Roberta Walburn was a University of Minnesota law school student in 1982 when she became a law clerk for the late U.S. District Judge Miles Lord. Lord who died in 2016, was born to a working-class family on the Iron Range. He was dubbed the "people's judge" for rulings that protected women's health, minority rights and the environment. Over four decades, he served as Minnesota attorney general, a U.S. attorney and a federal judge.
Walburn, a former Star Tribune journalist, is author of the book, "Miles Lord: The Maverick Judge Who Brought Corporate America to Justice," just published by the University of Minnesota Press. She joined Lord as he took control of a landmark case against the manufacturer of the Dalkon Shield intrauterine device (IUD). It resulted in infections, infertility and even death for thousands of women. The manufacturer, A.H. Robins of Virginia, fought charges for years in courtrooms around the country, usually blamed the women and their sex or sanitary habits rather than what was eventually proved to be a defective product. And Lord presided over the Reserve Mining case in the 1970s, before he was removed by a federal appellate court. A successor judge ultimately ordered Reserve to stop daily dumping of 67,000 tons of taconite-mining waste in Lake Superior. Walburn went on to work with attorney Mike Ciresi, who litigated for Dalkon victims, to work on a number of consumer-related cases. A related program about Lord runs Sunday night on Twin Cities Public Television.
Q: Was Miles Lord anti-business?
A: Judge Lord was not anti-business, but as he used to say, he was "anti-wrongdoers." He believed that corporate wrongdoers were too rarely held accountable for their actions. He believed that corporations — especially those putting too much emphasis on short-term profits — brought out the worst in their officers. In those circumstances, he believed individuals could sublimate their individual sense of responsibility to a corporate entity. [He] was determined to hold [them] answerable for their misdeeds.
Q: Please summarize the Dalkon Shield case and how it made history?
A: The Dalkon Shield was the bestselling IUD in the 1970s, with millions sold. But it had a deadly flaw: a multifilament tail string that wicked bacteria into the uterus, causing horrendous infections. Thousands of women lost their fertility; some died. The litigation had been stalled for years in front of other judges. A.H. Robins Co. of Virginia hired more than 100 law firms and spent millions to wage war in courtrooms across the country. Judge Lord entered the case in 1983 — and in three short months set in motion a sequence of events that would bring an end to the litigation. Most famously, he delivered a blistering speech to top A.H. Robins executives, pleading with them "to seek new horizons in corporate consciousness and a new sense of personal responsibility." In the end, more than 200,000 women received nearly $3 billion in compensation for their injuries, ranking at the time behind only asbestos in terms of personal injury claims.
Q: In the Reserve Mining case, Lord was removed for advocacy by a federal appellate court, correct?
A: The Reserve Mining case was the most significant case of the early environmental era. The company was dumping 67,000 tons of waste tailings — with asbestos-like fibers — into Lake Superior, every single day. At the end of a long trial, Judge Lord ordered the company to shut down its operations. This was the first time a judge had ordered the shutdown of a major industrial plant over environmental concerns. But the appellate court stayed his order and eventually removed the judge from the case. The fact that Judge [Edward] Devitt, who took over, affirmed Judge Lord's key decisions helped to establish this case as an important precedent demonstrating the power of federal courts to protect the environment.
Q: Lord was lauded by fans and vilified by those who thought him too much an advocate.
A: Judge Lord was a great judge who believed in justice for all. He grew up in a poor family on the Iron Range and never lost touch with his roots. He believed that the deck was stacked in favor of the rich and powerful. He believed in digging out the truth — too often lost in a morass of legal gamesmanship — so that wrongdoers could be held accountable. And he believed in talking truth to power. In the Dalkon Shield litigation, he was hauled up on judicial misconduct charges by A.H. Robins … charges ultimately dismissed. In Reserve Mining, he was removed from the case. In the end, he was proved right.
Q: Why did you write this book?
A: Because Judge Lord cut such a wide swath through history, with precedent-breaking rulings in so many areas of law. I wanted to show how the legal system really works when big corporations are sued for wrongdoing and how difficult it is to hold them accountable.
Q: What would Lord be saying if he were around today?
A: Judge Lord believed in the basic goodness of people. He believed that each person could make a difference. He would tell us to do our own part to help make this a better world. He would urge executives and attorneys, who are in positions to affect the lives of many, to fully consider the moral and ethical consequences of their actions and to fight for what is right.
Neal.st.anthony@startribune.com • 612-673-7144
