By CINDY KRISCHER GOODMAN
The Miami Herald—November 19, 1995
Like a good
poker player, Fort Lauderdale attorney Jon Krupnick doesn't place
his bet unless he sees a strong chance of winning.
Last year his law firm gambled $7 million of its own money to argue
the case for a group of crop growers who said their plants were damaged
by a fungicide. It was a magnificent bet. The pot ? A $214 million
settlement from chemical giant DuPont—the largest in Florida
history.
The success made Krupnick $12 million in personal profit and landed
him a spot in Forbes magazine last month as the eighth highest paid
trial lawyer in the country. His law partners also pocketed millions.
So what's next for the million dollar lawyers? A case with billion
dollar potential, of course. The firm will take on two chemical manufacturers
whose product is claimed to have caused more than $1 billion in losses
to the shrimp industry in Ecuador.
The 15-lawyer firm of Krupnick Campbell Malone Roselli Buser Slama
& Hancock may be small, but it has shown it has the gumption,
skill and bank account to take on large corporations with deep pockets
in class-action lawsuits that represent large numbers of small clients.
Personal injury litigation is a specialty with lots of upside. The
Forbes list shows even high-profile names like Johnnie Cochran took
a back seat to lawyers like Krupnick.
But this type of law is risky. These lawyers collect a fee only if
they win or settle, while attorneys who defend corporations get an
hourly fee. Representing plaintiffs can be a lot more profitable,
but it means taking a high-stakes gamble. "You have to have a
good case and believe in your case," Krupnick said. "You
have to make enough of a
commitment to give your client a chance. You also have to be smart
enough to put resources into areas that get the best results."
Krupnick learned how to calculate risk and reward early in his career.
Twenty years ago, when he split with his partners to form his own
law firm, he became the nemesis of his old corporate clients.
Going solo
Unhappy with defending insurance companies, Krupnick set up his one-man
shop in a small office in a downtown Fort Lauderdale bank building
in 1974 and began filing lawsuits on behalf of injured parties. Over
the years, Krupnick's firm grew larger along with his verdicts and
settlements.
Today, he and his seven partners occupy a full floor in a four story
office building that he owns near the Broward County Courthouse. Car
door latches, toy trucks and miniature human skeletons clutter the
office with remnants of cases past. Framed newspaper clippings hanging
on the walls tell of the firm's involvement in some of the most high-profile
cases in Broward.
"He's good at trying long cases," said retired Broward Circuit Judge
Arthur Franza in Hollywood, who most recently presided over a Benlate® case. "I knew Jon Krupnick when he just got started and didn't
have two pennies to rub together. He's a top-of-the-line attorney.
As a plaintiffs' litigation firm, they're as good as you
get."
Willing to spend
From the beginning, Krupnick says, he learned a good personal injury
lawyer must spend money to make money. In the late 1970's, he
sued Outboard Marine Corp. on behalf of two boys who had been thrown
overboard in a boat crash. The initial reports indicated the boys
were joyriding. But using expanded diagrams of a defective boat part,
Krupnick showed the jury how the boat had veered because of bad design.
"It was unheard of to spend $40,000 to prepare a case for trial, but
it taught me the importance of demonstrative evidence," he said. "It
settled for $650,000. That could buy you 13 houses on Las Olas Isles
at the time. "
While he's occasionally gambled and lost, he and his partners have
had at least 350 big wins. Krupnick's record of more than 120 verdicts
and settlements in excess of $1 million places him among the national
leaders in personal injury litigation.
Paying for the next case
Of the profits he and his partners collect, a portion goes toward
funding the next big case. The firm has never taken out a bank loan,
nor do its lawyers have expense accounts. Expenses are paid directly
out of their pockets. Firm revenues for the past several years have
ranged between $10 million and $12 million.
When a client walks in the door, Krupnick sizes up the merits and
the cost of proving the case and compares it with the potential windfall.
Many times he decides it won't pay to pursue a claim. Of the total
inquiries from potential clients, the firm ends up representing about
half.
Recently, it has been turning down cases involving the elderly. Because
Medicare gets the first crack at any financial recoveries, there's
not much left for the attorneys and injured parties, Krupnick lawyers
have found.
When the firm does take a case, it's brought before all the partners
and the one who wants it or has the expertise to handle it takes it
on. Most of the partners have specialties such as aviation, product
liability and medical malpractice.
Once committed to a case, the firm will spend whatever it takes to
win. It commissions medical reports and hires consultants, private
investigators and expert witnesses. It also invests heavily in trial
graphics and charts like those used in the O.J. Simpson trial.
"Some lawyers take a case just to settle," said Richard Roselli, one
of the name partners. "Some go to trial but don't spend what's necessary
to win. There are many personal injury lawyers but few trial lawyers.
Most firms can't afford to play poker. We can, as long as it's what
the client wants."
In its representation of 220 farmers who said their crops had been
ruined by the fungicide Benlate®, the firm spent about $7 million presenting
its case. DuPont spent $100 million defending itself. After trying
and winning two individual suits against DuPont, Krupnick partner
Kevin Malone got the company to settle the rest.
Broward personal injury attorney David Singer says the Krupnick firm
is one of the few local firms equipped to take on DuPont: "The
Benlate® case could not have been handled had they not built a war
chest of assets from 20 years of big successes."