BLET President Charged With Bribery

[Limitedclear]

BLET president arrested on bribe charge

(The following press release was issued by the U.S. Justice Department’s U.S. attorney’s office for the Eastern District of Missouri in St. Louis.)  Edward W. Rodzwicz, president of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen, was arrested on a federal complaint charging him with bribery, Acting U.S. Attorney Michael W. Reap announced Oct. 13. Rodzwicz is the sitting president of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen (BLET), a national labor union with over 55,000 members consisting of railroad employees throughout the United States. It is a division of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT).  According to the affidavit filed with the criminal complaint, the BLET maintains a list of designated legal counsel (DLC), who are recommended to their membership to handle injury cases under the Federal Employers Liability Act (FELA). Designation as a DLC generates very lucrative business for designated attorneys.  The national president of the BLET has final authority over the designation of FELA attorneys.  In February 2009, an internal compliance committee recommended that a particular DLC attorney for the BLET should lose his designation, due to alleged violations of DLC Rules of Conduct.  On March 10, 2009, Rodzwicz approached that attorney in Little Rock, Ark., and solicited a payment from that attorney in exchange for allowing him to retain his DLC designation. The DLC attorney contacted the Department of Labor, Office of Inspector General.  In subsequent meetings at the attorney's office in St. Louis, and at Harrah's Casino, Las Vegas, Rodzwicz solicited and agreed to accept a cash payment of $10,000 from the attorney, plus the promise of an additional cash payment of $10,000 after Rodzwicz allowed him to retain his designation.  Rodzwicz accepted a cash payment from the attorney on April 28, 2009, in Las Vegas, and he sent a letter allowing the attorney to retain his designation on May 1, 2009.  He accepted a second cash payment of $10,000 from the attorney on Sept. 16, 2009, in Kansas City, Mo. The complaint was filed in the Eastern District of Missouri last week and remained suppressed until the arrest of Mr. Rodzwicz this morning by agents with the Department of Labor, Office of Inspector General, at his home in Avon, Ohio. Daniel R. Petrole, acting inspector general, U.S. Department of Labor, stated: "Union members expect that their officials will do what is right on their behalf. If these allegations are proven, there has been a serious breach of the union members' trust. My agency will continue to work with the U.S. Attorney's Office to investigate this type of crime." Rodzwicz, 63, was charged with one violation of 18 U.S.C. section 666, bribery in connection with a federally funded program; and one violation of 18 U.S.C. section 1952, interstate travel to carry on unlawful activity. He made his initial appearance this afternoon in Cleveland. If convicted, 18 U.S.C. section 666 carries a maximum penalty of ten years in prison and/or fines up to $250,000; 18 U.S.C. section 1952 carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison and/or fines up to $250,000. The charges set forth in a complaint are merely accusations, and the defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.

October 14, 2009 From UTU Site

[wabash1]

Not much differance in what the UTU did several years ago.

[edbenton]

Sounds like things are back to normal at the Teamsters.  Sorry that is what they used to do with the Mafia including cities.  Pay them in  Vegas and then again in Kansas City.

[zardoz]

Limitedclear

The charges set forth in a complaint are merely accusations, and the defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.

And if you believe THAT, then either you have never been on trial, or you just arrived from the 18th century; either way, I have some swamp property to sell you.

[wabash1]

I think the term is retainer, such as retainer fee,

[edblysard]

I say if he takes up to where they stashed Hoffa, we let him walk....

[chatanuga]

Thought at first this was related, but the two stories aren't.  Kind of shocking that the above story came out the same day as the story below about a retired CSX employee here in Ohio being charged with embezzlement.

Link 1

Link 2

Kevin

[Dakguy201]

Is the reason this legal business is so "lucrative" is that the lawyer's fee is paid by the company as a portion of a legal judgment?   I take it that the Federal Employers Liability Act is the railroad version of workers compensation, but each claim has to be judged as if a common tort had been committed; hence the need for lawyers on all sides.

If I'm correct about that, why in the world hasn't the liability system been updated to something more like what is universal outside this single industry?   

    

[wabash1]

when someone in the military gets hurt do they use regular lawyers is  it treated like the real world? answer is no, hence the same reason things are done differantly on the railroad,

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Dakguy201

Is the reason this legal business is so "lucrative" is that the lawyer's fee is paid by the company as a portion of a legal judgment?   I take it that the Federal Employers Liability Act is the railroad version of workers compensation, but each claim has to be judged as if a common tort had been committed; hence the need for lawyers on all sides.

If I'm correct about that, why in the world hasn't the liability system been updated to something more like what is universal outside this single industry?   

    

 The attorneys fees in FELA cases (RR employee injury) is paid by the employee from the settlement proceeds usually on a contingency fee basis just like most other tort litigation. As RR injuries can be severe and verdicts high this can be a very lucrative area for the plaintiff's bar. Unfortunately, the unions have figured this out and thrust themselves into this area to try acting as a middleman with the unfortunate effect that it creates the usual potential for corruption. Also, the unions acting as a referral source is at best questionable legally and ethically and under the wrong circumstances can result in the disbarrment of the attorney involved and/or criminal charges. I assume that is how the Feds turned the lawyers in this case and got them to implicate the union bosses if I am reading this correctly.

The Federal Employers Liability Act and related laws are part of a Federal system enacted before Worker's Compensation was created and Worker's Comp is a state based system and is therefore pre-empted by the Federal Laws including FELA. Thus, Worker's Comp does not apply to railroad employees.

LC 

 

[Paul_D_North_Jr]

Limitedclear

  [snip] The Federal Employers Liability Act and related laws are part of a Federal system enacted before Worker's Compensation was created and Worker's Comp is a state based system and is therefore pre-empted by the Federal Laws including FELA. Thus, Worker's Comp does not apply to railroad employees.

LC 

(1)  Thus, each state can have different rules for what injuries and claims are eligible, the procedues for filng, hearing, and appealing claims, evidence, duration and limits of payments and benefits, etc., etc.  Although multi-state employers - think of a large manufacturer, such as GE - have to deal with that dilemma on a regular basis and manage to cope with it, most of their people are int he same location every day.  But imagine how tough it would be for both the railroad and the employee if the rules changed at every state line, esp. in the Eastern US where an operating division could easily span over 2 or even 3 states.  That said, I believe the big truckers are covered by Worker's Compensation, as would the drivers and salesmen for GE, etc. - so it's not impossible.

(2)  Long-standing precedent, as LC describes above - ''It's always been that way'';

(3)  Likewise, it's the comfort factor with ''The devil [system] you know, as opposed to the devil [system] you don't know'' - for all parties involved - employees, railroads, attorneys, etc. 

- Paul North.