Medals for heroic achievement while serving as a door gunner in a Marine Observation Squadron 2 (VMO-2) helicopter gunship squadron located at Marble Mountain in South Vietnam.[1][2] He was released from active duty as a Sergeant in January 1969.
He earned Bachelor of Business Administration and Juris Doctor degrees from the University of Houston.[3] He was admitted to the State Bar of Texas in 1976[4] and the Colorado Bar Association in 2006.[5]
Moriarty founded Moriarty & Associates in 1986. Kevin Leyendecker became a partner in 2001, and the name of the firm was changed to Moriarty Leyendecker.
Moriarty served as Special Assistant to the former Mayor of Houston,[6][7] Bill White, throughout White’s term in office. Among other duties, Moriarty assisted the city’s attorneys on a pro bono basis, on one occasion helping the city enforce billboard laws designed to avoid “visual blight” in the city of Houston.[8] White and Moriarty met while raising money for Bill Clinton's 1992 presidential campaign.
In mid-1987, Moriarty filed a lawsuit against General Homes Corporation, U.S. Brass, Shell Chemicals, DuPont, and Hoechst Celanese on behalf of approximately 100 homeowners in a subdivision in La Porte, TX, alleging that the plumbing system in the subdivision had failed, causing property damage and mental anguish. The homeowners sought damages for negligence, fraud, and violations of the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act (DTPA).[9][9] He and his partner won a $3.4 million verdict in the summer of 1988.[9]
Moriarty was involved in the largest mass action filed against Prudential Securities along with Daryl Bristow and Stephen Hackerman, among others. The investigation found that PSI had defrauded investors of close to $8 billion, the largest fraud found by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in United States history to that point.[10]
Kurt Eichenwald discussed the case at length in his book on the limited partnership scandal at Prudential, Serpent on the Rock.[11]
Bristow brought in Moriarty because of his previous experience managing large numbers of clients in other mass action lawsuits.[12] Hackerman later worked with Moriarty on the NME case in 1994.[13] Moriarty created a computer program that allowed the lawyers to write individualized letters to the 5,800 clients they were managing.[12] He is also credited for suggesting each plaintiff file an individual complaint to state regulators, the SEC, and the National Association of Securities Dealers[14] – a scheme that Eichenwald suggests alerted the SEC to the magnitude of the Prudential fraud.[15]
Prudential attempted to get the case settled for five cents on every dollar the plaintiffs had invested, a proposal Moriarty derided as ridiculous.[16] The settlements for Bristow, Hackerman, and Moriarty’s clients ultimately recouped the plaintiffs’ lost investments entirely:
Clients in the first growth fund would receive fifty cents on the dollar on their investments. Combined with previous distributions, expected future distributions, and the remaining value of the partnerships, a client who invested $1,000 in the first growth fund would have $1,058. For the second growth fund, the $1,000 investor would have $1,138.[17]
After their case was concluded, Moriarty remained involved with the National Association of Securities Dealers working with the SEC to investigate PSI’s suspected fraud.[18] When Nancy Smith, a New Mexico securities regulator, asked him for advice on creating a questionnaire for the investors in PSI, he recommended her to a polling expert from Rice University.[19] When Smith informed him that she could not afford the estimated cost of $5,000-$10,000 for utilizing those resources, Moriarty paid for it himself from his fees from the PSI case.[20]
Moriarty, in conjunction with several other firms, filed a mass tort against National Medical Enterprises in late 1994[21] behalf of approximately 600 patients who charged that they had been abused in Texas psychiatric hospitals owned by the company in order to defraud insurance companies and the U.S. Federal Government.[22] The case was discussed in depth in Stephen Klaidman’s book Coronary.[23]
The lawsuit was settled on July 30, 1997.[24] The New York Times reported a $100 million settlement for all plaintiffs involved in two lawsuits filed in Conroe, TX and Fort Worth, TX.[25] Moriarty was unable to disclose the exact settlement their clients received, but The Times reported that 620 cases were filed in Conroe and settled for $85 million, and approximately 60 cases were settled in Fort Worth for $13 million; also that Moriarty represented "over 600" of the plaintiffs.[25]
