Sid McMath - Trial Law Practice

Trial Law Practice

Following his 1952 defeat, McMath returned to the practice of law and over the next half-century became one of the leading consumer trial attorneys in the United States. His cases set a broad range of legal precedents, including the first million-dollar personal injury verdict in a U.S. District Court (for an injured Arkansas River barge crewman, in 1968), a woman's right to recover for the loss of her husband's consortium (an element of damage previously limited to men), manufacturers' responsibility for harm caused by defective products and negligent advertising encouraging their misuse, the chemical industry's liability for crop and environmental damage, drug companies' responsibility for fatal vaccine reactions in children, gun dealers' fault for the negligent sale of firearms, and the right of workers to sue third-party suppliers for job injuries. He and his partner Henry Woods, who had served as his gubernatorial chief of staff and later was appointed U.S. District Judge, became nationally known for their effective use of powerful demonstrative evidence, such as detailed models of accident scenes and the human anatomy. In 1976, he was elected president of the International Academy of Trial Lawyers, a select group of 500 of the world's most distinguished barristers, taking office February 22, 1977 at the group's annual convention in Nairobi, Kenya.

McMath's courtroom victories were all the more remarkable for being won in an era of "blue ribbon" juries handpicked by commissioners, themselves selected by state court judges beholden to insurance defense law firms from whom they received thousands of dollars in non-reportable (and non-refundable) campaign contributions for re-election races in which few were ever opposed. Factory workers, blacks, union members, ordinary laborers and other wage earners were often excluded from panels which were heavily weighted with bank and insurance company employees, mid-level managers, realtors, small business owners, salaried professionals, country club members and others hostile to claimants. Federal court juries were somewhat more diverse, but U.S. district judges, invariably former corporate counsel, had broader powers to dismiss cases summarily, overturn verdicts, and to withhold evidence favorable to the plainitff—rulings which often occurred, necessitating lengthy appeals before some cases could be fully tried. Many did not survive this gauntlet.

McMath wrote a memoir, Promises Kept (University of Arkansas Press, 2003, ISBN 1-55728-754-6) detailing his rural upbringing, public schooling, family tragedies – including the death of his first wife, Elaine, during the war and the shooting to death of his father, who had become an enraged alcoholic, by his second wife, Anne, in 1947 – as well as his years of military service and as governor. The Arkansas Historical Association awarded the autobiography its 2003 John G. Ragsdale Prize as the year's most outstanding historical work. In April 2006 the book was awarded the Booker T. Worthen Medal for literary excellence by the Arkansas Library System. An appendix discusses McMath's more significant cases from the citizen's point of view. These include Franco v. Bunyard, which held gun merchants liable for negligently selling a pistol to escaped convicts who kidnapped and murdered store clerks; Fitzsimmons v. General Motors, which pioneered the rule of consumer induced misuse through seductive advertising (the first of three "Smokey and the Bandit" Trans Am cases handled by the firm in which it was shown that clips and outtakes from scofflaw motion pictures were spliced by GM into TV commercials aimed at adolescent males); Miller v. Missouri Pacific Ry. Co., which established a woman's right to sue for the loss of her husband's society, companionship and sexual relations; Brinnegar v. San Ore Construction Co., a landmark admiralty case; Harrod v. E.I. Du Pont de Nemours & Co., and Work v. Tyson Foods, Inc. and a number of other actions resulting in multi-million dollar recoveries for farmers and homeowners whose crops and ground water were poisoned by defective pesticides and poultry effluent. The Harrod case involved the issue of whether tomato crops had been damaged by cold weather or by du Pont's fungicide, Benlate, which plaintiffs contended was contaminated with the weed killer, Atrazine. Bruce McMath, lead counsel at trial, successfully confronted rumors that his clients' claims were dishonest by openly asking jurors on voir dire, "How many of you have ever cheated on your taxes?" The synopsis of the case in "Promises Kept" is written from the perspective of plaintiffs' attorneys and stresses their contention that du Pont had intentionally contaminated their product, a claim vehemently denied by the defense.

In 1991, McMath and his firm proposed suit against tobacco companies to recover Medicaid funds spent caring for smokers. Rejected by Arkansas authorities, who had close ties to tobacco lobbyists and law firms, the idea was used by Florida, Mississippi and Minnesota, which won billion dollar settlements. Forty-six other states soon brought their own claims. Texas recovered $18 billion in a Texarkana federal court claim which Arkansas officials refused to join. Arkansas finally concluded a $60 million per year tag-along settlement in 1999. These, and the federal government's own recoveries which followed in their wake, will eventually exceed $1 trillion, representing the largest public interest litigation result in American legal history.