Sep 24, 2008

L.A. Law

The following is from email I exchanged with one of the blog's readers:
Subject: Class Settlement Stats (per UPTE)

Total Available Settlement Amount: $12,000,000

Total Payout From Settlement Fund: $11,466,126.16

Average Payout: $3,598.91
Median Payout: $3,367.72
Minimum Payout: $34.59

Maximum Payout: $12,137.16 (probably went to C. Chandler of Lab Legal), note the following:

http://www.upte.org/LosAlamos/salaries/Salarylist05_06.xls

Chandler, Christine LC-LM
Hired--11/17/86
2006 Salary: $141,360.00
Title: Office Leader

Other Stats:
Total Class Rep Payout: $617,500
Average Class Rep Payout: $123,500 per

Total Consent Plaintiff Awards: $342,500.00 (payments to those not selected as class reps, but who were willing to submit application)

I replied with this question:
Do you think it was to some degree unethical or a conflict of interest for Chandler and Prando to receive part of this settlement? It seems to me that they were in a position relay information about the lab's legal defense to the plaintiff's attorneys.

And here is the answer I received:
Hadn't thought about it that way. You're absolutely right though. As attorneys in the Lab's legal office they would have had access to case-related information, including strategy discussions. And given that they did, as we now see, obtain a share of the settlement, they clearly were in a conflict of interest position as Lab attorneys. Whether they were directly involved in the case or not isn't even the issue. The issue is they had access, by merely being attorneys within the legal organization handling this case, to information related to the case and, as such, are in conflict with their duty to the Lab and their personal interest in realizing a personal gain from the settlement as well. Excellent point!

19 comments:

Anonymous said...

Why am I not surprised?

Anonymous said...

Disgusting!

Anonymous said...

Wow! Ingenious. 'Pigging out' of both sides of the trough...

Anonymous said...

Unethical behavior by either of the Chandlers really shouldn't surprise anyone. This instance of it will simply blend in with all the rest and the payout will remain in her bank account. It's just the way the world works.

Anonymous said...

Chandler must have some serious dirt on the people who run this place to continually get away with the behavior and actions she gets other people fired for ...

Anonymous said...

You're worried about a few thousand dollars? Take a hard look at the economic crisis that we're in today. Chandler has been doing this for quite sometime and now you're screaming? We should be livid at Chandler but also Wall Street! More than likely, we as a country will look the other way as we have with the likes of Chandler and do the same with Wall Street!

Anonymous said...

Response to 9/25/08 6:20 AM:

Serious dirt? Or is it by design by LANL and the likes of Chandler.

Anonymous said...

What's wrong 9/25/08 6:59 AM? Don't like hearing the truth? You're probably one of the many hogs at the Lab eating out of both ends of the trough as well. Get a life you say? How about injecting some integrity in yours? People like you belong on Wall Street.

Anonymous said...

Keep things in proper context. A $12 K payout for Chandler is but a little speck in terms of the money that LANL wastes every day through LANS and NNSA mismanagement.

This whole $12 M settlement equals only about three days operating costs for LANL. People should be outraged about the extreme inefficiencies that they see each and every day at LANL that help produced these outrageous operating costs and put us at a cost disadvantage in doing our work.

Anonymous said...

Gee, so why do you suppose the Newsbulletin didn't tell us about Chandler and friends? Oink, oink.

Anonymous said...

The group leader of compensation in also on the list.

Anonymous said...

Talk about oinkers.

Per UPTE link:
http://www.upte.org/LosAlamos/salaries/Settlement-Beneficiaries.html

Carolyn Romero and hubby both took cut of settlement pie. Ms. Romero is a high ranking official in the Director's Office.

Per UPTE link (2006 salaries):
http://www.upte.org/LosAlamos/salaries/Salarylist05_06.xls

C Romero, CFO Deputy Division Ldr
Salary--$141,000. (probably making $170K now in Director's Office)

Oink, Oink!

Anonymous said...

What does 9/25 12:20PM mean...keepthings in context? If someone lacks integrity in one arena, why would you expect them to have integrity in another? Who do think is wasting all that money you say is being wasted if not these very same people. Think! It's all interconnected.

Anonymous said...

"Who do think is wasting all that money you say is being wasted if not these very same people." (12:12 PM)

And the sad part is, these are the very same people who will be fully protected when layoffs hit LANL. Keeping these LANL leeches fat and happy is not the way to save this laboratory.

Anonymous said...

12:18 pm: "Think! It's all interconnected."

...or not. Paranoia should be avoided if possible. Attributed (by some) to Napolean: "Never acsribe to malice that which can be explained by incompetence."

Anonymous said...

Come now 1:32PM. Don't pretend you don't understand.

Anonymous said...

What is Carolyn Romero's position in the Director's Office?

Anonymous said...

Manny Trujillo was the "Low Hanging Fruit" of the 1995 RIF. He still has a grudge on LANL.

Anonymous said...

9/30/08 2:20 PM must be one of the gluttonous rotting cores in management that could care less about taking a cut of the settlement pie. Low hanging fruit is sweet to the taste, but rotting cores are only good for messing up your shoes and attracting flies.