He Saved the World, We Try to Save His Health
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Volunteers for Justice 2019
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He Saved the World, We Try to Save His Health
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"Nearly 60 years ago, a U.S. B-52 bomber carrying two hydrogen bombs broke apart over rural North Carolina. They didn't go off, but if they had, each 3.8-megaton weapon would've been 250 times more destructive than the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima. [PLC client] Lt. Jack ReVelle, then a 25-year-old Air Force munitions expert, was called to the scene. His job: make sure the bombs did not explode. 'What the status of the weapons were at that time was unknown, so we were working in the dark,' Jack, now 83, tells his daughter, Karen at
[NPR's]
StoryCorps
."
50 years later, the Goldsboro Broken Arrow incident was de-classified and the man who hand-carried the fissile material out of a 20-foot hole on January 24, 1961 at long last was finally able to seek the recognition and disability benefits he deserves. That's where Public Law Center and Snell & Wilmer stepped in. Volunteer attorneys from Snell & Wilmer continue to work to get Jack's service connected disability benefits.
"[Jack] never had health problems until recently when doctors told him was anemic. When he fell in his home, he lay on the floor of his garage until his wife of more than 50 years found him. She will be helping him now that he has returned home. 'There is no way he could be self-sufficient,' Brenda ReVelle told the
Orange County Register
. 'There is no way he can get himself out of bed.'
“Jack has been told he has less than three years to live [and] is fighting over insurance coverage, over his discharge from the skilled nursing home and over the cause of his blood disorder. The Veterans Administration has rejected his claim, [Jack] said, that he was poisoned by radiation during his tenure as a commander for the Air Force’s Explosives Ordnance Disposal unit. ‘They are making a veteran jump through hoops to prove his claim,’ said [Snell & Wilmer associate] Amina Mousa, Jack’s [pro bono] attorney. ‘They dismissed his claim outright. Our evidence has not been looked at thoroughly.’”
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Join PLC Board President Mark Erickson in Welcoming Our Newest Board Members
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Haynes and Boone Partner Mark Erickson began his tenure as PLC's Board President at the beginning of the year. He has been solving business disputes through litigation, arbitration and mediation for more than 35 years. He honed his trial skills with a diverse practice that began with the Army Judge Advocate General’s Corps. Mark then joined Latham and Watkins and was later one of the founding partners of Dubia, Erickson & Tenerelli. He is a past president of the Orange County chapter of the Association of Business Trial Lawyers and president-elect for the Orange County Bar Foundation. Mark also led a Haynes and Boone impact litigation team in a housing discrimination case on behalf of PLC clients that resulted in meaningful affordable housing for Orange County residents. The Orange County/Long Beach region of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) honored
Ma
rk last night with the 2019 Marcus M. Kaufman Jurisprudence Award for his many contributions to the legal profession and the Orange County community.
Mark is joined by Vice President Deborah Mallgrave of Snell & Wilmer and Secretary/Treasurer Brian B. Farrell of Banc of California. Together, they lead a 37-member volunteer
Board of Directors
that includes four new members:
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Daryl S. Landy
is a Morgan Lewis Partner focusing on employment litigation and counseling, regularly representing well-known financial services companies.
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Norma García Guillén
is the founding partner of Garcia Rainey Blank & Bowerbank, LLP and
has been a commercial litigator for over 15 years.
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Richard Grabowski,
the Partner-in-Charge of the Irvine Office of Jones Day, has served as lead counsel on more than 100 federal and state consumer class actions.
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Eleanor Stegmeier
is a founding partner of Stegmeier, Gelbart, Schwartz, & Benavente, LLP and is considered one of Orange County’s most accomplished family law attorneys.
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Volunteers for Justice 2019
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Volunteers for Justice Dinner - Public Law Center
On Monday, June 3, 2019 nearly 1,000 leaders from the Orange County legal, business and civic communities will gather for the Public Law Center's annual Volunteers for Justice Dinner. We hope you will join us for this inspiring event that also...
Read more
www.publiclawcenter.org
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