National Medical Enterprises changed its name to Tenet Healthcare Corporation in March 1995.[26]
Again in conjunction with other firms, in 2003 Moriarty filed new lawsuits against the new Tenet Healthcare Corporation’s Redding Medical Center on behalf of approximately 450 patients who claimed they had received unnecessary heart surgery so that the company could bill insurance companies for the procedures.[27] The company settled with 750 plaintiffs for the sum of $395 million in December 2004.[28]
In addition to its individual settlements with the plaintiffs, Tenet paid $54 million in fines for its conduct at Redding Medical Center.[29] Tenet also paid $900 million in fines and settlements to the U.S. Federal Government for manipulating the Medicare system in connection with its hospital operations.[30][31] The settlement remains one of the highest settlements under the False Claims Act, second only to Pfizer's settlement of $1 billion.[32]
Moriarty’s personal opinions on the major players of NME/Tenet Healthcare are quoted in Money-Driven Medicine:
They’re all the same people, operating under the same business plan. The companies pay the fines and deduct them from their taxes – which they can. To them, it’s all part of the cost of doing business. And they’re not going to change. Not until the government says, ‘We’ll put you in jail if you do this.’[33]
Moriarty drew attention to the problem of illegal ticket sales in the 2008 Beijing Olympics after purchasing a reported $12,000 worth of tickets that were never delivered.[34] Moriarty has since heavily stressed the importance of giving the families of Olympic athletes access to affordable tickets.[35]
Moriarty has stated that the International Olympic Committee (IOC)’s two “serious problems” are first that the organization has “not curbed ticket reselling abuses that enrich profiteers connected to the IOC and National Olympic Committees (NOCs). Second, they are inconsistently policing the use of Olympic trademarks that often are used on fraudulent ticket sites.”[36]
He has also said that the IOC and United States Olympic Committee (USOC) did not make adequate efforts to shut down ticket sellers illegally operating under the IOC's trade names, which makes it difficult for consumers to determine the difference between legitimate and illegitimate sellers.[37]
Moriarty is currently defending ticket resaler Gene Hammett against Joseph Bunevacz and his son David Bunevacz, whom Hammett claims sold him 17,000 tickets to the Vancouver games that never materialized. Hammett alleges that the Bunevaczs led him to believe that the tickets were coming from several National Olympics Committees and their official ticket agents in Europe.[38]
Moriarty and his partner firms currently represent approximately 500 clients in a case against the Small Smiles Dental Centers, a chain of dental clinics that targets children from low-income families. The case centers on the allegation that the Small Smiles clinics have performed unnecessary dental procedures on children in order to bill Medicaid. Recently, the U.S. Justice Department settled a False Claims Act against Forba Holding, LLC, the parent firm of Small Smiles, for
… causing the submission of claims for reimbursement for a wide range of dental services provided to low-income children that were either medically unnecessary or performed in a manner that failed to meet professionally-recognized standards of care. These services included performing pulpotomies (baby root canals), placing crowns, administering anesthesia (including nitrous oxide), performing extractions, and providing fillings and/or sealants.[39]
Moriarty is pursuing compensation for the children who were allegedly abused by those same dental practices.
Moriarty served on the Board of Directors of the United States Marine Corps Combat Helicopter Association from 1998–2008 and published that organization's quarterly magazine, Popasmoke.[40]
He received the Association’s Arnold W. Barden Award for advancing the reputation of the Association for his air show work as well as his contribution as publisher of Popasmoke.[41]
He was the president of the Skyhawk Association from 1998-2000.
He served on the Board of Directors for Annunciation Orthodox School in Houston.
He presently serves on the Board of Directors of the Marine Corps Heritage Foundation.[42]
Moriarty splits his time between Houston, TX and Boulder, CO. He is an avid athlete and frequently competes in races, including 5Ks, marathons, sprints, and half-Ironman triathlons. He completed his first marathon at age 60.
He is an official sponsor for professional marathon runner Fee Docherty, who is currently in training to qualify for the 2012 Summer Olympics.[43]
He has five children.