Not Even Disney Can Top This Lawyer,
rose gold replica cartier love ring
Willie Gary's Pizazz, Plain Talk Put Jury In Palm Of His Hand
August 13, 2000By Jerry Jackson of The Sentinel Staff
South Florida lawyer Willie Gary strode into the 430 foot tall Orange County Courthouse every day for more than a month to battle Walt Disney Co., appearing taller than his actual 5 feet 7 inches and awfully alert for a man who said he slept just two hours a night during the trial.
But the stocky son of sharecroppers backed up his bold talk of victory with a stunning $240 million jury verdict against the entertainment giant.
Gary's co counsel, Johnnie Cochran Jr., was the famous lawyer people stopped in the hallways, asking for his autograph.
But it was Gary who bore into Disney executives with tough questions during the 25 day trial to determine whether Disney stole the idea for its Wide World of Sports complex. And it was Gary who delivered the soaring closing argument that even Disney's top trial lawyer conceded was the work of a master orator.
"This is an E ticket ride," one young lawyer whispered during the trial. She and other lawyers in the building popped in regularly during the trial to catch glimpses of Gary's handiwork. "He is dynamite."
Moments after the unanimous verdict was read Friday, Disney attorneys Louis Meisinger and David Evans looked as stunned as if a stick of real dynamite had gone off.
These fireworks were vintage Gary.
"They are rich and powerful but justice has caught up with Disney," he said moments after the verdict.
Though the case could continue for years on appeal, Gary has earned a victory that will burnish his reputation as one of the nation's premier plaintiff attorneys. It is a subset of the legal profession sometimes derisively sniffed at as the ambulance chasers.
But Gary, 53, no longer must chase big cases. They come to him.
But Gary's 200 person legal staff, based in South Florida, handled the bulk of the legal grunt work and Gary himself conducted most of the examinations and cross examinations during the trial.
Cochran and Gary took turns questioning Disney CEO Michael Eisner in two separate depositions in California. Eisner never appeared in court, but his taped depositions were shown.
Gary,who calls himself a "simple country lawyer" has racked up enough court victories in his 25 year career to enjoy the trappings of his success: two Lear jets, a 50 room home and gold plated faucets in his Stuart law offices that overlook the St. Lucie River, just north of Palm Beach.
But Gary makes no apologies for wearing a Rolex watch and riding in a stretch limo, 40 years after he picked beans in Florida fields.
"I know about hard times,
cartier replica love ring pink gold," Gary said.
He is one of 11 children, born in Georgia to field workers who moved to South Florida when he was a year old. They lived in a house without plumbing and followed the harvests with the changing seasons, from the Everglades to the Carolinas.
In the early 1960s, the family moved to the farming community of Indiantown near Stuart, where Gary played high school football and earned a reputation for intensity. He began dreaming of playing college ball. After graduation he earned a law degree at North Carolina Central University.
Gary's first truly big victory came in 1985 when he negotiated a reported $30 million to $40 million settlement with Florida Power Light Co. on behalf of a South Florida man who lost seven relatives to a freak electrical accident.
Personal injury lawyers typically are paid 30 percent for such settlements and 40 percent when a case goes all the way to trial,
cartier replica diamond love ring. So Gary collected perhaps $9 million to $12 million in the power company case.
Gary, who has been married for more than 30 years to his high school sweetheart, who worked alongside him in the fields, has shared his wealth in recent years. He gave $10 million to Shaw University in 1992 and has become a major contributor to the Democratic Party.
The $240 million Disney verdict is less than half of Gary's biggest award to date. He won a $500 million judgment in Mississippi against a Canadian funeral home company, although it was later reportedly settled for $175 million.
That may well be what happens in the Disney case.
Big companies often settle short of trial for a variety of reasons. Disney did not in this case,
cartier replica love ring diamond. Lawyers and Wall Street analysts who follow Disney said the company has a history of going to court when they are the plaintiffs and settling when they are the defendants.
Why they did not follow their precedent in this case has stumped analysts. But Disney attorneys Meisinger and Evans during interviews in the final week of the trial provided clues to a three part explanation.
The Wall