e Sit back and relax in this 'comfy 5 piece group. In stock now at nearly 40% off suggested retail. Mega Marriage Two of Detroit's high-octane personal-injury law firms are talking about joining forces. While supplies last. Delivery and Assembly free to most areas. JULIE EDGAR STAFF WRITER 11‘,AZ Palm Ji Beach Patio Furniture 7350 Highland Road (M-59) just west of Oakland Airport Waterford (810) 666-2880 Mon, Thurs, Fri, 10-9 Tues, Wed, Sat, 10-6 Sun 11-4 The entire Sinai Family is very pleased to announce with love, admiration, and with great pride the award by The University of Judaism, Los Angeles of both a, Baccalaureate of Literature in Hebrew Letters and a Master of Arts in Education to our daughter and sister SUSAN ILENE SINAI We are all very proud of her. 13 GENERAIIONS • HONESTY I 10 DEPENDABILMT utraged by the absurd in- member, is semi-retired. justice of it, Sheldon Miller Fieger, Fieger & Schwartz is was moved to offer his ser- also undergoing a major expan- vices, free of charge, to a sion at its longtime location on 10 fellow lawyer accused of legal Mile and Evergreen roads in malpractice by a'doctor he sued Southfield, so a merged law firm on behalf of an aggrieved patient. would operate out of two loca- In getting the case thrown out, tions. Mr. Miller said his firm had Mr. Miller effectively halted fu- already signed a four-year lease ture lawsuits by doctors tempted at the Town Center when he and to sue the attorneys who helped Mr. Fieger started talking about patients sue them. a merger. "Doctors were bitching about For all its notoriety, Fieger, malpractice, that they couldn't Fieger & Schwartz has only sev- make a living," he laughed. en attorneys, including principals In temperament and profes- Mr. Fieger and former Attorney sional expertise, he is not unlike Grievance Commission head his good friend attorney Geoffrey Michael Schwartz. Fieger, a bulldog who rarely miss- But the merger would make es an opportunity to pull some- the reconfigured law firm one of body's chain or to rush in where the largest plaintiff personal-in- less intrepid souls would not. He jury firms in the state. also doesn't mince words. And one of the most powerful, Two years ago, for example, he Oakland County Circuit Court fired off a letter to President Clin- Judge Barry Howard said. ton, offering his legal services "It gives Geoffrey the backup, gratis, to defend the chief execu- which he really needs. He's so tive against "vile" allegations of busy and has so many irons in the sexual harassment by Paula fire, and he doesn't have enough Jones. He remarked that it was trial backup to help him out," he a matter of patriotic duty. said. "It will allow the Fieger firm It is widely assumed, and Mr. to feed cases to the Lopatin firm Fieger has never denied it, that and allow the Lopatin firm to give his tireless legal jousting on be- Fieger the backup he needs. On half of his most famous client, Dr. paper, theoretically, it's a great Jack Kevorkian, is also essen- merger. I think it'll be a real pow- tially free of charge. erhouse." Now there's talk that these two Nearly three years ago, Mr. legal sharpshooters are planning Fieger won an $18 million jury to join forces. award in a case involving a Mr. Miller, 60, said he and Mr. botched delivery by Botsford Hos- Fieger, 45, are discussing a merg- pital — the second-largest award er of Lopatin, Miller, Freedman, in Oakland County Circuit Court Bluestone, Herskovic & Heil- history. mann, P.C., and Fieger, Fieger & Lopatin, Miller has chalked up Schwartz, P.C. its share of multi-million dollar "The deal is not done. It's a verdicts, too. A federal court jury monumental decision if we do it," last year ordered an out-of-state Mr. Miller remarked. bus company to pay $4.6 million Albert Lopatin, the firm's to a family whose child was founder, is "semi-retired," and, he thrown out of a careening bus on said, has "divorced myself from an expressway outside Grand the decision." Rapids. Mr. Miller, who proudly Mr. Fieger, fresh from a third notes his inclusion in a book by acquittal of Dr. Kevorkian on as- Joseph Goulden called Million sisted suicide charges, refused to Dollar Lawyers, represented the comment on a possible merger, family. saying he'll hold a press confer- _ Another Lopatin, Miller part- ence if and when it happens. ner whose name isn't yet on the Lopatin, Miller, in the mean- firm's letterhead, Robert C. Do- time, is packing up its law offices mol, won a $41 million verdict a in downtown Detroit for a long- few years back on behalf of four awaited June 1 move to South- people who burned to death in a field's Prudential Town Center. northern Michigan cabin when a About 20 of the firm's 33 attor- defective coffeemaker shorted out. neys and 50 or so support staff The firm, though, is most no- will occupy 16,000 square feet on table for a precedent-setting case the 17th floor of the 3000 tower. that led to a change in 1979 in the A few attorneys won't make the state's negligence laws. Mr. Miller move to Southfield, while others led the charge in Placek v. Ster- will staff an office the law firm in- ling Heights, which replaced con- tends to maintain in the city. Al- tributory negligence with bert Lopatin, the firm's founding comparative negligence. The law • 111 "1: MasterCard All Business' Are Not Created Equal. There Is A Difference. 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